Comparative investigation of the secondary school mathematics teachers written exam questions and PISA questions in the field of data handling

The aim of this study is to determine the characteristics of written examination questions about data representations of secondary school mathematics teachers in the field of data handling and by comparing these questions with PISA questions, to reveal similarities and differences.The questions approached for this purpose were analyzed in terms of Bloom taxonomy, thinking skills, connection skills, types of questions, competency clusters, data representations used in the question and learning outcome. The model of the research is document analysis. As part of the document analysis, 30 questions asked in the PISA exam and a total of 231 questions in written examinations of 85 secondary school maths teachers determined by 'snowball sampling method'were analyzed. The exam questions come from 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades.PISA questions were selected among the ensued and explained questions in 2000-2012. The questions were analyzed according to the theoretical framework based on the literature and taking expert opinions. According to research findings, the written exam questions asked in the field of data handling, situations in data representations that do not require more than one first glance discern and construal and it can be solved with skills that do not require more than the reasoning skills for simple relationships seen at first glance. Besides, PISA questions require more thinking skills than written questions. PISA questions are among the findings of the research in which more difficult tasks are found in the competency clusters and require more association. In addition, open-ended questions were preferred in PISA; multiple choice questions were preferred intensively in written examination. Finally, as a result of the research, it was determined that teachers concentrated on some learning outcome and neglected some of them. Considering that written exam questions affect students' thinking, in a world order based on technology and scientific development, teachers are advised to ask questions that can raise the cognitive level of students in order to educate individuals who are math literacy.