The web based simulation proposal to 8th grade primary school students’ difficulties in problem solving

AbstractIn this study; it was focused on 8th grade primary school students’ problem solving ways, the difficulties faced in this process and the reasons of them. To defeat students’ negative looks to problem solving and to develop their problem solving behaviors, it was aimed to arrange a web based simulation environment in which they was able to carry out the process, taking the ADDIE model as basis. For this purpose, a pilot study was applied on 10 students in a primary school in the city center of Trabzon province. In the pilot study 20 word problem were asked to students. As the data collection instrument it was benefited from the study adapted from Çalışkan and his friends’ “Physics problems solving evaluation form” which was developed in 2006 and from the interviews with the participants. Comparing the collected data with the data in the literature, the difficulties faced in problem solving process were defined and, as the studies regarding the defined learning difficulties were few, a web based simulation environment proposal was presented. It was concluded that the simulation environment which was arranged based on the results from the specialists’ thoughts and pilot study would help the students in the stage of giving meaning the problems