Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to predict the university students’ perceptions of problem solving skills from their Mathematical success. To achieve this goal, points of students in Mathematical programme (Department of Primary School Mathematics Teaching) and points of students in Non-Mathematical programme (Social Sciences Department and Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge Department) were compared. This study was performed with a total of 201 students in Rize University, Faculty of Education; 110 students in Department of Primary School Mathematics Teaching, 35 students in Social Sciences Department and 56 students in Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge Department. In this study, the Problem Solving Inventory which was adapted to Turkish by Sahin, Sahin and Heppner (1993) was used. Results revealed that students’ net Mathematics scores in Student Selection Examination (SSE) were not a meaningful predictor of their perceptions of problem solving skills. Similarly, it was concluded that General Mathematics Course scores of the students in Department of Primary School Mathematics Teaching Programme were not a meaningful predictor of their perceptions of problem solving skills. Points in the problem solving inventory showed no meaningful difference according to departments and programmes while they showed a meaningful difference in favour of female students. In secondary school Mathematics education, it is possible to form more settings where students can internalize problem solving processes and associate these problems with real life situations and project works with other assignments can be given to students to ensure those goals.

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