An Alternative Tool for Diagnosis of the Misconceptions and the Errors in Complex Numbers: Diagnostic Branched Tree Method


Creative Commons License

Karaaslan G., TURANLI N.

HACETTEPE UNIVERSITESI EGITIM FAKULTESI DERGISI-HACETTEPE UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, vol.33, no.1, pp.72-89, 2018 (ESCI) identifier identifier

Abstract

Knowledge is built on existing knowledge by means of association. Accordingly, any misconception or error should be diagnosed and corrected so that new knowledge is not constructed on previously created misconceptions. Misconceptions and errors can be diagnosed by various means. One of them is the "Diagnostic Branched Tree" (DBT) method which can be used to identify students' learning in a given subject as well as the misconceptions they have or the errors they make. This method reveals students misconceptions and wrong relations among the knowledge. There aren't any studies in the area which use DBT to diagnose student misconceptions, although it is reported in the relevant literature that DBT method can be used to reveal such misconceptions. The aim of the study is to develop an alternative tool using the DBT method to diagnose student misconceptions and errors in relation to complex numbers topic. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach where students of Anatolian High Schools in Burdur province are given the "Complex Numbers Diagnostic Test" as the initial step and they are asked to complete the "Complex Numbers DBT Test" after an interval of 3 weeks. Descriptive statistics and analysis methods are adopted for the purposes of analyzing the data. Misconceptions and errors revealed by the diagnostic test have been reiterated by the DBT test, as well. The rate of the number of questions answered correctly in DBT test has turned out to be higher than that of the diagnostic test. Due to the low number of studies that employ DBT method as a tool for learning and evaluation, this study is expected to contribute to the literature and help teachers who implement the curriculum.