The Effect of Van hiele model based instruction process on primary candidate teachers' level of readiness towards new geometry subjects

In this study, it is aimed to determine and to develop the level of readinessof pre-service teachers in primary school teaching programme towards geometrysubjects of the new mathematics curriculum (1st-5th grades).The study has been carried out in 2005-2006 Fall term in Primary SchoolTeaching Department. The sample consists of 4 groups in senior classes that werechosen by random method. Two groups out of four were assigned as experiment andthe other two were assigned as control groups randomly. ?Pre-test-Post TestExperiment Pattern with Control Groups? was used in this study. While theexperiment groups were instructed according to Van Hiele Geometric ThinkingLevels to improve their level of readiness about geometry subjects in the NewMathematics Curriculum, the control groups were instructed according to thetraditional approach. To determine the level of readiness of the experiment andcontrol groups about the geometry subjects in the new mathematics curriculum, ?VanHiele Geometry Test? and ?Geometry Achievement Test? developed by theresearcher were conducted before and after instruction.The experiment and control groups were instructed about the geometrysubjects in the new mathematics curriculum for 6 weeks. The experiment groupswere taught according to Van Hiele Geometric Thinking Levels in a student-centered, activity based and constructivist approach while the control groups weretaught according to the teacher-centered approach.In the analyis of the data, the scores that students in both groups got fromVan Hiele Geometry Test and Geometry Achievement Test were taken intoconsideration and t-test was used to analyze the data. The difference between theaverage mean scores of student, in experiment and control groups? before and afterthe treatments was found meaningful as .05 level.As a result of the study, it can be concluded that the pre-service teachers,who were instructed according to the Van Hiele Geometric Thinking Levels, madeimprovements in geometric thinking levels and the level of readiness about thegeometry subjects in the new Mathematics Curriculum. Besides this, while thestudent teachers that were instructed in the traditional approach, developed in thelevel of readiness about the geometry subjects in the new Mathematics Curriculum,there were no statistically meaningful changes in their geometric thinking levels.Moreover, the findings of the study support that; the education which was carried outaccording to Van Hiele Geometric Thinking Levels is more effective for the pre-service teachers? development of the level of readiness about the geometry subjectsin the new mathematics Curriculum than for pre-service teachers instructed by thetraditional method.Key Words: Pre-Service Teacher, New Mathematics Curriculum,Geometry, Van Hiele Geometric Thinking Level.