Views of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade mathematics teachers towards instructional methods/teachniques and materials

The purpose of this study is to examine the sixth, seventh and eighth grade mathematics teachers? instructional methods/techniques and materials. The population of this descriptive study included all of the mathematics teachers teaching sixth, seventh and grades in public schools of Çankaya district at Ankara. In this study, there were 121 mathematics teachers selected through random sampling. Furthermore, ten volunteer teachers were interviewed to gather qualitative data.Questionnaire and interview techniques were conducted to gather data. There were three parts including items asking for demographic information, instructional methods/techniques and materials used in teaching process. Quantitative data were gathered through questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS 11.5 program to find the frequencies, percentage, and mean scores. Moreover, descriptive analysis method was used to analyze the qualitative data gathered through interviews.Finally, by taking into account the findings of this study, there were some recommendations to teachers and further studies.The results of this study revealed that the most frequently used methods were ?question and answer?, ?lecturing?, ?problem-solving?; and the most effective methods were ?problem- solving?, ?question and answer? and ?computer-based instruction?. It was also found that readiness of students was the most important factors affecting teachers? instructional method preferences. Moreover, teachers were frequently using the instructional methods to teach geometrical concepts and figures in their lessons.Key Words: Mathematics teaching, instructional methods/ techniques, instructional materials.