This study was conducted to reveal potential sources of students' difficulty and misconceptions about geometrical concepts with the help of eye tracking. In this study, the students' geometrical misconceptions were explored by answering the questions on the geometry test prepared based on the literature and test-taking processes and represented…

Tangent lines are often first introduced to students in geometry during the study of circles. The topic may be repeatedly reintroduced to students in different contexts throughout their schooling, and often each reintroduction is accompanied by a new, nonequivalent definition of tangent lines. In calculus, tangent lines are again reintroduced to…

Euclidean geometry provides an opportunity for learners to learn argumentation and develop inductive and deductive reasoning. Despite the significance of Euclidean geometry for developing these skills, learner performance in mathematics, particularly geometry, remains a concern in many countries. Thus, the current study examined the nature of…

Research suggests that teachers struggle to find effective ways to introduce proof. In 1940, in an article in this journal, Roland Smith argued that being aware of student misconceptions in geometry is the first step in preparing to address the fundamental challenges of learning to prove. Through careful study, he identified and analyzed…

Fragile understanding is where new learning begins. Students' understanding of new concepts is often shaky at first, when they have only had limited experiences with or single viewpoints on an idea. This is not inherently bad. Despite teachers' best efforts, students' tenuous grasp of mathematics concepts often falters with time or when presented…

Continuing our critique of the classical derivation of the formula for the area of a disk, we focus on the limiting processes in geometry. Evidence suggests that intuitive approaches in arguing about infinity, when geometric configurations are involved, are inadequate, and could easily lead to erroneous conclusions. We expose weaknesses and…

The narrative permeating higher education institutions globally is the intention to advance the quality of preservice mathematics teachers to gain better performance than mathematics school learners. In this article we report on a qualitative case study which explored the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of preservice teachers (PST) (n = 20) at…

This article is part of a wider research project that has the educational goal of supporting students in the production of conjectures, arguments and proofs, as well as promoting a move from the production of arguments expressed in colloquial registers to arguments expressed in literate registers. In this regard, we Giovannina Albano, Umberto…

Cognitive difficulty arises from two types of cognitive processes: treatments; within the same, conversions; between different types of representational registers. Conversions are difficult since they ask for understanding of two representations. Direction and the choice of first register could be a threshold for the student. Wasan geometry is…

The 21st-century mathematics classrooms should equip learners with well-grounded knowledge and thinking skills pertaining to geometry. However, Euclidean geometry remains one of the challenging, if not the most difficult topic for many learners. As a result, the purpose of this article is to interpret Grade 12 learners' learning difficulties in…

Many students share a certain amount of discomfort when encountering proofs in geometry class for the first time. The logic and reasoning process behind proof writing, however, is a vital foundation for mathematical understanding that should not be overlooked. A clearly developed argument helps students organize their thoughts and make…

This study aims to introduce a method that is based on the relationship between numbers and geometry, which can be used to show the exact location of rational numbers on the number line, compare rational numbers, make calculations, and examine rational numbers conceptually through parallel lines. It is believed that this method will to contribute…

The concept of angles is important for future geometric knowledge (Arslan et al., 2016; Moore, 2013; Yigit, 2014). However, although Piaget (1948) suggests angles lead to the discovery of lines, angles are typically taught later in schools, after points, lines, and planes (Charles, 2011). Therefore, the way in which angles are taught can affect…

Some goals of mathematics teacher education include ensuring that pre-service teachers (PSTs) have strong content knowledge, the skill to anticipate and interpret student thinking, the ability to plan how to respond, and the ability to critically select resources for instruction. These goals are especially challenging for the topic of geometric…

This article describes a carefully structured exploration of formative assessment, conducted in the form of a classroom research experiment. The authors are an instructor and a student in a graduate course that assigned teachers to research formative assessment strategies, implement one or more strategies for several weeks, collect data from…