A study on mathematical modeling competencies and epistemological beliefs of the 7th grade students

Mathematical modeling refers to a process in which real life and math are associated. In this study, the development of students' mathematical modeling competencies, modeling competencies were examined in terms of gender and mathematics course success. In addition, it is aimed to examine the relationship between modeling competencies and epistemological belief. Embedded (intertwined) pattern, one of the mixed research patterns, in which quantitative and qualitative research methods are used together, has been used. The research was carried out in 2018-2019 with 27 students in the 7th grade of the secondary school in a village in Sur district of Diyarbakır. Research single group pretest-posttest design was used. Mathematical Modeling Activities developed by the researcher, Scientific Epistemological Beliefs Scale, Opinion Form and Personal Information Form were used as data collection tools. As a result of the normality test performed in the analysis of the data obtained, t-test for related measurements for normal distribution scores, Mann Whitney U-Test for unrelated samples from nonparametric tests for non-normally distributed scores, Wlcaxson Signed Row Test, Kruksall Wallis-H Test and Single Factor Anova are used. Pearson Corelation Coefficient was used to determine the relationship between mathematical modeling competencies and epistemological belief. In addition, content analysis and descriptive analysis were made for qualitative data. As a result of the research, in the application process, it was seen that the minimum development in which all the modeling competencies of the students developed was at the head of verification and interpretation. While my students' modeling competencies did not differ significantly by gender, it was determined that there was a significant difference in favor of successful students according to the success of mathematics lesson. Modeling competencies were determined to have a medium level relationship between epistemological beliefs and there was a significant difference between all modeling competencies and epistemological beliefs. Students' epistemological beliefs did not differ significantly by gender. There was a significant difference in favor of successful students in the epistemological beliefs of the students, "Authority and Accuracy" and "Interchangeability of Information". The relationship between mathematical modeling and epistemological beliefs can be examined with different study groups.