The Effect of Journal Writing on Achievement and Geometry Self-Efficacy of 8th Grade Students

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of journal writing on achievement of 8th gradestudents on the surface area and volume of geometric solids and on geometry self-efficacy. The study wascarried out with 40 8th grade students at a public school in Eagean Region. One group with 20 students wasassigned as the experimental group and the other 20 student-group was assigned as the control group. Differentfrom the control group Experimental group engaged in journal writing activities on the surface area and volumeof geometric solids.In the study, two achievement tests [Surface Area of Geometric Solids Test (SGST) and Volume of GeometricSolids Test (VGST)] were used to measure the gain scores of students and self-efficacy of students towardsgeometry was evaluated by self-efficacy towards geometry scale which was developed by Cantürk-Günhan andBaşer (2007). The tools were administered as pre-test and post-test. The data of the study were analyzed byMann Whiney-U test and The Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs Signed-Ranks Test by using SPSS 16 packagedsoftware. The results of the study suggest that achievement of the students on the surface area and volume ofgeometric solids and the self-efficacy of the students towards geometry in each group differed significantly.