The effect of mental arithmetic education on student success in terms of lifelong learning

The goal of this research is to examine the effect of mental arithmetic education on student success in terms of lifelong learning. Mixed method was used for the research. The research was conducted with 20 volunteering 1st grade students of Bartin University Primary School Teaching Department. Experiment and control groups consist of 10 people each. The students in experiment group were given mental arithmetic education for 8 weeks. The data, the developed success test, computer programme and interview form were obtained. Non-parametric tests Friedman, Mann Whitney U and Wilcoxon tests were used for data analysis during the resolution of data since the study group was small. The responses of students in interview form were interpreted in groups according to content analysis. Analysis showed that problem solving success of experiment and control groups were very good, they were more successful in slow algorithms, that mental arithmetic education did not have any effect on their problem solving success and algorithm speeds. It was determined that success of solving slow algorithms and algorithm solving speeds were not affected by mental arithmetic education. It was determined that slow algorithm solving success of students in both groups was higher before the study. When the students' opinions on Mental Arithmetic education were reviewed, it was found out that students wanted to attend the education mainly for their own personal development, they wanted to apply the education when they start teaching and wanted to educate and develop themselves on this subject, that they did not have clear information on mental arithmetic before the education, they considered it as mental algorithm, they had fun and found the education to be useful and different and it could be good to make the students like maths, that they gained speed while solving algorithms after the education and they thought that schools should include this education as well. Keywords: Skill, Math, Mental Arithmetic, Problem Solving, Teaching mathematics,Lifelong Learning