An Investigation into the Performance Solution Strategies and Difficulties in Middle School Students Calculation of the Volume of a Rectangular Prism

2014-01-01
Reyhan, Tekin Sitrava
Işıksal Bostan, Mine
Show full item record
259
views
0
downloads
This qualitative study examined middle school students' performance, solution strategies, difficulties and the underlying reasons for their difficulties in calculating the volume of a rectangular prism. The data was collected from 35 middle school students (6th, 7th and 8th grade students) enrolled in a private school in Istanbul, Turkey. The data was obtained from a questionnaire involving 3 problems and one-to-one semi-structured interviews with all the participants after the application of the questionnaire. The results revealed that the students had a moderate level of performance in terms of calculating the volume of a rectangular prism. Moreover, the analysis showed that students were able to create a limited number of solution strategies for the given problems. In addition, some students were not able to correctly calculate the volume of a rectangular prism and they had difficulties in calculating the volume of a rectangular prism. A discussion of findings and recommendations for future research studies are given.
Qualitative Research, Middle School Students, Secondary School Mathematics, Mathematics Instruction, Questionnaires, Foreign Countries, Semi Structured Interviews, Mathematics Skills, Computation, Problem Solving, Geometry, Measurement, Content Analysis
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/84709
International Journal for Mathematics Teaching and Learning
Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Article

Suggestions

An Integrated use of vectorial approach with analytical and synthetic approaches: a teaching experiment with eleventh grade students on quadrilaterals
Mut, Ali İhsan; Bulut, Safure; Department of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education (2016)
The purposes of this research were to investigate the contributions of the instruction in which vectorial approach was integrated with synthetic and analytic approaches on quadrilaterals to the eleventh grade students’ problem solving strategies, to determine how the participants decided the type of approach to be utilized while solving problems on quadrilaterals, to specify major components of the instruction, and to examine the reflections of the participants’ on the instruction. Teaching experiment metho...
Investigating middle school students’ achievement and strategies in proportional reasoning problems
Yılmaz, Gamze Öze; Akyüz, Didem; Department of Elementary Science and Mathematics Education (2019)
The aims of the study are to specify the academic achievement of the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade students in proportional reasoning problems, to determine how the academic achievement of these students change according to problem types, to examine their solution strategies in these problems, and to reveal how these strategies diversify from fifth to eighth grade. To collect data in order to achieve these aims, a proportional reasoning test were prepared. The study was designed as a mixed study. I...
An Investigation of prospective elementary mathematics teachers' probabilistic misconceptions and reasons underlying these misconceptions
İlgün, Münevver; Işıksal Bostan, Mine; Department of Elementary Science and Mathematics Education (2013)
The purpose of this study was to determine performance of prospective elementary mathematics teachers on answering the items handling the probabilistic misconceptions. The other aim was to investigate the underlying reasons behind these misconceptions of prospective elementary mathematics teachers. To address these aims, qualitative approach was performed. The sample of this study was obtained through convenience sampling. Data were gathered during 2011-2012 spring semester by administering Probability Misc...
The effects of problem solving on the topic of functions on problem solving performance, attitude toward problem solving and mathematics
Özalkan, Bilgen Ege; Bulut, Safure; Department of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education (2010)
The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of Problem Solving Method on 9th grade students‟ problem solving performance and attitudes toward mathematics and problem solving. This study was done in 2007-2008 academic year, in a private high school in Ankara. In the present study the experimental-control group pre-test post-test research design was used. The study was done with 67 students of the private high school. Experimental group was instructed with Problem Solving Method and control group w...
Investigation into prospective middle school mathematics teachers' noticing of students' algebraic thinking within the context of pattern generalization
Özel, Zeynep.; Işıksal Bostan, Mine; Department of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education (2019)
The purpose of this study was to investigate prospective middle school mathematics teachers’ noticing skills of students’ algebraic thinking within the context of pattern generalization. In order to obtain in- depth exploration and understanding of issue, the qualitative research method, in particular, the case study design was used. Thirty-two prospective teachers who were studying at one of the public universities located in Ankara were selected via purposive sampling as participants. Data was collected i...
Citation Formats
T. S. Reyhan and M. Işıksal Bostan, “An Investigation into the Performance Solution Strategies and Difficulties in Middle School Students Calculation of the Volume of a Rectangular Prism,” International Journal for Mathematics Teaching and Learning, pp. 2–27, 2014, Accessed: 00, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/84709.
METU IIS - Integrated Information Service open@metu.edu.tr