The Use of Manipulative Media to Improve Elementary School Students’ Understanding of Fraction Concepts

Article Sidebar

Page Numbers: 519-533
Download PDF
Published: Apr 30, 2026
Digital Object Identifier: 10.58578/mikailalsys.v4i1.9837
Save this to:
Save to Mendeley Download RIS

Article Metrics:
Viewed: 90 times
Downloaded: 32 times
Article can trace at:

Author Fee:
Free Publication Fees for Foreign Researchers (USD 0.00)
Check for article on SINTA:

LYAS Publisher cordially invites qualified professionals to serve as Editors or Reviewers. Your expertise will make an important contribution to maintaining and strengthening the academic quality of our publications. Interested applicants are kindly requested to complete the application form at the following link: Editors & Reviewers

Connected Papers:
Connected Papers

Please feel free to contact us if you need any further information about the submission process or if you have any additional questions.

Authors:
Abdul Majid1*, Syarifuddin Syarifuddin2
Copyright :

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication.


Main Article Content

Abdul Majid
Makassar State University, Indonesia
Syarifuddin Syarifuddin
Makassar State University, Indonesia

Abstract

Although students’ understanding of fraction concepts in elementary mathematics has received increasing scholarly attention, research specifically examining the use of manipulative media to improve conceptual understanding in rural primary school contexts remains limited. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of manipulative media in enhancing students’ understanding of fraction concepts at SDN 38 Bonto Perak, Pangkep Regency. A Classroom Action Research (CAR) design was employed, involving 20 students selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through achievement tests, observation sheets, and documentation, and analyzed using descriptive quantitative techniques. The findings indicate that the use of manipulative media improved students’ conceptual understanding of fractions, as reflected in an increase in the average score from 62 in Cycle I to 82 in Cycle II and an improvement in learning mastery from 45% to 85%. These results suggest that manipulative media can facilitate hands-on and meaningful learning by helping students construct a clearer understanding of abstract fraction concepts. This study contributes to the literature on constructivist learning and elementary mathematics education by providing empirical evidence on the role of manipulative media in strengthening conceptual understanding. Practically, the findings imply that teachers should integrate manipulative media consistently into classroom instruction to enhance student engagement, conceptual comprehension, and mathematics learning outcomes.

Keywords:
Share Article:

Citation Metrics:

 Scopus



Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Scopus Citation Data

Data source Crossref
0
citations
Check Secondary Documents in Scopus
Open this article in Scopus, then check the Secondary documents tab. Use Manual Citation Fallback only for counts you have verified manually.
Open in Scopus
Similar Scopus Articles
Scopus
  1. Thinwiangthong S. (2027)
    Biology and Health Education Curriculum on Liver Fluke Disease and Cholangiocarcinoma Prevention among Primary School Students in Endemic Areas to Support Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Bibliometric and Mixed-Methods Needs Analysis
    Asean Journal of Educational Research and Technology, 6(1), 127-152
  2. Prahani R.S.B.K. (2027)
    Problem-Based Learning Assisted by Physics Digital Pocket Book: Experimental Study to Enhance Students’ Critical Thinking Skills Completed with Bibliometric Analysis toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
    Asean Journal of Educational Research and Technology, 6(1), 15-34
  3. Miyazono S. (2027)
    Improved Efficiency and Lesion Detection in Small Bowel Capsule Endoscopy Using the Open-Source Artificial Intelligence Model SEE-AI
    Den Open, 7(1)

Article Details

How to Cite
Majid, A., & Syarifuddin, S. (2026). The Use of Manipulative Media to Improve Elementary School Students’ Understanding of Fraction Concepts. Journal of Multidisciplinary Science: MIKAILALSYS, 4(1), 519-533. https://doi.org/10.58578/mikailalsys.v4i1.9837

Creative Commons License
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

References

Al Ayyubi, I. I., Nurhikmah, Rahmawati, S., Trimulyati, S. H., & Setiawati, T. (2025). The influence of manipulative media usage on students’ understanding of fraction operations in elementary schools. Noumerico: Journal of Technology in Mathematics Education, 3(1), 11–25. https://doi.org/10.33367/jtme.v3i1.6700

Al Farra, N. K., Belbase, S., Tairab, H., Qablan, A., Opoku, M. P., & Safi, S. K. (2024). Impact of using virtual and concrete manipulatives on students’ learning of fractions. Cogent Education, 11(1), Article 2379712. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2024.2379712

Asoy, E. (2022). Manipulatives in learning fraction for improving first-year elementary students’ understanding. Indonesian Journal of Teaching in Science, 2(2), 175–182. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijotis.v2i2.50147

Bouck, E. C., Maher, C., Park, J., & Whorley Ionia, A. (2020). Learning fractions with a virtual manipulative based graduated instructional sequence. Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 55(1), 45–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/215416472005500105

Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Darmadi, H., et al. (2024). Classroom action research in improving learning outcomes in elementary education. Jurnal Pendidikan Dasar, 15(2).

Etikan, I., Musa, S. A., & Alkassim, R. S. (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5(1), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11

Fadiyah, H., Wahyuni, S., Rahmadiani, O., Nurulaeni, F., & Adela, D. (2024). Analysis of the use of manipulative media to understand mathematical concepts elementary school students. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Education, Humanities, and Social Science (ICEHoS 2023) (pp. 27–35). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-249-1_5

Fitriani, R., & Wahyuni, S. (2022). The use of concrete media to improve mathematics learning outcomes. Jurnal Pendidikan Matematika, 16(1).

Lestari, D., & Putra, R. (2023). Improving students’ conceptual understanding through manipulative media. Journal of Mathematics Education, 14(2).

Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2020). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Nugroho, A., et al. (2025). Classroom action research model in improving student learning outcomes. Jurnal Pendidikan Indonesia, 9(1).

Nugroho, S., Putri, L. I., & Husna, A. (2022). The effectiveness of manipulative media on understanding the concept of multipling in grade II Madrasah Ibtidaiyah. PrimaryEdu: Journal of Primary Education, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.22460/pej.v6i1.2857

Rahmawati, R. (2020). Implementation of classroom action research in improving learning quality. Jurnal Didaktika Pendidikan Dasar, 4(2), 335–356.

Rahmawati, S., & Wardana, I. (2026). Development of digital learning media for fraction concepts. Indonesian Journal of Innovation Studies, 27(1).

Rosalin, D., & Tatang, H. (2024). Montessori-based manipulative media in mathematics learning. Journal of Early Childhood Education, 9(1).

Rukono, R., Raharjo, T. J., & Pramono, S. E. (2025a). Effectiveness of manipulative media in improving learning outcomes of fraction addition in elementary school. International Journal of Education, Information Technology, and Others, 8(3.B), 89–95. https://jurnal.peneliti.net/index.php/IJEIT/article/view/12025

Rukono, R., Raharjo, T. J., & Pramono, S. E. (2025b). Effectiveness of manipulative media in improving learning outcomes of fraction addition in elementary school. Jurnal Ilmiah Wahana Pendidikan, 11(5.B), 318–326. https://jurnal.peneliti.net/index.php/JIWP/article/view/12042

Sugiyono. (2021). Metode penelitian kuantitatif, kualitatif, dan R&D. Alfabeta.

Utomo, B., et al. (2024). Data collection techniques in classroom action research. Jurnal Pendidikan dan Evaluasi, 8(1).

Wahyuni, S., & Hasanah, U. (2023). Activity-based learning in mathematics education. Journal of Educational Research, 17(2).

Wikanta, W., & Sumandya, I. W. (2023). Implementation of CAR cycles in improving student learning outcomes. Jurnal Pendidikan Matematika, 12(2).

Wilkie, K. J., & Roche, A. (2023). Primary teachers’ preferred fraction models and manipulatives for solving fraction tasks and for teaching. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 26, 703–733. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-022-09542-7

Yensy, N. A. (2021). The method to solve problems about fraction by using the manipulative media. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Educational Sciences and Teacher Profession (ICETeP 2020) (pp. 338–342). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.210227.057

Zhang, L., et al. (2024). Students’ difficulties in learning fraction concepts. International Journal of STEM Education, 11(3).


Explore Our Journals
Find the most suitable journal for your research. If this journal does not fully align with the scope of your manuscript, we invite you to explore our wider portfolio of journals covering diverse fields of study. Please select one of the journals below to identify the most appropriate publication platform for your work.