Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
First grade (Education); Length measurement--Study and teaching;
Abstract
This study investigated the ability of first-grade students to demonstrate an understanding of linear measurement concepts using the "Additive Measurement Groups" task. It also examined the relationship between that ability and sex, and between that ability and age. The subjects were 67 white children attending first grade in a small, rural cornmuni ty in south-central Iowa. All were between the ages of 6 years, 6 months and 8 years, 6 months, and wer·e members of regular, self-contained classrooms. Thirty-six were boys and 31 were girls. The subjects had completed the measurement unit as presented in their mathematicr. textbook. The students were individually interviewed using a Piagetianbased task protocol. They were shown the interviewer·' s wooden block tower on a table and asked to build a tower of the same height using wooden blocks on a lower table. The students were presented with three dowels: a short dowel, a dowel the same height as the towers, and finally, a dowel longer than the towers. As the interviewer presented each dowel, the children were asked if they could use it in some way to determine whether or not the towers were the same height. Results indicated that while all children expressed the need to compare the two towers in some way, 32% were unable to correctly use any of the dowels, and 68% were able to use one or two of the dowels. Eleven children attempted to use the short dowel as a unit measure, but none completed the task correctly. Chi-square analyses on results of boys and girls, and older and younger students showed no significant relationship between ability to demonstrate an understanding of linear measurement concepts and sex, or between that ability and age. The results suggested a need to revise current practices in presenting activities for and evaluating students' understanding of linear measurement concepts in first grade.
Year of Submission
1986
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Education
Department
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
First Advisor
Mary Nan Aldridge
Second Advisor
Marvin O. Heller
Third Advisor
Marlene Strathe
Date Original
1986
Object Description
1 PDF file (54 leaves)
Copyright
©1986 Sherri Muhlenbruck Delp
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Delp, Sherri Muhlenbruck, "The Ability of First-Grade Students to Demonstrate an Understanding of Linear Measurement Concepts" (1986). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2471.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2471
Comments
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