Investigation of the 6th grade students' misconceptions about representations of the decimal numbers

The aim of this study was to identify the knowledge level and misconceptions of 6^th grade students about representations of the decimal numbers. In this study, a survey method was used. The sample of the study was 200 sixth grades students who were studying in three different secondary schools in Esenler district of İstanbul city on 2014-2015. Data were collected with a "Diagnostic Test for Misconceptions about Decimal Numbers" which including open-ended questions and developed by the researcher. Reliability coefficient of the test was calculated as 0.92. Data were analyzed with descriptive and content analysis method. According to the results, it was determined that some students have misconceptions about reading and writing decimals, comparing decimal numbers, and relationships with the fractions and decimal numbers, representation of decimal numbers with number line. This study also showed that some students have misconceptions and make errors about operations of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing on decimal numbers, and estimating the result of the operations.