NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
PDF on ERIC Download full text
ERIC Number: EJ1447656
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-2363-8761
Ninth-Grade Students' Conceptual Understanding of the Number Line
Zehra E. Ünal; Asli M. Ala; Gamze Kartal; Serkan Özel; David C. Geary
Journal of Numerical Cognition, v10 Article e12501 2024
Sixty (35 girls and 25 boys) 9th-grade students' conceptual understanding of the number line was qualitatively assessed through verbal explanations and visual representations. The assessment included an open-ended question focused on students' number line descriptions and the explanations coalesced around six features: sequential ordering (i.e., numbers are sequentially represented), positivity-negativity of numbers (i.e., the number line contains positive and negative numbers), non-centrality (i.e., zero does not have to be in the center), infinity, increment flexibility (i.e., number line increments can vary), and continuity (i.e., numbers can be placed anywhere between minus infinity and plus infinity without breaks). The students' explanations show that these six features emerge in five successive stages in the conceptual understanding of the number line. These stages are (1) no knowledge, (2) sequential ordering and positivity-negativity, (3) infinity and non-centrality, (4) incremental flexibility, and (5) continuity. The last two stages were not found in most descriptions. The results suggest that students' understanding of the number line is incomplete and may be overestimated by commonly used quantitative assessments of number line knowledge.
Leibniz Institute for Psychology. Universitatsring 15, Trier, 54296, Germany. e-mail: support@psychopen.eu; Web site: https://jnc.psychopen.eu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Grade 9; High Schools; Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Turkey
Grant or Contract Numbers: 1659133