The analysis of seventh grade students skills at mathematical modelling

In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the mathematical modeling skills of seventh grade students through two mathematical modeling (MM) situations/problems based on their daily lives. The sample of the study consists of 16 seventh grade students in the 2020-2021 academic year from a socio-economically undeveloped village school. First of all, the situations /problems that they aimed to solve in their daily lives were determined by interviewing the students and in-class discussion. Then,the researcher was transformed into from two of these situations/problems to mathematical modeling practice by taking into consideration the interests and wishes of the students. This study was completed with small group work and large group discussion in 3 weeks / 21 class hours. The study was designed with a qualitative approach and is a special case study within the extent of interactive patterns. Data were collected with the students'worksheets, in -class observation notes, video recordings and transcripts. In the analysis of the data, a template that was developed by the researcher was used, which revealed the sub-skills of Mathematical Modeling (MM) cycle steps such as "Comprehension", "Simplification", "Mathematicalization", "Mathematical Study", "Interpretation-Validity" and "Presentation" and their indicators. Using this template, the data were analyzed with the descriptive analysis method. As a result, student groups have become active and constant participants in "Authentic" Mathematical Modeling (MM) practices. In the process of Mathematical Modeling (MM) applications, some students transformed the Mathematical Modeling (MM) situation into small subproblems. In the process, they created many draft models and mathematically revised them. They also considered these models independently and did not attempt to combine them. Finally, it has been observed that, in additon to many mathematical concepts, rules and generalizations, they use some extracurricular mathematical concepts, rules and generalizations although they were limited. In accordance with these results,suggestions have been made to teachers and reserachers.