Exploring the critical role spatial reasoning plays in young children’s early partitioning development

Research indicates that partitioning provides the foundation for developing an understanding of how fractions and rational numbers more broadly can be interpreted. However, the literature examining young children’s partitioning capabilities suggests this concept is an inherently spatial activity, particularly when children distribute collections of items or partition continuous objects based on the geometric similarities and spatial arrangements of the materials. The connection between spatial reasoning and mathematics achievement is well-established in the literature. Yet the role of spatial reasoning in young children’s early partitioning experiences in relation to fractions remains implicit in the literature and seldom explored pedagogically across different early schooling contexts. This study draws on a subset of data from a Design-Based Research project involving 44 children from two, Year 1–2 classes in regional Australia. A 13-lesson teaching intervention program that utilised a spatial reasoning approach to teaching and learning fractions was developed and implemented by the researcher. The findings reveal the way in which spatial reasoning supports the development of partitioning as the foundation to early fraction understanding, beyond what children are typically expected to achieve for this age. The research provides evidence for implementing a spatial reasoning approach to early fraction learning in the early years.