Investigation of high school students’ opinions on constructing proof and skill perceptions on problem solving

Abstract

Undoubtedly, proof is an essential part of mathematics and mathematics education. Mathematical processes start with looking for patterns, discovering relationships, apprehending by intuition, making a conjecture, and ends with more formal processes such as proving and defining. In the mathematical literature, problem solving is defined as running reasoning processes in the context of some operations and removing the problem by using necessary information. The aim of this study is to examine high school students’ conceptions on constructing proof and their skill perceptions on problem solving. Furthermore, in the study, it is aimed to reveal the relation between these two variables. In the study, survey model was used based on quantitative research approach. The study was conducted with 232 high school students who were at different class in the one high school in Erzurum. In view of the study, it was found that the students' problem-solving skills perceptions were moderate level, their their views on proof are positive and it was determined that these levels did not differ according to the gender of the students. Also it was determined that that problem-solving skills perceptions are a significant predictor of opinions about proof, and 23% of total variance pertaining to views on proof can be explained by problem solving skills perceptions