Reflections from the mathematical language formation of 5th grade students in the process of concept cartoons: An action research

The aim of the study is to reveal the reflections of concept cartoon practices on students' use of mathematical language. The research participants were 10, fifth-grade students who are being taught at a village school in Giresun, were selected through convenience sampling, and who voluntarily participated in the study. The study was an activity research for the testing of new practices, the elimination of deficiencies during the study, and the self-development of the researcher teachers. The data-collection tools of the study were concept cartoons to suit the fifth-grade achievements including symbols/terms/concepts, mathematical journals, field notes, performance scale papers, and a semi-structured interview form. The study was supported directly by the student journals and the field notes the researchers took. The questions in the cartoons were selected from a book the researcher used at school during the 2018-2019 academic year for validity and reliability, created a table of specifications, expert reviews were referred to, and a pilot study was conducted. The concept cartoons were analyzed with a qualitative analysis. It was seen that many of the participants in the study initially used few symbols/terms/concepts but that this number increased considerably at the end of the process. It was determined that three students used no symbols/terms/concepts in the first cartoon but used a number of symbols/terms/concepts close to the class average in the last cartoon. Beside that, the average number of symbols/terms/concepts according to the sub-learning areas was around 10 in the first sub-learning area and increased to 80 by the end of the 6-month period, reaching about eight times in the last sub-learning area. Therefore, it was concluded that the courses taught with cartoons contributed to the formation of symbols/terms/concepts. It became known that concept cartoons were used, that students actively participated in the process, that they formed sentences by speaking in class, that they wrote the sentences they formed with their own expressions, that they could engage in idea exchange and research, and that their mathematics linguistic skills developed in the environments in which they faced their own responses. Among the conclusions acquired from the study were also that the cartoons provided ideas regarding the reasons for the mistakes students made, contributed positively to the competences looking to be gained for the students and to the root values in the instruction program, provided information to teachers about their own practices, and allowed for interdisciplinary studies. In addition, the study provided the research teacher to gain professional experience in the use of cartoons and lead up to participate in scientific activities in this regard. Action research can be carried out using concept cartoons on different topics and at different class levels in the future.