(1748) OVERCOMING MISCONCEPTIONS AND IMPROVING KNOWLEDGE OF ARITHMETIC IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION UNDERGRADUATES: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY

摘要

This longitudinal study examined the impact of short-term, manipulative-based arithmetic instruction onundergraduate juniors. Four class sessions (six instructional hours) were designed to reflectconstructivist principles of assimilation, accommodation, and schema building using an approachcalled “guided constructivism.” Study participants were preservice elementary education majorsenrolled in a child development course at an urban comprehensive university in North Carolina. Thedesign included three data collection points: (a) a pretest survey of arithmetic misconceptions andknowledge, (b) a posttest survey at the end of the course, and (c) a longitudinal follow up survey duringstudent teaching, typically 1 1/2 years after the course. Pre- to posttest performance on the surveyshowed a statistically significant increase in arithmetic knowledge accompanied by a significantdecrease in arithmetic misconceptions. At the follow up during the student teaching semester,significant gains in knowledge and significant decreases in misconceptions were still present. Theresults indicate that manipulatives can effectively and efficiently reverse long-standing arithmeticmisconceptions and increase arithmetic knowledge before education majors enter classrooms as fulltimeteachers.