A Model of Teachers' Thinking of Students' Misconceptions About the Concept of Perimeter and Area: A Grounded Theory Study

Subject Areas : Research in Curriculum Planning

mahya zare ¹ , Mehdi Izadi ² , Ebrahim Reyhani ³

1 - Masters Student, Mathematics group, Faculty of Science, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran
2 - PhD in Mathematics Education, Organization for Educational Research and Planning Ministry of Education, Tehran, Iran
3 - Associate Professor of Mathematics Education, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran.

Received: 2024-03-16 Accepted : 2025-09-30 Published : 2025-10-18

Keywords: misconception, perimeter, area, primary school teachers and grounded theory.,

Abstract :

The present research was conducted with the aim of providing a model of primary teachers' thinking about students' misconceptions of the concepts of perimeter and area. The approach of this research was "qualitative" and the method used in it was the "grounded theory" method. Among the existing approaches, the systematic approach of Strauss and Corbin was chosen. The study is in the field of mathematics education and scope of the research was the primary school teachers of Meybod city located in Yazd province, whose selection was done purposefully based on two criteria: being formal and being interested in the field. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data in this study, and the interviews continued until reaching the theoretical saturation stage, which was achieved after 16 studies. The data were analyzed by "coding" and "categorization" in three stages of open, central and selective coding. The findings of the research showed that the central category in primary teachers' thinking about students' misconceptions of the concepts of perimeter and area is "cognitive deficiency". According to the teachers, the nature of these misconceptions are: the student's lack of understanding of the concept, the inability to use the concept mentally, and replacing the concept with another concept. Also, according to them; Several factors cause these misconceptions, the most important of which are teachers' teaching methods, students' schemas and insufficient experiences, and inappropriate content. According to the results of this research, if these misconceptions are not identified in time, they can cause negative consequences; At the same time, if they are identified in time, they can be used as rich opportunities to improve the education process of students. In future researches, the model presented in this study can be used to analyze teachers' understanding and content of textbooks regarding perimeter and are.

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