Effects of mis-rules on area learning in schoolchildren

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of learners’ existing mis -rules (ru) on area learning. It was inferred that schoolchildren had a ru that “if the perimeter of a figure is longer, the area of it is larger” (perimeter-rū). The relations between the presence of this ru and the existent education of area were researched. The results were : (i) More than fifty percent of the children in each grade judged areal size in terms of the ru. (ii) The percentage of the rū-response rapidly increased after area learning. These results suggested that (a) the present education of area could not reconstruct the perimeter-rū to the correct rule (ru), and (b) rather, might strengthen misjudgments caused by the perimeter-rū. © 1991, The Japanese Association of Educational Psychology. All rights reserved.