Examining the 7th Graders’ Informal Understandings on the Fractal Concept

Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate 7th grade students’ informal understandings of the concept of fractal in relation to its characteristics. The case research method was employed for this study, clinical interviews with 18 7th grade students was conducted by using an interview protocol. The interview protocol consisted of two parts. In the first part, the students were asked draw previous and next stages of a given pattern at a certain stage. In the second part, 8 patterns were given to the students and they were asked to classify them. Some of the patterns were in fractal structure, while some of them were not. The findings showed that even though the students have not learned the fractals formally, they could recognize fractals informally. According to their drawings and explanations, these students could distinguish fractals from other patterns regarding their characteristics such as iteration and self-similarity. These results suggest that 7th grade students have informal understandings of the concept of fractal in relation to its characteristics prior to formal instruction.