Author/Authors :
doğru, süleyman biruni üniversitesi - eğitim fakültesi - özel eğitim bölümü, istanbul, turkey
Abstract :
This study is based on two fundamental problems. Firstly, the effect of activities prepared for elementary 5^th grades on the basis of Kolb’s learning styles and the prerequisite learning skills upon students’ attitude towards the mathematics class, self-efficacy perception, mathematics anxiety and retention was researched. Secondly, the opinions of the experimental group students about the learning process and activities, with whom the activities based upon Kolb’s learning styles were practiced, as well as eliminating the prerequisite learning deficiencies, were determined. Within this framework, descriptive and experimental methods were used in this research. The participants in this study comprised 75 fifth graders who attended the Ahmet Acar Elementary School in Selçuklu, Konya, during the 2011-2012 academic year. The data collection tools for this research were the Learning Domain Success Test, the Mathematics Attitude Scale, the Mathematics Anxiety Scale, the Scale of Self-Efficacy in Mathematics, the Kolb Learning Style Inventory and the Student Interview Form. With the aim of testing the quantitative dimension of this research, single factoral ANCOVA was used on this data, and for repeated measures of a single factor, single factoral ANOVA was applied. The data acquired from the research’s quantitative dimension were analyzed through descriptive statistics. From the results of this study: in view of the students’ learning styles, it was found that when compared with the control group students’, the experimental group students’ attitude, self-efficacy and permanence levels all increased while their anxiety level decreased. It was determined that the opinions of the experimental group students about the activity process based upon learning styles and the elimination of the prerequisite deficiencies were in general positive towards “teaching the lesson”, “classroom environment” and “teaching mathematics”.
