Teacher’s Knowledge of Students about Geometry
Keywords:
Teachers' knowledge; Students' misconceptions; Angles in geometryAbstract
This study investigated the adequacy of mathematics teachers
in terms of the ability to identify students' missing knowledge and
suggest strategies to address students' difficulties. The participants were
37 secondary school mathematics teachers teaching in senior classes. The
teachers' years of experience range from 3-10. The teachers were
requested to respond to 4 open-ended questions, and the items in the
questionnaire required them to identify what knowledge the student
lacked and what strategies could be used to help the student. The study
revealed that most of the teachers could not indicate the student's
missing knowledge with respect to angles in parallel lines. The teachers
were also unable to help the student, as they could not suggest specific
ways that would help remove the student's difficulties.
References
Archavsky, N. & Goldenberg, P. (2005). Perceptions of a quadrilateral in a dynamic environment. In: D. Carraher, R. Nemirovsky (Eds.), Medium and meaning: video papers in Mathematics Education research, Journal of Research in Mathematics Education Monograph XIII. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Asquith, P., Stephens, A., Knuth, E., & Alibali, M. (2007). Middle school teachers’ understanding of core algebraic concepts: Equal sign and variable. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 9(3), 249-272.
Baumert, J., Kunter, M., Blum, W., Brunner, M., Voss, T., Jordan, A., et al. (2010). Teachers’ mathematical knowledge, cognitive activation in the classroom, and student progress. American Educational Research Journal, 47, 133–180.
Biber, C., Tuna, A. & Korkmaz, S. (2013). The mistakes and the misconceptions of the eighth grade students on the subject of angles. European Journal of science and mathematics education, 1 (2), 50-59.
Carpenter, T. P., Fennema, E. Peterson, P. L., Carey D. A. (1988). Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Students' Problem Solving in Elementary Arithmetic. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, Vol. 19, No. 5, pp. 385-401.
Clements, D. H. & Battista, M. T. (1992). Geometry and spatial reasoning. In D. A. Grouws (Ed), Handbook on mathematics teaching and learning. (pp. 420-464). New York: Macmillan.
Cohen, D. K., Raudenbush, S. W., & Ball, D. L. (2003). Resources, instruction, and research. Educational evaluation and policy analysis, 25(2), 119-142.
Feza, N. & Webb, P. (2005). Assessment standards, van Hiele levels, and grade seven learners’ understanding of geometry. Pythagoras 62, 36-47.
Fischbein, E. & Nachlieli, T. (1998). Concepts and figures in geometrical reasoning. International Journal of Science Education, 20 (10), 1193–1211
French, D. (2004). Teaching and Learning Geometry. London: Continuum.
Hill, H. C., Ball, D. L., & Schilling, S. G. (2008). Unpacking pedagogical content knowledge: Conceptualizing and measuring teachers' topic-specific knowledge of students. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 39(4), 372–400.
Hill, H.,Chin, M. & Blazar, D. (2015). Teachers’ knowledge of students: Defining a domain.
Marchis, I. (2008). Geometry in primary school mathematics, Educatia 21, vol. 6, 131-139.
Marchis, I. (2012). Preservice primary school teachers’ elementary geometry knowledge.
Mayberry, J. W. (1983). The van Hiele levels of geometric thought in undergraduate preservice teachers. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. 14, 58-69.
Mitchelmore, M. C. (1997). Children’s Informal Knowledge of Physical Angle Situations. Cognition and Instruction, 7 (1), 1-19.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (1989). Curriculum and Evaluation standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Ozerem, A. (2012).Misconceptions in geometry and suggested solutions for seventh grade students. International Journal of New Trends in Arts, Sports & Science Education, 1( 4), 23-35.
Prescott, A., Mitchelmore, M. C., & White, P. (2002). Students’ Difficulties in Abstracting Angle Concepts from Activities with Concrete Material. In the Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australia Incorporated Eric Digest ED 472950.
Premeg, N. (2006). Research on visualization of teaching and learning mathematics. In A. Gutierrez & P. Boero (Eds.), Handbook of Research on the Psychology of Mathematics Education: Past, Present and Future (pp. 205-236). Sense Publishers.
Thirumurthy, V. (2003). Children’s Cognition of Geometry and Spatial Reasoning: A cultural Process. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA.
Zhao, F. (2012). Student Teachers’ Knowledge Structure and Their Professional Development- based on the study of EFL student teachers. Journal of Cambridge Studies, 7,(2),68-82.
Zuya, H. E. (2014). Mathematics teachers’ responses to students’ misconceptions in algebra, International Journal of Research in Education Methodology, 6,( 2), 830-836.Council for Educative Research.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2015 Habila Elisha Zuya, Simon Kevin Kwalat
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
All articles published by IJLTER are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivatives 4.0 International License (CCBY-NC-ND4.0).
