Open AccessElementary Students' Understanding of Geometrical Measurement in Three Dimensions
Author(s) -
Kim Eun Mi,
Oláh Leslie Nabors
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
ets research report series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.235
H-Index - 5
ISSN - 2330-8516
DOI - 10.1002/ets2.12250
Subject(s) - mathematics education , psychology , domain (mathematical analysis) , cognition , object (grammar) , perimeter , variation (astronomy) , cognitive psychology , geometry , mathematics , artificial intelligence , computer science , mathematical analysis , physics , neuroscience , astrophysics
In this study, we investigated the potential of a hypothesized geometrical measurement learning progression (LP) to examine students' thinking and understanding in this domain. We interviewed 30 third to fifth graders using 3 LP‐based cognitive tasks that asked the students to find the length, perimeter, area, surface area, and volume measurement of a given object. We analyzed the students' responses to the tasks to examine variation in levels of the students' geometrical measurement understanding and found evidence of understanding at 5 successive levels of a geometrical measurement LP in 1, 2, and 3 dimensions. From these findings, we concluded that an LP can be a practical tool for understanding students' existing thinking and understanding in a targeted domain and has the potential to support students' further learning in the domain.