Creative drama-based instructional intervention programme for mathematics learning difficulties of students at risk of dyscalculia: Length measurement estimation skills and mathematics anxiety

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of creative drama-based intervention method on the length measurement estimation skills and mathematics anxiety of dyscalculia-risk students. The participants of the study were determined from all 4th grade students who were diagnosed as dyscalculia-risk students studying in a large-scale public school located in the city center of Aksaray. The diagnosis process was applied to 42 students who were determined as a result of the teachers' information and observations among 324 students in the school. 3 students (2 girls, 1 boy) were determined as a result of the teachers' opinions, student information form, checklist and achievement test used in the diagnosis process of dyscalculia-risk students. The intervention method was prepared with creative drama lesson plans consisting of 12 lesson hours and was applied for a period of 3 weeks. The pre-test-post-test single-group quasi-experimental design method, which is one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. Data were collected at the beginning and end of the intervention process by applying the mathematics anxiety scale and the length measurement estimation skill scale, and analyzed with the descriptive statistics method considering the problems of the study. The findings obtained from the study indicate that the participants' length measurement estimation skills improved thanks to the creative drama intervention method and that progress was made in the length measurement estimation strategies used by the students. In addition, the length measurement estimation strategies commonly used by these students were determined and it was observed that they used more than one strategy in the same question. The findings of this study show that there was a general decrease in the mathematics anxiety of students at risk of dyscalculia and that there was a positive change in the dimensions of their mathematics-related anxiety. It is recommended that innovative educational models such as creative drama be used in the mathematics teaching of students at risk of dyscalculia and that lesson environments in which students take active roles be created.