Development and Application of a Three-tier Test Diagnostic Instrument to Assess Junior High School Students’ Misconceptions in Algebra

DOI

https://doi.org/10.2991/icamr-18.2019.24How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Algebra, Three-tier Test, misconceptions

Abstract

This paper describes the development and the use of a three-tier diagnostic instrument to identify the misconception of the students in algebra. The three-tier diagnostic test was developed using the theoretical framework by Treagust. The first tier assessed content knowledge; in the second tier, a reason is selected for the content answer; and the third tier allowed students to select how confident they were in their answers for the first two tiers. The final instrument consisted of 10 items. The development from junior high schools grades 7 which have accreditation grade A, B, and C in South Sulawesi. The three-tier test diagnostic instrument used in this study had been assessed in terms of being valid and reliable. The diagnostic test on 167 students from four schools showed that the category to understand the material of 20.4%; amounting to 53.5% misconceptions category and the category did not understand the material of 26.1%. It has been typically identified from the study that student errors and misconceptions pertaining to the following main areas in algebra: Students lacked the relevant understanding of the definition of the degree of variable, variable, coefficients, and constants; Apart from that, students are likely to have misconceptions in solving equations correctly. Furthermore, students lack an understanding of changing problems into mathematical models. The most fundamental misconception surrounding the concept of inequality of students is the lack of knowledge in translating words such as “at least” or “not more than” into mathematical symbols using inequalities.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Nurwati Djam’an
AU  - Prof. Suradi
AU  - Nurdin Arsyad
PY  - 2019/04
DA  - 2019/04
TI  - Development and Application of a Three-tier Test Diagnostic Instrument to Assess Junior High School Students’ Misconceptions in Algebra
BT  - 1st International Conference on Advanced Multidisciplinary Research (ICAMR 2018)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 95
EP  - 97
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/icamr-18.2019.24
DO  - https://doi.org/10.2991/icamr-18.2019.24
ID  - Djam’an2019/04
ER  -