Investigation of the effect of realistic mathematics education approach on the success of problem solving and problem setting in primary school fourth grade students

The main purpose of this research, which is designed with a mixed model, is to investigate the effect of Realistic Mathematics Education approach on the success of 4th grade students in four operations problem solving and establishment. The working group of this research is a total of 70 elementary school 4th grade students, including 35 experiments and 35 in the control group, who are studying in public schools under Aksaray and Kirsehir Provincial Directorate of National Education in the fall of the 2019-2020 academic year.Since the effectiveness of the method used in this study, in which the participants were selected through a purposeful sampling, was not required to select a sample representing the universe.In this research, an achievement test was prepared in order to measure the achievements of 4th grade students of Realistic Mathematics Education on the problem solving and establishment of four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division). Since 5th grade students dominate all achievements, the items in the achievement test were applied to 192 students studying in 5th grade and a pilot practice was carried out. As a result of expert opinions and pilot practice, the "Four Process Academic Achievement Test" with 87 reliability consisting of multiple choice and open-ended questions has been finalized. Twelve of this test, which consists of 20 items, should choose 8 with an open end. A graded scoring key was prepared for the analysis of the prepared test. The prepared success test was applied to the experimental and control groups. Afterwards, 15 teaching hours by different teachers, teaching method based on realistic mathematics education approach to the experimental group students, and the traditional teaching method to the control group students, four process problems were explained. Then, the test prepared within the framework of Realistic Mathematics Education approach was applied again, the difference between the pre-test score and the post-test score of the students in the experiment and control groups with the paired sampling t-test; the difference between the pre-test scores of the students in the experiment and control groups with independent sampling t-test; and whether there is a statistically significant difference between the post-test success scores of the students in the experiment and control groups was investigated with the covariance analysis (ANCOVA). In addition, the answers given by the participants to open-ended questions were analyzed and described by content analysis. According to the results obtained, it showed that the teaching method based on realistic mathematics education approach is statistically more effective in improving the problem solving skills for four operations in 4th grade students compared to the traditional teaching method.In addition, according to the qualitative data we analyzed, it was determined that students' problem solving skills, problem-posing skills, the skills to use data correctly, self-expression skills, understanding the root of the question, and skills for four procedures developed positively after realistic mathematics education.Another aim of this research is to examine the levels of success of students studying at the fourth grade of primary school in four operations within the framework of realistic mathematics education.For this purpose, the achievement test developed by the researchers was applied to 257 primary school fourth grade students.In this research designed with quantitative research approach, while the causal comparison model was used to examine the success levels of the students for four procedures according to gender, the relationship between the four process success levels was shaped by the correlation model. According to the results obtained, students are high in the addition process; medium in subtraction and multiplication, low in division; it was observed that they had moderate success throughout the scale. It has been determined that female students are more successful in addition, subtraction, multiplication and scale than male students. In addition, a statistically positive relationship was found between the students' success levels for these four procedures. On the other hand, there was no statistically significant difference in terms of problem solving by gender and it was determined that the problem solving levels of both sex groups were at a medium level. In terms of problem posing, it was observed that female students were more successful than male students, and female students had higher problem-posing levels and male students were moderate. In addition, it was observed that there was a high level of meaningful relationship between students 'problem-solving and problem-solving success levels, and 42% of students' problem-solving success levels were predicted by the problem-solving success level. Keywords: Achievement Test, Four Process Problems, Realistic Mathematics Education