Analysis of Engineering students’ errors and misunderstandings of integration methods during the COVID-19

  • Fateme Moradi Islamic Azad University, Iran
  • Zahra Rahimi
  • Zohreh Nekouee
Keywords: misunderstanding, mathematical misunderstanding, conceptual error, v, factual error, procedure error, integral

Abstract

The prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, such as the closure of educational centers and the requirement to use virtual education, have all challenged students’ learning. Students’ mathematical misunderstandings can be regarded as one such challenge. While such problems may also occur in face-to-face training, where teachers and educators are involved, it seems that this problem is more serious in virtual education. The purpose of the present study was to investigate students’ misunderstandings in regard to integration methods. More specifically, the statistical population of this study consisted of engineering students from Islamic Azad University. The sample members included 40 students from the faculty of engineering who had been taught Mathematics1 by virtual education in the first semester of the academic year 2021-2022. To conduct this research, students were taught different methods of integration in cyberspace for six consecutive weeks. During these six stages, tests were conducted online to assess students. The results showed that most of the students’ errors were conceptual and computational in nature; they were rooted in no suitable understanding of the basic concepts of mathematics and the lack of good education in high school.

Received: 3 May 2022
Accepted: 15 April 2023

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Author Biographies

Fateme Moradi, Islamic Azad University, Iran

Ph.D. in mathematics education from the University of Islamic Azad University, Research Sciences Branch. She is an Assistant Professor and Researcher at, Yadegar-e-Imam Khomeini (RAH) Shahre Rey Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. Her main research topics are education, mathematics, and, higher education. She has published several academic papers in indexed international journals related to education and mathematics education. She has also published books (mathematics 1, Differential Equation, Engineering Mathematics, Pre- University Mathematics, Mathematics 6, Fractal Geometry, Flash, and Mathematics 2).

Zahra Rahimi

B.A. degree in teaching mathematics from Al-Zahra University, an M.A. degree in history and philosophy of education, and a Ph.D. degree in curriculum studies from Tarbiat Modares University. She was an official mathematics teacher in secondary schools for 20 years. Also, she worked in the Educational Research and Planning Organization in collaboration with the math group. The output of this collaboration is the compilation of 8 national math textbooks and the teacher’s guide for these books. Moreover, she was involved in compiling the national math curriculum. Since 2019, she has been working as an assistant professor in the Department of Education at Allameh Tabataba’i University. Her main field of study is mathematics education and curriculum development. Currently, she is a visiting scholar in the Mathematics Department at the University of Texas at Arlington, USA.

Zohreh Nekouee

He is currently a Post-doctoral Researcher at the Department of PG Studies and Research in Mathematics, Kuvempu University, India. She is a sessional instructor at the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Yadegar-e-Imam Khomeini (RAH) Shahre Rey Branch, Islamic Azad University, Iran, since 2005. She completed her Ph. D degree in Differential Geometry in 2019 at the University of Mazandaran, Iran. Her areas of interest include Mathematical Physics, Finsler Geometry, Black Holes, Modified Theories of Gravity, Economy, and Education. She has published several academic papers in indexed international journals related to Mathematical Physics.

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Published
2023-11-30
How to Cite
Moradi, Fateme, Zahra Rahimi, and Zohreh Nekouee. 2023. “Analysis of Engineering students’ Errors and Misunderstandings of Integration Methods During the COVID-19”. Tuning Journal for Higher Education 11 (1), 369-68. https://doi.org/10.18543/tjhe.2434.