Learning Difficulties and Pupil’s Comprehension in the Four Fundamental Operations of Fractions

This study was intended to determine the pupil’s comprehension of fractions in the four fundamental operations in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The survey has two parts. Part I, the Demographic Data. Part II was organized to elicit information on the pupil’s comprehension of fractions. It is guided by the following problems: in terms of the profile of the respondents, the level of pupil’s comprehension of fractions in its four fundamental operations on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, which operations of fractions students have difficulty, and a significant difference between the independent and dependent variables. The study yielded the following findings: Majority of the respondents aged 11, females, college level on father’s and mother’s educational attainment, and on average level in the extent of parental involvement; Multiplication operation got the highest level, followed by subtraction, addition and division; Out of the four fundamental operations of fractions, the pupil-respondents got hard in computing division, and less hard in other fundamental operations, such as addition, subtraction, and multiplication; and age, gender, parent’s educational attainment, and extent of parental involvement revealed as differentiating factors in the pupil’s comprehension of fractions on addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. On the basis of the findings, it might be concluded that the pupil-respondents comprehension of the four fundamental operations of fractions were on average level in addition, subtraction, and multiplication, whereas, they were in the low level with respect to division.

Keywords: Learning Difficulties and Pupil’s Comprehension of Fractions