• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.193-217
• /
• 2019

Researchers have observed one student who had difficulty in formulating a division equation. In the context of determination of a unit rate problem based on one student's case and previous research, we tried to examine in detail how students expressed the division formula, how to select the dividend and the divisor, and how they learned about those. First, a questionnaire was developed to analyze student's reactions and applied to the research participants. Interviews were conducted to discover how the participants choose the dividends and divisors derived from their cognitive characteristics corresponding to their selection method. The research exposed that the majority of the participants had difficulty in deciding the dividends and divisors. Moreover, the research indicated information that teaching methods need to be reformed. Finally, we obtained suggestions to place emphasis on how to decide a dividend and a divisor, why they made such selection and what the equation means. We proposed a learning method for the research above.