TITLE:
The Effect of Activity-Based Teaching on Remedying the Probability-Related Misconceptions: A Cross-Age Comparison
AUTHORS:
Ramazan Gürbüz, Emrullah Erdem, Selçuk Fırat
KEYWORDS:
Activity-Based Teaching; Misconception; Probability; Cross-Age
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.5 No.1,
January
26,
2014
ABSTRACT:
The aim of this paper is to compare the effect of activity-based
teaching on remedying probability-related misconceptions of students at
different grades. Thus, a cross-sectional/age
study was conducted with a total of 74 students in 6th-8th grades. Experimental instructions
were given to all the groups three times/ week, 40 min/session, for 2 weeks. Students’ progress was examined by pre-test and
post-test measurements. The
results of the analysis showed that, as a result of the intervention, all graders’ post-test
scores regarding all the concepts (PC: Probability
Comparison, E: Equiprobability and R: Representativeness) showed a significant increase when compared to pre-test
scores. It was found out that this increase did not create a significant
difference based on age in PC concept, but that in 8th grade students, it showed a significant
difference in E and R concepts compared to 6th graders. On the other hand, it
was also assessed that the increases observed between 7th and 8th graders with
regard to E and R concepts were not significant. In summary, the implemented intervention can be
suggested to have different effects depending on age and the concept.