A Study on the Datum Problem in Middle School Geometry

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to systematically analyze the problems with characteristics of data in the geometric domain of middle school textbooks to improve students" problem solving ability. Additionally, this study was conducted to facilitate an understanding of the problem solving tendency of students regarding the data problem. For this purpose, we analyzed the datum problems in the middle school textbook geometric domain, developed the questionnaires based on the data, and analyzed the problem solving characteristics of students. This study established the following research questions. First, what is the datum problem in the geometry of middle school textbooks, and what is the percentage of the total? Second, what are the characteristics of solving students" problems according to the type of datum problem? Third, what characteristics do students have in solving problems according to the format of the datum problem? Through the analysis of the results, first, when comparing the overall average of the correct response rate, the correct response rate for the FD problems was the highest and the correct response rate for the RD problems was the lowest. Second, In the classification of forms, Form 1 and Form 3 have the same mathematical content to solve the problem and the same or similar procedures to solve the problem. But there was a difference in the correct response rate. Third, the correct answer rate for the RD problems of Form 2 and Form 4 was lower than that of Form 1 and Form 3. The RD problems of Form 2 and Form 4 required mathematical content beyond the curriculum of the school year. Although the content of the geometry is a key idea of problem solving, the mathematical the content of algebra required to solve the problem was at a high level compared to the FD problems.

Keywords

• mathematics problems
• form of math problem
• the data
• datum problem
• geometry problem