Examination of Classroom Teacher’s Experiences Regarding Mathematics Courses Taught through Distance Education throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic Period

The aim of this study is to investigate the experiences of teachers regarding online primary school mathematics courses throughout the pandemic period. In this respect, the teachers were examined about the efficiency of distance education during the course sessions, the activities that involve the student, its positive and negative aspects, the utilized materials, portals, websites, the situation of students embodying the concepts, the extent to which they maintained the assessment, the difficulties they encountered within the process, as well as their suggestions. In the study, it was seen that teachers had both positive and negative views on distance education. The participant teachers in the study utilized different portals and websites throughout the distance education process. The majority of those teachers had the opinion that the methods used in mathematics courses through distance education assisted students in learning the concrete concepts. In the study, suggestions were made to enhance the efficiency of the mathematics courses along with distance education.

Interdisciplinary Approach in Primary School Mathematics Education

Life is a set of relationships in which countless factors interact and go on together. Each of the interacting factors is handled and used as a different discipline when the time comes. Depending on the spirit of the times and the structure of societies, the importance of some discipline areas may change and their place in the agenda may decline. However, this does not apply to mathematics. Because mathematics has served as a constant reference tool for the development of all other scientific fields. Activities that are put forward by ignoring this relationship of mathematics with other disciplines, turn out to be a waste of time and energy. This situation is also valid for educational activities. When mathematics is isolated from other disciplines, ambiguity of meaning and purpose emerges, loses its importance, and becomes a source of concern. The resulting confusion causes mathematics to be perceived as an academic obstacle to be overcome, rather than as a useful tool. It is in the hands of teachers to eliminate this perception and to teach mathematics as the common language of all disciplines. To achieve this, understanding must be changed, and mathematics must be taught based on an interdisciplinary approach.

Solving a Triangle in Teaching Primary School Mathematics

The paper studies solving a triangle in primary school mathematics education. It proposes a system of problems reflecting the classification of the concept of triangle according to the sides and the angles. Each subsystem of a given main system includes a basic problem with generalized formulation and a sample solution followed by problems illustrating the basic problem. The methodological analysis encompasses some didactic components – short description, construction/drawing, sample solution, necessary component concepts, component pieces of knowledge and component problems. All drawings in the study have been made by using the mathematical software GeoGebra in order to ensure dynamism and clarity, and subsequently to achieve easier understanding of a problem and finding out its solution.

INVESTIGATION OF USE CASES OF MATHEMATICS TEXTBOOKS IN THE TEACHING PROCESS FROM A DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE

It is important to determine the behaviors of primary school pre-service teachers, who have successfully completed the "Mathematics Textbook Review" course during their undergraduate education, regarding the use of textbooks in their professional life. Therefore, it is important to determine the approaches of pre-service teachers who have positive ideas about using the mathematics textbook in their undergraduate education and the reasons for these approaches in the process after starting the profession. This research was designed with a developmental perspective from qualitative research approaches and was conducted with two different study groups in Turkey. The first study group consists of 162 primary school mathematics pre-service teachers. The second group consists of 43 primary school mathematics teachers who worked for at least two years in their professional life. As a result of the research, more than half of the pre-service teachers (n=132) stated that they would use textbooks as a basic resource in the in-class teaching process. Pre-service teachers' reasons for using the course book in the classroom teaching process were grouped under four categories: "it is a guide for teaching, homework, affordability, and opportunity for repetition". When the data obtained from the mathematics teachers were examined, it was determined that most of the teachers did not use the textbook as the main source in the classroom teaching process. When the obtained data are examined holistically, it is concluded that even though the rate of pre-service teachers thinking of using the textbook is high, this rate will decrease in professional life. Keywords: Pre-service teachers, mathematics teacher, mathematics textbook, developmental perspective