The study of primary teacher students’ knowledge of fractions is very
important because fractions present a principal and highly complex set
of concepts and skills within mathematics. The present study examines
primary teacher students’ knowledge of fraction representations in Slo
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venia and Kosovo. According to research, there are five subconstructs
of fractions: the part-whole subconstruct, the measure subconstruct,
the quotient subconstruct, the operator subconstruct and the ratio sub
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construct. Our research focused on the part-whole and the measure
subconstructs of fractions, creating nine tasks that were represented by
different modes of representation: area/region, number line and sets of
objects. The sample consisted of 76 primary teacher students in Slovenia
and 93 primary teacher students in Kosovo. Both similarities and differ
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ences of the primary teacher students’ interpretations of the representa
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tions across the two countries were revealed and compared. The find
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ings suggest that primary teacher students from both countries need to
upgrade their understanding of fractions. The analysis confirms that the
formal mathematical knowledge acquired by primary teacher students
is not necessarily adequate for teaching elementary concepts in school.
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