Research of eighth grade secondary school students' operational and conceptual skills regarding exponential expressions

This study aims to explore the operational and conceptual skills of eighth-grade secondary school students who will be taking the high school entrance exam on the topic of exponential expressions. Designed as a qualitative research, the research was conducted with three volunteer students from the eighth grade. The data were collected using a form measuring students' knowledge levels on exponential expressions, questions related to exponential expressions from the high school entrance exams between 2018-2022, versions of these questions translated into operational questions by the researcher, and a semi-structured interview form with the students. To observe the applicability of the operational version of the questions related to exponential expressions from the high school entrance exams, opinions were obtained from three mathematics teachers who are expert in their field working in the Ministry of National Education. In order to see whether the plan, which was decided to be applicable, worked, a pilot study was conducted by applying it to an eighth-grade student studying in the 2022-2023 academic year. As a result of the pilot study, the first, third, and ninth questions were excluded, and the study proceeded with seven questions. At the conclusion of the study, it was found that students had a good understanding of the rules and concepts related to exponential expressions. Based on the test and interview results, it was determined that students' operational knowledge levels were higher than their conceptual knowledge levels. Examination of the solutions revealed that the errors made were not due to students' lack of knowledge.