Misconceptions of primary school teachers about geometric objects

This study aims to reveal the misconceptions of primary school teachers about geometric objects. In line with this purpose, the teachers' recognizing, defining and exemplifying their definitions of geometric objects were studied. In this study, case study, one of the qualitative research designs, was used. Since more than one case was evaluated with one analysis group, the holistic multiple design of the case study was used. The misconceptions of the primary school teachers, who transfer their subject knowledge during the lectures, are also transferred to the students. For this reason, this study is important in terms of determining the misconceptions of classroom teachers and increasing the quality of education and training with the suggestions made in line with the data obtained. When the literature is examined, studies on geometric objects were generally carried out with prospective primary school teachers. It is seen that there is no comprehensive study on primary school teachers and this situation increases the importance of this study. The study group of this research consists of four primary school teachers working in the same school in İpekyolu District of Van Province in the 2022-2023 academic year. The participants were determined by using the easily accessible case sampling technique from non-probability-based sampling techniques and maximum diversity sampling technique from purposeful sampling techniques. The teachers to participate in the study were selected from each grade level according to the grade level they teach. The definitions and exemplifications of geometric objects of the study group were analysed with the criteria of accessibility, accuracy and richness.. The data in the study were obtained with the interview form prepared by the researcher. The data were analysed by descriptive analysis. As a result of the research, it was determined that there were deficiencies in teachers' subject knowledge about prism, pyramid, cylinder and cone among geometric objects. As a result of the findings obtained from the primary school teachers participating in the study, it was seen that they had misconceptions about cone, pyramid and prism among geometric objects. It was determined that the teachers who participated in the study had difficulty in making definitions because they did not know the language of mathematics. In defining geometric objects and exemplifying the definitions, it was observed that teachers generally had difficulty in defining the objects and were able to define the objects with examples from daily life. The object that teachers had the most difficulty in drawing was the triangular pyramid. Teachers who had difficulty in making definitions did not experience the same difficulties in drawing geometric objects.