The Measurement Approach to Rational Number (MARN) project is a collaborative effort by faculty at New York University, Iowa State University, and the Illinois Institute of Technology that is designing, developing, and testing an innovative approach to elementary students' learning in the critical areas of multiplicative reasoning, fractions, and proportional reasoning. The project team is building on the successful El'Konin-Davydov (E-D) elementary mathematics curriculum that originated in Russia to develop a curriculum framework that can be implemented in U. S. schools.
The MARN project addresses five core research questions about how rational number learning can be developed from a measurement perspective and how sociocultural theory and constructivism can contribute to design of effective learning trajectories based on that perspective. The project begins with careful analysis of the E-D curriculum embodied in Russian mathematics materials, of classroom data from a Hawaii implementation of the E-D curriculum, and of relevant prior curriculum development projects in other U. S. contexts. Work is proceeding from development of an initial curriculum framework through intensive teaching experiments to implementation and modification of the framework in the course of classroom design experiments.
The ultimate product of the research and development effort will be a rational number learning progression consisting of carefully articulated and sequenced learning goals. The curriculum framework will also include mathematical tasks to foster learning of each concept, description of predicted student learning in the context of the tasks, a set of assessment items related to each concept, and guidelines for relevant teacher interventions. Thus, the framework will provide a foundation for development of curriculum units.
