Affordances of fractions and decimals for arithmetic among middle school students in the United States and China

IF 1.8 2区 心理学 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL
Qiushan Liu , Yunqi Wang , David W. Braithwaite
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Recent research by Liu and Braithwaite (2023; Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Vol. 49, pp. 1459–1470) revealed differential affordances of fractions and decimals for arithmetic. Specifically, adults preferred to solve addition problems in decimal form rather than fraction form and preferred to solve multiplication problems in fraction form rather than decimal form. The current study tested whether similar preferences would appear among middle school children in the United States (N = 84) and China (N = 88) and whether analogous patterns would appear in children’s calculation performance. Like adults in Liu and Braithwaite’s study, children in both countries preferred decimals more for addition and preferred fractions more for multiplication. Furthermore, calculation accuracy was relatively higher with decimals for addition and with fractions for multiplication, and calculation was perceived to be relatively less effortful with decimals for addition and with fractions for multiplication. We consider both conceptual and procedural explanations for the findings, based respectively on semantic alignment theory and strategy choice theory, and conclude that a procedural perspective offers the more complete and parsimonious explanation. Educational implications of the findings are discussed.
分数和小数在美国和中国中学生算术中的能力。
Liu和Braithwaite (2023;实验心理学杂志:学习,记忆和认知,第49卷,第1459-1470页)揭示了分数和小数在算术上的差异启示。具体来说,成年人更喜欢用小数形式而不是分数形式来解决加法问题,更喜欢用分数形式而不是小数形式来解决乘法问题。目前的研究测试了类似的偏好是否会出现在美国(N = 84)和中国(N = 88)的中学生中,以及类似的模式是否会出现在儿童的计算表现中。和刘和布雷斯韦特研究中的成年人一样,这两个国家的孩子在加法方面更喜欢小数,在乘法方面更喜欢分数。此外,用小数做加法和用分数做乘法的计算精度相对较高,用小数做加法和用分数做乘法的计算被认为相对不那么费力。我们分别基于语义对齐理论和策略选择理论对研究结果进行了概念性解释和程序性解释,并得出结论,程序性观点提供了更完整和简洁的解释。讨论了研究结果的教育意义。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
4.50
自引率
7.70%
发文量
190
期刊介绍: The Journal of Experimental Child Psychology is an excellent source of information concerning all aspects of the development of children. It includes empirical psychological research on cognitive, social/emotional, and physical development. In addition, the journal periodically publishes Special Topic issues.
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