An examination of teachers' opinions on the difficulties experienced in the process of acquiring mathematical competency to primary school students

This study aims to examine the challenges encountered in the process of to developing mathematical competence to 4th-grade primary school students, based on teachers' perspectives. In this study, case study design was applied within the framework of qualitative research approach. The participant group of the research consisted of 4th grade teachers working in public and private primary schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in Turkey. Before starting the study, a pilot study was conducted to increase validity and reliability, and expert opinions were obtained. In the study, opinions were gathered from the teachers regarding the difficulties experienced by the students in the process of developing mathematical competence. The implementation process was discussed in detail by organizing the obtained data. In this context, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the classroom teachers first, and the collected data were analyzed. During the interviews, voice recorders and written recording methods were used based on the participants' preferences and voluntariness. Descriptive analysis method was used to analyze the data.According to the research findings, when the main difficulties students face in the problem-solving process are examined, it has been determined that they have deficiencies in reading comprehension and grasping the fundemantals of the problem. Secondly, based on teacher opinions regarding difficulties encountered during the mathematical reasoning process, 47% of the teachers stated that students face challenges due to problems related to cognitive development. Another difficulty in the mathematical reasoning process stems from the fact that students' problem-solving skills are still in the development phase. Since they do not yet have sufficient experience in analyzing and solving complex mathematical problems, they experience difficulties during this process. According to the results of the research, thirdly, difficulties in correctly reading and interpreting mathematical representations have been highlighted. 33% of the teachers indicated that students have difficulties in reading graphs and tables. Additionally, it was concluded that during the process of using mathematical representations, students struggle to correctly interpret mathematical symbols and visual representations. 27% of the teachers reported that students face challenges in understanding mathematical symbols. Lastly, it was found that a lack of language skills and proficiency causes some students to struggle in understanding and using mathematical representations. According to the research data, difficulties in mathematical communication emerged as a prominent issue. These challenges were found os tem from factors such as cognitive limitations of students, difficulties in understanding language and symbols, challenges in concretizing mathematical concepts, and the influence of the learning environment. 44% of the participants stated that students face difficulties in understanding and accurately expressing mathematical terms during the process of developing mathematical communication skills. Challenges in understanding language and symbols are also significant factors in the mathematical communication process. In particular, the inability to concretely grasp abstract mathematical terms causes students to struggle in correctly expressing and understanding mathematical concepts. The difficulty in understanding language and symbols in the mathematical communication process is one of the key findings of the study. It has been observed that the inability to concretely understand abstract mathematical terms leads to students having trouble accurately expressing and comprehending mathematical concepts. Additionally, 27% of the participants reported that students struggle with correctly expressing and explaining mathematical terms during the process of developing mathematical communication skills. In the light of all these findings obtained from the research, some suggestions were made to classroom teachers and field researchers.