The effect of mathematical modeling activities on 4th grade assessment and learning achievement and students' mathematics anxiety

The study examined the effect of mathematical modeling activities on fourth-grade students' academic achievement in the measurement learning domain and their mathematics anxiety. Designed with a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design using quantitative research methods, the research involved 72 fourth-grade students from Şehitkamil district in Gaziantep province, Turkey. The academic achievement tests administered as pretest and posttest were based on questions from the Ministry of Education (MEB) workbooks related to the measurement learning domain. The Mathematics Anxiety Scale for Elementary School Students developed by Mutlu and Söylemez (2018) was used as the measure of mathematics anxiety. While the experimental group continued their education with mathematical modeling activities, the control group followed regular instructional practices. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 25.0 software. The findings indicated no significant difference between groups in the pretest results of the achievement test. However, after implementing mathematical modeling activities, a significant difference favoring the experimental group was observed in the posttest analysis of the achievement test. The effect size analysis showed a high impact of the intervention on outcomes. There was no significant difference between groups in mathematics anxiety levels measured in the pretest using the Mathematics Anxiety Scale. Yet, a significant difference favoring the experimental group was found in the posttest analysis of mathematics anxiety levels following the implementation of mathematical modeling activities. The effect size analysis indicated a moderate impact of the intervention. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that mathematical modeling activities enhance students' academic achievement in the measurement learning domain and reduce their levels of mathematics anxiety.