The effect of student-center teaching methods and techniques te used in mathematics education on problem solving skills: A meta-analysis study

The main purpose of this research is to synthesize the experimental studies which refer to the effect of student-centred strategies, methods and techniques used in mathematics lessons on problem solving skills in mathematics. The researcher has determined some criteria in determining the studies to be synthesized. As a result of scanning national and international databases within the framework of these criteria, 55 studies were included in the study. During the coding process of the studies included in the study, the coders shared a consensus on 46 of the 55 studies included in the study, and the consensus ratio for coding was found to be sufficient with a ratio of 83%. The total sample size is 4067. Publication bias was tested to evaluate the validity of the study and no bias was found out. Statistical data based on descriptive analysis obtained from the studies are presented with tables obtained from the SPSS program. Meta-analysis results show that student- centred strategy methods or techniques are more effective than traditional teaching methods. 69 effect sizes from 55 studies were analyzed under the random effects model according to heterogeneity test results. Since the experimental and control groups had different sample sizes, Hedge's g was used to calculate the effect size and it was calculated as g=0.868. The overall effect value achieved shows a large effect according to the classifications of Cohen (1988) and Thalheimer and Cook (2002). In order to examine the factors that will change the effect size, 14 moderator variables were determined and sub-analysis was performed. In the analyzes of the moderator variables; while there was a significant difference for the learning areas and research design moderators, no significant difference was found for the other moderators. Keywords: Problem solving skills, learner-centered education, mathematics, meta-analysis, abilitiy.