Abstract:

This study used a case study method following a qualitative methodology. The study aims to reveal the possible misconceptions of 8th grade students regarding the concept of scientific notation of very large and very small numbers. ‘’Scientific Notation Misconceptions Diagnostic Test’’ was prepared by the researchers in accordance with the purpose of the study and applied to 40 students selected by random sampling among the 8th grade students in a secondary school in the Central Black Sea Region. Descriptive statistics method was used in the interpretation of the obtained data. The misconceptions of the students were interpreted by the researchers by determining the frequency values (f) according to their types. The misconceptions of the students were examined in the context of misconception types. As a result of the study, it was revealed that the students had misconceptions about “over-specification” at the most and “over-generalization” at the least. One of the important results obtained in the current study was that they could not express their answers in scientific notation because of the operational difficulties they experienced in expressing a number, which is preliminary learning of expressing very large and very small numbers with scientific notation, using different integer powers of 10.

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