Investigation of the effects of realistic mathematics education supportednby metacognitive strategies of the academic achievements, mathematics attitudes and metacognitive skills of third grade primary school students

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of the Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) approach supported by metacognitive strategies of the academic achievements, mathematics attitudes and metacognitive skills of third grade primary school students. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used together in the research. The quantitative part of the research was desingned according to the pre test-post test control group quasi-experimental model. At the same time, qualitative data obtained from student views and thinking diaries were used to support quantitative data. This research was carried out with 95 (42 female, 53 male) students attending the third grade in two different primary schools in the city center of Gaziantep in the 2018-2019 academic year. Two experimental groups and two control groups were included in the study. Experiment-1, experiment-2 and control-1 groups were selected from the same school, while the control-2 group was chosen from another school with a similar socio-economic level. The lessons were conducted by the researcher in the experimental groups and in the control-1 group and by the class teacher in the control-2 group. The lessons were taught only in Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) without metacognitive strategy support in the experimental-1 group (n=23) and in Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) (Metacognition+RME) supported with metacognitive strategies in the experimental-2 group (n=23) and in the control groups (control-1=23, control-2=26) have been processed in line with the current mathematics cirriculum.The research lasted twelve weeks (48 lesson hour). The quantitative data of the research were obtained by using " Mathematics Achievement Test", "Mathematics Attitude Scale", "Metacognition Scale". Qualitative data were obtained from the written opinions of the students in the experimental groups about the application process and the thinking diaries of the experiment-2 group students. At the end of the application, a semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher was applied to the students in the experimental group. Collected quantitative data were analyzed with SPSS-22. İn the analysis of quantitative data Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U and ANOVA test were used. İn the analysis of qulitative data, the interview forms and the thinking diaries were analyzed descriptively. According to the findings obtained after the analysis of the quantitative data, it was determined that the academic achievements, mathematics attitudes and metacognitive skills of the students in the experimental groups after the experimental application differed significantly compared to the control groups in which the current teaching method was continued. However, no significant difference was found between the academic achievement and attitudes of the experiment-1 and experiment-2 groups students towards the mathematics lesson and a significant difference was found between their metacognitive skills in favor of the experiment-2 group. There was no significant difference between the control groups in terms of dependent variables. According to the findings obtained after the analysis of the qulitative data, in the interviews with both experimental groups, the students expressed positive opinions about the RME method. Students stated that the RME method is useful and fun, and that they find this method successful. İn addition, in the interviews made with the experiment-2 group students about metacognitive education, it was seen that the students learned to use, manage and control their own thinking in an activity process thanks to the metacognition education they received. By expressing positive opinions about this training, the students stated that they question every step and they proceed to the result with planned and conscious steps. İn the data obtained from the thinking diaries, it was observed that the student reflected metacognitive skills such as understanding, association, planning, process and outcome evaluation in their diaries. Keywords: Realistic mathematics education, mathematics achievement, math attitute, metacognition, metacognitive skills