The opinions of secondary school mathematics teachers about the effect of students' symbolization skills on mathematics learning and success

The aim of this research is to examine the views of secondary school math teachers on the impact of students' symbolization skills on math learning and achievements in 6th grade algebraic expressions. In addition, in order to understand the effect of symbolization skills at the 6th and later grade levels on math learning and success at the 6th and later grade levels, interviews were conducted with the teachers who taught the mathematics courses at the 6th, 7th and 8th grade levels. The study group consists of 25 secondary school math teachers working in primary schools in Siirt province for the 2020-2021 academic year. In this study, which is structured as phenomenological research from qualitative research types, teachers' views on the mathematics learning and achievements of students' ability to symbolization algebraic expressions were analyzed. During the pilot study, it was observed that some teachers did not have any explanation about the symbolization skill. For this reason, it was decided and implemented that interview questions prepared for use in semi-structured interviews should be prepared in two forms. In order to collect the data, two interview forms were prepared: "First Group Interview Form" and "Second Group Interview Form". The first group interview form contains the questions to be asked to the teachers who have the perception of symbolization and the second group interview form contains the questions to be asked to the teachers who do not have this perception. The prepared interview forms have been submitted for the opinions of field experts. Interview forms have been arranged in line with the recommendations of the experts. Interview forms have been prepared in accordance with the recommendations of experts. Interviews with teachers were conducted through the zoom program and interviews were recorded. Content analysis method was used in the analysis of the obtained data. As a result of the analysis, it was determined from the answers of the teachers that developing the ability to symbolize the algebraic expressions of the 6th grade was effective in learning the mathematics subjects at the later class levels. In addition, it was observed that the second group of teachers had a perception of symbolization but could not express it on a conscious level. The ability to symbolization; it has been concluded that understanding and understanding mathematics subjects, understanding and solving mathematics problems, understanding and using letter symbols, and ensuring the permanence of learning have been achieved. The ability to symbolization students; abstract thinking skills, reading comprehension skills, mental development and readiness levels have been found to be closely related.