Suitability of Mathematics Applications Teaching Material to Modeling Problems

The aim of this study is to investigate whether the problems in the teaching material of the secondary school mathematics applications course are suitable for mathematical modeling problems. Document analysis method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the research. A total of 149 problems in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade mathematics applications teaching material were examined. In the analysis of the data, deductive and inductive methods were used together, and it was seen that more than half of the problems in these teaching materials were problems with realistic context. Few of these problems provide the authentic criteria that should be found in modeling problems. Similarly, only a few problems meet the openness criteria. When modeling sub-competences are examined separately, it is remarkable that many of the problems require mathematical solutions. Problems usually do not include simplification and verification steps. It has been observed that the interest in mathematical modeling has increased with the renewed mathematics applications curriculum, but this has not been reflected in the teaching materials. It is recommended to renew the teaching materials in line with the criteria taken into account.