The Meanings of Fraction Present in a Collection of Peruvian Primary Education Mathematics Textbooks

Abstract

This research analyzes the meanings of fractions in Peruvian textbooks from 4th grade of elementary school to 2nd grade of secondary school, using the Anthropological Theory of Didactics and an Epistemological Reference Model based on previous studies. A mathematical organization of the book collection was constructed, and its completeness was evaluated using the seven indicators of Fonseca (2004), concluding that the organization is only partially complete. It was identified that the meaning of fraction as part-whole is predominant in the proposed activities, making it difficult to understand other meanings such as measure, operator, ratio, and quotient. Therefore, the recommendation is to emphasize these other meanings and design activities that address them, taking advantage of tools such as ICTs to improve fractions learning, since the preponderance of the part-whole approach limits the development of a broader and deeper understanding of fractions.