The effect of teaching eighth grade mathematics subject HCF-LCM by creative drama on success and permanence

With this study, it is aimed to investigate the effects of the creative drama method implemented in the teaching of the highest common factor (HCF) and the least common multiple (LCM) subjects in the Mathematics class for the 8th grade on the academic success of the students and the permanence of their knowledge. The research was conducted using the pretest-posttest control group, which is a quasi-experimental design. The study group consists of a total of 29 students from two branches of 8th grade randomly selected as the experimental group and the control group in a middle school in Sakarya in the 2021-2022 academic year. In the experimental group, the subject of HCF-LCM was handled with the creative drama method by a mathematics teacher who received creative drama leadership training and in the control group same subject was handled with applying the current curriculum by the same mathematics teacher. The implementation of the research lasted for 3 weeks, with a total of 15 course hours. HCF-LCM achievement test was applied before and after the applications as a data collection tool. In addition, the achievement test was applied again to the experimental group 8 weeks later in order to investigate the effect of the creative drama method on the permanence of the information. The data obtained from the research was analyzed with a statistical package program using appropriate statistical methods. According to the results of the research, a statistically significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups in favor of the experimental group for the post-test achievement and retention test scores. It has been observed that teaching the HCF-LCM subject at the of 8th grade level with the creative drama method increases the academic success of the students and has positive effects on the permanence of their knowledge. Based on the findings, it is suggested that creative drama should be used as an alternative method in teaching HCF-LCM.