Investigation of the mathematical connection’s ability of 9th grade students

Abstract

This study aims to investigate students' mathematical connection ability in solving the problem of mathematicaland correlation between indicators of mathematical connection ability. This research is correlation research. The sample of the study is 35girls’students in the 9thgrade in a middle school in Kermanprovince (south-east of Iran). Data collection is done by giving a test on mathematical connection skills. The variables inthis study are indicators of mathematical connection ability, namely the connection between mathematical concepts, connections between mathematics and other sciences, and connections between mathematics and everyday life. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to analyze the data after calculating the score and percentage of test answers. The findings showed that qualification of students in the indicator of the connection between mathematical concepts was good enough (69%), in the indicator of the connection between mathematics and other sciences was also good enough (66%), and the indicator of the connection between mathematics and everyday life was not enough (42%). Also, the results of Spearman's correlation coefficient showed that there is a significant relationship between both indicators of mathematical connection ability. Therefore, the connection between mathematics and everyday life of Students must be improved.