Identification of Misconceptions in Geometry among Senior Secondary School Students in Port Harcourt Metropolis

Abstract

This study was conducted to identify misconceptions in geometry among senior secondary school students in Port-Harcourt Metropolis. The study was guided by two specific objectives and two research questions. The study adopted a pre-experimental design. The population of the study was all 28,204 senior secondary school students from the 35 public senior secondary schools in the study area out of which four secondary schools (two from each local government area under the metropolis) were selected using purposive sampling. 301 SSS II senior secondary students participated in this study. The instrument used for data collection in the study was a Geometry Diagnostic Three-tier Test” (GDTT) with stability index of 0.81 and internal consistency of 0.78. Data for the research questions were analyzed using frequency count and percentages. The result of the study showed that:(i) some students demonstrated lack of knowledge, scientific concepts, false positive and false negative conception and misconception (ii) students showed misconceptions of different types including: perceiving a square as not a square if it is not on a horizontal base, use of bottom line as the base of the triangle in calculating the area of a triangle, thinking that larger space is larger angle, poor understanding of angles in parallel lines and poor understanding of properties of quadrilaterals