Effect of Strategy Teaching For the Solution of Ratio Problems on Students' Proportional Reasoning Skills

Abstract

The study was conducted to reveal the effects of the instruction of different problem-solving strategies on the proportional reasoning skills of students in solving proportional problems in the 6th grade math’s class. Quasi-experimental research model with pretest-posttest control group was employed in the study. For eight class hours, the experimental group students (n=16) were instructed to solve proportional problems by using the problem-solving strategies, whereas the control group students (n=16) were not instructed anything other than the current practice. In the study, “Proportional Reasoning Test”, developed by the researchers, was implemented as pretest and posttest for data collection. In addition, home assignments including proportional problems were used to observe the students’ improvement during the process. The quantitative data were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Mann-Whitney U test. It was found out that instruction of problem-solving strategies positively influenced the experimental group students’ proportional reasoning skills for solving proportional problems