AN INVESTIGATION OF PUPILS’ ORIENTEERING PROCESS ACCORDING TO THE STEPS OF POLYA’S PROBLEM-SOLVING METHOD

Abstract

Orienteering is an enjoyable sporting activity that is thought to contribute to participants’ problem-solving skills. An individual who engages in orienteering is expected to hold his/her map correctly, find his/her place on the map, read the map, make a plan for reaching the checkpoint, carry out the plan, and check the accuracy of the checkpoint reached. These steps that are followed by an individual during orienteering resemble the steps of Polya’s problem-solving method in education. In this study, therefore, Polya’s problem-solving steps in the field of mathematics are discussed together with the outdoor sport of orienteering. This study aims to examine fourth-grade primary school students’ orienteering process according to the steps of Polya’s problem-solving method. To achieve this aim, the case study method, which is mostly included within the scope of qualitative research approaches, was used. In the study, a program implementation, one of the sub-types of the case study method, was adopted. In this context, the study group was determined with the convenience sampling technique, one of the purposive sampling techniques. Observations, semi-structured interviews, and head cameras were used as data collection tools. As a result of the findings that were obtained, it was determined that the steps of Polya’s problem-solving method can be used for problem-solving during the orienteering process. Regarding this result, it is recommended that practical research studies are conducted in which similar and different research methods are used and which can contribute to the field.