The Importance Of Proportional Reasoning In Children

Proportional reasoning is a kind of mathematical reasoning that encompasses a logical comprehension of various evaluations and co-variations. Proportional reasoning allows an individual the ability to reason mathematically and is a demonstration of how a number of pieces of information are stockpiled mentally. We deal with diverse proportional information on a daily basis, such as reading temperatures, relational spatial contrast, and calculations of densities all of which is central to mathematical abilities. When a child is successful at developing proportional reasoning, it is a useful skill that transcends their mental capacities. As children acquire the capacity to reason proportionally, they have gained the capability to understand multiplicative relationships between reasonable quantities. Many researchers have used various testing instruments to assess proportional reasoning skills in children, but the most efficient tool used is the balance scale task. The balance scale task requires a child to predict the movement of the scale once weights are placed on the pegs. Siegler (1978) used a balance scale task to identify children’s ability to reason proportionally and implemented rules for solving balance scale item tasks. He hypothesized that when children are tasked with proportional reasoning, using the balance beam …show more content…
We will conduct a study that examines the benefits of receiving feedback with the math balance beam task. We will administer variations of math balance beam task to measure children’s proportional reasoning abilities. We will utilize a 2x2 factorial between groups analysis of variance to compare test scores of pre-test vs. no pre-test and balance play vs. no balance play to measure the benefits of receiving feedback and administered pre-test of paper and pencil form of the written version of the balance beam