The Effect of Student-Centered Strategies, Methods and Techniques Used in Mathematics Teaching on Problem Solving Skills: A Meta-Analysis Study

Abstract

The main purpose of this research is to synthesize the experimental studies which refer to the effect of student-centred strategies, methods and techniques used in mathematics lessons on problem solving skills in mathematics. Publication bias was tested to evaluate the validity of the study and no bias was found out. Meta-analysis results show that student- centred strategy methods or techniques are more effective than traditional teaching methods. 69 effect sizes from 55 studies were analyzed under the random effects model according to heterogeneity test results. Since the experimental and control groups had different sample sizes, Hedge's g was used to calculate the effect size and it was calculated as g=0.868. The overall effect value achieved shows a large effect according to the classifications of Cohen (1988). In order to examine the factors that will change the effect size, moderator variables were determined and sub-analysis was performed. In the analyzes of the moderator variables; while there was a significant difference for the learning areas and research design moderators, no significant difference was found for the other moderators.