Fractional number sense abilities among upper primary school pupils / Siti Syardia Erdina Mohamed

This study explored the abilities in fractional number sense among selected primary school pupils’ in Klang, Selangor. This concern was motivated by the fact that fraction is a very challenging topic and can be a problem for pupils as described in the literature review of this thesis. The objectives of this research are to examine pupils’ performance in a Fraction Sense Test (FST), to investigate the pupils’ achievement in FST based on grade levels and genders, to investigate the relationships between pupils’ performance in FST and their mid-year mathematics achievement and finally to investigate strategies used by pupils in solving problems in the FST. The data in this mixed method design were obtained from two phases of analysis. The first phase analysed 396 Year Four and Year Five pupils’ achievement in a Fraction Sense Test (FST) which was adapted from McIntosh, Rey and Reys (1992) framework of Basic Number Sense and also analyses their mathematics achievement based on the standardized mid-year mathematics examination. The second phase investigated how the pupils applied their fraction-sense strategies in FST through interviews. The overall results of this study revealed that the pupils demonstrate limited fraction sense and possessed very few of the indicators of fraction sense. The findings expose a lack of conceptual understanding of the domain fraction concept, effect of operation, and equivalent expression of fractions. It is also found that there was a significant difference in the FST achievement between grade levels. Meanwhile, no significant difference was identified between genders. The pupils also had little or no access to flexible fraction sense strategies to solve problems in FST. The study of relationship between pupils’ performance in FST and their mathematics achievement also suggested significant association for both grade levels. It is hoped that Malaysian Ministry of Education and mathematics teachers would benefit from this study as it provides overview information of pupils’ real ability in mathematics especially in fraction topic.