Analysis of middle school deaf inclusive students' process of problem solving and posing based on multiplication and division operations

This research focuses on the processes of solving and posing routine problems based on multiplication and division operations by hearing-impaired students receiving inclusive education at the middle school level. Within the scope of the study, the behaviors exhibited by hearing-impaired students during the problem-solving and posing processes, as well as the multiplicative approaches influencing their association of expressions with multiplication or division operations, have been examined. Additionally, emphasis has been placed on the nature of the problems constructed by the students.Participants were selected from hearing-impaired students enrolled in full-time inclusive education in state middle schools in the Kocaeli province during the 2021-2022 academic year. Eight students, identified through purposive sampling, participated in the study, with 2 in the pilot study and 6 in the main study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, recorded as audio files, and the tool for data collection included 10 problem tasks in the problem-solving section and 7 problem tasks in the problem posing section. At the end of the research process, participants were also interviewed to gather their opinions on the process.Attention was given to the diverse multiplicative structures and mathematical complexity in the problem-solving tasks, while the tasks in the problem posing section were designed to exemplify transfer, selection, comprehension, and organization structures. Thematic content analysis was employed to analyze data obtained from audio recordings, researcher notes, and student works.According to the research results, students tend to neglect the evaluation stage the most during the problem-solving process, utilizing various strategies such as prediction control, diagram drawing, and list-making for solution. Throughout the process, repeated addition, scaling, equal sharing, and grouping approaches are frequently utilized. The problems posed by students are generally single-operation and assignment-type problems, with the highest performance observed in the organization problem task in the problem posing section.