Student misconceptions based on cognitive style

Abstract

The objective of this study is to describe students’ misconception of solving problems in Math based on a cognitive style (reflective and impulsive). This study uses the Matching Familiar Figure Test (MFFT) format data collection technique to group students' cognitive styles, quadratic function test questions, interviews, and documents using the CRI (Confident Response Index). A qualitative descriptive method is used. The validity of the data used in this study relies on triangulation techniques. Based on validated written test and interview data, we show that students with a reflexive cognitive style are found to have misconceptions regarding translation, strategy, systematization, symbols, and arithmetic. Students with an impulsive cognitive style were found to have all kinds of misconceptions, including translation, conceptual, strategic, systematic, drawing, and calculation errors. The results of this study also show that the most frequent type of misunderstanding between both reflective and impulsive people is arithmetic misunderstanding. The main causes of student misconceptions are a lack of understanding of the concepts in the material and student inaccuracies when reading problems and writing down solution steps.