Examining the mathematical habits of mind in problem solving within the context of mathematics teachers and eighth grade students

The aim of this research is to reveal what the mathematical habits of mind which are observed on the mathematics teachers serving at the public schools are and to reveal the reflections of such habits of mind on their students. Within the framework of this aim, the opinions of the secondary school mathematics teachers on their own mathematical habits of mind, the habits of mind they exhibit in practice and the relationship between their opinions related to these habits, whether the opinions of the mathematics teachers on the habits of mind and the habits of mind they exhibit in practice differ depending on gender and professional seniority, and how habits of mind of the teachers reflect on their students are analysed. Since the study is a survey research conducted with the help of the data collected with quantitative methods, it falls under descriptive researches group. The sample of the research consisted of 52 mathematics teachers who work at the public schools in the province of Karabük in 2014-2015 school year and a total of 79 8th grade students of 4 teachers selected among these 52 mathematics teachers. While collecting data, "Knowing Our Own Habits as a Mathematician" form, which was developed by researchers and the academicians who are specialized in their fields, were used and 6 problems which require detailed solutions were solved by teachers and students. Frequency, percentage, average, and standard deviation values and Mann Whitney-U and Kruskal Wallis-H tests were used for data analysis. The findings obtained as a result of the researches showed that the teachers who participated in the study have different opinions on their mathematical habits of mind and the majority of the teachers think the habits of mind are effective both inside and outside the class. It was found that the difference between the opinions of the teachers, who participated in the study, on their own habits and their habits in practice is not statistically significant in terms of gender. According to the professional seniority variable, it was observed that the opinions of the teachers on habits of mind do not differ excluding generalization habit; and the higher the professional seniority is, the higher generalization preferences of the teachers are. It was found that the difference of habits of mind of the teachers, who participated in the study, in practice, in terms of professional seniority is not statistically significant. According to the results of the study, generally it is possible to conceive that there is not a complete cohesion between the own habits of mind of the teachers and their habits of mind in practice, and it may change depending on questions. It can be suggested that the fact that habits of mind of both teachers and students are the same in many questions, not in all questions though, affects the solution approaches of the students in the problems they face.