Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of a learning environment enriched using different teaching methods on mathematical judgment and mathematical attitude. The study was carried out with the participation of 27th grade students studying in a state high school randomly chosen from a province center in Turkey. The teaching of the subjects of cuts and summaries in the designed learning environment, using educational games, material, cartoons and computer-supported applications, was carried out for eight weeks (a total of 32 lessons hours) by associating them with everyday life and discussing them with collaborative heterogeneous groups. The data of the study is obtained from the students' answers to the Mathematical Adjustment Test (MMT) and the Mathematical Attitude Scale (MTÖ) in the pre-test and estest. The answers given to MMT and MTÖ were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed sequence test. Analysis showed that the intervention in this learning environment significantly improved students’ mathematical judgments and significantly improved students’ attitudes towards mathematics. On the other hand, thanks to the open-end problems presented in collaborative groups, it was observed that students were trying to offer a solution instead of focusing on the answer options, explaining their solution, developing different strategies by discussing with their group members, and thus being more mathematical judgment. This conclusion underlines the need to use open-end problems in determining, evaluating and developing mathematical judgment.

Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of a learning environment enriched by using different teaching ways on mathematical reasoning and mathematics attitude. The study was carried out with the participation of 27 seventh-grade students who study at a state middle school randomly selected from a city center in Turkey. Instruction of fractions and integers was performed in the designed learning environment for 8 weeks (32 lesson hours in total) by using educational games, concrete materials, cartoons, computer-aided applications, and associating with daily life and discussing in cooperative heterogeneous groups. The data were obtained from students’ responses to the Mathematical Reasoning Test (MRT) and the Mathematical Attitude Scale (MAS) on pretest and posttest. Responses to MRT and MAS were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. Analyzes have shown that the intervention in this environment improves students’ mathematical reasoning significantly and improves their attitudes towards mathematics to a significant degree. It has been observed that through open-ended problems presented in cooperative groups, instead of focusing on the answer options, students tried to provide a solution, explaining the solution, discussing it with their group friends, developing different strategies and thus they were found to have more mathematical reasoning. This result underscores the need to use open-ended problems in determining, evaluating, and improving mathematical reasoning. 

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