Home > Students’ Perceptions About the Symbols, Letters and Signs in Algebra and How Do These Affect Their Learning of Algebra: A Case Study in a Government Girls Secondary School, Karachi, Pakistan
Students’ Perceptions About the Symbols, Letters and Signs in Algebra and How Do These Affect Their Learning of Algebra: A Case Study in a Government Girls Secondary School, Karachi, Pakistan
Algebra uses symbols for generalizing Arithmetic. These symbols have different meanings and interpretations in different situations. Students have different perceptions about these symbols, letters and signs. Despite the vast research by researchers, namely Kuchemann (1981&1998,), Collis (1975), and Booth (1988 & 1984) on the students' difficulties in understanding letters in Algebra, the overall image that emerges from the literature is that students have misconceptions about the use of letters and signs in Algebra. Through my study, I have explored the perceptions of students about the use of symbols and signs in Algebra. Here, I have used the case study method within a qualitative research design. In order to get insights of students' perceptions of Algebra, I have interviewed students in groups and invited them to work on different tasks related to uncovering their perceptions of Algebra. My empirical done through this study has revealed that the students have many misconceptions in the use of symbols in Algebra, which have bearings on their learning of algebra. It appears that the problems encountered by the students appeared to have a connection with their lack of conceptual knowledge and might have been a result of teaching they experience in learning Algebra at the secondary schooling level. Some of the findings also suggest that teachers appeared to have difficulties with their own content knowledge. Here, one can also see that textbooks are also not presenting content in such an elaborate way that these could have provided sufficient room to students for developing their relational knowledge and conceptual understanding of Algebra. Furthermore, the interviews and observation of the classrooms highlighted that the students usually perceive letter and variables as a fixed numbers or value. Some of the students perceive letters as short forms and abbreviations of some objects. Students also have difficulties in interpreting and developing algebraic equations and expressions. Moreover, this study investigates students' difficulty in translating word problems in algebraic and symbolic form. They usually follow phrase-to-phrase strategy in translating word problem from English into Urdu. This process of translating the word problem from English in to their own language appears to have hindered the correct use of symbols in Algebra. Textbooks, mathematical pedagogy, students' prior experience of arithmetic and the students' and teachers' inadequency in algebraic thinking emerged from my study as some of the reasons of students' misconceptions and why they experienced difficulties in learning of Algebra. The findings have some
ﷺ وادیٔ خار میں گُل رُخی آگئی دشت و صحرا میں بھی تازگی آگئی جسم بے جان میں جان سی آگئی چہرۂ زرد پر بھی خوشی آگئی جانبِ تیرہ شب چاندنی آگئی مصطفیؐ آ گئے ، روشنی آگئی صبح پُر نور میں کیا صباحت ہے آج تابِ خورشید میں کتنی راحت ہے آج شام کے وقت میں بھی ملاحت ہے آج میرے آقاﷺ کا یومِ وِلادت ہے آج کیسی ماحول میں دلکشی آگئی مصطفیؐ آ گئے ، روشنی آگئی پوچھتے ہو کہ کیوں شاد عرفان ہے ’’یَفْرَحوا‘‘ خاص فرمان قرآن ہے اہلِ ایمان کا جزوِ ایمان ہے آج میلاد محبوبِ رحمان ہے سب غلاموں میں وارفتگی آگئی مصطفیؐ آ گئے ، روشنی آگئی
All the companions (Shaba R.A.) would get the pleasure of feasting their eyes with the sight of prophet’s (S.A.W) appearance while being in his companionship for years. They would memorize the attained knowledge from prophet (S.A.W) and convey it to the audience with the paradigm of excellence in the personality of prophet (S.A.W). These aspects are discussed in books of Hadith and Seerat-e-Nabawi (S.A.W) as incidence, but are out of study of scholastic group. Hence, the one researching Seerat-e-Nabawi (S.A.W) cannot infer these contents. Many initial books on the physical description of Prophet (S.A.W) have partially focused on the limited aspects of physical description of Prophet (S.A.W) while a large number of these aspects could not be discussed and included. It was essential to primarily identify and include such worth- knowing but overlooked aspects of Prophet‘s physical description in the books of Hadith and Seerat.
Attitudes play a very significant role in acceptance of any idea or innovation. Prior research studies have established the significance of computers and the attitude of head teachers which can either be a hindering factor or a facilitator for computer integration in education. To explore the attitudes of the head teachers in the Pakistani context, this study was conceptualised. The major aim of the study was to determine the attitudes of head teachers from Sindh and Balochistan towards the use of computers in education, while the subsidiary aim was to explore the relationship between demographic characteristics of the participants and their attitude towards the use of computers in education. A survey questionnaire was adopted from Pelgrum and Plump (1993) to gather data. Through this tool, a sample of 185 head teachers was assessed for their computer attitudes with four factors; perceived educational impact, perceived social impact, training needs and self-confidence. The sample was drawn from the participants of the Educational Leadership and Management (ELM) course, offered as part of the Ed-Links project. The participants comprised a mix of rural and urban areas of Sindh and Balochistan. The results show that the participants' perceived attitude towards computers in education is positive. On individual sub-scales, participants' perceived social impact of computers and their self-confidence is found to be lower than the educational and training needs. Correlation analyses revealed significant associations between the head teachers' attitude towards computers in education and the use of computers and prior training. ln sub-scales model, prior training contributes to the training needs' model while use of computer, contributed to the self-confidence model. The study has highlighted the importance of providing computers to the head teachers in their offices and need for offering relevant training programmes for the head teachers and deputy heads from Sindh and Balochistan. A1so, further research is needed to understand the relationship between attitudes towards computers and its actual use in schools.