Investigation of 9th grade students’ geometrical figure apprehension

Abstract

In the present study, the aim was to investigate 9th grade students’ geometrical figure apprehension. To this end, the Figure Apprehension Cognitive Processes Test (FACPT), constructed by the researchers of the study, was administered to 51 ninth grade students, with whom clinical interviews were also conducted. As a result of the data analysed, it was found that the perceptual, discursive and operative types of apprehension of more than half of the students were not at enough level for high school geometry. Most of the students were found to be unsuccessful in recognizing the various sub-figures present within a geometric figure, in transforming verbal information to visual information, in deriving at verbal information based on visual information, in arriving at conclusions without being influenced by the appearance of a figure, and in decomposing and recomposing geometric figures. This shows that teachers need to focus on not only conceptual knowledge but also the structure of the figure apprehension processes of students prior to geometry classes. © 2018 Eurasian Society of Educational Research. All Rights Reserved.