The investigation of the solution process of algebraic verbal problems in seventh grades

The objective of this research is to investigate algebraic verbal problem solving process of secondary school 7th grade students. The research was carried out with six, 7th grade students studying at a public school in Birecik district of Şanlıurfa province in 2019-2020 academic year. Purposeful sampling method was used to determine the participants. Qualitative research method was used to collect, analyze and interpret the data of the research. Throughout the research, written documents obtained from the students and interviews were used as the data collection tools. The data obtained as a result of the research was analyzed question by question and each question was examined according to Polya's problem solving stages. Descriptive analysis method was used to analyze the data. In the research, it was concluded that when students generally exhibited the critical behaviors expected in the stage of understanding the problem within algebraic verbal problem solving process, they did not face any problems during the stages of devising a plan and carrying out the plan, whereas they used similar strategies in the stage of carrying out the plan but completed the problem solving process without applying the stage of looking back.