Making Sense of Fractions using E-learning Platforms - A Survey

Fractions are considered to be a difficult cognitive area for students. Fractions are represented in different ways and various software systems are used to support, as pedagogical agents, the teaching process with the aim to achieve a desired teaching result for students. This article attempts to present the basic features of three e-learning, web-based systems that contain applications to teach basic operations of fractions using multiple representations. The aim of this study is to highlight the basic features, positive elements, and the originality of each system, as well as, critically discussing the various other parameters that are not considered by such software systems. The main finding of this work is a critical comparison between the systems studied with the aim of identifying the elements that could be incorporated into a newly proposed web-based/cloud application specifically designed for teaching fractions.