The effect of art-supported mathemati̇cs educati̇on on the academi̇c achi̇evement and anxi̇ety levels of fi̇rst grade pri̇mary school students

Art can be considered as a field of study where children, life and mathematics variables can be associated in an entertaining way; it helps students understand abstract mathematical concepts better by making them concrete and visual. It also encourages creativity, develops problem-solving skills and provides a positive attitude towards mathematics. Mathematics lessons supported with art increase students' motivation while also strengthening their interdisciplinary learning abilities. This integration positively affects both students' academic success and emotional development. The main purpose of this study is to establish relationships between art and mathematics concepts and to investigate the effects of art-supported education on students' academic success and anxiety levels by using art and artistic activities in creating the perception that mathematics lessons are more interesting and easier to learn in primary schools. In the study, the "pre-test-post-test control group experimental model" was used to determine the effect of using art-supported teaching method in mathematics lessons on students' academic success and anxiety levels in mathematics lessons. This research was conducted with two 1st grade classes studying in a primary school in Gölcük district of Kocaeli province. After certain studies were carried out in the school determined to apply the research to the experimental and control groups, it was decided to test the 1st grade classes. The "Mathematics Course Achievement Test" and "Mathematics Anxiety Scale for Primary School Students" were used as data collection tools in the research. The Mathematics Course Achievement Test was prepared within the scope of the subject of "Geometric Objects and Shapes" and was a valid and reliable achievement test to be used to determine the achievement levels of the students at the end of a teaching process carried out within the scope of the art-supported education model in the 1st grade mathematics course of primary school for both pretest and posttest purposes. As a result of the analyses and corrections, a valid and reliable mathematics achievement test covering a total of 36 questions in 7 main question groups was developed. The discrimination indexes (rjx) of the items took values between 0.26 and 0.84, and the average discrimination index was determined as 0.44. The difficulty indexes (P) of the items took values between 0.42 and 0.85, and the average difficulty index was determined as 0.60. Within the scope of test discrimination, it was observed that all item-total correlation coefficients were significant at the level of p<0.05. Test reliability was determined as KR20= 0.885. The data collection tool developed by Mutlu and Söylemez (2018) was used as the Mathematics Anxiety Scale for Primary School Students. In the analysis of the data collected with the research, arithmetic mean, dependent and independent sample t tests and Pearson's r test analyses were performed to reach the conclusion. As a result of the application, it was determined that students' anxiety towards mathematics lessons decreased in art-supported mathematics education, their interest in the lesson and academic success increased.