Examination of perspectives of 10th grade students about mathematics and culture in the context of inter-disciplines relations and informal learning environments

Abstract

In this study, through a museum visit, which is an informal learning environment, it is aimed to reveal the students’ perspectives on the existing relationship between their cul-ture and mathematics. The study also aims to provide an opportunity for them to correlate their cultural heritage with mathematics, gain awareness about mathematics in their cul-ture, realize the usage areas of mathematics in real life, and see the connection between mathematics and other disciplines. For these purposes holistic multi-case study design was used. Within the scope of the study carried out with 13 high school students, Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Islam and Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts were visited. The data of the study were collected through the questionnaire applied to the students after the visit. The data were analyzed by creating categories and codes according to the characteristics of the questions in the form. As a result of the study, it was seen that students gained awareness of the relationship between their culture and mathematics, but they could superficially make the correlation. About half of the students stated that they wanted mathematics classes to be correlated with history and culture, while the rest of them stated that they did not want it to be correlated with the worry of not being successful. On the other hand, through the application, it was found that the students were able to discover mathematics in daily life and correlate mathematics with other disciplines.

Keywords

• Etnomatematik
• informal öğrenme ortamı
• kültür
• matematik eğitimi
• müze eğitimi.

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