Variation in first year college students’ understanding on their conceptions of and approaches to solving mathematical problems / Parmjit Singh

Variation in first year college students’ understanding on their conceptions of and approaches to solving mathematical problems / Parmjit Singh

A primary goal of mathematics learning and teaching in secondary school is to develop student’s ability to solve a wide variety of complex mathematical problems as a preparatory stage for college. complex mathematical problems as a preparatory stage for college. In view of this, the objective of th...

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Main Author: Singh, Parmjit
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: ACRULeT, Faculty of Education & UiTM Press 2009
Online Access:http://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/365/
http://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/365/1/AJ_PARMJIT%20SINGH%20AJUE%2009.pdf
id uitm-365
recordtype eprints
spelling uitm-3652017-12-28T09:13:39Z http://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/365/ Variation in first year college students’ understanding on their conceptions of and approaches to solving mathematical problems / Parmjit Singh Singh, Parmjit A primary goal of mathematics learning and teaching in secondary school is to develop student’s ability to solve a wide variety of complex mathematical problems as a preparatory stage for college. complex mathematical problems as a preparatory stage for college. In view of this, the objective of this paper is to investigate the mastery of content level that first year college students bring with them to the mathematics classroom with reference to their national examination grades (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia). The study investigated the conceptions of 127 student and their heuristic actions in mathematical problem solving. Among these students 98.5% had obtained an A grade in the national examination for mathematics. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches, namely written assessment (five mathematical problems) and interviews were utilized in assessing student’s relational understanding of mathematical concepts in problem solving. The percentage of correct responses from these students, who can be considered as the cream of the crop of the nation, for the five items in the written test were 74.8%, 72.4%, 67.7%, 52.8% and 18.9 %.The data indicates that the grades obtained in the national examination did not reflect their mathematical knowledge in mathematical problem solving. The study concludes that capable mathematics students (the ones who obtained an A grade in the national examination) when placed in the context of non-routine problems have difficulty solving what may be considered elementary mathematics for their level of task achievement. This evidence seemingly indicates that many students from high schools are not acquiring the mathematical skills expected of college level mathematics. ACRULeT, Faculty of Education & UiTM Press 2009-06 Article PeerReviewed text en http://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/365/1/AJ_PARMJIT%20SINGH%20AJUE%2009.pdf Singh, Parmjit (2009) Variation in first year college students’ understanding on their conceptions of and approaches to solving mathematical problems / Parmjit Singh. Asian Journal of University Education (AJUE), 5 (1). pp. 95-118. ISSN 1823-7797
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution Universiti Teknologi MARA
building UiTM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
language English
description A primary goal of mathematics learning and teaching in secondary school is to develop student’s ability to solve a wide variety of complex mathematical problems as a preparatory stage for college. complex mathematical problems as a preparatory stage for college. In view of this, the objective of this paper is to investigate the mastery of content level that first year college students bring with them to the mathematics classroom with reference to their national examination grades (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia). The study investigated the conceptions of 127 student and their heuristic actions in mathematical problem solving. Among these students 98.5% had obtained an A grade in the national examination for mathematics. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches, namely written assessment (five mathematical problems) and interviews were utilized in assessing student’s relational understanding of mathematical concepts in problem solving. The percentage of correct responses from these students, who can be considered as the cream of the crop of the nation, for the five items in the written test were 74.8%, 72.4%, 67.7%, 52.8% and 18.9 %.The data indicates that the grades obtained in the national examination did not reflect their mathematical knowledge in mathematical problem solving. The study concludes that capable mathematics students (the ones who obtained an A grade in the national examination) when placed in the context of non-routine problems have difficulty solving what may be considered elementary mathematics for their level of task achievement. This evidence seemingly indicates that many students from high schools are not acquiring the mathematical skills expected of college level mathematics.
format Article
author Singh, Parmjit
spellingShingle Singh, Parmjit
Variation in first year college students’ understanding on their conceptions of and approaches to solving mathematical problems / Parmjit Singh
author_facet Singh, Parmjit
author_sort Singh, Parmjit
title Variation in first year college students’ understanding on their conceptions of and approaches to solving mathematical problems / Parmjit Singh
title_short Variation in first year college students’ understanding on their conceptions of and approaches to solving mathematical problems / Parmjit Singh
title_full Variation in first year college students’ understanding on their conceptions of and approaches to solving mathematical problems / Parmjit Singh
title_fullStr Variation in first year college students’ understanding on their conceptions of and approaches to solving mathematical problems / Parmjit Singh
title_full_unstemmed Variation in first year college students’ understanding on their conceptions of and approaches to solving mathematical problems / Parmjit Singh
title_sort variation in first year college students’ understanding on their conceptions of and approaches to solving mathematical problems / parmjit singh
publisher ACRULeT, Faculty of Education & UiTM Press
publishDate 2009
url http://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/365/
http://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/365/1/AJ_PARMJIT%20SINGH%20AJUE%2009.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T22:44:29Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T22:44:29Z
_version_ 1777417133595033600

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