The Development of the relational meaning of the equal sign at the second grade level

ABSTRACT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELATIONAL MEANING OF THE EQUAL SIGN AT THE SECOND GRADE LEVEL YAMAN, Hakan Master, Faculty of Education Advisor: Assist.Prof.Dr. Zülbiye TOLUK January 2004, 94 pages For a student to be successful in algebra, it is neceessary for her/him to understand the use of basic algebraic symbols and equations. One of these basic symbols is the equal sign. It is represented with the symbol "=" and doesn't mean calculation. The relationship represented by this sign is one of the basic mathematical relationship used in arithmetic and algebra. That's why it is important that the students should understand the equality concept and the equal sign from the early years of elementary school, the student perceive the equal sign as sign showing a result of an operation. In addition, these studies claim that the students that can not understand the equal sign as an relational symbol will have problems in algebra. mThere are two main aims of this study. The first aim is to determine how students u nderstand e quality and i nterpret t he e qual s ign. T he s econd aim i s to determine the effect of an instruction supporting the relational meaning of the equality symbol on students' understanding of the concept of equality. Hence, two experimental and control groups were selected from second grades. Experimental groups were tought in a anner that supports the relational meaning of the equality symbol, while the control groups continued to receive the traditional instruction. The equality test developed by the researcher were delivered to each group as pre, post and retention test. Furthermore, interviews were conducted with eight students selected from experimental groups, 4 males and 4 females, both before and after the instruction. During these interviews, students were required to explain the answers they had given to the questions in the equality test. The findings of this study show that the students perceived equal sign as an operation symbol before the instruction. After the instruction, however, the students who received supporting instruction started to interpret the equal sign as a relational symbol and the students in the traditional classroom continue to perceive e qual s ign a s an o peration symbol. Based o n t hese findings, i t c an b e suggested that from the early years of schooling, the activities emphasizing relational meaning of equal sign should be included in mathematics classes. These activities should be prepared in a manner that the student can manipulate concrete materials and share their thinking in the classroom. Finally, it can be concluded that such activities help the students understand equal sign as showing a relationship between to quantities. Key Words: Equal sign, concrete materials, activities, arithmetic, algebra, IV