Investigation of Mathematics Teachers' Spatial Habits of Mind in the Context of Brain Dominance Status

Abstract

In this study, it is aimed to determine the spatial habits of the mind of mathematics teachers and to examine these habits in the context of teachers' brain dominance. The quantitative research method and the relational survey model were used within the scope of this method. The participants of the study consist of 124 mathematics teachers. The spatial habits of the mind scale and the brain dominance inventory were used as data collection tools. Since the data showed normal distribution, parametric tests were used. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were applied. It has been observed that the spatial habits of the mind of the mathematics teachers are at a high level and the majority of them tend to use the left brain. While the scores of spatial habits of mind, visualization and spatial concept usage sub-dimensions differed according to brain dominance levels, it was determined that they did not differ in terms of both sub-dimensions and total scores according to the brain dominance group. While the scores of mathematics teachers on spatial habits of mind differed according to the type of faculty graduated, years of study, taking geometry courses during undergraduate/graduate education, it did not differ according to gender and postgraduate education status.