Effect of middle school 8th grade students' problem solving skills on their math achievement and self-regulation skills

When the exams that applied internationally and in our country are analyzed, it seems that the students are not on the level measured up about solving problems. The main purpose of the current study is to investigate the effect of middle school 8th grade students' problem solving skills on their math achievement and self-regulation skills. To this end, the study employed the mixed research method, where qualitative and quantitative research methods are used together. The sample of the study is comprised of eight grade students attending a state school in the Akkuş District of the city of Ordu in the 2020-2021 school year. A total of 30 students participated in the study. Fifteen of these students were assigned to the experimental group and the other fifteen students were assigned to the control group. In order to collect data in the study, a "Personal Information Form", a "Math Achievement Test", the "Perceived Self-Regulation Scale" and a "semi-structured interview form" were used. The Math Achievement test was developed to be administered as a pretest and posttest. The application was initiated simultaneously in the experimental and control groups. The application lasted for 5 weeks. Different lesson plans were prepared for the experimental and control groups by using different sources. After the solving problem activities, math achievement test was initiated as last test to experimental group. In order to learn the students' opinions about the effect of the problem solving activities on their math achievement and self-regulation skills after the completion of the application, a semi-structured interview form was prepared. In the experimental group, the lesson plan followed was dominated by problem solving activities. Content analysis method was used to analyse the students' opinions about their problem solving and self-regulation skills. As a result of the analysis of the data obtained from the "Perceived Self-Regulation Scale", it was found that the self-regulation skills did not vary significantly depending on gender. As a result of the study, it was concluded that the problem solving activities positively affected the students' math achievement. Key Words: Math Achievement, Problem Solving Skills, Self-Regulation Skills