8th Grade Student’s Skill of Connecting Mathematics to Real Life

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine 8th grade students’ skills of connecting mathematics to real life. This study uses survey design since it aims to determine existing situations regarding to students’ skills of connecting mathematics to real life. The study sample consists of 176 students in total, who are studying at a state school in the Etimesgut district of Ankara in the second semester of 2016-2017 academic year. “Connecting mathematics to real life scale” which is developed by the researchers, used as the data collection tool of this study. In this scale, students are provided with real life situations and then asked to connect these situations with mathematical concepts. During the data analysis, the responses of students examined in detail and subsequently general categories (levels) which identify students’ mathematical connection skill, were created and consequently four levels of connecting (Level 1, 2, 3 and 4) were defined. Study findings are showed that, participating 8th grade students’ skill of connecting mathematics to real life is not in sufficient level. It is observed that, most of the students can only connect mathematics in real life with numbers and shapes.