Natural number bias: a study of students’ reasoning in rational number multiplication
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48489/quadrante.23026Keywords:
natural number bias, fractions, decimal numbers, multiplicationAbstract
One of the main causes of primary and secondary school students’ difficulties with the rational numbers operations is the inappropriate use of their natural number knowledge. This phenomenon is known as natural number bias. Our research analyses students’ success levels and students’ reasoning from 5th to 10th grade when solving multiplication tasks of a natural number by a rational number. Participants were 438 Spanish primary and secondary school students. Results show lower percentages of success in tasks where knowledge of natural numbers was not compatible to solve them. The analysis of students’ reasoning in these tasks shows the existence of the natural number bias phenomenon in primary and secondary education, although it decreases during the last grades. These findings extend and support results about this phenomenon obtained in previous quantitative studies.
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