The effect of mathematical modeling activities on seventh grade students' mathematics literacy, literacy self-efficacy, engagements and attitudes

The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of mathematical modeling activities on students' mathematical literacy, mathematical literacy self-efficacy, mathematics course participation and mathematics attitudes, and to determine students' opinions about mathematical modeling activities.A pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design was used in the research. The sample of the research consists of 52 seventh grade students, 24 of whom are in the experimental group and 28 of whom are in the control group, studying in a secondary school in Burdur Center. Mathematical modeling activities were carried out with the students in the experimental group for six weeks. The data of the research were collected as pre-test and post-test with mathematics literacy achievement test, mathematics literacy self-efficacy scale, mathematics engagement scale and mathematics attitude scale. In addition, quantitative data were supported by taking the opinions of the students in the experimental group about mathematical modeling activities.Quantitative data were analyzed using t-test and covariance analysis with the statistical package program, and qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. According to the results of the research, it was observed that mathematical modeling activities significantly increased the mathematical literacy of the students in the experimental group compared to the control group, but did not provide a significant increase in their mathematical literacy self-efficacy, mathematics engagements and mathematics attitudes. In addition, a significant increase was observed in mathematical literacy, literacy self-efficacy, engagements and attitude scores in the experimental group students.Students stated that their favorite modeling activity was "Big Foot", that they described modeling problems as problems they may encounter in daily life, and that mathematical modeling problems were more difficult and fun than the problems they had solved before. Students stated that they gained reading comprehension, logical reasoning and problem-solving skills through mathematical modeling problems. In addition, students want to do more mathematical modeling activities in their lessons and think that their success will increase with these activities. Students stated that their feelings and thoughts about mathematics changed positively during the process, and they stated that doing problems in groups made the learning process more fun and provided an exchange of ideas.