Investigation of Types of Errors Made by Primary School 4th Grade Students Regarding the Concept of Place Value

Abstract

This study aims to examine the types of errors regarding the concept of place value made by primary school fourth grade students. The study was designed as a qualitative one as it defined error types of the students. The study comprised 158 fourth grade students attending four different state schools in the centre of Nevşehir province in 2019-2020 academic year. In order to define the error types of the students regarding place value, “place value concept” test involving 14 questions was used. This test was developed by Sarı and Olkun (2019). Descriptive analysis was used to determine the error types of the students. The themes proposed Paydar and Sarı (2019) were taken into account for “error types”. When the students’ errors were evaluated, it was found that the students were not successful in the areas of doing divisions, writing representations as grouped numbers, doing multiplication with tens and its multiples, showing the value of places in terms of standard units, writing numbers’ way of readings. These findings revealed that the students were not successful with regard to the understanding of conceptual and operational of place value. Enhancing students’ understanding of place value concept is seen significant for other subjects of maths.