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Description
The purpose of this study was (1) to determine at what mental age pupils could learn to place the decimal point in division of decimal fractions by inspection and the use of the first significant digit of the divisor instead of the division algorithm and (2) to compare the performance of the study group with the achievement of a national population presumed to have used the caret method. A set of teaching procedures and three tests were constructed by the writer for the purpose of conducting the study. The first of two comparable tests was given to a group of sixty grade-six pupils to measure and previous knowledge of division of decimal fractions. At the end of a teaching period of two weeks the second test was given to measure learning that had taken place. Approximately one month later, a third test, composed of nine examples from Stanford Achievement Test, was given. The performance of the study group was then compared with the achievement of a national population. The results of the second test showed that forty-four of the sixty pupils had substantially profited by this method of teaching division of decimal fractions, twenty of these pupils showing a high degree of mastery. Pupils with mental ages below 11.0 years, as measured by the California Test of Mental Maturity, were not able to adequately learn by this method. Pupils with mental ages above 13.0 years showed that substantial learning had taken place. Pupils with mental ages above 14.0 years showed the most learning. In comparing the study group with a national population it was found that on seven out of nine examples the study group exceeded the national percents, indicating that the method of this study may be superior to other methods now in use. From this study it can be concluded that a group of sixth grade pupils can be taught to locate the decimal point in division of decimal fractions by the method used in this study, that achievement of such a group can be as good or better than that of pupils presumed to have been taught by other methods, and that pupils with mental ages above 13.0 years, as measured by the California Test of Mental Maturity, will profit most by this type of instruction. For further research it is suggested that this method of teaching division of decimal fractions be tested on a larger scale at various grade levels.
