The effects of 4MAT model on 7th grade students' academic achievement: Case of linear equations

The purpose of this study is to investigate statically the effect of 4MAT teaching model on 7th grade students' achievement and meaningful learning while teaching sub-topics of Graph of Linear Equations topic namely coordinate system and linear relations. The sample of this study is 108 7th grade students attending a state school in north part of the Turkey. The study was conducted with three classrooms; experimental group (35 students), control group (36 students) and pilot group (37 students). The implementation of the study last 12 hours during the fall semester of 2017-2018 academic year. The control groups were instructed by using traditional instruction, while the experimental groups were instructed by using 4MAT instructional model emphasizing learning styles and brain hemispheres. Mixed method sequential explanatory design was used in this study. Quantitative part of the data was collected through semi-experimental design. Regarding qualitative part of the study, data was collected from experimental group at the end of the implementation via questionnaire to take students' views about the 4MAT instructional model. Quantitative data was collected through Coordinate System and Linear Relations Achievement Test and qualitative data was collected via questionnaire to take students' views and feedbacks regarding the implementation of 4MAT instructional model. Both of the data collection instruments were developed by the researcher. Achievement test was applied for different purposes such as determining the equivalence of the experimental and control groups before the implementation as pre-test, investigating whether there is a statistically significant difference between control and experimental groups after the implementation as post-test, and determining retention level of students after one month following the implementation as retention test. In this study analysis methods were used namely Mann Whitney U Test, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test and Paired Samples T Test. On the other hand, qualitative data was analyzed via frequency, percentage changes and content analysis. According to the analysis of the data, the results indicated that experimental group students had statistically significant higher scores than control group students. Both the students from experimental and control groups indicated meaningful learning according to the results of the study. Most of the students participated in the study mentioned positive views on the courses implemented utilizing 4MAT instructional model.