Page 42 - IO1-Report

KA201 - Strategic Partnerships for School Education
The Universal Language of Mathematics (2018-1-TR01-KA201-059704)

Girls Boys
Turkish Students
th
th
th
5 cl 6 cl 7 cl 8 cl 5 cl 6 cl 7 cl 8 cl
th
th
th
th
th
Yes 96% 86% 81% 67% 92% 77% 71% 64%
Do you like Not 2% 9% 10% 5% 3% 13% 21% 27%
math course? sure
No 2% 5% 9% 28% 5% 10% 8% 9%
Table – 21: Popularity of math course among Turkish students. (Note: The sum of percentage may not give
100 due to students who do not reply whether they like math or not.)

Girls Boys
Refugee Students
th
th
th
th
th
th
th
th
5 cl 6 cl 7 cl 8 cl 5 cl 6 cl 7 cl 8 cl
Yes 52% 56% 48% 44% 72% 66% 73% 78%
Do you like Not
math course? sure 34% 27% 32% 44% 22% 23% 12% 0
No 13% 14% 19% 11% 4% 9% 12% 11%
Table – 22: Popularity of math course among refugee students. (Note: The sum of percentage may not give
100 due to students who do not reply whether they like math or not.)

For RS, the change in the popularity of math through classes has not a specific pattern (Table-22). The
percentage of RS girls who like math first increases from 5 class to 6 class, but then it decreases up
th
th
th
to 8 class and falls to the lowest level (44%) among all Turkish and refugee students. On the other
th
hand, the fraction of RS boys who like math first declines from 5 class to 6 class, but then it increases
th
up to 8 class and reaches to the highest level (78%) among all students. Like Turkish students, the
th
th
dislike of math among both RS boys and girls rises up through classes, except 8 class.
To sum up, the attitude of RS towards math is not negative, in fact it is positive, and it is very positive
during the early stage of middle school. When compared with Turkish students, RS are not
disadvantageous in terms of their interest in math. Therefore, math can be a practical tool to increase
the self-confidence of RS and their belief to be successful which fosters the integration process of RS
into Turkish Education System (TES). Thus, RS should be equipped with required math course’s
materials to start doing math while they have been learning national language of TES.

However, this survey reveals the fact that there is a problem in even having conventional math book.
In TES, government is responsible for publishing and distributing textbooks of courses. The percentage
of students who have the math book at the time of survey are shown in Table-23. The percentage of
RS who do not have math book is around 30% which is much higher than Turkish students. If the ratio
of Turkish students is perceived as normal rate of losing a math book for a regular student, then the
high rate of RS requires special attention. Since having a book is a must element of understanding a
course, this issue must be investigated further.

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