Research Information System
Thesis Type: Doctorate
Institution Of The Thesis: Gazi Üniversitesi, Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Turkey
Approval Date: 2015
Student: MEHMET HAYRİ SARI
Supervisor: NEŞE IŞIK TERTEMİZ
Abstract:The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of geometry activities structured according to Dienes principles in the elementary 4th grade on student achievement, retention and academic self-concept perception. The research was designed according to pre-test and post-test paired control-group semi-experimental model. The study group of the research included students studying at different branches of the 4th grades in three different elementary schools having medium socio-economic class in Nevşehir provincial centrum. Two out of these three groups equal to each other in terms of academic self-concept as one of the achievement and emotional properties were specified as experimental groups, and one was specified as the control group. Learning-teaching process in the 1st Experimental group was carried out by the classroom teacher, learning-teaching process in the 2nd Experimental group was carried out by the researcher, and the process in the Control group was carried out by the classroom teacher. In mathematics course of the 1st Experimental and 2nd Experimental groups, teaching-learning activities designed according to Dienes principles related to the achievements on geometry and measurement (circumference and area) learning fields were used. In the Control group, the course was trained according to 4th grade mathematics guide, course and exercise books approved by the Ministry of Education. The research was carried out for 39 course hours (nearly 10 weeks). In order to find equal groups at the beginning of the implementation and determine achievement in the experimental and control groups at the end of the implementation,Geometry Level Determination Test including 76 questions was performed. Moreover, Academic Self-Concept Scale used by the permission of person adapted the scale was performed in order to determine the academic self-concept perceptions of the groups as one of their emotional properties in pre-test and post-test. In terms of the analysis of the data obtained in the research, correct answer percentage (item difficulty index) of the items included in Geometry Level Determination Test was calculated in order to determine the achievement levels of the students in the experimental and control groups. The values obtained as result of the calculation were used as the achievement levels of targeted acquisitions. In pre-test, post-test and retention stages of the experimental design, paired samples t-test and One-way Covariance (One-way ANCOVA) analysis techniques were used in order to interpret the scores obtained from the Geometry Level Determination Test and Academic Self-Concept Scale. The results obtained from the research were presented below: Whereas the students in the 1st Experimental group reached to full learning criterion in 19 achievements out of 24 achievements discussed in the research, they could not reach to the determined level in five achievements. Similarly, whereas the students in the 2nd Experimental group reached to the full learning criterion in 20 achievements, they were below this level in four achievements. In the control group, full learning was obtained in only two out of 24 achievements. Students could not reach to the determined level in the rest 22 achievements. The difference between the averages of the scores obtained from the Geometry Level Determination Test post-test was noticed to be significant both in the groups and among the groups. Pre-test and post-test score averages of the groups was concluded to be significant in favor of the post-test. In other words, achievement of both experimental and control groups related to geometry subjects increased rather than the pre-test during the experimental process. Whereas no significant difference was found between Geometry Level Determination Test post-test score averages of 1st Experimental and 2nd Experimental groups, significant difference was obtained between both groups and the control group. The effect of learning activities carried out according to Dienes principles in the experimental groups where the courses were trained by both the classroom teacher and the researcher upon the achievement was higher than the achievement of the control group in which learning activities carried out according to mathematics guide, course and exercise books. According to retention test results performed three weeks after the implementation, it was noticed that some of the information learned in all groups were not reminded or forgotten. Retention test scores of the groups decreased between 5 and 7 according to the post-test scores. Another result obtained from the research, there was no change in academic self-concept perception of students at the end of the teaching-learning process actualized in experimental and control groups. Because this was domestically the first study on this subject, results of the study were possible to provide contributions upon classroom teaching, especially on mathematics teaching