An Investigation of The Relation Between 8 th Grade Students' Beliefs, Abstract Thought and Achievement; The Case of Mathematics

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between elementary 8th grade students’ mathematical beliefs, abstract thought and mathematical achievements in mathematics. This is a quantitative research using the relational survey model. The data collection tools utilized in the study were the “Mathematics Belief Scale” and the “Mathematical Abstract Thought Test”. The study group, formed through simple random sampling, was 518 8th grade students enrolled in a state school in Hendek, Sakarya, during the 2012-2013 academic year. The inferential statistical analyses conducted with the data yielded a positive relationship between students’ achievement scores and their mathematical beliefs and abstract thought levels, and between their abstract thought levels and mathematical beliefs. As a result, it was observed that the more positive students’ mathematical beliefs were, the more successful they were in mathematics, and the more positive their matematical beliefs were, the higher their abstract thought levels were. © 2015 IOJES. All rights reserved