Abstract:

This study aims to develop a scale aimed at determining high school students’ thoughts about mathematics. For the purpose of testing the developed scale, a gender and class level variables were also assessed. For this purpose, the work is designed in the screening model. The work group is determined according to the appropriate sampling method. In this context, the study was conducted with 659 high school students. For the determination of the factor structure of the measurement, the determination of the factor analysis, the confirmation of the factor analysis for the test of the achieved structure, was also performed. Materials were analyzed and Cronbach alpha calculations were made to determine the reliability of the scale. The opening-factor analysis determined that the scale was made up of two factors. These factors are called in the form of positive thoughts and negative thoughts. According to the verifying factor analysis results, the developed scale has been shown to be perfectly compatible. Materials analysis results have shown that substances in scale are high validity and sufficiently distinguishing. As a result of reliability analyses, both the scale and the subfactors have been determined to be reliable enough. The study finds that the scale developed in the study is a valid and reliable measurement tool that can be used in determining the thoughts of high school students about mathematics. In addition, the gender variable has a low effect on mathematical thoughts, while the class level variable has a high effect.

Abstract:

In this study, it was aimed to develop a scale in order to investigate middle school students’ considerations about mathematics. An evaluation was executed in terms of gender and grade levels in order to verify the scale. For this purpose, a screening model was used as a research model. A convenient sampling method was selected to determine a study group. In this context, the study was conducted with 659 middle school students. In order to identify the factor structure of the scale, exploratory factor analysis was executed and to verify this structure confirmatory factor analysis was also calculated. Furthermore, item analyses were performed. In order to determine the reliability of the scale, Cronbach alpha was also calculated. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis, it was seen that the scale had two sub-factors. These factors were named as positive considerations and negative considerations. It was shown that the developed scale showed a perfect fit according to the confirmatory factor analysis’ results. The item analyses’ results showed that the items on the scale had high-level validity and were sufficiently distinguishable. According to the reliability analyses, it was revealed that both the whole scale and its sub-factors were found sufficiently reliable. In conclusion, it was concluded that the scale was a valid and reliable instrument that could be used to determine middle school students’ thoughts toward mathematics. In addition to this, it was found that even though gender had low effect on mathematical considerations, grade level had a high effect on them

Keywords: