A Content Analysis Related To the Problem Themed Articles on Mathematics Education in Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this research was to investigate the problem-themed articles carried out in the field of mathematics in our country in terms of their structures, issue trends and reached results. The research was designed based on the descriptive content analysis method. 3160 volumes of 112 journals and 213 articles were determined in our country within the scope of the research. The obtained data were subjected to descriptive analysis and content analysis according to the purpose of sub-problems. At the end of the analyses, it was determined that the first problem-themed article in the field of mathematics in our country was conducted in 1984 and the number of the articles have started to increase since 2002. It was also noticed that the most common applied method in the articles was the case study, which most of the researches were carried in secondary school level, the achievement tests were the most used data collection tool and descriptive analyses were frequently used. It was observed that the articles were mostly on problem solving and other topics were problem posing the PBL and the structure of problem in order. Considering the reviewed articles, some results that can be referred were that the experimental practices played an active role in increasing the problem-solving achievement and the achievement of the participants in non-routine problems was low. The participants also make mistakes in problem solving with several reasons such as the lack of knowledge, inability to transfer their knowledge into problem in addition that they mostly cannot understand the problem. It can be referred that the participants are not at the desired level in problem-building skills. The PBL is effective on the achievement, attitude and permanence.