The Relationship between Eighth Grade Primary School Students’ Proportional Reasoning Skills and Success in Solving Equations

This study investigates the relationship between eighth grade primary school students’ success levels in solving equations and proportional reasoning skills. 344 eighth grade students, who were registered at various primary schools in the central districts of Konya in the 2007-2008 educational year, participated in the research. The study had a relational survey research design. The findings indicated that eighth grade students’ success in solving equations and their proportional reasoning skills were highly correlated (r=0.89). Students were most successful at finding the missing value within the proportional reasoning question types, followed by questions that required quantitative comparison and qualitative comparison.