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Fraction is an important topic in school math curriculum. The study of fraction not only enables students to perform computations but it also provides a foundation for later work such as decimals, ratio, and percent (Son, 2011). However, most students’ believe that fraction is a very difficult concept to understand. One of the underlying reasons for this belief could be the instructional strategies because normally teachers focus on drill-and-practice approach rather than emphasizing conceptual understanding of fraction. One way to make learning-fraction more meaningful is by integrating math manipulatives. The usage of manipulatives is expected to help students to understand primarily conceptual understanding of fraction. In this study, instructor utilized manipulatives including other instructional strategies to teach fraction concepts in mathed322 during Fall 2015.

Due to various benefits, usages of manipulatives has been significantly increased in teaching and learning mathematics. Suh, Johnston, & Douds (2008) identified various benefits of manipulatives. Some of them are to (1) provide immediate feedback to learners so that they avoid misconception,(2) provide connection and visualization between numeric and visual representation,(3) help mathematizing, and (4) offer opportunities to teach in and represent mathematical ideas in nontraditional ways. Thus, this study is designed to investigate students’ beliefs regarding the learning and understanding fraction concept. It is also aimed at finding the role of manipulatives helping students’ change their belief and understanding fraction. The following research questions have been set for this study: