Descriptive content analysis of mathematical modeling research published in the field of mathematics education in Turkey

The changes that have taken place today when science and technology have developed rapidly reflected to the social lives of the individuals and they have had to take the changes that have changed in their teaching programs in order to adapt to these rapid developments. There are also major changes in the teaching of mathematics directly proportional to these developments that are seen in education world. The aim of mathematics teaching is to give the mathematical knowledge and skills required by the individual in their daily life, to teach them the problem solving, and to give them a way of thinking that deals with the situations in the problem solving process. The mathematical modeling, which is defined as the process of overcoming the problems of everyday life mentioned above, has become increasingly popular in recent years. The purpose of this study is to determine the tendency of mathematical modeling studies published in the field of mathematics education in Turkey and to present suggestions in the related field in this context. With this purpose, 38 articles in 24 national journals and 28 theses carried out in 14 different universities in Turkey have been examined. The publication classification form developed by using literature to evaluate related publications has been revised and used for modeling researches. Mathematical modeling types, types of mathematical modeling, research method data collection tools, sampling, data analysis method and final categories of the study are included in the form. Analyzes made according to these categories are presented using descriptive statistical techniques such as frequency and percentage. According to the findings of the research, it has been determined that the studies for mathematical modeling in Turkey have a history of about ten years and continue increasingly. Besides, theses for mathematical modeling have been concentrated at the graduate level. It focuses on how mathematical modeling work can be used as a method in teacher education and learning environments. On the other hand, there is a limited number of measurement tools and program development studies for modeling. When examining the modeling type of the researches about the mathematical modeling, it is seen that the mixed mathematical modeling has been tried to enrich the learning environment through different mathematical topics, to specific topics and concepts. When the research methods of mathematics educators frequently used in mathematical modeling and modeling studies were investigated, it was seen that qualitative studies were mostly used, while most used patterns were state studies. As a means of collecting data, interviews and document reviews were put in the forefront and more focused on data diversification in thesis studies according to article studies. In terms of sampling types, it was determined that more space was provided for the studies conducted with the undergraduate students and that the sample size was preferred in the range of 11-30 in the articles and 31-100 in the theses mostly. In the analysis part of the data, it has been observed that the qualitative descriptive analysis techniques are frequently used, while the different data analysis methods are single in the articles, and three and more data analysis methods in the theses It is thought that the results obtained without working can be useful for seeing the strengths and weaknesses of the studies carried out on the field, can be used as a determining resource for giving direction to future studies, and can be a guide to the researcher conducting research on mathematical modeling. In the research, it is seen that undergraduate students are preferred as sampling too much, but since mathematical modeling is primary and secondary education in teaching, it is suggested to focus on the studies related to these steps and to increase the number of samples in order to get more valid results.