Acquiring meaning for decimal fraction symbols: A one year follow-up

Abstract

Fourth graders with differing achievement records participated in a specially designed two week unit on decimal fractions. Students were encouraged to connect meaningful referents with decimal fraction symbols and use these meanings to develop procedures for adding and subtracting decimal numbers. One year later these students and a matched set of fifth graders were interviewed and given paper-and-pencil tests. Three questions were of interest: (1) Do short term changes in the processes students use to solve problems remain stable over time; (2) Do students who have been instructed in conceptually-based processes exhibit a higher level of performance one year later than their conventionally taught peers; and (3) What is the relationship between entry achievement level and the year-long effects of conceptually-based instruction? The results suggest that: (1) If students used the meanings of written symbols as a basis for solving problems immediately after instruction, they used these processes to solve problems one year later, regardless of entering achievement; (2) Compared to their conventionally taught peers, students in the lower achievement group benefitted relatively more from the conceptually-based instruction than students in the higher achievement group; (3) However, higher achieving students were more likely to exhibit use of conceptually-oriented processes one year later than the lower achieving students.