Examining graphic drawing skills for a socioscientific problem situation: The SIR model Covid-19 example

Abstract

The aim of the study is to examine the graphing skills of prospective elementary mathematics teachers for a socioscientific problem situation related to Covid-19. The research is a qualitative research and was carried out with the case study method.The participants consisted of 43 prospective elementary mathematics teachers studying in the third year of a state university in Turkey. Typical case sampling, one of the purposive sampling methods, was used to determine the participants. In the research, an open-ended question that requires drawing three graphs with vital aspects based on a socio-scientific situation-based scenario was used as a data collection tool. Data analysis consists of two stages. First, the graphs drawn by the prospective elementary mathematics teachers were scored with the descriptive analysis method.Then, the errors in the graphics drawn using the content analysis method were grouped and determined. When the data were analyzed, it was observed that a significant portion of prospective elementary mathematics teachers had deficiencies in their ability to draw graphs about the problem situation in the context of Covid-19. For this reason, when teaching graphics, drawing activities that require more context-based qualitative understanding or technology-assisted teaching applications can be used.