Investigation of the difficulties experienced by 7th and 8th grade students in their algoritmic thinking processes on the axis of mathematical process skills

The aim of this study is to examine the difficulties experienced by 7th and 8th grade students in algorithmic thinking processes in terms of mathematical process skills. The research was conducted in two stages; in the first stage, a test was developed to measure students' algorithmic thinking skills, and in the second stage, the case study method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used to find answers to the research problems. The study group consisted of eight students who were selected from the 7th and 8th grade students of a public school using a combination of convenience and criterion sampling methods. In the study, Algorithmic Thinking Skills Test, semi-structured interviews and documents consisting of written responses of students were used as data collection tools. In order to evaluate the mathematical process skills of the students, indicators created by the researchers for reasoning, connection and communication skills were used and student performances were coded as adequate, partially adequate and inadequate. As a result of the study, it was concluded that the algorithmic thinking levels of the students were at a partially adequate level in general, however, eighth grade students performed better in algorithmic thinking processes than seventh grade students. In algorithmic thinking processes, students' use of reasoning, connecting and communication skills was generally inadequate, while their performance in communication processes was better than in other skills. In reasoning processes, students had the most difficulty in analyzing the given problem situation by considering all the components, in connection processes they had difficulty in establishing a relationship between algorithms (instructions) and the desired situation for solving the problem, and in communication processes they had difficulty in understanding the algorithms presented in written or visual form in the question and expressing their thoughts and mathematical ideas verbally and in writing. When all the data obtained were interpreted together, it was observed that students generally could not associate the algorithms given in the problem situations with the solution process and had difficulty in determining the method they would use to solve the problem. Based on the results obtained from the research, suggestions were made for mathematics learning environments and different scientific studies to be conducted on the subject.