This paper is a translation of a report on two Swedish investigations concerning children's lack of understanding of the quantitative value of numbers (specifically, decimals and fractions). (MN)

Stimulus control technology was used to instruct seven students in grades five and six who demonstrated difficulty with fraction ratio and decimal relations. Students were trained to match pictorial representations of fractions to printed counterpart fraction ratios and to match printed decimals to pictorial representations of counterpart…

Many elementary and junior high school students do not become proficient with common and decimal fractions because they have established few connections between the form they learn in the classroom and understandings they already have. (Author/GC)

This report illustrates procedures of item construction for addition and subtraction examples involving decimal fractions. Using a procedural network of skills required to solve such examples, an item characteristic matrix of skills analysis was developed to describe the characteristics of the content domain by projected student difficulties. Then…