Elemantary school mathematics teachers' misconceptions about open-ended questions

The purpose of this study was to determine middle school mathematics teachers' misconceptions about open-ended questions. The 'basic qualitative research' design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. For this study, a two-stage survey was administered to 18 middle school mathematics teachers. In the first stage, teachers were asked to define open-ended and mathematical open-ended questions and provide examples. In the second stage, they were asked to define and provide examples of classic questions, fill-in-the-blank questions, matching questions, problem-solving questions, and long- and short-answer questions. The data obtained was analyzed by content analysis. Research findings showed that teachers mostly defined open-ended questions as questions that 'have more than one correct answer' or 'allow different interpretations', but a significant number of them made misconceptions by giving examples of closed-ended questions. Furthermore, regarding the definitions and examples of question types, it has been revealed that the majority of teachers believe these question types cannot be open-ended and therefore over-specify them, leading to misconceptions. In particular, fill-in-the-blank and matching questions were identified only with closed-ended questions; Classical, problem-solving, short- and long-answer questions are defined that shows over-specification. Although policymakers demand the use of open-ended questions in mathematics teaching and assessment, the findings of iv this study reveal that teachers, who implement these processes, have misconceptions about open-ended questions and therefore require professional support in this area.