The purpose of this study was to find difficulties in the comprehension of the science module of pressure and the mathematics module of inverse proportion in first grade lower secondary school, and to demonstrate how to make effective use of them in instruction.
The results of this investigation revealed the following points:
1) Many students had difficulties in the complexity of two variables: the size of pressure and its area. Furthermore, they did not understand the real meaning of the formula of pressure added with new signs and units.
2) The ability to write the formula of pressure in literal expression turned out to significantly affect creating tables and making graphs out of the tables.
Therefore, in the instruction of pressure in science, teachers must lead the class to make better use of the study of transformation of formulae and inverse proportion in mathematics, getting them to pay attention to new signs and units, and comprehend the meaning of the formula of pressure so that they may apply it more easily.