The notion of equipartition of fraction and its verification tools in a musical context

Abstract

The objective of this research is to analyze the construction of the concept of equipartition in elementary students, through musical objects. This interest arose upon observing that the methods currently used to teach fractions do not offer a mechanism for checking the existence of the equality of the parties. Therefore, this study aims to provide students with various tools to identify the acoustic consequences that arise from non-compliance with equipartition. They can be represented in a visual, bodily, and auditory way. This qualitative research with curricular development was conducted among 4th and 5th graders of elementary school in a rural context. The findings of the research include the fact that students, by immersing themselves in a real interdisciplinary world, acquire physical and symbolic tools to determine the existence or not of a equipartition. This is how scenarios other than the traditional ones, endowed with experiences and representations, contribute to the construction of the notion of equipartition in students.

Equipartition; Musical objects; Fraction; Representations