INVESTIGATION OF MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ VIEWS ABOUT IMPROVING PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS

Yıl 2016, Cilt: 4 , 471 - 481, 01.09.2016

Cemalettin Yıldız

Öz

Since problem solving skills play
a central role in middle and secondary school mathematics curricula, this made mathematics
educators give importance to this subject. Improving problem solving skills of
students is one of the primary aims of education so it is very important to
make students gain problem solving skills. Thus, the aim of this research is to
investigate views of middle and secondary school mathematics teachers related
to improvement of students’ problem solving skills. Qualitative research method
was used in this study. The research was done on fall term of 2015-2016
academic year. The study was conducted with 115 mathematics teachers (60 middle
school and 55 secondary school) working at state schools. Data were gathered by
a form consisted of open ended questions and analyzed by descriptive and
content analysis techniques. At the end of the research, it is found that
teachers had information about the importance of problem solving skills
improvement in mathematics education. Also, it is determined that participants
thought teachers should have a central role in improving problem solving skills
and students should strive in problem solutions. In addition, it was found that
teachers believed that mathematics and other lessons improved problem solving
skills and improvement in problem solving skills had a positive effect on the
achievement in mathematics and other lessons. Lastly, teachers thought that
students whose problem solving skills had improved were more successful than
the other students and had higher self-confidence than others. They also stated
that since it had an impact on improvement in problem solving skills, it should
be given importance to level of students when the textbooks were prepared.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Problem solving skills, mathematics education, middle school mathematics teacher, secondary school mathematics teacher

Kaynakça

• Altun, M. (2015). Ortaokullarda (5, 6, 7 ve 8. sınıflarda) matematik öğretimi (10. Baskı). Bursa: Alfa Akademi Basımevi. Baker, S. B. & Shaw, M. C. (1987). Improving counseling through primary prevention. Ohio: Merrill Publishing Company. A Bell & Howell Company. Blissett, S. E. & Mcgrath, R. E. (1996). The relationship between creativity and interpersonal problem solving skills in adults. Journal of Creative Behavior, 30(3), 173-182. Britz, J. & Richard, N. (1992). Problem solving in the early childhood classroom. United States: A National Education Association Publication. Büyükötürk, Ş., Kılıç-Çakmak., E., Akgün, Ö., E., Karadeniz, Ş., & Demirel, F. (2009). Scientific research methods (4th Ed.) Ankara: Pegem Academy Publishing. D’ Zurilla, T. J., Nezu, A. M., & Maydeu-Olivares, A. (2002). Manual for the social problem solving inventory-revised (SPSI-R). North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-Health Systems. Farrel, A. D., Meyer, A. L., & White, K. S. (2001). Evaluating RIPP: A school based prevention program for reducing violence among urban adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 30(4), 451-463. Foong, P. Y. & Koay, P. L. (1997). School word problems and stereotyped thinking. Teaching and Learning, 18(1), 73-82. Gelbal, S. (1991, Nisan). Problem çözme becerisinin öğretimle geliştirilmesi. Eğitimde Nitelik Geliştirme- Eğitimde Arayışlar 1. Sempozyumu, İstanbul: Kültür Koleji Genel Müdürlüğü. Gökçek, T. & Hacısalihoğlu Karadeniz, M. (2013). Reasons for choosing alternative sources instead of textbook at secondary education. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education, 4(1), 20-31. Grouws, D. A. (1996). Critical issues in problem solving instruction in mathematics. In D. Zhang, T. Sawada, & J. P. Becker (Eds.), Proceedings of the China-Japan-U.S. seminar on mathematical education (pp. 70-93). Carbondale, IL: Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University. Henton, J., Marotz-Baden, R., & Kieren, D. (1979). Problem solving in the classroom. The Family Coordinator, 28(1), 91-96. Karahan, T. F., Sardoğan, Μ. E., Güven, M. Ç., Özkamalı, E., & Dicle, A. N. (2006). The effect of human relations and communication course on the conflict resolution and empathic skill levels of prospective teachers’. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 23, 127-136. Karataş, İ. & Güven, B. (2004). 8. sınıf öğrencilerinin problem çözme becerilerinin belirlenmesi: Bir özel durum çalışması. Milli Eğitim Dergisi, 163. Kilpatrick, J. (1985). A retrospective account of the past 25 years of research on teaching mathematical problem solving. In E. A. Silver (Ed), Teaching and learning mathematical problem solving: Multiple research perspectives (pp, 1-15). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Kneeland, S. (2001). Problem çözme (N. Kalaycı, Çev.). Ankara: Gazi Kitapevi. Korkut, F. (2002). Problem solving skills of high school students. Hacettepe University Journal of Education, 22, 177-184. Mandin, H., Jones, A., Woloschuck, W., & Harasym, P. (1997). Helping students learn to think like experts when solving clinical problems. Academic Medicine, 72(3), 173-179. Meriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education: Revised and expanded form case study research in education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Miles, M. B. & Hubermann, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication. Ministry of National Education [MoNE]. (2009). Primary schools mathematics curriculum (6, 7, and 8th grades). Ankara: MoNE Board of Education. Ministry of National Education [MoNE]. (2013a). Middle school mathematics curriculum (5, 6, 7, and 8th grades). Ankara: MoNE Board of Education. Ministry of National Education [MoNE]. (2013b). Secondary school mathematics curriculum (9, 10, 11, and 12th grades). Ankara: MoNE Board of Education. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (1989). Curriculum and evaluation standards for school mathematics. Reston, Va: NCTM. Nelson, L. L., Golding, N. L., Drews, D. R., & Blazina, M. K. (1995). Teaching and assessing problem solving for international conflict resolution. Peace and conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 1(4), 399-415. Olkun, S. & Toluk, Z. (2004). İlköğretimde etkinlik temelli matematik öğretimi. Ankara: Anı Yayıncılık. Özsoy, G. (2005). The relationship between problem solving skills and mathematical achievement. Gazi University Journal of Gazi Educational Faculty, 25(3), 179-190. Reusser, K. & Stebler, R. (1997). Every word problem has a solution: The social rationality of mathematical modeling in schools. Learning and Instruction, 7(4), 309-327. Sawyer M. G., MacMullin, C., Graetz, B., Said, J. A., Clark, J. J., & Baghurst, P. (1997). Social skills training for primary school children: A one year follow-up study. Journal of Pediatrics and Child Health, 33(5), 378-383. Shin, N., Jonassen, D. H., & McGee, S. (2003). Predictors of well-structured and ill-structured problem solving in an astronomy simulation. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40(1), 6-33. Soylu, Y. & Soylu, C. (2006). The role of problem solving in mathematics lessons for success. Education Faculty Journal, 7(11), 97-111. Taşkın, D., Yıldız, C., Kanbolat, O., & Baki, A. (2013). Reflections of problem solving environment based on group work: Example of Fibonacci problem. Mediterranean Journal of Educational Research, 14a, 170-175. Tertemiz, N., Çelik, Ö., & Doğan, S. (2014). Problem solving strategies of pre-service primary teachers according to their learning styles. The Journal of the Industrial Arts Education Faculty of Gazi University, 33, 9-23. Yazgan, Y. & Bintaş, J. (2005). Fourth and fifth grade students’ levels of using problem solving strategies: A teaching experiment. Hacettepe University Journal of Education, 28, 210-218. Yıldırım, A. & Şimşek, H. (2008). Qualitative research techniques in social sciences (6th Ed.). Ankara: Seçkin Press. Yıldırım, M., Atila, M. E., Özmen, H., & Sözbilir, M. (2013). The preservice science teachers’ views about the developing science process skills. Mersin University Journal of the Faculty of Education, 9(3), 27-40. Yıldız, A. & Baltacı, S. (2014, Eylül). İlköğretim 8. sınıf öğrencilerinin problem çözme süreçlerinde matematik sembollerini kullanım durumları. 13. Fen ve Matematik Eğitimi Kongresi, Adana. Yıldız, A., Baltacı, S., & Güven, B. (2011). Metacognitive behaviours of the eighth grade gifted students in problem solving process. The New Educational Review, 26(4), 248-260. Yıldızlar, M. (2001). Matematik problemlerini çözebilme yöntemleri. Ankara: Eylül Kitap ve Yayınevi.