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Article: Oil and Water Don't Mix, but They Do Teach Fractions.
- Article from:
- Teaching Children Mathematics
- Article date:
- November 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Understanding and using fractions have traditionally been difficult tasks for students. National assessment results (NCTM 1988) show that even older students experience difficulty in working with and understanding fractions. The National Center for Educational Statistics (1990) reported that only 46 percent of twelfth graders who took the National Assessment of Educational Progress could consistently solve problems involving fractions. Baroody and Hume (1991) suggest that student errors in fractions may be caused by poor understanding of underlying concepts, as well as by an inability to recognize accurate visual representations.
Greenes (1996) notes that several ...