Issues on children's ideas of fractions when quotient interpretation is used

Abstract

This paper focuses on children’s understanding of fractions when quotient interpretation is used to introduce them this concept. An intervention program was conducted with a 7-years-old classroom, from a public primary school, in Fafe, Portugal. This intervention program comprised seven sessions in which children learned the representation of fractions and were challenged to solve some problems of ordering and equivalence of fractions. These sessions were organised following the official curricular content (starting by the equal sharing problems) but also according to the children’s rhythms and demands. Children’s performance and their arguments solving the tasks of ordering and equivalence of fractions are presented here. Issues on their learning process are characterized and discussed.