Investigation of students' probabilistic misconceptions


Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, Matematik ve Fen Bilimleri Eğitimi Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2003

Öğrenci: ALİ İHSAN MUT

Danışman: SAFURE BULUT

Özet:

The purpose of the study was to investigate the students̕ probabilistic misconceptions with respect to grade level, previous instruction on probability and gender. The sample of the study was 885 students from different types of the schools (general high schools, private collages, Anatolian high school, vocational high schools, and elementary schools) and from grade levels (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10). The sample represented a range of students with respect to socio-economic level and cultural background. To collect data for the study Probabilistic Misconception Test (PMT) and a questionnaire were administered. The test consisted of 14 problems from 8 probabilistic misconception types. Its content validity was tested. The data of the study were analyzed by means of SPSS. Each misconception type is investigated with respect to all variables. The results of the study revealed that: (a) The frequencies of all misconception types varied across grade levels. (b) The percentages of students who received instruction on probability in the school were higher than those who did not received instruction in terms of misconceptions on Effect of Sample Size and Time Axis Fallacy. In addition, the other misconception types were more frequent among the students who did not receive a certain instruction on probability than the students who received a certain instruction probability before the study; (c) The frequencies of all misconception types varied across gender.