Investigating the relationship between eighth grade students'proportional reasoning and Van Hiele geometric thinking levels

This study examined the relationship between proportional reasoning and Van Hiele geometric thinking levels of eighth grade students. In accordance with the content and purpose of the research, the survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in conducting this study. The sample of the study consisted of 255 students selected through purposive sampling, one of the non-probability sampling methods, among eighth grade students studying at five different public schools in Kırşehir. During the data collection process of the study, the proportional reasoning test consisting of 22 multiple-choice questions prepared by Arıcan (2019a) and the Van Hiele geometric thinking level test consisting of 25 multiple-choice questions translated into Turkish by Duatepe (2000) were applied to the students. The two tests were answered by the students in one class hour and responses were recorded in an Excel file by the researcher. The data obtained from the students were analyzed with the SPSS program. ANOVA test was used to determine whether the proportional reasoning test scores of the students changed significantly according to their Van Hiele geometric thinking levels. The analysis showed that in comparison to the inverse proportion items eighth grade students were better at answering the direct proportion items in the proportional reasoning test. In the Van Hiele geometric thinking levels test, there were only 10 students at the level 3, which was the expected level from eighth grade students. We determined that the majority of the students were at level 1. In the study, we observed that as the scores of the students in the proportional reasoning test increased, their Van Hiele geometric thinking levels also increased. The students with at least level 2 of the Van Hiele geometric thinking levels obtained significantly better scores from the proportional reasoning test compared to the students with at most level 1 of the Van Hiele geometric thinking levels. In addition, a very weak positive correlation was found between the proportional reasoning scores of the students and their Van Hiele geometric thinking levels.