An investigation into junior high school students’ conceptual errors on absolute value

• Main Authors: Kuo, Ying Yu, 郭盈瑜
• Other Authors: Tam, Hak Ping
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/18992482480331455016

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 應用數學系數學教學碩士在職專班 === 102 === This study aims to explore the kinds of difficulties encountered by junior high school students in solving problems related to absolute value as well as analyzing and identifying the probable causes of such difficulties. It is hoped that the results from this attempt can provide teachers with useful information regarding how to improve their instructional practices and plan remedial instruction, thereby enhancing their teaching effectiveness. The main methodology for this study is survey design supplemented with clinical interviews that allowed for in-depth information collection regarding problem solving strategies and difficulties from selected respondents. During the first stage, a literature review was conducted on research studies that focused on absolute values. This was followed by discussions with several junior high school mathematics teachers relating to learning difficulties they observed. Subsequently, a paper and pencil test instrument on absolute values with three main dimensions was compiled by the author to test the learning status of the participating students. Their performances would form the basis for selecting them to participate in the second stage of the study, namely, the interview phase. All clinical interviews were unstructured and they were recorded and transcribed into verbal records. Analyses were then performed to identify the presence of conceptual misunderstandings and explored the causes of such difficulties. It was found that students’ conceptual errors on absolute values can be classified into five different types, namely, oversimplifying the definition of absolute value into mnemonic phrases, inability to perform inscriptional transformation between geometric properties and arithmetical concepts of absolute values, incomprehension of the relationships among the synonyms related to the concept of absolute value, over-generalizing the definition of absolute values and difficulties in understanding the connotation behind letter symbols. Several suggestions regarding instructional practices as well as future direction of research based on the present findings were provided at the end of this study.