AN INVESTIGATION ON HOW MUCH THE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS LEARN THE PLACE VALUE CONCEPT IN NATURAL NUMBERS

Özet

The purpose of this study is to find out how much the secondary school students can learn the concept of place value and what kind of mistakes those students who can not learn make and why they can not learn. The study universe constitutes a total of 176 students from 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students who have been educated in various secondary schools of Van Province during the 2015-2016 academic year. Semi-structured interview forms have been used to collect data. We have interviewed each student individually and we have also interviewed their teachers individually about why the students can not learn. When the data we have obtained have been examined, it has been seen that the percentage of those who answered the questions related to the concept of place value correctly had been lower for each grade level. For this reason, when a hint is given a slight increase has been observed. As the success level of the students increases, the rate of error making naturally decreases. It has been understood from the interviews with the teachers that they had not used enough material for concreteness. It has been seen that this is a significant disadvantage in learning the place value concept correctly.