Volume 5 Number 2, 2012 - PRESERVICE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ELEMENTARY GEOMETRY KNOWLEDGE - Abstract

Oct 15, 2026

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The paper examines how pre-service primary school teachers master elementary geometry notions and properties tied to basic shapes and solids. Geometry concepts arise naturally in real-world problems and form a foundation in primary mathematics learning. Research results show many students cannot correctly recognize basic shapes or define them accurately, and a large share cannot draw correct two-dimensional representations or nets of solids.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Geometry in school mathematics

The aim of the paper

Theoretical background

Spatial ability

Van Hiele levels of mental development in Geometry

Students’ misconceptions in geometry

Volume 5 Number 2, 2012 PRESERVICE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ELEMENTARY GEOMETRY KNOWLEDGE Iuliana Marchis Abstract: Geometrical notions and properties occur in real-world problems, thus Geometry has an important place in school Mathematics curricula. Primary school curricula lays the foundation of Geometry knowledge, pupils learn Geometry notions and properties by exploring their environment. Thus it is very important that primary school teachers have a good base in elementary Geometry. The aim of this paper is to present a research on how pre-service primary school teachers master elementary Geometry notions and properties related with some basic shapes and solids. The research shows that there are students, who can’t recognize basic geometrical shapes or solids. Two third of the students can’t define correctly basic geometrical shapes: they don’t know the correct properties of the shapes; they know the properties of the shapes, but they repeat some properties in the definition or they miss some properties from the definition. As regarding geometrical solids, more than one third of the students couldn’t draw the correct two-dimensional representation and one third didn’t know how to draw the net of them. Keywords: mathematics education, geometrical shapes, van Hiele levels of mental development in Geometry 1. Introduction Geometry has an important place in school Mathematics curricula. It develops students’ spatial ability, logical reasoning skills (French, 2004), and the ability to solve real-world problems in which geometrical terminology and properties occur (Jones & Mooney, 2003; Presmeg, 2006) . For a success in learning Geometry the understanding of geometrical concepts is essential. Elementary pre-service teahers have difficulties in understanding geometry concepts (Mayberry, 1981; Mason & Schell, 1988; Gutierrez & Jaime, 1999; Cunningham & Roberts, 2010; Kabaca, Karadag & Aktumen, 2011) . The aim of this paper is to present a research on how pre-service primary school teachers master elementary Geometry notions and properties as some basic shapes and solids. 2. Theoretical background Spatial ability Spatial ability is very important in many aspects of our life. Spatial ability is a set of abilities that includes “capacities to perceive the visual world accurately”(Gardner, 1993, p. 173) . Linn & Petersen (1985) defined spatial ability as mental processes which are used in perceiving, storing, recalling, creating, arranging and making related spatial images. Thurstone (1950) divided spatial ability into three elements: spatial relations, visualization, and orientation. Spatial relations is the ability to recognize the relations between objects in the space. Spatial visualization is the ability to “perform imagined movements of objects in two-dimensional and three-dimensional space” (Clements & Battista, 1992, p. 444) . Spatial orientation is the ability to recognize geometric shapes from different positions (Thurstone, 1950) . Maier (1996) identified five factors of spatial ability: spatial perception, visualization, mental rotation, spatial relations and spatial orientation. Spatial perception is the ability to recognize the horizontal and the vertical. Mental rotation is the ability to rotate two- or threedimensional figures. Spatial visualization ability is strongly related with students’Geometry achievement (Battista & Clements, 1991; Clements et al., 1997; Capraro, 2001) . Hiele’s levels of mental development in Geometry Van Hiele (1986) identified five levels of mental development in Geometry: Level 1 (visualization): students can recognize a geometric object or concept based on a prototypical example. They can name and identify common geometric shapes (Prevost, 1985) . For example, they recognize geometric shapes which are in a standard orientation. Level 2 (analysis): learners can recognize a geometric shape based on its properties. Properties are not yet ordered at this level. Fo

FAQs

What is the main research aim of the paper?

The paper investigates how pre-service primary school teachers master elementary geometry notions and properties related to basic shapes and solids.

What do the research findings reveal about recognizing shapes?

Many students cannot recognize basic geometrical shapes or cannot define them correctly, often missing properties or repeating properties inaccurately in definitions.

What problems do students show with geometrical solids?

More than one third cannot draw correct two-dimensional representations, and about one third do not know how to draw the nets of solids.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Putri