Abstract

• The main purpose of this research is to study the misconceptions about geometry in middle school learners. Quantitative research methodology was mainly used to find out students’ misconceptions in geometry. The design adopted in this study was a descriptive research design. This study was conducted in Yangon Region. There are four districts in Yangon Region: East, West, South and North. One township from each district was randomly selected. Two basic education high schools and one basic education middle school from each township were randomly selected. Thus, eight high schools and four middle schools were included in this study. To obtain the required data, (600) students and (68) mathematics teachers were participated in this study. Two instruments: a test for Grade Eight students’ misconceptions in geometry and a questionnaire for mathematics teachers’ perceptions were employed. The test included eight content areas: angles, triangles, congruence of triangles, quadrilaterals, parallel lines, circles, Pythagoras’ theorem, and areas and volumes. The questionnaire consisted of (15) items on a five point Likert scale of (1) to (5) to explore attitude, attention, participation, doing exercises and conceptual understanding. The internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha) for the test and the questionnaire were (.740) and (.866) respectively. The research findings revealed that most of the students had misconceptions in geometry, and least of the students had understanding the concept and less understanding the concept in geometry. For Grade Eight students, the highest level of misconceptions in geometry was in Pythagoras’ theorem and the lowest level was in angles. For Grade Eight students, the highest level of the causes of misconceptions in geometry was in doing exercises (rote learning) and the lowest level was in attitude. To reduce misconceptions in geometry, it is necessary to ensure meaningful learning and quality education.