Clustering of Decimal Misconceptions in Primary and Secondary Classes
Masitah Shahrill

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to build on existing research about primary and secondary students’ thinking about decimals. One of the investigations in this study was on the clustering of decimal misconception codes in classes and the aim was to establish variations by class across the primary (Grade 6 only) and secondary (Grades 7 to 10) grades. Investigating the prevalence of fine codes by grade revealed that the most prevalent code in every grade was A1 (or Task Experts), and the prevalence of A1 increased from Grade 6 to Grade 10. In contrast, investigation into the variability of the prevalence of codes by class revealed considerable variations in all the codes from Grades 6 to 10 in each school. In particular, very large variations were noted for the prevalence of A1 by class in Grade 6.

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