A systematic review on pupils’ misconceptions and errors in trigonometry

Abstract

Mathematics involve mathematical concepts and symbols that might be difficult for some students. Trigonometry is a component that students will learn when they pursue their studies in secondary school. There are many trigonometry symbols, and students need to understand their functions perfectly. Furthermore, the mathematical concepts in trigonometry are wide, and were covered in some early topics. Lower and intermediate students tend to make mistakes and errors when they answer trigonometry questions. This problem will contribute to students’ achievement in mathematics if the teacher does not recognise the misconceptions in the early stage of the study process. In order to solve the misconception that occurs among students, the teacher needs to identify and eliminate the misconceptions in early topics that involve the trigonometric component. The articles used in this review were accessed from January 2011 to January 2021. Five databases were used in the screening of past study articles, namely Scopus, ERIC, Dimensions, Web of Science (WoS), and Google Scholar. The systematic literature review procedure included search strategies, selection criteria, selection process, data collection, and data analysis of articles. A total of 26 articles were identified through set criteria such as year of publication and type of language. The study found articles that determine the misconceptions in trigonometry and ways to eliminate them. The findings also discovered that learning trigonometry using manipulative materials and digital form software can eliminate misconceptions. Therefore, further research is needed and more general keywords should be used to identify the appropriate methods in determining and eliminating misconceptions in learning trigonometric.