No abstract

The aim of this research was to investigate high achievers' erroneous answers and misconceptions on the angle concept. The participants consisted of 233 grade 6 students drawn from eight classes in two well-established elementary schools of Trabzon, Turkey. All participants were considered to be current achievers in mathematics, graded 4 or 5 out of 5, and selected via a purposive sampling method. Data were collected through six questions reflecting the learning competencies set out in the grade 6 curriculum in Turkey and the findings of previous studies that aimed to identify students' misconceptions of the angle concept. This questionnaire was then applied over a 40 minute period in each class. The findings were analyzed by two researchers whose inter-rater agreement was computed as 0.97, or almost perfect. Thereafter, coding discrepancies were resolved, and consensus was established. We found that although the participants in this study were high achievers, they still held several misconceptions on the angle concept such as recognizing a straight angle or a right angle in different orientations. We also show how some of these misconceptions could have arisen due to the definitions or representations used in the textbook, and offer suggestions concerning their content in the future.

No abstract

Within recent years, history of mathematics (HoM) has become an increasingly popular topic. Studies have shown that student reactions to it depend on the ways they use history of mathematics. The present action research study aimed to make students deduce volume rules of frustum pyramids using the dissection method. Participants were 24 grade eight students from Trabzon. Observations, informal interviews and feedback forms were used as data collection tools. Worksheets were distributed to students and the research was conducted in 3 class hours. Student views on the activities were obtained through a written feedback form consisting of 4 questions. During the study, most students could assemble the parts forming frustum pyramids and find out volume rules of frustum square pyramids and frustum rectangular pyramids calculating the volumes of the geometric shapes obtained through that assembly. Several students had difficulties in recognizing geometric shapes as well as completing the calculations. The findings revealed that, prior to the study, most students were not able to complete similar activities and the mathematics course was taught in a teacher-centered way. Students found the activities interesting as well as instructing.

This study aimed to explore secondary school mathematics teachers' use of history of mathematics in their classes and their knowledge levels in this field. The population of the study comprised 58 secondary school mathematics teachers working at Yozgat city center, and the sample included 32 mathematics teachers from 10 schools who volunteered to take place in the study. These mathematics teachers were administrated an 11-item short-answer history of mathematics knowledge level test along with a 5-item written opinion form to identify their history of mathematics use. The findings showed that most teachers did not use history of mathematics in their classes, yet those who used history of mathematics did so by mentioning the life stories of mathematicians and the contributions of ancient civilizations to mathematics to motivate students at the beginning of their classes. The mean score of teachers who participate in this study at the history of mathematics knowledge test was computed 3.5 indicating that their knowledge levels concerning the history of mathematics were low. Additionally, it was found that those who did not use history of mathematics in their classes scored lower in the history of mathematics knowledge test than those who used it in their classes.