Mathematical Sense And Its Relation To The Mental Skills In Third-Grade Middle School Students

Abstract

The objective of the current research is to identify the nature of the correlation between the mathematical sense and mental skills of the third-grade middle and secondary students in the middle and secondary day schools of the General Directorates of The Education of Baghdad Al-Karkh (first, second, third) and The Al-Rasafa (first, second, third) and by answering the following questions: 

• Do third-graders in the middle and secondary day schools of the general directorates in Baghdad have Al-Karkh (first, second, third) and Al-Rasafa (first, second, and third) have mathematical sense skills ?


• Do third-graders in the middle and secondary day schools of the General Directorates of Baghdad have the skills of Al-Karkh (first, second, third) and Al-Rasafa (first, second, and third) have mental skills ?


• What is the direction and strength of the correlation between the mathematical and mental skills of the third-grade middle and secondary school students of the General Directorates of Baghdad Al-Karkh (first, second, third) and Al-Rasafa (first, second, and third) ? 

     To achieve the aim of research and answering its questions, the following zero hypotheses have been formulated:

• There is no statistically significant difference at the level of indication (0.05) between the hypothetical and mathematical averages of the third-graders in the mathematical sense test.


• There is no statistically significant difference at the level of indication (0.05) between the hypothetical and mathematical averages of the third-graders in the mental skills test.


• There is no statistically significant correlation at the level of significance (0.05) between the skills of the mathematical sense and the mental skills of the middle and secondary students of the middle and secondary day schools of the general directorates of Baghdad Al-Karkh (first, second, third) and Al-Rasafa (first, second, and third) .

     To achieve the objectives of the research, the descriptive research methodology was adopted, the current research sample consisted of (400) students from the middle and secondary school of the general secondary schools of Baghdad al-Karkh (first, second, third) and Al-Rasafa (first, second, and third.(

     To verify the objectives of the research, the researcher prepared two three-area mathematical sense test tools (Number  sense, Standard sense, Statistical sense) that included twelve sub-skills, including 40 objective-type paragraphs (multiple selection), and the second mental skills test consisting of eight main skills that included twenty-one sub-skills, including 42 thematic-type paragraphs (multiple selection), and two tests on terms of honesty and consistency, and the degree of difficulty.

     The two tests applied to the research sample and the results were statistically analysed using the t-test for one sample and the Pearson correlation factor, and the results resulted in:

• Middle-grade students in the middle and secondary day schools of the General Directorates of Education of Baghdad al-Karkh (first, second, third) and Al-Rasafa (first, second, and third) possess mathematical sense skills.


• Middle-grade students in the middle and secondary day schools of the General Directorates of Education of Baghdad al-Karkh (first, second, third) and Al-Rasafa (first, second, and third) have mental skills.


• There is a positive correlation between the skills of sportsmanship and mental skills of the middle third grade students in the middle and secondary day schools of the General Directorates of The Education of Baghdad Al-Karkh (first, second, third) and Al-Rasafa (first, second, and third).

In light of the findings, the researchers recommended:

• Training and qualifying math teachers through strengthening courses on the adoption of mathematical sense skills and mental skills and according to special criteria prepared for this matter and to ensure that teachers have used them when teaching students in addition to alerting math teachers to the importance of sports sense and mental skills among students as one of the important objectives of teaching mathematics.


• Mental skills are important educational outcomes for students and educational institutions should strengthen them and pay attention to them as a means of developing the mathematical sense of students by changing the teaching system in schools by not using traditional methods in the provision of the subject or calendar, but the trend towards changing the sources of information and its diversity.


• The possibility of generalizing the mathematical sense test and mental skills test to math teachers and urging them to adopt them in diagnosing their students' levels of mathematics before starting teaching and then using appropriate strategies, methods and methods of treatment.

The researchers also proposed several proposals:

• Conduct research to uncover the relationship between mathematical sense and other variables such as: problem solving, creative thinking, inference thinking, mathematical thinking, complex thinking, complex thinking, product thinking, lateral thinking.


• Building an educational program for students that enables them to acquire athletic sense and mental skills.


• Conduct a pilot study to find out the impact of a teaching strategy in the development of the mathematical sense and mental skills of students.