John P. Papadouris, Vassilis Komis, Konstantinos Lavidas
{"title":"Errors and misconceptions of secondary school students in absolute values: a systematic literature review","authors":"John P. Papadouris, Vassilis Komis, Konstantinos Lavidas","doi":"10.1007/s13394-024-00499-9","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Although absolute value is of interest to mathematics teaching researchers, since many students face problems with it, there does not seem to be an integrated record of students’ errors. The present study attempts to conduct a systematic review to identify and categorize errors and misconceptions of secondary school students aged 12–18 concerning the concept of absolute value. Following the PRISMA method, empirical studies published in English later since 1990 studying the errors and misconceptions of secondary school students with absolute value were looked up through the databases Scopus and Web of Sciences as well as through the Google Scholar search engine. From the 11 empirical studies that were eventually found, a categorization of misconceptions and corresponding errors arose. The first main category concerns the transition from the arithmetic to the algebraic domain while the second main category concerns the definition of absolute value in the form of a piecewise function. It is noteworthy that these two categories sometimes interact and are linked. Based on these findings, practical implications are discussed that strengthen the understanding of mathematical literacy.</p>","PeriodicalId":46887,"journal":{"name":"Mathematics Education Research Journal","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Mathematics Education Research Journal","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-024-00499-9","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Although absolute value is of interest to mathematics teaching researchers, since many students face problems with it, there does not seem to be an integrated record of students’ errors. The present study attempts to conduct a systematic review to identify and categorize errors and misconceptions of secondary school students aged 12–18 concerning the concept of absolute value. Following the PRISMA method, empirical studies published in English later since 1990 studying the errors and misconceptions of secondary school students with absolute value were looked up through the databases Scopus and Web of Sciences as well as through the Google Scholar search engine. From the 11 empirical studies that were eventually found, a categorization of misconceptions and corresponding errors arose. The first main category concerns the transition from the arithmetic to the algebraic domain while the second main category concerns the definition of absolute value in the form of a piecewise function. It is noteworthy that these two categories sometimes interact and are linked. Based on these findings, practical implications are discussed that strengthen the understanding of mathematical literacy.
期刊介绍:
The Mathematics Education Research Journal seeks to promote high quality research that is of interest to the international community. The Mathematics Education Research Journal seeks to present research that promotes new knowledge, ideas, methodologies and epistemologies in the field of mathematics education. The Mathematics Education Research Journal actively seeks to promote research from the Australasian region either as research conducted in the region; conducted by researchers from the region and/or draws on research from the region. The Mathematics Education Research Journal accepts papers from authors from all regions internationally but authors must draw on the extensive research that has been produced in the Australasian region. The Mathematics Education Research Journal normally does not encourage publication of teacher education programs or courses. These are more suited for theother MERGA journal, Mathematics Teacher Education and Development.