Misconceptions and Computational Errors in Algebra: An Analysis

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the errors of students when working with functions and relations. Specifically, the common conceptual and computational errors in relations and functions in Algebra were identified. The researcher prepared an activity that was assessed based on accuracy of material, clarity of material, appeal to target users and presentation and originality. The significant difference between the pre-test and post-test errors’ scores of the students in terms of conceptual skills and computational skills and the significant difference between the pre-test and post test score of the students were also determined. The study employed a quantitative research design. It made use of quantitative approach in gathering the required data. A total of thirty nine (39) respondents of Grade 8 students of Paaralang Sekundarya ng Lucban Integrated School, Lucban, Quezon were involved. They were chosen through convenience sampling. The instruments used in the study were pretest and posttest to determine the significant difference between the errors; questionnaires were administered to determine the level of acceptability of the teacher-made module. The data gathered were analyzed and interpreted with the use of t-test dependent samples and weighted mean. It was found that there is a significant difference on the conceptual errors and computational errors committed by the students in the pre-test and the post-test. The p-value of 12.202 was compared to the critical value of 2.201 at the .05 level of significance is significant and the computed p-value of 14.320 was compared to the critical value of 2.110 at 0.05 level of significance is significant on the conceptual and computational errors respectively. The level of acceptability of the teacher-made module with the overall means of 3.43, 3.49, 3.47 and 3.41 indicates that the module was highly acceptable in terms of accuracy of the material, clarity of the material, appeal to the target users and presentation and originality respectively. The level of student’s performance in pretest and posttest showed fair performance in the pre-test (M=11.9, SD=3.57) and excellent performance in the post-test (M=24.23, SD=2.06). The computed standard deviation indicates that the students’ scores in the post-test were less dispersed compared with their pre-test scores. The computed p-value of -25.249 was compared to the tabular value of 2.024 at 0.05 level of significance is significant. This means that there is a significant difference between the mean scores of the students in pretest and posttest. It was concluded that the there is a significant difference between the error scores of the students given in conceptual and computational skills before and after using the remediation activities. In view of the findings and conclusion of the study, the following recommendation is given: Future researchers may use other topic that students usually committing errors; Teachers may also create and developed more remediation activities and other forms of remedy to deal with errors of the said topic; An acceptability test of the research output can be tested by more Mathematics teachers and that a revision of the material can be made for its development and validation; An improvement of the remediation activity that characterized by clear format and letter forms; Teachers may improve learning motivation and strategy in teaching mathematics to improve performance and achievement of the students.