title: Developmental predictors of fraction concepts and procedures.
abstract: Developmental predictors of children's fraction concepts and procedures at the end of fourth grade were investigated in a 2-year longitudinal study. Participants were 357 children who started the study in third grade. Attentive behavior, language, nonverbal reasoning, number line estimation, calculation fluency, and reading fluency each contributed uniquely to later conceptual understanding of fractions. Number line estimation, attentive behavior, calculation fluency, and working memory made unique contributions to acquisition of fraction arithmetic procedures. Notably, number line estimation made the largest independent contribution in both models. The results suggest that although there is considerable shared variance among the predictors, both general and number-related competencies are uniquely important for explaining why some children struggle with fractions.
authors.affiliation: School of Education, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA. njordan@udel.edu
authors.forename: Nancy C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Lynn S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Siegler
authors.forename: Russell
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gersten
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Micklos
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics / Q000379:methods*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D011932:Reading