The Mathematical Habits of Mind in Problem Solving

Abstract

The aim of this research is to reveal what the mathematical habits of mind which are observed on the mathematics teachers serving at the public schools are. This study is a survey research which falls under descriptive researches group and was conducted with 52 mathematics teachers. While collecting data, “Knowing Our Own Habits as a Mathematician” form were used and 6 problems were solved by teachers. Frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation values and Mann Whitney-U and Kruskal Wallis-H tests were used for data analysis. The findings obtained as a result of the researches showed that the teachers who participated in the study have different opinions on their mathematical habits of mind and the majority of the teachers think the habits of mind are effective both inside and outside the class. It was found that the difference between the opinions of the teachers on their own habits and their habits in practice is not statistically significant in terms of gender. According to the professional seniority variable, it was observed that the opinions of the teachers on habits of mind do not differ excluding generalization habit; and the higher the professional seniority is, the higher generalization preferences of the teachers are. It was found that the difference of habits of mind of the teachers in practice, in terms of professional seniority is not statistically significant.