Grade 6th Students Understanding of Fraction

The purpose of this study is to investigate the student's understanding of fractions, based on Behr et al's model (1983). The research method is descriptive- analytic.. 366 sixth grade students in Saveh city participated in the study by random cluster sampling. The data collecting tool was a test with 44 items related to fractions. Descriptive and inferencial statistics used for analyzing the data. The results showed that students had a moderate understanding of fractions (by mean: 55%, sd: 22%), and their best performance was in part-whole subconstruct (by mean: 69%). Also their weakest performance was in measure subconstruct (by mean: 40.4%). In addition, the study showed that the understanding of part-whole sub-construct is necessary to understand the other sub-constructs, but not sufficient. Another finding was that ratio sub-construct is a prerequisite for understanding equivalent (by R2=32.5%) and the fraction, as operator sub-construct is a prerequisite for understanding concept of multiplication of fractions (by R2=4.8%).