Examining the effect of teaching process with mathematical modeling activities on mathematical modeling competencies and reading comprehension skills of 7th grade students

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of mathematical modeling activities on mathematical modeling competencies and reading comprehension skills of 7th grade students and to determine the relationship between mathematical modeling competence and reading comprehension skills. In addition, students' mathematical modeling competencies will be evaluated according to their level of reading comprehension skills. In the study, which is an example of an embedded (built-in) pattern from mixed research designs according to the data type used, a teaching process based on mathematical modeling activities was conducted with 26 7th grade students for 7 weeks. 'Reading Comprehension Achievement Test' and 'Mathematical Modeling Competencies Test' were applied as pre-test and post-test to examine the development of students after the process. In addition to the pre-test and post-test, 7 mathematical modeling activities were used for data collection, and 'Modeling Competence Assessment Rubric' was used to determine the mathematical modeling competency scores of the students. The collected data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative analysis methods. The findings obtained from the analyzes showed that the teaching process with mathematical modeling activities made significant contributions to the students' reading comprehension skills and mathematical modeling competency levels. In addition, it was found that there was a positive and high level relationship between the students' reading comprehension skills and mathematical modeling competency scores after the process. When the mathematical modeling competencies of the students were examined during the process, it was seen that the students with the highest level of reading comprehension skills were more successful. In addition, it was seen that the students showed the highest success in terms of mathematical modeling competence in "understanding the problem" and "simplification", and generally failed in "interpretation." It is thought that teaching practices based on mathematical modeling activities will make significant contributions to students' reading comprehension skill levels and mathematical modeling competencies. It is also suggested that these activities should be prepared in such a way as to increase the level of "interpretation" of the students, since the level of "interpretation" is low. Anahtar Kelimeler: Reading comprehension skill, mathematical modeling competence, mathematical modeling activities, 7th grade students.