• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.147-162
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• 2007

This paper reports an analysis of 19 Chinese and Korean middles school mathematics teachers' understanding of division by fractions. The study analyzes the teachers' responses to the teaching task of generating a real-world situation representing the meaning of division by fractions. The findings of this study suggests that the teachers' conceptual models of division are dominated by the partitive model of division with whole numbers as equal sharing. The dominance of partitive model of division constraints the teachers' ability to generate real-world representations of the meaning of division by fractions, such that they are able to teach only the rule-based algorithm (invert-and-multiply) for handling division by fractions.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.113-127
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to justify the fraction division algorithm in elementary mathematics by applying the definition of natural number division to fraction division. First, we studied the contents which need to be taken into consideration in teaching fraction division in elementary mathematics and suggested the criteria. Based on this research, we examined whether the previous methods which are used to derive the standard algorithm are appropriate for the course of introducing the fraction division. Next, we defined division in fraction and suggested the unit-circle partition model and the square partition model which can visualize the definition. Finally, we confirmed that the standard algorithm of fraction division in both partition and measurement is naturally derived through these models.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.91-110
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to explore visual models for deriving the fractional division algorithm, to see how students understand this integrated model, the rectangular partition model, when taught in elementary school classrooms, and how they structure relationships between fractional division situations. The conclusions obtained through this study are as follows. First, in order to remind the reason for multiplying the reciprocal of the divisor or the meaning of the reciprocal, it is necessary to explain the calculation process by interpreting the fraction division formula as the context of a measurement division or the context of the determination of a unit rate. Second, the rectangular partition model can complement the detour or inappropriate parts that appear in the existing model when interpreting the fraction division formula as the context of a measurement division, and can be said to be an appropriate model for deriving the standard algorithm from the problem of the context of the inverse of a Cartesian product. Third, in the context the inverse of a Cartesian product, the rectangular partition model can naturally reveal the calculation process in the context of a measurement division and the context of the determination of a unit rate, and can show why one division formula can have two interpretations, so it can be used as an integrated model.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.165-180
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• 2014

This study analyzed in what ways the instructional materials have been dealing with the fraction as quotient, since the seventh national mathematics curriculum. An analysis of this study urged us to re-consider the content related to the fraction as quotient. First, the fraction as quotient has weakened in the current mathematics textbooks and workbooks in comparison to those developed under the previous curriculum. Second, the contexts of whole number division taught in grades 3 and 4 were not naturally connected to those of the fraction as quotient taught in grade 5. Third, the types of word problems, visual models, and partitioning strategies in the textbooks and the workbooks were partial, and the process of formalization was limited. Building on these results, this study is expected to suggest specific implications which may be taken into account in developing new instructional materials in process.