A CONCEPT INVENTORY TO IDENTIFY FRACTIONS MISCONCEPTIONS AMONG PROSPECTIVE PRIMARY AND PRESCHOOL TEACHERS IN ROMANIA - Article Abstract and Key Findings

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aditya

A concept inventory on fractions is validated by measuring the presence and evolution of misconceptions among prospective primary and pre-school teachers in Romania. Seven text statements were built into a Likert-scale instrument and administered at three stages: before the course, after a lecture and seminar intervention, and at the end of the semester. Initial results confirm persistent misconceptions. Findings indicate the instructional need for extended time to support understanding and correcting fraction concepts during teacher training.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Research questions

Framework

Concept inventory: definition and building

Methodology

A CONCEPT INVENTORY TO IDENTIFY FRACTIONS MISCONCEPTIONS AMONG PROSPECTIVE PRIMARY AND PRESCHOOL TEACHERS IN ROMANIA Ioana MAGDAŞ, Julie HENRY, Adrian MAGDAȘ Abstract: The purpose of this article is to validate the relevance of a concept inventory on fractions by measuring the presence and evolution of misconceptions among prospective primary and pre-schoolteachers, including the overcoming of their misconceptions during and at the end of the instructional intervention. Seven text statements were defined and composed a “Likert scale” concept inventory. This was administered to students at three different stages ofthe learning process to measure the understanding gain: before the start of the course, after the instructional intervention consisting of a lecture and a seminar on fractions, and finally at the end of the semester. The results from the initial testing confirmed themisconceptions about fractions of the students. Based on the experiment, it is thus obvious the need to allocate a longer time for understanding and fixing the concept of fraction for prospective primary and preschool teachers. Key words: Concept inventory, misconceptions, fractions, prospective teachers, primary education, preschool education, Romania 1. Introduction The concept of fraction is one of the fundamental concepts of elementary mathematics, which is used in everyday life and on whose knowledge depends more advanced mathematical knowledge. Namkung and Fuchs (2019, p. 36) analyzing the literature finds that “achieving competency with fractions is challenging for many students, and the difficulties associated with learning fractions have been documented widely”. This is because, as many studies have shown, mathematics teachers and prospective teachers have struggled with understanding fractions (e.g., Ma, 2010; Moseley, Okamoto, & Ishida, 2007; Newton, 2008; Olanoff, Lo. & Tobias, 2014; Rodrigues, & Thacker, 2019; Copur-Gencturk, 2021) . Therefore, there is a need to improve training on fractions for mathematics teachers, starting with primary schoolteachers, which can be done after identifying their preconceptions and misconceptions on this concept. Based on the literature and personal experience, we developed a concept inventory about fractions that was addressed to prospective primary school teachers. This concept inventory was administered in three different stages ofthe learning process: before the class started, after the instructional intervention which consisted of a lecture and a seminar about fractions and, the last one, at the end of semester. The purpose of this article is to validate the relevance of a concept inventory on fractions by measuring the presence and evolution of misconceptions among prospective primary school teachers, including the overcoming of their misconceptions during and at the end of the instructional intervention. The research questions are: 1. What are the most common misconceptions about fractions that future primary and secondary school teachers in Romania have? 2. To what extent can misconceptions regarding fractions be overcome by allocating 6 hours of training (theory and practice)? In Section 2, this article introduces the standardized assessment tool used, the concept inventory, and its development process as envisioned in this study. Considerations regarding fractions and misconceptions about this concept are also described. Section 3 is devoted to the research methodology. The results are then presented and discussed in Section 4. 2. Framework 2.1. Concept inventory: definition and building An increasing number of research studies report tools that measure learning in the context of a course to provide formative assessment of instruction. Among them are the concept inventories, multiplechoice questionnaires inspired by research results and aimed at measuring a learner's knowledge of a concept (or a set of concepts) while capturing the misconceptions he or she has of this co

FAQs

What purpose does the fractions concept inventory serve in the study?

It validates the relevance of a fractions concept inventory by measuring the presence and evolution of misconceptions among prospective primary and pre-school teachers.

How is the concept inventory structured and administered?

It uses seven text statements forming a Likert-scale instrument, administered at three stages: before the course, after the lecture-and-seminar intervention, and at the end of the semester.

What do the initial results suggest about learners’ understanding of fractions?

The initial testing confirms misconceptions about fractions among the students.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aditya