Development and implementation of mathematical modeling activities in the context of connecting with different disciplines: The sample of middle school students

The aim of this study is, to contribute to the development of students' modeling competencies and mathematical connection self-efficacy through developing and applying mathematical modeling activities in the context of interdisciplinary connection and to investigate their level of development.. The research was carried out by using experimental embedded mixed method in which a qualitative step can be added to a quantitative study with the mixed method and which can be shaped experimentally. In the quantitative part of the research, experiment and control groups were formed within a quasi-experimental model. In the qualitative part, only the opinions of the experiment group students were taken and direct quotations were made from the answers given by the students to the modeling problems. Experiment and control groups consisted of 61 7th grade students from a cental public school of one of our country's metropolitan cities. The research took 15 weeks, including pre-test-post-test and application process. While the application process of modelling activities took nine weeks; pre-test and post-test applications with other scales such as personal information form, pre-view form, Mathematical Connection Self-Efficacy Scale took three weeks each. During this process, quantitative and qualitative data were obtained and analyzes were made in accordance with the research problems. "Rubric for the Assessment of Modeling Skills" was used to evaluate the modeling competencies of the students. Descriptive statistics, Mann Whitney U-test for two unrelated samples, Wilcoxon signed rank test, t-test and Chi-square test for related / unrelated measurements were used in the analysis of quantitative data. Content analysis and descriptive analysis were used in the analysis of qualitative data. In the data analysis conducted for mathematical modeling competencies, when the total scores of the pre-test-post-test modeling competencies of the experimental group students were examined, it was seen that there was a significant difference and development between the understanding, simplifiying, mathematizing, working mathematically and interpreting competencies in favor of the posttest. However, it was determined that there was no significant difference between pre-test and post-test validating competence total scores. After the teaching process designed with modeling activities, it was revealed in the opinions of the students of the experimental group that mathematical modeling contributed positively to the students' understanding, success, interest and motivation, and it was effective in connection mathematics with daily life and other disciplines. In the data analysis conducted for mathematical connection self-efficacy, it was found that there was no statistically significant difference between the pretest and posttest mathematical connection self-efficacy scores of the experimental and control group students. After the teaching process, it was determined that the experimental group students' views on the contribution of mathematics to other disciplines contributed to the development of their interest and motivation in mathematics. . In addition, it was determined that there was no significant difference between the experimental group students' levels of relationship between pre-test and post-test mathematics and science, social studies, visual arts and physical education classes. In line with the results of the study, it is thought that modeling activities should be frequently included in education and training processes in order to contribute to the development of students' mathematical modeling competencies. In addition, in order to contribute to the development of students' mathematical association self-efficacy beliefs, teaching activities should be increased and in-class studies should be emphasized. Thus, it is thought that students will contribute to a better understanding of the importance of mathematics for daily life and other disciplines by focusing on mathematical modeling and studies on connection with different disciplines.