A Study on the Awareness of the Teachers Working in Special Education Schools towards Mathematical Problem-Solving Process

Abstract

This study aims to examine the awareness of teachers working in special education schools towards mathematical problem-solving process. The study was carried out in two stages. In the first stage of the study, a scale was developed for the awareness of problem-solving process. The draft scale form was administered to 215 teachers working in special education schools. In order to determine the structural integrity of the scale, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted for the data obtained. The findings of the EFA indicated that the scale, which contains twenty-nine items, has a three-factor structure. It was calculated that the three factors explained 52.40% of the total variance. The Cronbach's alpha value of the scale is .93. The three-factor structure revealed by EFA was tested with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). As a result of CFA, it was calculated as SRMR=.06, RMSEA=.06, CFI=.90, IFI=.90. In the second stage of the study, the teachers’ awareness of mathematical problem-solving process was examined in terms of several variables. For this purpose, the scale was administered to 181 teachers working in special education schools. As a result of the analysis of the obtained data, there is no statistically significant in teachers’ awareness of mathematical problem-solving process in terms of their gender and professional seniority; however, there is a statistical significance in terms of the variables such as graduation, the school and the group taught. The results were interpreted based on the previous studies in the literature.