Commercial Bank of Ethiopia

The purpose of this study was to investigate the misconceptions and difficulties that grade nine students have of the concept of function using a descriptive survey method. Mixed research approaches were used to explore the students’ difficulties in this study. The number of students and teachers that participated in this study was from four General secondary schools in west showa zone. The major data collection tools were test, interview, teachers’ questionnaire, and classroom observation. Frequencies and percentages were used to analyze quantitative data. The finding of the study reviled that students see a function as any relation between two sets, any correspondence between two sets, any map between two sets, an equation with two variables x and y, and also consider it as any ordered pair between two sets without considered the value of the second coordinate. The students have also difficulty in verbal representation of function and graphical representation of function. This could be because of mode of instruction, Students attention to the lesson, and background weakness from the previous classes. Based on the findings of the study, different recommendations are suggested.