Identifying misconceptions of 5th grade students regarding triangles and quadrilaterals

OpenAlex English

This study aimed to identify fifth-grade students' misconceptions about triangles and quadrilaterals. A two-tier diagnostic test developed by the researchers was used to identify students' misconceptions. The content validity of the test questions was assessed using the Davis Technique form and expert’s opinion; validity, reliability, and discriminative properties were analyzed using the TAP programme through a pilot application with 52 participants. The main applications of the research were conducted with 204 students in four different schools in the province of Ordu. According to the research results, misconceptions were identified in the types of overgeneralization, overspecification, misinterpretation, and limited perception regarding naming polygons, creating them, and defining their basic elements. It was found that students had misconceptions in the types of overgeneralization and limited perception regarding creating triangles based on their angles and sides and classifying different triangles based on their side and angle properties. It was determined that 5th grade students had misconceptions in the types of overgeneralization, mistranslation, and restricted perception regarding identifying and drawing the basic elements of rectangles, parallelograms, rhombuses, and trapezoids. It was determined that students only had misconceptions of the type of limited perception regarding determining the sum of the interior angles of triangles and quadrilaterals and finding the unknown angle.