Educational Design Research: Developing Students’ Understanding of Area as the Number of Measurement Units Covering a Surface

摘要

udOne of the foundational students’ misconceptions of area measurement is conceiving area as the length of a line, instead the size of a surface. They do not see area as the number of measurement units covering a surface. Therefore, this study intends to develop learning activities and materials that support students in developing their understanding of area as the number of measurement units covering a surface. udThis research is conducted based on the view of the design research approach consisting of two cycles. The subjects of the study are taken from the third grade students of two primary schools in Surabaya. Meanwhile, the learning activities in this study are based on the view of PMRI (Indonesia realistic mathematics education). udWe found that student need to understand physically quantity of area and the measurement unit of area before they are introduced to the meaning of area as the number of measurement units covering a surface. Learning activity that provides students with the experience of covering activity and comparing area problems could lead to the discussion on the physically quantity of area, the measurement unit of area, and its properties (no gap, no overlapping, and unit consistency); meanwhile, learning activity that engaging students in comparing area of tiled floors can be used to develop students’ understanding of measuring area as the process of finding the number of measurement units. udKeywords: Area, area measurement, the unit of area measurement, design researchud