From Non-symbolic to Symbolic Proportions and Back: A Cuisenaire Rod Proportional Reasoning Intervention Enhances Continuous Proportional Reasoning Skills

The persistent educational challenges that fractions pose call for developing novel instructional methods to better prepare students fraction learning. Here, we examined the effects of a 24-session, Cuisenaire rod intervention on building block symbolic knowledge, continuous and discrete non-symbolic proportional reasoning, in children who have yet receive instruction. Participants were 34 second-graders attended (intervention group) 15 did not participate any sessions (control group). As attendance at was irregular (median = 15.6 sessions, range 1–24), specifically effect number completed their reasoning. Our results showed larger increased ability compare proportions. However, contrary our expectations, they also decreased misleading discretized In contrast, Control group show change performance. These provide further evidence malleability reasoning highlight rigidity counting knowledge interference