Pizzas or no pizzas: An advantage of word problems in fraction arithmetic?

Fractions are an important but notoriously difficult domain in mathematics education. Situating fraction arithmetic
problems in a realistic setting might help students overcome their difficulties by making fraction arithmetic
less abstract. The current study therefore investigated to what extent students (106 sixth graders, 187 seventh
graders, and 192 eighth graders) perform better on fraction arithmetic problems presented as word problems
compared to these problems presented symbolically. Results showed that in multiplication of a fraction with a
whole number and in all types of fraction division, word problems were easier than their symbolic counterparts.
However, in addition, subtraction, and multiplication of two fractions, symbolic problems were easier. There
were no performance differences by students’ grade, but higher conceptual fraction knowledge was associated
with higher fraction arithmetic performance. Taken together this study showed that situating fraction arithmetic in a realistic setting may support or hinder performance, dependent on the problem demands.