Abstract

The present study examined whether the studs on LEGO® bricks act as irrelevant details when solving fraction division problems and whether prior fractions knowledge played a role in children’s distraction and accuracy performance. Thirty-eight fifth- and sixth-grade students participated in the study. Participants were asked to complete a Fractions Test to assess their prior conceptual understanding of fractions. A median split was used to create a low prior knowledge group (n = 19) and a high prior knowledge group (n = 19). An instructional intervention showed students how to create fractions with LEGO® bricks and how to solve fraction division problem using measurement division. The results revealed that the studs did not distract the participants from solving fraction division problems with LEGO® bricks, regardless of prior knowledge. However, prior knowledge effects were found in accuracy performance, with low prior knowledge students generating less accurate solutions compared to high prior knowledge students. Participants also used both correct strategies and a variety of incorrect strategies to solve the fraction division problems. Particularly, children made errors in choosing the correct bricks to represent the dividend fractions, which, in part, resulted in having inaccurate solutions. The present study is relevant to teaching professionals as it provides new information about the ways children use LEGO® bricks to solve fraction division problems.