Exploration of Grade 8 learners’ misconceptions in learning surface area and volume of prisms at a high school in Johannesburg East District

Abstract

This study was conducted in order to explore Grade 8 learners’ perceptions through misconceptions they display when learning surface area and volume of prisms, which hinder conceptual understanding. A case study was used to identify, analyse and interpret the nature of learner misconceptions following constructivism proponents. Constructivism is birthed from the philosophical paradigm of known as interpretivism, Adom, Yeboah and Ankrah (2016). The interpretivist approach emphasises the researcher to appreciate differences between people. Constructivism seeks to understand how individuals make sense of their everyday lives in natural settings. In this study, misconceptions in surface area and volume are interpreted from the learners’ point of view, as they construct meaning of the concepts through a test and interviews. Data were collected through a scholastic test on surface area and volume, followed by in-depth interviews over purposefully sampled participants. Data were analysed using the narrative interpretative approach following Battista and Clement (2003), framework of misconceptions in surface area and volume. Battista and clement propound the five types of misconceptions in surface area and volume as: treating 2-D shape as 3-D objects; confusing surface area with volume; assuming that a shape has more than one surface area and volume; counting only the visible faces and incorrectly enumerating cubes in arrays. Educational implications are drafted in the concluding chapter, with recommendations and suggestions for effective conceptual development as well as minimising misconceptions on curriculum interpretation and implementation under the topic surface area and volume.