The effect of teaching mathematics with digital stories on students academic achievements and attitudes towards mathematics

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of implementing the learning outcomes of the "Data Processing" domain in 6th grade mathematics through digital stories on students' academic achievement, attitudes toward the course, and their opinions. The study is quantitative in nature and was conducted using a quasi-experimental design with experimental and control groups. The sample of the research consists of a total of 54 students studying in two different 6th-grade classes of a public middle school affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in the İpekyolu district of Van during the 2024–2025 academic year. During the two-week instructional period covering 11 class hours, students in the experimental and control groups were taught using two different instructional methods. All students in both groups were administered the "Data Processing Achievement Test" and the "Mathematics Attitude Scale," both of which had undergone validity and reliability analyses, before and after the experimental procedure. Additionally, the "Mathematics Lesson Opinion Questionnaire" was administered to the experimental group after the activities. Within the scope of the research, five digital stories were created by the researcher using the Animaker application. During the implementation phase, instruction in the experimental group was carried out using digital stories, while traditional methods were used in the control group. The data obtained from the study were analyzed using the SPSS 18 software package. Paired-samples t-tests and ANCOVA were employed in the analyses. The results revealed a significant improvement in the academic achievement and of the students in the experimental group. No significant improvement was observed in the attitude scores. Furthermore, students provided positive feedback regarding the use of digital stories.