Browsing by Subject "geometrian opetus"

The goal of this master´s thesis is to determine what kind of concept and level of understanding third grade pupils have concerning geometry and geometry teaching.This thesis is based on the German ”Draw Me Emma” –research project. Studying the pupils´ understanding of geometry is important because geometry forms an independent area in primary school mathematics. Geometry and especially euclidic geometry improves children´s deductive thinking and visual perception, which further adds to the subjects significance. Aside from the German research project there has been very little research concerning the pupils´ concept of geometry and geometry teaching, which shows the need for further studying. The research material used in this thesis has been gathered in January 2019. 47 third graders and their two class teachers were involved in the process. The pupils were from two different third grade classes in the Helsinki metropolitan area. Each participant drew two different drawings. The material consists of 98 drawings out of which 94 were made by the pupils and four by their class teachers. The main focus of the thesis is on the drawings of the pupils. In analyzing the drawing I made use of the drawing analysis which was structurally identical to the German original study. I studied the pupils´ perceptions within the classes and comparing the classes with one another. As a part of the analysis I also studied the correlation between the pupils´ perceptions and the class teachers´ perceptions of their own pupils. The results of the thesis show that the pupils´ concept and perceptions of geometry are focused on two-dimensional plane figures and three-dimensional objects. Especially plane figures were frequent in the pupils´ drawings. The views of the pupils concerning the teaching of geometry underlined independent work. In most of the drawings the teacher had been drawn standing in front of the blackboard and the pupils at their own desks working independently on exercises.