A study to compare the effectiveness of individual manipulation of instructional materials in learning grade four fractions versus a teacher demonstration method using the same materials

Purpose of the study -- The main purpose of this study was to compare the achievement of Grade IV students taught a unit on fractions by a method whereby they individually manipulated concrete materials with a method in which there was only teacher demonstration using the same instructional materials. Another purpose was to compare results achieved in selected levels of Bloom's Taxonomy by the two methods of instruction. -- Procedure -- The investigation was carried out in four Grade IV classes in one school in St. John's, Newfoundland. Two of these classes, consisting of 63 students, comprised the Experimental Group, and the other two classes, consisting of 67 students, formed the Control Group. Intact classes were used and the method of instruction was randomly assigned to the classes. The only difference in instruction for the two groups was the manner in which they concrete materials were used. -- Objectives for a unit in Grade IV fractions were written in behavioral terms by the investigator. The unit was taught for ten consecutive periods of forty-five minutes duration. Three other days were used for testing. -- Students' achievement in the unit on fractions taught in the experiment was measured by a specifically constructed twenty-item test. The items were designed to evaluate the attainment of each objective of the unit and were classified according to the levels of The Taxonomy. The reliability of the test (.74) was found by using a Pearson product moment correlation between the posttest and retention test scores. The achievement test was given as a pretest, posttest, and retention test. However, the order of the items on the test was changed each time the test was administered. The pretest was given three days previous to the instruction and the posttest was given one day after the completion of instruction. A retention test was administered four weeks later. -- Analysis of covariance and the chi square test were used to analyze the data obtained from the posttest and retention test. The pretest scores were used as a covariate in the Analysis of Covariance. The level of significance was set at .05 for all statistical tests. -- Conclusions -- 1. Grade IV students who individually manipulated concrete materials scored significantly higher on a posttest and a retention test designed to measure achievement in a unit on fractions than those taught by a teacher demonstration method. -- 2. Grade IV students who individually manipulated concrete materials did not show a significant difference in achievement in questions on a posttest and retention test designed to measure Knowledge and Comprehension, compared with those taught by a teacher demonstration method. -- 3. Grade IV students who individually manipulated concrete materials achieved significantly higher on posttest questions designed to measure Application, compared with those taught by a teacher demonstration method. However, there was no difference between the two treatments on retention test questions designed to measure Application. -- 4. Grade IV students who individually manipulated concrete materials scored significantly higher on questions designed to measure Analysis, than did students taught by a teacher demonstration method. -- 5. Grade IV students who individually manipulated concrete materials scored significantly higher on posttest questions designed to measure Synthesis, than those taught by a teacher demonstration method. However, there was no significant difference between the two treatments on a retention test question designed to measure Synthesis.