FOURTH GRADE STUDENTS’ GEOMETRICAL REASONING RELATED TO 2D AND 3D SHAPES

Date

2023-8-14

Author

Karaca, Elif Tuğçe

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The purpose of the current study was to investigate 4th graders' geometrical reasoning related to 2D and 3D shapes within the context of the geometry objectives in the elementary school mathematics curriculum and to identify students' understanding of the specified components of geometrical reasoning, which are defining, describing, classifying, comparing, visualizing, and constructing 2D and 3D shapes. The second purpose was determining 4th graders' difficulties while undertaking the specified 2D and 3D geometry tasks. Qualitative research methodology, particularly a case study, was employed to elaborate on how well the students comprehend the 2D and 3D shapes in geometry tasks and their difficulties. To that end, the data were collected from 4th-grade students at elementary schools in the 2017-2018 academic year. The data sources are written assessment tasks related to six components of the study and semi-structured interviews with the students.The findings revealed that students' geometrical reasoning related to 2D and 3D shapes varied based on the six components of the study. Regarding geometric reasoning, the students have correct and incorrect reasoning while comprehending 2D and 3D shapes, and they did not perform as expected at elementary school level geometry objectives held in the curriculum. The themes that emerged from the study regarding the geometrical reasoning of students are mostly based on reasoning with counting, prototypical defining properties, reasoning with labeling the relevant attributes, and reasoning with comparing commonly known shapes. The students’ incorrect geometrical reasoning related to 2D and 3D shapes mostly relied on using inaccurate terminology, misunderstandings about the differences of dimensions of 2D and 3D shapes, performed not as expected in composing and decomposing abilities, using inaccurate analogies about shapes and can not make formal geometrical reasonings related to shapes. The findings also revealed that students encounter similar difficulties while undertaking the specified assessment tasks regarding the six components of the study. 4th graders have common difficulties regarding 2D and 3D shapes, mainly due to incorrect geometrical reasonings. The common difficulties observed in six components were such as confusion between 2D and 3D shapes, misidentifying 3D shapes as their 2D counterparts; reliance on analogies with non-geometric shapes to define 3D shapes, and overgeneralizing the shapes' names for 2D and 3D versions, and the language specific challenges caused by the use of informal and inaccurate geometrical terminology.

Subject Keywords

geometrical reasoning, 2D shapes, 3D shapes, elementary school students

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/104848

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis