Abstract:

  The aim of this study is to examine whether the 2005 Elementary Mathemat- ics Education Curriculum (2005-EMEC) affects to seventh grade students’ concep- tual and procedural knowledge and skills. A mixed-method explanatory approach allowing both qualitative and quantitative research methods was used in the study. The data were collected with a Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) and Struc- tured Interviews (SI). The study included 91 randomly selected seventh grade stu- dents and their two mathematics teachers, in the academic year 2009-2010, and took place in the eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. In this study the achievements of the students' procedural knowledge and skills were significantly higher than the concep- tual achievements first found. But in a nearly 4-month period, while the achieve- ment levels of students’ procedural knowledge and skills did not change signifi- cantly, the conceptual achievement levels increased significantly. Accordingly, practices emphasizing conceptual understanding but not neglecting procedural knowledge and skills were recommended.

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