Sharing of real life geometry samples via a social learning environment: A case study

The aim of this study is to examine the change in middle school students' self-efficacy beliefs towards geometry, their experiences in the social learning environment, and their views on the learning process and learning environment, as a result of a teaching application in accordance with the constructivist approach that will enable students to relate geometry to real life using a social learning environment. Case study research methodology was used in this study. The quantitative data of the study were obtained from the self-efficacy towards geometry scale developed by Cantürk-Günhan and Başer (2007). Qualitative data, on the other hand, were collected through interview forms, questionnaires, reflection questions, students' interactions with the system (weekly activities, their likes, comments and answers to discussion questions and their comments on the answers of their friends) and observation notes taken by the researcher. The study group of the research is 6th grade students studying in a state school in Çankaya district of Ankara province in the 2019-2020 academic year. The learning environment was prepared according to the constructivist learning environment design principles developed by Jonassen (1991). During the implementation, which realized between 20 April 2020 and 29 May 2020, all activities were shared with students through Edmodo. During the 6-week practice, students were given activities that would enable them to relate the theoretical knowledge they have previously learned about geometry to real life. Within the scope of these two or three activities offered every week, students were asked to photograph interesting examples of various geometric shapes such as squares and rectangles that they encounter in daily life and share them with their friends with appropriate labels in a closed group created in the Edmodo system. In addition, they were asked to make the desired calculations about the geometric shapes they uploaded to the system, to respond to the question shared from the time tunnel and discussion forum every week, to comment on responses they disagree with by explaining their reasons and to answer the reflection questions regarding the activities they performed that week. Moreover, the students were asked to classify the triangle, geometric object and flag examples uploaded by their friends and share their favorite photos with their reasons. The quantitative data obtained from the research were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test and the Dependent Samples t-Test, while the qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis method. According to the results of the research; there was a significant increase in students' self-efficacy towards geometry after the implementation. In addition, it was determined that there was a difference in favor of the post-test in all three dimensions of the scale, and this difference was statistically significant in the Positive Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Negative Self-Efficacy Beliefs sub-dimensions. Moreover, the students 'experiences in the social learning environment and students' views towards the learning process and learning environment were analyzed. After the implementation, it was determined that the students generally had positive opinions about e establishing the relationship between daily life and mathematics, conducting research and producing content within the scope of the application, using the social media environment for learning purposes, engaging in social interactions within the scope of the application and the reflection process within the scope of the application and the reasons for the positive and negative opinions have been revealed. In addition to these, the general evaluations of the students regarding the application and the problems experienced in the implementation were presented.