ABSTRACT:The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among elementary school students' computer experience, computer ownership and their achievement in geometry. Assesed were 297 fourth and fifth grade students from four different school sites. Results showed that students who have computer at home and have an earlier computer experience scored higher in geometry test than those who do not have computers and who do not have any earlier computer experience respectively. Results also showed that the difference is getting wider. It was concluded that measures should be taken to increase computer access in schools located in poorer socio-economic areas to decrease the social disequity. Keywords: Computer experience, geometry, spatial thinking, computer ownership Giriş Bilgisayarın okullarda ve okul dışında kullanımı gittikçe yaygınlaşmaktadır. Özellikle, Dünya Bankası tarafından desteklenen bir proje ile Milli Eğitim Bakanlığına bağlı devlet okullarında 15 000 bilgisayar laboratuarının kurulması öğrencilerin bilgisayar teknolojileri ve uygulamaları ile daha erken yaşlarda tanışmalarını sağlama da önemli bir girişim olarak kabul edilebilir. Bunun sonucu olarak, ilköğretimin 4. ve 5. sınıflarından itibaren bazı okullarda seçmeli ders olarak bilgisayar dersi verilmektedir. Ayrıca, öğrenciler kendi evlerinde de bilgisayarla tanışma ortamı bulmakta; bazı öğrenciler ise bu imkanların hiç birisinden yararlanamamaktadır. Gerek okul içi gerekse okul dışı bilgisayar deneyimlerinin öğrencilerin başarısına ne ölçüde etki ettiği, özellikle de uzamsal düşünme ve geometri başarıları arasında bir ilişkinin olup olmadığının araştırılması gerekmektedir. Bu çalışmanın amacı ilköğretim öğrencilerinin bilgisayar sahibi olma ve çeşitli bilgisayar deneyimleri ile uzamsal düşünme ve geometri başarıları arasındaki ilişkileri araştırmaktır.
Improving childrens' problem solving skills is an important aim of mathematics education. Since textbooks are widely used in classrooms as a source of mathematical learning it is necessary to look for their adequateness in developing such skills. With this purpose in mind first, elementary school mathematics textbooks were examined with respect to the different meanings of addition and subtraction. Second, 3rd and 4th graders were surveyed to determine their successes on these types of addition and subtraction word problems. Last, statistical procedures were run to investigate any relationship between the two. Results showed that textbooks did not adequately represent all types of addition and subtraction problems. Similarly, students were usually less successful on the problem types underrepresented in textbooks. Implications for mathematics education at the elementary level were discussed.
This research investigated the possible impacts of computers on Turkish fourth-grade students' geometry scores and further geometric learning. The study used a pretest-intervention-posttest experimental design. Results showed that students who did not have computers at home initially had lower geometry scores. However, these differences were minimised with an appropriate intervention containing computer-based Tangram puzzles. This suggests that at schools, it seems more effective to integrate mathematical content and technology in a manner that enables students to do playful mathematical discoveries.
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