THE RELATION BETWEEN LEARNERS’ SPONTANEOUS FOCUSING ON QUANTITATIVE RELATIONS AND THEIR RATIONAL NUMBER KNOWLEDGE

Abstract

Many difficulties learners have with rational number tasks can be attributed to the “natural number bias”, i.e. the tendency to inappropriately use natural number properties in rational numbers tasks (Van Hoof, 2015). McMullen and colleagues found a relevant source of individual differences in the learning of those aspects of rational numbers that are susceptible to the natural number bias, namely Spontaneous Focusing On quantitative Relations (SFOR) (McMullen, 2014). While McMullen and colleagues showed that SFOR relates to rational number knowledge as a whole, we studied its relation with several aspects of the natural number bias. Additionally, we (1) included test items addressing operations with rational numbers and (2) controlled for general mathematics achievement and age. Results showed that SFOR related strongly to rational number knowledge, even after taking into account several control variables. Results are discussed for each of the three aspects of the natural number bias separately.