Abstract

• The primary purpose of this research is to study the relationship between the number sense and problem solving skills in mathematics of middle school students. A descriptive research design was used to collect the data. In order to investigate students’ number sense, their problem solving skills and the relationship of these two elements, a quantitative research method was used. A total of (600) Grade Seven students from eight high schools and four middle schools participated in this study. A number sense test and a test for students’ problem solving skills were used as the research instruments. The number sense test was composed of (40) items. The test for students’ problem solving skills involved (10) problems. To obtain the reliability of these tests, a pilot test was administered. The internal consistency for these two tests were (.778) and (.699). In this study, the data were analyzed by using the descriptive analysis techniques and Pearson product-moment correlation. The results revealed that 69.3% of the students possessed a moderate level of number sense. Among the five number sense strands (number concepts, multiple representations, effect of operations, equivalent expressions and computing and counting strategies), the lowest and highest means were found in multiple representations and effect of operations. Moreover, (73.7%) of the students were found in a moderate level of problem solving skills. According to Pearson productmoment correlation results, each strand of number sense was moderately and positively related with problem solving skills at (0.01) level. In addition, there was a high positive correlation of (.607) between students’ number sense and their problem solving skills. Thus, the study could be concluded that Grade Seven students who were good at number sense were also good at problem solving skills or students who were weak in number sense were also weak in problem solving skills.