Sources of students’ errors and misconceptions in algebra and influence of classroom practice remediation in secondary schools Machakos Sub-County, Kenya
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Date
2016-07
Authors
Mulungye, Mary Mbathe
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
This study sought to examine the various errors and misconception committed by students in
algebra with the view to exposing the nature and origin of the errors and misconceptions in
secondary schools in Machakos district. Teachers‟ knowledge of students‟ errors was
investigated together with strategies for dealing with them. The various teaching methods and
how they contribute to the alleviation of the errors were also investigated. The underlying
theoretical view of learning was constructivist, namely that students commit errors in the
course of their efforts to construct meaning within mathematical situations. According to
Merriam & Ceffarella (1999) “Meaning is made by the individual and dependent upon the
individuals‟ previous and current knowledge structure”. Therefore to make sense of a new
material the individual will have to use the existing knowledge. Descriptive survey design
was adopted and carried out in fifteen out of one hundred and forty two schools in Machakos
district. The study used a sample of four hundred and thirty form two students and fifteen
mathematics teachers of the respective classes at the time of the study. Data comprised of the
results from mathematics students tests (MST), student interview schedule (SIS) and
mathematics teachers‟ questionnaire (MTQ). The validation of the instruments was done in
one randomly selected secondary school which was not included in the main study. The data
collected was coded and analyzed using descriptive statistics. This involved organization of
statistical data in form of frequency distribution tables, whose explanation was mainly
descriptive. The findings indicated that the students make errors and that they have
misconceptions in algebra. The findings of the study indicated that most (63%) students
experienced difficulties with the word problem while equations had the least percentage
(22.3%) of errors. Variables and expressions had percentage errors of 39.6% and 40.9%
respectively. The results also revealed that mathematics teachers were aware of the errors that
the students make. The prediction of the errors in this study was a manifestation of how well
aware teachers are of students errors and misconception in algebra. As a result the teachers
did make attempts to counteract such errors in algebraic class. However only38% of the
teachers diagnosed difficulties and misconceptions involved while 62% of the teachers were
interested in assessing manipulations. This shows that though the main purpose of this study
was to identify errors that would inform classroom instruction the error/misconception
identification did not necessarily lead to instructional strategies that address students‟
difficulties. The major difficulty seems to lie with the teachers‟ ability to make use of the
knowledge they have on student error, rather than their awareness of the errors. This reveals
that there are deficiencies in the teaching of algebra. Teachers will need assistance not only in
error identification but also how the error would be built in the whole process of learning.
More emphasis should be put on students‟ understanding of the algebraic concepts in order to
eliminate rot learning and cramming which contribute to most of these errors. To enhance
teachers‟ use of student‟s experiences, teacher education will need to focus on encouraging a
variety of ways of teacher-student interaction during which students‟ mathematical ideas
should be considered exhaustively.
Description
A research thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for award of the degree of master of education in the school of education, of Kenyatta University. July, 2016. Call Number - QA 159 .K4M8
Keywords
Algebra -- Study and teaching -- Machakos -- Kenya, Mathematics -- Remedial teaching -- Machakos -- Kenya