The Effect of Writing to Learn Activities on 5th Grade Students' Academic Achievement on Triangles and Quadrilaterals and Students' Opinions

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of diary and letter writing activities, which are writing to learn activities, on the academic achievement of 5th grade students in the subject of triangles and quadrilaterals and to examine students' opinions about the activities. Methodology: An explanatory design from mixed research methods was used in the study. The sample of the study consisted of a total of 96 students studying in the 5th grade of a public school in Şanlıurfa city center. One of these classes was randomly selected as the control group and three as the experimental group. The data collection tools of the study consisted of an academic achievement test and a semi-structured interview form. Since the data obtained from the academic achievement test conformed to the normal distribution, ANOVA was used to analyze these data. Content analysis method was used to analyze the data obtained from semi-structured interview forms. Findings: According to the findings obtained from the academic achievement test, it was determined that diary and letter writing activities increased academic achievement. However, no difference was found between diary and letter writing activities in terms of academic achievement. According to the findings obtained from the semi-structured interview form, it was determined that diary and letter writing activities have positive features such as understanding the subject, repetition and permanent learning, as well as some difficulties based on students' written expression skills. Highlights: In line with the results obtained from the study, it is concluded that journal and letter writing, which are writing to learn activities, can increase academic achievement in mathematics courses and provide teachers with important opportunities to assess students' learning by identifying their comprehension and misconceptions and to provide feedback to them.