Examining the mathematical modeling competencies of secondary school 7th and 8th grade students

This study aims to examine the change in modeling competencies of 7th and 8th grade students and modeling competencies in the process through different mathematical modeling problems prepared for the interests of the study group. The research was conducted with 7th and 8th grade students in a public secondary school in the 2020-2021 academic year. To determine the interests of the students, first individual interviews and then a focus group discussion were held. In line with the interview data subjected to content analysis, seven mathematical modeling problems were created. The work done by the students were evaluated in terms of a understanding the problem, simplification, creating a mathematical model, working mathematically, interpreting, verifying and reporting; video recordings, Group Work Form, Report Form and student solution papers were subjected to descriptive analysis with the prepared rubric. Although the students were able to express all the modeling problems mathematically, they did not make an effort to develop any mathematical model. While the interpretation competencies of the students were at Level 2 and Level 3 at the beginning, it was observed that they displayed their interpretation competencies at the highest level in the following modeling problems. Students' ability to demonstrate their verification competencies up to Level 4 shows how much difficulty they had at this stage. At the end of the study, the most resistant competencies to development were verification and reporting. The modeling competencies can be compared by having students studying at different grade levels work on the same mathematical modeling problems separately.