The Effects of an Early Algebra Intervention on Third-Grade Students' Algebraic Thinking Skills*


İŞLER BAYKAL I., ÖZTÜRK TAVŞAN N., Güzeller G., Saygili I.

CUKUROVA UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION JOURNAL, vol.52, no.3, pp.758-799, 2023 (ESCI) identifier identifier

Abstract

The importance of early algebra has been emphasized in international literature, and it has been discussed in many studies that students who are involved in a comprehensive intervention improve their algebraic thinking skills. The aim of this study was to test the effects of an early algebra intervention on the algebraic thinking skills of 3rd-grade students. The 3rd-grade intervention and control groups were included in the study, and both groups were given pre-test and post-test. In the findings, although there was no statistical difference between the 3rd-grade intervention and control group performances in the pre-test, a statistically significant difference was found in the post -test. Analysis of the students' strategies revealed that the students in the intervention group used algebraic thinking strategies more in the post-test than the control group in three big ideas, which are equality, expressions, equations and inequalities, generalized arithmetic, and functional thinking.