Examination of Mathematics Study Strategies of Secondary School Students From the Perspective of Multiple Variables

Abstract

The academic achievement of students can decrease if they fail to use mathematics study strategies well. This situation may lead to negative opinions and attitudes among students towards mathematics. In this study, it was aimed to examine the mathematics study strategies of students enrolled at secondary schools in terms of academic achievement and multiple variables. Relational survey method, one of the quantitative research methods, was used to obtain the data. The universe of the study consists of a total of 9,072 students in the 6th, 7th and 8th grades of secondary schools under the Secondary Education Office of the Ministry of National Education and Culture of Northern Cyprus during the 2019-2020 academic year. In the study, the simple random sampling method was used to include 1,012 students. In order to collect the research data, the mathematics study strategies of secondary school students were used; on the other hand, mathematics grades were employed to assess their academic achievement. As a result of the research, when the mathematics study strategies of secondary school students are examined, it is seen that their mathematics study strategies are at the medium level. In this study, a comparison of mathematics study strategies in terms of gender showed that the average score of female students for mathematics study strategies was higher compared to the males. It was also seen that students’ mathematics study strategy scores were similar regardless of whether they were attending extra-school study centres or preparatory schools, and students’ mathematics study strategies scores were similar regardless of whether they received private tutoring. Regardless of the grade levels of the students, we can also claim that their mathematics study strategies are at the medium level. Generally, it has been observed that secondary school students with high academic achievement use their mathematics study skills better than students with low academic achievement.

Slow learners’ performance in solving mathematical problems in the inclusive classroom

“…However, the first subject could not relate the concept of a circle area, and the second subject could not determine the right strategy to solve the problem even though it had used the concept of a circle area. They have not performed well in their mathematics study skills which causes them to be unable to apply the right strategy (Arifin, Zulkardi, Putri, & Hartono, 2021;Tezer et al, 2020).…”

“…More specifically, slow learners are identified as children who have IQs in the range of 70-85 (Kaznowski, 2004) or the range of 75-89 (Malik, Rehman, & Hanif, 2012), so it can be concluded that IQs of slow learners are in the range of 70-90 (Krishnakumar, Jisha, Sukumaran, & Nair, 2011). Therefore, it gives slow learners the inability to keep up with academic demands (Kaznowski, 2004) and encounter troubles in learning (Tran, Tuyen, Trinh, & Tai, 2019), thus leading to low achievements, which in turn does not make them well performed in their mathematics study skills (Tezer, Cumhur, & İldırımlı, 2020).…”