The Effect of Engineering Design-Based Mathematics Activities on Academic Achievement of Secondary School Students and Student Views on These Activities

The integration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is becoming increasingly important in both national and international literature. Engineering is often favored in the integration of STEM disciplines because it is a discipline that bridges other fields and can put abstract concepts into a real -world context. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of engineering design activities developed for middle school math classrooms on students' academic achievement and students' views of the activities. To this end, three construction activities on ratio and proportion were developed in seventh grade. The study was conducted in a quasi -experimental design with a pretest -posttest control group. A total of 38 seventh -grade students, 21 experimental and 17 control students, took part in the study. As a result of the study, it was found that math activities based on constructions significantly increased students' performance in ratio and proportion. It was also found that students' views of the activities were generally positive. Students indicated that the construction -based math activities were interesting, fun, realistic, engaging, facilitated learning, encouraged creativity, and did not focus solely on performing operations.