Examination of the 5th - 8th grade students' transition process from arithmetic to algebra with regard problem solving

The different grade students' problem solving process takes an important place in the primary school mathematics curriculum mathematics is getting abstract in the second level of primary school. So it is important to examine the different problem solving strategies of students in through transition from arithmetic to algebra according to the new primary school mathematics curriculum in Turkey. So the aim of this study is to investigate the development and the change of problem solving processes on transition process from arithmetic to algebra about 5-8 grade students. The study is conducted by development research methodology at a primary school in Trabzon with the participation of 24 students. The data gathering tools are problems in arithmetic-verbal and algebraic-iconic forms which are developed by the literature support. The data gathered from students are analyzed through the characterization tables which includes arithmetic, pre-algebraic and algebraic characteristics. As a result, by the increase of the students' grades their solutions changed and improved from arithmetic to algebraic, but this change was very little. As well as the different grade students generally used arithmetic solutions for given two problems, only a few students used algebraic and pre-algebraic solutions.