Ortaokul Matematik Öğretmenlerinin Aritmetik ve Cebir Problemleri Hakkındaki İnanışları

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the opinions and beliefs of secondary school mathematics teachers about the students' competencies to acquire mathematical content in the context of different types of problems and solutions. The study was conducted according to the descriptive research model from the quantitative research design. The sample of the research consists of 32 middle school mathematics teachers. In the data collection phase, literature supported questionnaires consisting of Likert and problem type questions and open-ended questionnaires developed by the researcher were used. Descriptive statistics and analysis methods were used in analysing the data. Teachers have stated that for students, algebraic problems are more difficult than arithmetic problems and verbal problems are more difficult than symbolic ones, the unknown quantities in the problem affect the level of difficulty of the problem and there are more strategies students can use. In addition, most teachers adopt the idea that story problems are more appropriate than symbolic problems in terms of new meanings, and that "algebra is the best" with symbol precedence view.