Are 9th Grade Students Ready to Engage in the Theoretical Discursive Process in Geometry?

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine whether newly enrolled 9th grade students were ready to directly engage in the theoretical discursive process from the perspective of Duval’s Cognitive Model. The sample of the study was comprised of 51 newly-enrolled 9thgrade students between the ages of 14 and 15, who had not received any prior geometry instruction. These 51 students were posed two open-ended questions that would enable them to make a transition between perceptual and discursive apprehension. The qualitative data obtained from the open-ended questions were classified into three categories, and clinical interviews were held with three students from each category. According to the findings obtained from the study, many of the students could not display the necessary behaviors for theoretical discursive process. Students were mostly unsuccessful in converting discursive information into perceptual information, in writing discursive information based on perceptual information, and making inferences based on discursive information. These findings indicate that recent graduates of secondary school are not ready enough to directly engage in theoretical discursive process and, thus, they could experience difficulties in such high order skills as providing proof requiring the theoretical discursive process.