Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Although an understanding of fractions is a critical precursorfor other mathematical concepts, including proportionalreasoning, algebra, and success in STEM fields, surveys ofmathematics education in the United States indicate thatschool-age children lack age-appropriate math skills andproficiency. Thus, understanding the critical precursors offraction knowledge is important for the development ofinstructional materials. The aim of the present study was toexamine whether instructional format affected children’slearning and transfer of fraction concepts, and whetherindividual variables such as executive function and mathknowledge moderated these effects. Six- to 8-year-oldchildren participated in a longitudinal, pre/post test design, inwhich they received a fraction-training intervention.Critically, we manipulated the extent to which real-worldinstruction was grounded in visual vs. symbolicrepresentations. We find that 1 st and 2 nd graders were able tolearn fraction concepts following this intervention, despitehaving no formal fraction education. The extent to which theinstructional stimuli were grounded in visual vs. symbolicrepresentations affected children’s proportional reasoningknowledge in a transfer task, and condition effects weremoderated my children’s working memory and prior mathknowledge. This work has implications for instructionaldesign and curriculum development in the classroom.