The Investigation of Middle School Students' Epistemological Beliefs and Their Attitudes toward Problem Solving: The Sample of Rural Area

The purpose of this study was to examine the epistemological beliefs of middle school students in rural area and their attitudes toward solving mathematical problems according to gender and class level variables. It was also necessary to determine whether the epistemological beliefs of middle school students in rural area had predicted their attitudes toward mathematical problem solving. The research was carried out using the survey model, which is one of the descriptive research methods. The participants of the survey consisted of 435 middle school students in three state schools in a large provincial rural area. Personal data form, mathematics problem solving attitude scale and epistemological beliefs scale were used as data collection tools. Nonparametric tests were used when the data were analyzed since they did not show normal distribution. According to the results obtained, mathematical problem-solving attitude and epistemological beliefs did not differ according to gender. It was also observed that the mathematical problem-solving attitude and epistemological beliefs of students had decreased according to class level. According to the results of the regression analysis, epistemological belief was found to be a significant predictor for mathematical problem solving.