An investigation of 7th grades students' constructing four operation skills process

In mathematics, most students first think of numbers or operations. One of the most challenging students who have met various sets of numbers during their education is integers. In particular, the integers of researches on addition and subtraction are still the subject of research. In this study, in which we try to look at the four processing skills of middle school seventh grade students in integers from a constructivist approach perspective, the mixed method which includes both qualitative and quantitative research methods was preferred. In the qualitative part of the research, 3 different schools were determined in Melikgazi District of Kayseri Province in 2018-2019 academic year according to their socio-economic characteristics. 120 female and 120 male students from three different schools were studied. The Integer Achievement Test, which will be used in the research, was created by the researcher and applied to the students by providing the necessary validity and reliability with expert opinion and pilot application. As a result of the application, the most successful part among students was multiplication, while the most unsuccessful part was mixed operations. Female students were more successful than male students in all departments except the problems section. In addition, the socio-economic status of the school was found to be similar between the success of four operations and whole numbers. In the qualitative part of the study, interviews were conducted with one of the upper, lower and middle groups of male and female students according to the average of the results obtained from the achievement test. Four processing skills were examined by asking questions about how the students found the answers to the achievement test, which schemas they used, and which connections they formed. It was seen that the students construct structures according to the signs of numbers in addition, and create new structures such as change the sign of second number, than add in subtraction, first process, determine the sing," in multiplication and division operations.