There? ?is? ?an? ?enormous? ?deficit? ?in? ?students? ?understanding? ?of? ?fractions? ?in? ?the? ?United? ?States. Fifth? ?grade? ?fraction? ?knowledge? ?predicts? ?high? ?school? ?math? ?performance,? ?even? ?when? ?controlling for? ?working? ?memory,? ?whole? ?number? ?knowledge,? ?IQ,? ?reading? ?ability,? ?and? ?demographic? ?factors (Siegler? ?et? ?al.,? ?2012).? ?Therefore,? ?addressing? ?this? ?deficit? ?is? ?a? ?particularly? ?important? ?area? ?for? ?early intervention.? ?With? ?this? ?Fast-Track? ?grant,? ??Deep? ?Fractions? ?Learning?,? ?we? ?propose? ?to? ?transform? ?the way? ?in? ?which? ?students? ?learn? ?core? ?math? ?curriculum? ?so? ?that? ?materials? ?are? ?more? ?interactive? ?and engaging,? ?promote? ?deeper? ?learning? ?of? ?content,? ?and? ?are? ?aligned? ?with? ?the? ?Common? ?Core.? ?More specifically,? ?we? ?will? ?develop? ?and? ?evaluate? ?a? ?digital? ?curriculum? ?for? ?grades? ?3-5? ?covering? ?the fractions? ?domain? ?that? ?combines? ?games,? ?collaboration,? ?and? ?an? ?inquiry? ?approach.? ?We? ?propose? ?to develop? ?an? ?innovative? ?technology? ?infrastructure? ?that? ?will? ?integrate? ?Teachley? ?learning? ?games, Success? ?for? ?Alls? ?(SFA)? ?cooperative? ?learning? ?framework,? ?and? ?rigorous? ?lesson? ?content.? ?We? ?will integrate? ?research? ?into? ?the? ?design? ?process? ?and? ?work? ?with? ?Johns? ?Hopkins? ?University? ?to? ?evaluate the? ?efficacy? ?of? ?the? ?intervention. Outcomes.? ??The? ?intervention? ?will? ?encourage? ?four? ?direct? ?outcomes? ?for? ?students,? ?namely improved:? ?1)? ?conceptual? ?understanding? ?of? ?fractions,? ?2)? ?procedural? ?fluency? ?with? ?fractions operations,? ?3)? ?mathematical? ?justification,? ?and? ?4)? ?motivation.? ?First,? ?the? ?curriculum? ?will? ?build? ?both conceptual? ?understanding? ?and? ?procedural? ?fluency,? ?providing? ?strong? ?visual? ?models? ?within engaging? ?games? ?that? ?motivate? ?students? ?to? ?practice.? ?The? ?collaborative? ?learning? ?model? ?and? ?inquiry approach?? ??will? ?improve? ?students? ?mathematical? ?justification.? ?Finally,? ?we? ?encourage? ?these outcomes? ?within? ?a? ?motivational? ?support? ?structure? ?designed? ?to? ?foster? ?engagement? ?and self-efficacy. Improving? ?students? ?academic? ?outcomes? ?and? ?self-efficacy? ?in? ?the? ?area? ?of? ?fractions? ?during elementary? ?school? ?will? ?promote? ?later? ?success? ?in? ?high? ?school? ?mathematics.? ?Since? ?each? ?additional math? ?class? ?students? ?complete? ?in? ?high? ?school? ?more? ?than? ?doubles? ?the? ?odds? ?of? ?college? ?completion (Adelman,? ?2006),? ?the? ?intervention? ?has? ?the? ?potential? ?to? ?make? ?a? ?real? ?difference? ?in? ?whether students? ?achieve? ?sustainable? ?careers? ?versus? ?being? ?stuck? ?in? ?low-wage? ?jobs.
Public Health Relevance Statement: Project? ?Narrative Fractions? ?knowledge? ?in? ?the? ?fifth? ?grade? ?strongly? ?predicts? ?high? ?school? ?math? ?performance, even? ?when? ?controlling? ?for? ?working? ?memory,? ?whole? ?number? ?knowledge,? ?IQ,? ?reading? ?ability,? ?and demographic? ?factors? ?(Siegler? ?et? ?al.,? ?2012).? ?Intervention? ?in? ?this? ?essential? ?content? ?area? ?will improve? ?students? ?math? ?ability? ?in? ?the? ?short? ?and? ?long? ?term,? ?which? ?in? ?turn? ?will? ?lead? ?to? ?several positive? ?distal? ?outcomes,? ?such? ?as? ?greater? ?high? ?school? ?graduation? ?rates? ?and? ?college? ?attendance.
Project Terms: Active Learning; Address; Area; Behavior; boys; career; Child; Childhood Cancer Survivor Study; Collaborations; college; Common Core; Control Groups; dashboard; deep learning; Demographic Factors; design; digital; Distal; Early Intervention; Educational Curriculum; elementary school; Ethnic Origin; fifth grade; Fostering; fourth grade; girls; Goals; Graduation Rates; Grant; high school; High School Student; improved; innovation; innovative technologies; Instruction; Intervention; Investments; Knowledge; Learning; Maps; mathematical ability; Mathematics; Mathematics Curriculum; Measures; Modeling; Motivation; Occupations; Online Systems; operation; Outcome; Performance; Phase; Privatization; Process; prototype; reading ability; Research; Research Infrastructure; Sampling; Self Efficacy; Services; Short-Term Memory; Structure; Students; success; teacher; third grade; Treatment Efficacy; United States; Universities; usability; Visual; Wages; Work