The Examination of Mathematical Thinking of 6th Grade Students to Solve Process-Constrained and Process-Open Questions

The aim of this study is to research the mathematical thinking of the students in problem solving process. In this context, 6th grade students were given a form which including process-strained and process-open questions, and their answers have been studied. The sample of the study has been formed by 260 6th graders in a southern province of Turkey. All the data have been examined by qualitative and quantitative methods. The success rates of not only that for process-constrained questions but also for that of each other question have been determined. Furthermore, in order to assess the significance of the mathematically thinking and that of reasoning, answers of the students have been analyzed in a qualitative way. According to the findings of the research, it can be said that although the students are more successful in the problems based on a standard algorithm, they cannot exhibit the desired performance in general problem solving. It can be argued that this is why they did not use correct strategies and representations. Finally, findings obtained the study were discussed in comparison with the results of studies using a similar method (Cai, 2000 and Karakoca, 2011). Comparison of Turkey, the US and China Based on the sample of students' problem-solving process in how they think, is thought to be important in terms of strategy and offer the opportunity to see the similarities and differences in terms of representations