Turkish Journal of Mathematics Education

Investigation of 7th Grade Students' Awareness of Verbal Problems with Missing Information or Excess Information

2024-02-21T14:10:02+00:00

When the skills of mathematics education curriculum are considered, problem solving skill has an important place. In the development of students' problem solving skills, students need to examine and analyze the structure of the problem at the problem understanding stage. Encountering different types of problems with missing information and excess information will support students' ability to express their own thoughts and communicate mathematically. In addition, such problems provide students with opportunities to demonstrate their reasoning and creative thinking skills. The aim of this study is to examine 7th grade students' awareness of verbal problems with missing information or excess information. Case study method was used in the study. The sample of this study consists of 15 7th grade students studying in a public secondary school in Şanlıurfa province in Turkey. The students were selected by purposive sampling method and interviewed. A form consisting of a total of 6 problems, three of which contain missing information and three of which contain too much information, was used as a data collection tool. The data obtained were analyzed and interpreted descriptively. As a result of the study, it was seen that the students tended to solve the problem directly without determining what was given and what was required. This situation made it difficult for them to recognize missing and excessive information in the question. It was observed that they did not think about the problem, did not examine the data in the problem and were result-oriented. It was observed that the majority of the students had difficulty in recognizing verbal problems with missing information, but they were more successful in recognizing verbal problems with excess information. Since it is common to think that students have enough information to solve problems, it should be ensured that problems with missing and excess information are given in mathematics teaching and that they think comprehensively while examining the problems.

Investigation of 9th Grade Mathematics Textbooks According to PISA 2003 Space and Shape Scale

2024-02-21T14:00:18+00:00

International assessment and evaluation exams help countries evaluate and improve their education systems. PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) is a study conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to assess the knowledge and skills acquired by 15-year-old students in three-year periods. The aim of this study is to examine the solved geometry questions in the 9th grade textbooks, one of which is published by a private publishing house and the other by the Ministry of National Education, which are being taught in Turkey and prepared according to the 2018 curriculum according to the PISA 2003 scale of space and shape, which is one of the PISA mathematics content areas. In this study, data were obtained using document analysis technique. While 6 levels were defined in the PISA 2003 Space and Shape Scale, it was observed that all levels were not included in the 9th grade mathematics textbooks. In both of the 9th grade textbooks examined, it was revealed that more questions at the 2nd level were included according to the PISA 2003 space and shape scale. However, while the textbook published by the MoNE includes questions at level 5, the textbook published by the private publishing house does not include questions at this level. It is thought that the questions in the textbook published by the private publishing house encourage students to practice more and are exam-oriented, while the questions in the textbook published by the MoNE have a structure that aims to take students to higher levels.

Thematic Content Analysis of Graduate Studies on K-12 Numbers: A Meta-Synthesis Study

2024-02-05T08:24:08+00:00

The aim of this study is to examine the contents, measured features and results of graduate theses conducted at preschool, primary, secondary and high school levels on numbers in mathematics education. The research consists of 136 theses that were accessed by scanning using the keyword "numbers" in the database of the National Thesis Center of the Council of Higher Education between 1987-2023. The research is a meta-synthesis study and content analysis technique was used in the analysis of the data and descriptive statistics were used in the presentation. According to the findings of the research, it has been determined that the most studied number sets trend is rational numbers. It has been observed that the least studied set of numbers is complex numbers. It was observed that the studies were mostly at the secondary school level. When the studies conducted at the K-12 level are examined, it is seen that the studies are mostly carried out to investigate the effects of new methods and approaches on the teaching process and the result that new approaches and methods are more successful than traditional methods are concentrated. Another result obtained from the research was the abundance of misconceptions and errors, and the inadequacy of student skills and the need for improvement. In order to contribute to the field in the research, it is recommended to increase the studies carried out in the pre-school period, where concrete concepts are gained to support the development of abstract concepts in the studies on numbers, and to carry out various studies to correct misconceptions and errors, especially in high school studies, starting from the pre-school period to the end of high school.

Student-Teacher Experiences in Numeration Systems

2024-03-08T08:39:14+00:00

There are fundamental relationships among numeration systems. However, student-teachers fail to adequately exploit the fun and flair of relationships in numeration systems. In this study, we explored the didactical phenomenology experiences to bridge this gap. Even though the sampling technique was purposive, the sample size of 16 groups of 10 student-teachers per group was determined by the principle of saturation, as no new lived experiences of participants added any new information on the themes. Focus group discussions were used to collect data. The 16 groups were administered the same set of questions. After discussions with each group, their responses were recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed to reveal five themes. Thereafter, a phenomenological analysis was employed to describe their experiences. The analysis showed that student-teachers could readily apply the methods of conversions to base 10. However, they found it very hectic to convert to other bases. It was therefore recommended that much more didactical phenomenology experiences should be exploited to teach number bases to student-teachers.