Open Access

Rowena Merkel, Timo Leuders, Frank Reinhold, Katharina Loibl

• Research indicates that generating multiple solutions during a problem-solving phase before subsequent instruction (problem-solving prior to instruction) has a beneficial effect on the acquisition of conceptual understanding. This effect can be supported by visualizations that enable the use of multiple solution strategies through interactive manipulation. In a digital learning environment for fraction comparison tasks using dynamic fraction bars (i.e., fraction bars that can be interactively manipulated), we investigated how solution strategies adopted by students predicted their learning outcomes in relation to the basic (non-symbolic, representational) fraction concept and how learning in a dynamic learning environment compared to learning in a static environment (i.e., fraction bars without interactive manipulation) leads to a better basic fraction concept. The experiment included 92 fifth graders. We found a descriptive but nonsignificant trend of students in the dynamic condition performing better on a post-task than those in the static condition. However, there was a substantial aptitude–treatment interaction. In the static environment, students’ prior mathematical conceptual understanding of basic arithmetic operations of addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication of natural numbers had a significant effect on the learning outcomes, whereas in the dynamic learning environment, students’ prior mathematical knowledge did not influence their learning outcomes. Moreover, the quality of the solution strategies employed in the dynamic digital learning environment predicted the learning outcomes in the post-task. This finding shows that students who use the dynamic fraction bars effectively achieve a better learning outcome.