Abstract

DIAGNOSIS OF STUDENTS? MISCONCEPTIONS ON CONSTRUCTION OF GRAPHICAL QUADRATIC EQUATIONS (GQE)

Onowighose, M.E. & Charles-Ogan, G.

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Abstract This study diagnosed students? misconceptions on construction of graphical quadratic equations. The population of the study comprised of the Senior Secondary School two (SS2) and three (SS3) students of grammar school, Ozuoba, Rivers state. 40 students were selected using purposive sampling technique. The instrument used in the study was Diagnostic Test on Graphical Quadratic Equation ?DTGQE?. DTGQE comprised 10 objective questions with 4 options A-D and 2 essay questions of WAEC standard. The validation of the instrument was done by two experts in the Department of Curriculum Studies and Educational Technology, University of Port-Harcourt. The reliability of DTGQE was determined by test-retest using pearson product moment correlation in order to determine the stability of the instrument. Reliability index of 0.76 was obtained for DTGQE. Frequency counts and percentages were used to answer the research questions, while Chi-square was used in testing the hypothesis formulated for the study at 0.05 level of significance. The result revealed that there are 92 misconceptions observed out of the 160 possibilities from the 40 students. Day students had 64 and boarding students 28 out of the 92 misconceptions. It implies that there is 57.5% misconceptions observed with a setback of those who did not answer the questions. Based on the findings of the study, students and teachers should be familiar with the key concepts of construction of GQE for effective performance. Also, Mathematics teachers should see the need to diagnose their students? misconceptions and lay more emphasis on those areas when they are teaching to avoid errors. Key words: Diagnosis, Misconception, Graph and Quadratic equations.

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