Explanatory Mathematical Writing Skills of Fourth-Grade Elementary Students

OpenAlex İngilizce

The use of writing activities in mathematics education is effective in many areas, such as the development of process skills, the promotion of meaningful learning, and the generation of new ideas. However, writing is often not associated with mathematics lessons. Research shows that practices aimed at developing students’ mathematical writing skills remain limited. In this context, this study aims to shed light on instructional interventions by revealing the current state of elementary school students’ mathematical writing processes. In this study, which adopted a descriptive survey model, a data collection tool consisting of six questions was developed to evaluate students’ explanatory mathematical writing skills. The questions prepared to assess mathematical writing performance were created in line with criteria such as conceptual understanding, reasoning, use of mathematical language, appropriateness to the student level, clarity, the quality of the problem situation, and assessment–evaluation principles, and they were evaluated in terms of compliance with these criteria. A rubric developed by the researchers was used to evaluate the students’ writing tasks. A separate scoring rubric was prepared for each question, and the responses were scored as 0, 1, or 2 points according to explanation and accuracy. The study group of the research consisted of 95 fourth-grade elementary school students studying at two different schools in the central district of Burdur Province during the 2021–2022 academic year. The analysis results clearly reveal not only the correct knowledge and conceptual understandings of the students but also their knowledge gaps and misconceptions. It is considered that this study will provide a basis for the development of instructional practices aimed at enabling elementary students’ written mathematical thinking.