Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education

28-51

Authors: Sacide Güzin Mazman Akar, Osman Birgin, Büşra Göksu, Kübra Uzun, Büşra Gümüş, Elif Seval Peker

The purpose of this study is to adapt “Student Engagement in Mathematics Scale”, developed by Rimm-Kauffman (2010), into Turkish and to determine validity and reliability of the scale in Turkish form. The study group is consisted of 602 secondary school students. The original scale consisted of 13 items with three factors (social, emotional and cognitive). Adapted scale’s test-retest reliability coefficient was found .591 and Cronbach alpha value was found .872. Item-total correlations of scale items ranged between .30 to .66. First order and second order confirmatory factor analyses were executed for construct validity. As a result of confirmatory factor analyses, the scale was confirmed consisting of three factors namely “social”, “cognitive” and “emotional” as in original scale. These results showed that Turkish form of the scale, being reliable and valid, can be used in studies related to mathematics engagement.

83-102

Authors: Zeynep Dursun Sürmeli, Gülsen Ünver

In this study, the correlation between math achievement and self-regulating learning strategies, epistemological beliefs, academic self-concept of 9th grade student was examined. In 2013-2014 academic year, the study was performed on 630 students of 9th grade that receive education in high schools chosen from the institution of secondary education in European side of İstanbul through random cluster sampling. In study of correlational survey model, the sub-scales of “Self-regulation” and “The Cognitive Strategy Use”, as “The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire”, was used. The epistemological beliefs of students were evaluated through “The Mathematics-Oriented Epistemological Beliefs Scale”. To evaluate the academic self-concept of students, “Academics Self-concepts Scale” was used. The math achievement of the students was evaluated by grade that they obtained from math achievement test. In the direction of the study purpose, the relation between regressive variables and regressing variables was examined by regression analysis techniques. The result of this study proved that there was statistically a meaningful correlation between the use of cognitive strategy, academics self-concept and the math achievement. In addition, it was shown that the math achievement was not present any statistical meaningful correlation with self-regulation and epistemological beliefs. In the result of this study, it was shown that the math achievement was significantly predicted (10%) by the variable of academics self-concept whereas it was not significantly predicted by variables of self-regulating learning strategies and epistemological beliefs.

130-160

Authors: İbrahim Bayazit, Servet Merve Kırnap-Dönmez

This study investigates prospective elementary school teachers’ proficiencies at problem posing. The research employed qualitative case study method in order to examine the case in its natural setting and from the participants’ perspectives. The research was carried out with 162 prospective elementary mathematics teachers. A written exam, which included 10 open-ended tasks, was administered to the participants; and then semi-structured interview was conducted with 8 participants. Data were analyzed through content and discourse analysis methods. The results indicated that most of the participants were not proficient enough at posing conceptually rich and cognitively challenging problems. They displayed relatively better success at generating problems through re-formulation tasks; yet, they did this by changing story of the original tasks or the numerical values in it. Their success declined gradually when they were generating problems from semi-structured and free problem posing situations. The problems that they constructed excluded mathematical reasoning and creativity; these tasks could be resolved by the application of rules, procedures and factual knowledge. The participants’ lack of proficiency at problem posing seems to be resulting from their educational backgrounds. Thus, it is suggested that engaging prospective teachers in problem posing activities, especially in semi-structured and free situations, during their undergraduate education will contribute to the solution of this problem.

188-217

Authors: Mahmut Kertil, Ayhan Kürşat Erbaş, Bülent Çetinkaya

As a part of a larger study aiming at developing pre-service teachers’ pedagogical knowledge about mathematical modeling, this study investigates pre-service elementary mathematics teachers’ ways of thinking regarding rate of change in the context of a modeling task on population growth. The participants of the study were 9 prospective middle school mathematics teachers in their senior year attending a public university. The study was conducted as a part of an undergraduate course on mathematical modeling for prospective teachers. Data were collected through the prospective teachers’ written group work and reports regarding their solution to the modeling activity, individual reflection papers, and researchers’ field-notes. The results showed that participants demonstrated two different ways of thinking about the expression “rate of change in population with respect to time”: (i) percentage of change in population, and (ii) per year change in population (slope). Even though “percentage” interpretation was dominant, some of the participants were directed to “per year change in population” interpretation as the year intervals in the problem context were not given with equal intervals. The results revealed about prospective teachers’ difficulties in conceiving the difference and the mathematical relationship between “percentage” and “slope” interpretations. The results also revealed about the problematic aspect of expressing the term/concept “rate of change” in Turkish. As possible sources of these difficulties, the results are discussed in light of the distinction between rate and ratio.