Examination of 4th Grade Students' Definitions for Square, Rectangle and Triangle Geometric Shapes

Abstract

The aim of this study is to obtain information about students' definitions, mistakes, misconceptions, and van Hiele geometry thinking levels by using the definitions of 4th grade students for geometric shapes of rectangle, square, isosceles triangle, equilateral triangle, and scalene triangle. The study was carried out with 156 primary school 4th grade students. In the study, the case design, one of the qualitative methods, was used. Students were asked to describe geometric shapes. It was observed that most of the 4th grade students participating in the study were in the visualization stage of van Hiele. There are very few definitions of the hierarchical structure in the study. Most correct definitions are in the partitional form. In the study, misconceptions were detected in some of the students.