The Van Hiele geometric levels of students’ in the Ga Mashie circuit gender and school type differences

Abstract

This study sought to investigate students‟ van Hiele‟s geometric thinking levels from public and private basic schools at the Ga-Mashie circuit of the Accra Metropolis. The population for the study was 562 J.H.S.3 students from private and public basic schools. Purposive and stratified sampling was used to select three hundred and thirty seven (337) students for the study, two hundred and seventy six (276) from public schools and one sixty one (61) from private schools. A quantitative descriptive survey approach was used for the study with van Hiele‟s Geometric Test (VHGT) as the instrument. Four research questions were formulated for the study, research question one was on the van Hiele‟s levels reached by private and public basic school students. Research questions two to four were meant to find out whether there was a difference in terms of gender and school type between the two schools (private and public). It was revealed that 190 (56.40%) of students attained No level, 126(37.40%) attained level 1, 20 (5.90%) attained level 2 and only 1 (0.30%) attained level 3 in both public and private school. The study also reveals that with regard to gender and school type there was no significant difference in students‟ van Hiele geometric levels. Recommendations are made for improving the geometric levels of students.