Students' challenges with the figural concepts in geometry

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

1 Department of Mathematics, - Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University

2 Master of Science in Mathematics Education,

Abstract

Geometry is one of the most challenging math courses that has attracted the attention of many math educators from past to present. Understanding geometric figures plays a crucial role in understanding school geometry. Different geometric figures can be seen everywhere in geometry textbooks, and it can be said that recognizing and relating to geometric figures is an important part of the geometry learning process. But research results and teachers' experience show that students face many difficulties in understanding these figures and in understanding figural concepts in general, which is a major obstacle to their geometric reasoning. The purpose of this article, which is done in a library method, is to describe some of these difficulties based on valid research. Many students guess the name of geometric figures only according to their appearance and are not familiar with the main features of each of these figures and rely only on their previous intuitions and experiences in recognizing geometric figures and tend to ignore the definition. Discussions on such topics will raise teachers' awareness of students' learning difficulties, as well as review the process of teaching geometry and improve teaching methods.

Keywords

References

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Van Hiele, P. M. (1959). The child’s thought and geometry. In D. Geddes, D. Fuys, R. Tischler (Eds.),  English translation of selected writings of Dina van Hiele-Geldof and Pierre M. van Hiele, Washington, D.C.: NSF, pp.243-252.
 
Burger, W. F., & Shaughnessy, J. M. (1986). Characterizing the van Hiele levels of development in geometry. Journal for research in mathematics education, 17(1), 31-48.
Clements, D. H., Swaminathan, S., Hannibal, M. A. Z., & Sarama, J. (1999). Young children’s concepts of shape. Journal for research in Mathematics Education, 30(2), 192-212.
Clements, D. H. (2003). Teaching and learning geometry. A research companion to principles and standards for school mathematics, 151-178.
Dinuţă, N. (2015). The use of critical thinking in teaching geometric concepts in primary school. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 180, 788-794.
Duval, R. (1995). Geometrical pictures: Kinds of representation and specific processings, In R. Suttherland and J. Mason (eds.), Exploiting mental imagery with computers in mathematics education, pp. 142-157. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Fischbein, E. (1993). The theory of figural concepts. Educational studies in mathematics, 24(2), 139-162.
Gal, H., & Linchevski, L. (2010). To see or not to see: analyzing difficulties in geometry from the perspective of visual perception. Educational studies in mathematics, 74(2), 163-183.
Jones, K., & Mooney, C. (2003). Making space for geometry in primary mathematics. Enhancing primary mathematics teaching, 3-15.
Van Hiele, P. M. (1959). The child’s thought and geometry. In D. Geddes, D. Fuys, R. Tischler (Eds.),  English translation of selected writings of Dina van Hiele-Geldof and Pierre M. van Hiele, Washington, D.C.: NSF, pp.243-252.

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