How Middle School Students Deal
with Rational Numbers? A Mixed
Methods Research Study

Sebahat Yetim; Ramazan Alkan

doi:10.12973/eurasia.2013.9211a

How Middle School Students Deal with Rational Numbers? A Mixed Methods Research Study

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Sebahat Yetim ¹ ^* , Ramazan Alkan ¹

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¹ Gazi Üniversitesi, TURKEY^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify 7th grade students’ common mistakes and/or misconceptions about representing rational numbers in different forms. Seventy-three 7th grade students participated in this study. We utilized a diagnostic test with 8 questions in order to determine common student mistakes. For identifying misconceptions, we conducted interviews with 25 of the participants purposefully chosen from among the ones who made mistakes more frequently. The data analysis showed that students had difficulties especially in determining rational numbers, relating rational numbers with decimals, representing rational numbers, and rational-number division. Moreover, the current study also revealed students’ misconceptions about dividing by zero and division of integers (with + – signs). The results suggest that using concrete materials and multiple representations would be more beneficial for overcoming these difficulties and for a sound understanding of the abstract nature of rational numbers.

Keywords

mixed methods research
rational numbers
common mistakes
misconceptions

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2013, Volume 9, Issue 2, 213-221

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.9211a

Publication date: 14 Dec 2013

Article Views: 1841

Article Downloads: 2273

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How to cite this article

APA

Yetim, S., & Alkan, R. (2013). How Middle School Students Deal with Rational Numbers? A Mixed Methods Research Study. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 9(2), 213-221. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.9211a

Vancouver

Yetim S, Alkan R. How Middle School Students Deal with Rational Numbers? A Mixed Methods Research Study. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2013;9(2):213-21. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.9211a

AMA

Yetim S, Alkan R. How Middle School Students Deal with Rational Numbers? A Mixed Methods Research Study. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2013;9(2), 213-221. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.9211a

Chicago

Yetim, Sebahat, and Ramazan Alkan. "How Middle School Students Deal with Rational Numbers? A Mixed Methods Research Study". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2013 9 no. 2 (2013): 213-221. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.9211a

Harvard

Yetim, S., and Alkan, R. (2013). How Middle School Students Deal with Rational Numbers? A Mixed Methods Research Study. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 9(2), pp. 213-221. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.9211a

MLA

Yetim, Sebahat et al. "How Middle School Students Deal with Rational Numbers? A Mixed Methods Research Study". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 9, no. 2, 2013, pp. 213-221. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.9211a