The Effect of the Mental Stimulation Thinking Model on Deep Understanding Skills Among Second-Grade Intermediate Female Students in Mathematics

Abstract

        The current study aims to investigate the effectiveness of the cognitive thinking stimulation model in developing deep understanding skills among second intermediate grade female students in mathematics. The sample consisted of (54) students from a government intermediate school for girls affiliated with the General Directorate of Education in Karakh/1, and they were divided into two groups: an experimental group (27 students) and a control group (27 students), for the first semester of the academic year 2023–2024. The instructional material was selected from the approved mathematics textbook, and a semi-experimental design with a post-test was used. To measure the deep understanding skills, a test was administered after verifying its validity and reliability. The statistical program SPSS was used to analyze the data at a significance level of (0.05).   
     The results indicated that there were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental group students, who were taught according to the cognitive thinking stimulation model, and the control group students, who were taught using conventional methods, in favor of the experimental group in the deep understanding test in mathematics. Based on these findings, the study concluded the following:  
1. The cognitive thinking stimulation model is effective in teaching mathematics and developing deep understanding skills.
2. The model is based on modern educational models and strategies, which makes it suitable for teaching mathematics content to intermediate level students.The researcher recommends conducting further studies on the effect of the cognitive thinking stimulation model on other academic stages and different study variables, as well as investigating the model’s impact on other skills and dimensions such as mathematical communication and all types of thinking, especially creative and logical thinking