Fri 19.09.2014 - 15:20-17:30 - Grafika

The Social Validity of Advanced Mathematics in the Education Programs for Talented Students  Paper  Presentation

Presenter: Bilge Bal Sezerel

The purpose of this study is to investigate the social validity of EPTS’s mathematics lessons. EPTS is a program that is based on university, services after school for elementary and secondary school students who are identified scientifically and mathematically talented by the identification system of the program. Advanced mathematics covers the subjects of the areas; algebra, geometry, statistics, probability and trigonometry by using technological equipment. In the core of mathematical courses, it is expected that students connect mathematical theories with the daily life. Students learn the structure of the concepts and gain conceptual knowledge thanks to mathematics courses. What’s more, students can create real life problem situations so they can transfer their experience to application area of the mathematics. One of the method for the investigation of the course’s viability is the social validity evaluations. In this study the participants included 141 sixth, seventh and eighth grade students who had attended the EPTS from the year of 2008 to 2013. EPTS Course Evaluation Form was administered to investigate the social validity of the advanced mathematics course in this program. The EPTS Course Evaluation Form is consisted of two structured items which are related to likeness and usefulness and ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very very much) and three semi-structured items. In order to investigate the social validity of advanced mathematics courses, one sample t-test analysis was used to test the mean score of each item in the scale against the criteria “3” (a little). Findings showed that mean scores of all of the items were higher than the criteria with all of the differences being statistically significant at .05 level. Analysis of the semi structured items showed that students like most the mathematics course in the computer lab. Based on the students’ evaluation, it is concluded that the EPTS has a very social validity.

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