Middle Grade Students’ Concept Images of Algebraic Concepts

This study investigates middle school students’ concept images of algebraic concepts which are term, constant term, variable, and coefficient. Also, the study aimed to explore their performances in defining these concepts correctly. A phenomenological method was used to support methodological perspective and to reveal the findings of the study. Twenty seven 7th grade students completed a questionnaire, which aims to assess students’ concept images of the algebraic concepts. Twelve of them were selected for semi-structured interviews on the basis of purposeful sampling method to clarify and expand on their responses to the questionnaire. The data was analyzed via the content analysis approach. The analysis of the data indicated that students have various concept images of basic algebraic concepts. More interestingly, this study showed that although students’ performances on defining the algebraic concepts were above 50% for each concept, 7th grade students’ concept images of the algebraic concepts is not so strong for learning algebra conceptually.