Primary students’ knowledge of the properties of spatially-oriented diagrams

Abstract

The ability to select an appropriate diagram to represent the structure of problem information is a critical step in reasoning. This paper reports on an investigation of Grade 3 and Grade 5 students’ knowledge of the properties of spatially-oriented diagrams. The task required the students to select the diagram that corresponded to the structure of a particular problem and to justify their selection. The results revealed that primary students have difficulty in selecting an appropriate diagram and adequately justifying their selections. Although Grade 5 students outperformed Grade 3 students in some aspects, the similarities between Grade 3 and Grade 5 performances on other aspects suggests that it is fallacious to assume that students’ knowledge of the properties of diagrams will increase substantially with age.