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Research into Practice Individual Inquiry:

Proportional Reasoning

Hayden Hicks

Department of Education, Purdue University

EDCI 533: Teaching and Learning Numbers and Operations

Dr. Signe Kastberg

February 5, 2023
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Introduction

Proportional reasoning is a key skill learned in middle school and high school levels and

plays a role in understanding other parts of mathematics such using a linear equation. Lobato &

Ellis (2010) state that “(s)tudents in grades 6–8 need to understand proportionality well if they

are to succeed in these grades and in their subsequent mathematics experiences” (p. 1).

For this study, I interviewed two students in differing levels, regarding both grades and

tracks, using the interview protocol created beforehand (see Appendix A). First, I interviewed a

student named Trey, who is a high school senior who went through the academic mathematics

track throughout high school. Trey provided thoughts through discussion (see Appendix B) and

through written work on a paper (see Appendix C). Next I interviewed Tiffany, who is a high

school junior who has been through the remedial track of math which is for students who have

failed a math class before. Tiffany also provided verbal discussion (see Appendix D) and written

work (see Appendix E).

I provided each student with two tasks. The first task was inspired by the cherry flavored

drink problem designed and used by Kastberg et al. (2014). This problem has the students

determining which coffee drink is stronger when given different scoops of coffee and different

amounts of water. The next task involves giving the student the price of three movie tickets and

asking the student to determine if a certain amount would be enough for seven people. This task

was inspired by the alien food task designed by Sozen-Ozdigan et al. (2019). Both tasks can be

found in detail in my interview protocol (see Appendix A).

Strategies and Tools

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• Using a Composed Unit- Trey showed evidence of using a composed unit both in the

coffee question and in the movie ticket question. During the coffee question, Trey noted

that if three scoops of coffee makes a certain strength of coffee, then one scoop of coffee

and 14 ounces of water would make the same strength of coffee. He showed this

reasoning by saying “[I] divided 42 by 3 and got 14, so I did 14 ounces equals one

scoop.” (see Appendix B). At first Tiffany did not understand using the composed unit,

but after scaffolding, Tiffany came to the same conclusion (see Appendix E).

• Using Addition to Form Equivalent Ratios- Trey and Tiffany both used addition after

finding the cost of a movie ticket per person in Task 2, determining that forty dollars was

not enough money for seven people to go to the movies. Evidence of this type of thinking

can be shown in Trey’s work (see Appendix C) and from Tiffany saying “you can add that

all up and see if forty would be enough.” (see Appendix D). Trey also used addition to

determine that we would “need to add 1.37 plus 5.91”. to find the amount that a group of

seven would need to go to the movies.

• Using Multiplication to Form Equivalent Ratios- Trey showed evidence of using a rate

and multiplication to find an equivalent ratio in Task 3 (see Appendix C). Trey used his

new ticket price per person and multiplied by seven to see how much money the group of

seven would need in this new problem.

Discussion

Lobato & Ellis (2010) describe the thought process behind proportional reasoning in four

shifts of thinking. The first shift says “Students need to make a transition from focusing on only

one quantity to realizing that two quantities are important.” (Lobato & Ellis 2010, p.61) Trey

began both tasks by creating a composed unit, showing that Trey was able to consider both
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quantities were important in determining the strength of the coffee, as well as the overall price of

going to the movies. Tiffany understood that the amount of water affected how “watery” the

coffee would taste, but did not comment on the amount of scoops the coffee had at first. After

scaffolding, Tiffany was able to conclude that both the scoops of coffee and the amount of water

had an effect on the strength of the coffee. This shows me that Trey has succeeded in passing the

first shift of proportional reasoning thinking, while Tiffany was still struggling with the initial

construct of forming a ratio. However, in the movie problem Tiffany was able to point out that “it

would be like, just under [six] dollars for each [ticket]”.

Both students were keen to find the rate per one unit before continuing the problem.

These students were able to find these rates by using division, which is listed as an essential

understanding by Lobato & Ellis (2010). When writing a ratio as a quotient, the student can then

use multiplication to adjust the ratio. However, after finding the amount of water per scoop of

coffee or the amount of money per ticket, both students used addition to answer the questions.

This shows that the students are still undergoing the second shift in proportional reasoning,

described by Lobato & Ellis (2010) as thinking of the composed unit using addition to forming a

ratio between two quantities. Both students were unable to think the amount of water needed as

14 times the amount of coffee scoops used without scaffolding. This shows me that both students

still have misunderstandings about proportional reasoning and what it means for two values to be

proportional.

Sozen-Ozdigan et al. (2019) show insight on what students may be thinking during a task

that involves ratio tables. The alien food task has students answer a question on whether they

will have enough food to feed a group of aliens. Trey and Tiffany were able to rationalize how

much money they would need to have for a group to go to the movies by breaking down the
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price for three people into a price for one person. Although neither student constructed a table,

questions I asked them helped put value on certain groups of students so that they could relate

the price for double the amount of original people. For both students, I asked what the price for

six people would be. The goal was for the students to understand that they would need twice as

much money, since they have twice as many people. However, since both students decided to

break it down to price per person, it was more difficult to see the connection they were making.

Sozen-Ozdigan et al. (2019) explain that students were linking the units multiplicatively,

explaining that a one to three ration means that one unit will be three times the other. During task

three, Trey shows that he understands that the price for a ticket is 8.78 times the number of

people and uses multiplication to find the amount of money needed for seven students.

Trey and Tiffany’s work involving the coffee problem showed that both preferred to use a

quotient to represent a ratio. Both students chose the wrong answer of which coffee is stronger

by picking the three scoops and 42 ounces of water. Trey’s reasoning was “56 is bigger than 55”.

Neither student understood that in this case, more water meant less strength and more of a

“watery” taste. This is similar to the results of some students from a study about cherry drinks

from Kastberg et al. (2010). In this study, it is shown that students who misrepresent the

quotients would have a difficult time graphing the lines when representing these ratios lines. It

seems that this misinterpretation of ratios has an affect on future concepts of proportions like

linear relationships.

The last task was a follow-up question to task two. My goal was to see if the students

understood the difference between a proportional relationship and a non-proportional

relationship. Unfortunately, I ran out of time with Tiffany before continuing to this task, but Trey

was able to complete it. Trey showed originally that he did not understand the added popcorn
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created a problem that was no longer proportional. This follows well with the conclusions made

previously that Trey would have issues with concepts beyond proportional relationships.

Lobato & Ellis (2010) and the NCTM have identified proportional reasoning as an

important concept that can be difficult to teach. After learning more about proportional reasoning

and gaining more insight to the thought processes displayed by Trey and Tiffany, it is clear that

they do not have a firm grasp on how proportions work which could have contributed to the way

their experiences in mathematics turned out in high school mathematics. The articles and

activities I read about have shown me how I would want to teach proportions in future classes.

Swanson’s (2015) activity with using wind-up toys to find the distance traveled over the course

of ten seconds to find the average speed per second is an activity that would have expanded Trey

and Tiffany’s knowledge of finding a rate per one unit. The cherry drink activity from the article

written by Kastberg et al. (2014) could relate the difference in coffee strength by comparing the

strengths to the slopes of lines, showing the linear relationship in proportions. The alien food

activity designed by Sozen-Ozdigan et al. (2019) could help show the multiplicative relationship

between the two quantities in ratio and show the students how the ratio could be represented as

an infinite set of different ratios. This is described as the final shift in proportional reasoning by

Lobato & Ellis (2010). These tasks are great ways to increase the understanding in proportional

reasoning in middle schools, so that when the students reach high school they can expand on

proportions in other types of mathematics.

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References

Kastberg, S. E., D’Ambrosio, B. S., Lynch-Davis, K., Mintos, A., Krawczyk, K. (2014). CCSSM

challenge: Graphing ratio and proportion. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School,

19(5), 294-300.

Lobato, J. & Ellis, A. (2010). Developing essential understanding of ratios, proportions &

proportional reasoning grades 6-8. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Sozen-Ozdogan, S. Akyuz, D. & Stephan, M. (2019). Developing ratio tables to explore ratios.

Australian Mathematics Education Journal, 1(2), 16-21.

Swanson, P. E. (2015). Toy stories: Modeling rates. Teaching Chuldren Mathematics, 22(2), 76-

83. https://doi.org/10.5951/teacchilmath.22.2.0076
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Appendix A

Interview Protocol

I focused on proportional reasoning for this project and have decided to evaluate and improve

understanding in learners using the following tasks and questions. Before each task, I will

describe what I am looking for in these questions and reference articles that show why I picked

these questions and the responses I am looking for.

The first task will have the learner compare two pots of coffee and tell me which one is

stronger. This question is reminiscent of the orange juice question from the class readings

(Lobato & Ellis, 2010, p.22) and the cherry drink question (Kastberg et al., 2014).

Task: “Different people enjoy their coffee in different ways. One family uses 55 ounces

of water and four scoops of coffee. Another family will use 42 ounces of water and three scoops

of coffee. Assuming that the coffee and scoop sizes are the same, which family’s coffee is

stronger?”

I am looking to see if the learner recognizes the relationship between scoops and ounces

of water. There are several ways a student can think about the question and find answers.

Kastberg et al. (2014) has several samples of student work that I expect to see, including

expressing the ratio as a quotient, or as a rate per one ounce. Both ways of thinking about these

ratios would show strong proportional reasoning. The first would show that the learner has

grasped the multiplicative relationship of the two values, while the second would show that the

learner understands the relationship of the values as a composed unit. Both are illustrated as

essential understandings of proportional reasoning skills by Lobato & Ellis (2010). Some

misconceptions I am looking out for are ones that involve focusing on just a single value. For
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example, if the learner compares just the scoops of coffee, I will ask “Does the amount of water

used affect the strength of the coffee?”. This will help guide the learner to think of the units

together.

Questions:

• If learner is concentrating on one unit:

o “Does the amount of water affect the strength of the coffee?”

• If learner looks at the numbers as quotients:

o “What does the division mean?”

o “If you could put a unit on that number, what would you call that unit?”

• If the learner compares the ratios as fractions by giving them the same denominator:

o “Why is it important to make sure the amount of water is the same?”

o “Why can you say that the new fraction has the same strength as the last

fraction?”

• If the learner is stuck:

o “How can we compare the numbers for each pot together?”

The second task involves finding a proportional relationship and using it to answer a

question. This question is similar to the feeding aliens question studied by Akyuz et al. (2019).

This task is as follows:

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Task: “A group of three friends go to the movies and spend $17.75. Another group wants

to go to the movies with a group of seven friends. Will $40 be enough to buy that many movie

tickets?”

This task is meant to see if the students can think of a ratio as a rate and apply that rate to

find equal ratios. For example, the rate of this ratio is $5.75 per ticket. In the reading from

Sozen-Ozdogan et al. (2019), the students form a ratio table to figure out the amount of food for

a range of alien numbers. My goal is to similarly help the learner set up a ratio table to enhance

the understanding of proportional reasoning.

Questions:

• If using cross-multiplication:

o “What is another way that you can think of to solve the problem?”

▪ This is due to cross-multiplication not really showing a conceptual

understanding as illustrated in Lobato & Ellis’ (2010) reading.

• If learner says $40 is enough:

o “Think about how much it would cost for one person. Does that change your

answer?”

o “How much would it cost for two people?”

▪ At this point, I would help the learner with setting up a ratio table to

further their understanding. The learner would then use proportional

reasoning to fill in this table.

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• If learner says $40 is not enough:

o “How many people would $40 dollars be enough for?”

o “How much money would we need for seven people?”

▪ At this point I would ask how much money we would need for any

number of people between one person and ten people. I would help the

learner set up a ratio table, and the learner would use proportional

reasoning skills to fill in the values.

The last question is in addition to the previous task. My final follow up question would be,

“What if the group, no matter the size, bought one large popcorn for $8.00 before the movie.

This would cause the group of three to spend $25.75 to go to the movies. Can we use the same

method as before to solve how much it would cost for seven people?”

This question is to see if the learner can determine if there is a direct proportional relationship

when adding this new factor into the question. Of course, with the popcorn, the proportional

relationship is now gone. The follow-up questions will help deal with this new problem.

Questions:

• If trying to find the rate per-ticket again:

o “Look at your ratio table before. Now, six people will be spending $43.50. Is

this still twice as much?”

• Ending question:
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o “Can we say that the relationship between number of people and price per

ticket is still related the same way?

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Appendix B

Trey’s Transcription

Transcript: Trey S. Interview

Teacher: So, I am going to give you three tasks, the first is on the front page. I am going to let you work
on the problem, do the best you can. Think about and explain your process as best you can. You can
write down your work and cross out mistakes.

Trey: Ok.

Trey: Is this supposed to be 56 ounces?

Teacher: 55

Trey: Oh come on.

Trey: Oh, so is um. It says three scoops of coffee is 42 ounces because every scoop is 14 ounces. So
therefore, if you add another 14 ounces, that would be 56 ounces of water. 56 is bigger than 55 right?

Teacher: Yea that’s right. So, what made you think to do that? That every scoop is 14 ounces.

Trey: I looked at 55 and 4, I looked at 42 and 3. And that’s only 1 less and that’s 13. So I did 42 divided 42
by 3 and got 14, so I did 14 ounces equals one scoop.

Teacher: Ok, so which coffee is stronger?

Trey: I would say the second one right? Yea.

Teacher: And the second one is the coffee with 42 ounces of water and 3 scoops?

Trey: Mhmm

Teacher: Ok awesome. I got more. I like that though it’s very smart.

Teacher: Look at task 2. It would help me out if you could right some things if you could. (Reads task 2)

Trey: So, they won’t have enough money. They will be a dollar and 37 cents short.

Teacher: How did you get that?

Trey: I did 17.75 divided by three, I split them into, I thought that they would all take the same amount
of money.

Teacher: Did you take 17.75 divided by three or 22.25 divided by three?

Trey: 17.75.

Teacher: So they won’t have enough money, they will be a dollar and 37 cents short. So how much
money will they have enough for?
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Trey: 6, because that minus 5.91 is less than forty dollars.

Teacher: How much money would they need for seven people?

Trey: They would have it right? Because they would need a dollar and 37 cents more.

Teacher: How about for eight people?

Trey: You would need to add 1.37 plus 5.91 right?

Teacher: Why are you adding that?

Trey: Because that’s how much each person pays. I just thought that they would all pay the same
amount.

Teacher: Ok. My last question builds on that. It says that no matter the size of the group, they will buy
one large popcorn for eight dollars, because what’s a movie without popcorn. So, now the group of three
is going to spend 25.75 instead of 17.75 to go to the movies. So the new question is can you use the
same method as before to find out how much it will cost for the seven students.

Trey: Ok

Trey: So they share one large popcorn between all of them. They didn’t all get one large popcorn?

Teacher: They didn’t all get one popcorn, just one.

Trey: So they’re sharing one between the three people.

Teacher: Yes and the seven people they’re just going to get one popcorn.

Trey: Ok.

Trey: And then they’re asking if forty dollars will be enough right?

Teacher: Well we already know forty dollars won’t be enough from the last question. I just want to know
if you can use the same method that you used before for this problem.

Trey: So we’re finding how much out will cost for all seven people to go there.

Teacher: Yea with the popcorn.

Teacher: So how did you get that 8 dollars and 58 cents.

Trey: I did 25.75 divided by three and I got 8.58 and then I did it times seven. I did it wrong right?

Teacher: Uh well, it’s not all the way there yet but that’s okay, because my question here for this is can
we actually treat the popcorn the same way we treated the tickets in the first problem. This is saying the
popcorn, the 8 dollars, is part of the overall price per person now. The popcorn is just eight dollars for
the one time.

Trey: Oh, I did it wrong because the 5.91, and then would I add the eight dollars to the total? Oh.

Teacher: So why does dividing work here [task 2] but not here [task 3].
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Trey: Because we only got one eight dollar popcorn, so we can’t divide by three because the eight dollars
doesn’t matter for people.

Teacher: Right good.

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Appendix C

Trey’s Written Work

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Appendix D

Tiffany’s Transcription

Transcription: Tiffany G. Interview

Teacher: Do all of the questions as best you can “reads task 1”

Tiffany: Ok

Teacher: Think about it, talk about it and write about it and I’ll be right here if you need me.

Tiffany: So do I write my answer right here

Teacher: You can write it or just talk about it

Tiffany: Ok, I’m thinking the family that uses the 42 ounces of water and three scoops of coffee is
stronger.

Teacher: Why is that?

Tiffany: Well because it’s less water so it will give a stronger coffee flavor?

Teacher: So why does less water have a stronger coffee flavor?

Tiffany: Because if you have more it will taste really watery.

Teacher: That’s a good point. So can you mathematically show me why it’s stronger? Can you try
something? Like how much stronger it will be?

Tiffany: I can try.

Teacher: So for example, let’s say I’m looking at this family that used three scoops and 42 ounces. What if
I wanted to use one scoop of coffee. How much water would I need to make that the same strength?

Tiffany: So like one scoop of coffee, how much water would I need?

Teacher: To make the same strength coffee.

Tiffany: So like division?

Teacher: You can try. Give it a shot.

Tiffany: So would it be these two [numbers], or would I have to do both of them together?

Teacher: Let’s just focus on the 42 ounces and the three scoops.

Tiffany: I don’t think you can even do that [division]. Oh its 14.

Teacher: What does that 14 mean?

Tiffany: 14 ounces of water.

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Teacher: With what?

Tiffany: One scoop of coffee.

Teacher: Will make it the same strength?

Tiffany: Yea

Teacher: Let’s use that. So your saying with this strength of coffee, you need 14 ounces of water with one
scoop.

Tiffany: Yea

Teacher: So how many scoops of coffee are with the 55 ounces of water.

Tiffany: Four?

Teacher: So let’s try to use four scoops with this amount of water.

Tiffany: It would be 56 ounces of water.

Teacher: Would that be more or less strong?

Tiffany: More?

Teacher: Okay let’s do another one [reads task 2]

Tiffany: So this is their total for three people?

Teacher: Yes

Tiffany: So it would be like, just under five dollars for each one.

Teacher: You mean six dollars?

Tiffany: Yea.

Teacher: Why is it important to find the price for one person?

Tiffany: It’ll help determine how much one person would need to bring so that seven people can see the
movie, and then you can add that all up and see if forty would be enough.

Teacher: So your going to add six how many times?

Tiffany: Seven. It’s just over $40 dollars it’s two dollars over

Teacher: So that’s not enough

Tiffany: No

Teacher: So how much will that be enough for then?

Tiffany: Enough for six people.

Teacher: So how much would they need for seven people?

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Tiffany: They would need to bring about 48 dollars.

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Appendix E

Tiffany’s Written Work