The effect of activity-based mathematics instruction on 8th grade students academic success

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of Activity-Based mathematics instruction on 8th grade students? academic success in comparison with traditional teaching method.In this study quantitative and qualitative research designs were used together.Experimental study was used as quantitative research design. A total of 77 students, attending to a state school in the district of Şehitkamil in Gaziantep, participated in the research in the academic year 2010-2011. 10 week lesson was carried out both in the control group using the traditional teaching method and the experiment group applying activity-based teaching method by researcher himself.In order to collect the quantitative data needed, the same assessment test was applied to both experiment and control group as pretest before the application of the activities and posttest after application of the activities. The data obtained from tests are evaluated by one factor ANCOVA.Although the main focus of research method is experimental, a qualitative study which is limited to the experimental group is also made. In this process, case study method is used. For this purpose, the views of the students of the experimental group, describing the experiential learning process, were taken.In order to collect the qualitative data needed, experimental process was recorded by video. The recorded activities were analyzed and reported in detail. In order to get the views of students in experimental group about the experiential process, a questionnaire consisting of an open-ended question were applied. The answers received were examined and the content analysis was done and record unit was taken as sentence.According the results of data analyzed, experimental group students were appeared to be more successful than control group students according to the posttest scores. In this case, Activity-Based Instruction? is found to have a positive contribution on 8th grade students academic success in math class.In the analysis of video recordings, it was also found that the activities had a positive contribution in favor of students modelling, assosiation, reasoning, problem solving and generalization skills.In accordance with findings obtained from analysis of the views of experimental group, the students? opinion regarding the activity-based mathematic instruction was positive.Key words: Primary school program, mathematics education, algebraic expressions, activity based instruction.