A study regarding the effect of realistic mathematics education approach on the success of the students in third grades of primary education on measurement and permanency of acquired knowledge

The aim of this study is to survey the constructive effects of RME supported-teaching and constructive teaching approaches in helping students better understand the topic of ?measuring liquids and lengths? and in ensuring the permanency of acquired knowledge.The present study has been designed as an unbalanced last test control group model, being one of the semi-experimental test models. 39 students -18 being in experimental group and 21 being in the control group- chosen from the third grades of two different primary schools in city centre of Bolu Province during 2011 ? 2012 school year constitute the participants of the study. Before the survey was started, the students in both experimental and control groups were asked to fill in a readiness test consisting of 20 questions concerning objectives of second grade, and then results of the test were analyzed according to Mann Whitney-U statistical analysis technique. And the results indicated that there were no significant statistical difference between test scores of the students of both groups.During the course of the study, GME-supported teaching activities elaborated by the surveyor were applied to the students in the experimental group, while activities present in 3rd grade-mathematics textbook prepared with constructive approach were applied to the students in the control group. At the end of this process, a topic success test was applied to the both groups by the surveyor and the results of the test were analyzed according to Mann Whitney-U statistical analysis technique. The findings reached through analysis carried out according to a/m technique revealed that there were no significant differences between the final-test scores of control group and experimental group in favour of the experimental group.Furthermore, four weeks after the application of last-test, another topic success test was applied with a view to determining the permanency of the learned knowledge, and the results of the test were analyzed according to Mann Whitney-U statistical analysis technique. The findings reached through the carried out analysis indicated that there were a meaningful difference between the permanency scores of control group and experimental group in favour of the experimental group, which led us to conclude that RME supported-teaching ensured the permanency of the acquired knowledge.Key Words: Constructive Approach, Realistic Mathematics Education, Measurement.