Middle school students' reasoning about volume and surface area

This study investigates students' reasoning skills in practical application of mathematics. Students were asked to explain the volume and surface area of a shoe box after enlargement. The data from two groups of students were collected and analysed. The first administration of the tasks was given to 253 Year 4-10 students to validate the usability of the items and marking rubric. The second administration involved 273 Year 8-10 students of a different cohort. The results show that students use a combination of linguistic, symbolic, and diagrammatic tools demonstrating different level of reasoning.