Özet:

Mathematical thinking is a dynamic process that develops students' ability to perceive relationships between ideas. This study aims to examine the mathematical thinking processes of middle school 8th-grade students in the process of solving skill-based questions. For this purpose, we used a qualitative case study. Eight students, who were determined by the criterion sampling method, one of the purposive sampling methods, constitute the research group as the students must have a definite mathematical basis for solving the questions. As a data collection tool, we used an exponential expression question selected from the 2021 Transition to High Schools System (LGS) exam and revised for the purpose documents consisting of students' solutions, and semi-structured interviews. We examined mathematical thinking processes in the stages of specializing, conjecturing, and generalizing. According to the findings obtained students had difficulties in the generalizing process rather than the processes of specializing and conjecturing. In this context, it was determined that students who could verbally express the relationships they noticed in the process of conjecturing had difficulty in expressing the conjectures they reached in the generalizing process algebraically. Having analyzed the results we recommend more applications that can be included in mathematics learning environments to develop mathematical thinking skills.

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