Diagnosing year two pupils’ misunderstanding of multiplication concepts at selected schools in Sabah

Abstract

Multiplication is one of the Mathematical concepts which is difficult to be learnt by most of year two primary school pupils, especially for low achievers. The purpose of this study was to diagnose year two pupils’ misunderstanding of multiplication concepts at selected schools in Sabah. This survey study involved a sample of 202 year two pupils from two primary schools in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The schools were selected based on its large number of pupils representing year two student population in the state of Sabah. Data collected via the administration of Diagnostic Mathematics Test (Multiplication) was then analyzed qualitatively. Results obtained show that these pupils generally comprehend only certain multiplication concepts, at the surface level of understanding and comprehension. Most of them were not able to resolve questions in the form of conceptual understanding and problems solving.