The effect of the application process of a mathematics–based STEM module on the development of seventh grade students' proportional reasoning skills

In this research, we examined the effect of the application process of a mathematics-based STEM module (MA-STEM-M) on the development of proportional reasoning skills of seventh grade students. MA–STEM–M was applied in the second semester of the 2021–2022 academic year, during the teaching process of the ratio-proportion subject. MA–STEM–M process consisted of eleven courses and the duration of each course varies between 80 and 240 minutes. The sample of the research consisted of 39 seventh grade students attending in two separate classes in a public school located in the Central Anatolia Region. One of these classes was randomly assigned as the experimental group and the other as the control group. The research was carried out in a total of 6 weeks, 5 course hours per week (1 course hour: 40 minutes). Quantitative and qualitative tools and methods were used in the research. Therefore, mixed research methodology was follwed in conducting this research. In the quantitative dimension of the research, the "proportional reasoning test" was separately applied to the control and experimental groups as pre-test and post-test. The difference between the pre-test achievement scores of the control and experimental groups was analyzed with the "independent groups t-test" and no significant difference was found between them (p > ,05). The difference between the pre-test and post-test achievement scores of the control group, which was applied traditional teaching techniques, was analyzed with the "dependent groups t-test" and no significant difference was found between pre-test and post-test scores as a result of the analysis (p > ,05). The difference between the pre-test and post-test achievement scores of the experimental group to which MA–STEM–M was applied, was analyzed with the "dependent groups t-test" and a significant difference was found between pre-test and post-test scores in favor of the post-test scores (p < ,05). The difference between the post-test achievement scores of the control and experimental groups was analyzed with ANCOVA test, and a significant difference was found in favor of the experimental group students (p < ,05). In the qualitative part of the research, the MA–STEM–M application process was recorded with video and audio recording devices. In addition, the progress of the students during the course was recorded via using an engineering notebook (MND). The collected qualitative data were analyzed following a content analysis technique. In the research, we observed that in the experimental group the development of students' proportional reasoning skills was affected by their level of readiness. Besides, we observed that the learning difficulties faced by the experimental group students decreased during the MA–STEM–M application process. The experimental group student developed and used various strategies in solving proportional problems, and they avoided rote methods such as the cross-multiplication and strategies.