Primary school students’ structure and levels of abilities in transformational geometry

Abstract

This paper used CFA analyses to investigate the factors and structure of transformational geometry concepts ability. The results suggest that the three geometric transformations (translation, reflection and rotation) consist of four factors and have similar structures. RASCH analysis was used to create a scale of the factor items, which was interpreted in light of the theoretical framework of geometrical working space. Five levels of visualization abilities in transformational geometry were identified. This paper suggests that the development of understanding in transformational geometry can be explained based on the visualization process of the students’ personal geometrical working space. © 2014, Comite Latinoamericano de Matematica Educativa. All rights reserved.