Abstract:
The purposes of this research were 1. to study mathematics concepts of seventh grade students being taught by organizing mathematics learning activities to develop mathematical understanding; 2. to compare mathematics concepts of seventh grade students between groups being taught by organizing mathematics learning activities to develop mathematical understanding and by organizing mathematics learning activities using conventional approach; and 3. to compare mathematics learning retentions of seventh grade students between groups being taught by organizing mathematics learning activities to develop mathematical understanding and by organizing mathematics learning activities using conventional approach. The population of this research were seventh grade students in Trang Educational service area office 1, Office of The Basic Education Commission, Ministry of Education. The subjects were seventh grade students in academic year 2006 in Yantakaorattachanupatham School. They were divided into two groups, one experimental group with 45 students and one controlled group with 45 students. Students in experimental group were taught by organizing mathematics learning activities to develop mathematical understanding and those in control group were taught by organizing mathematics learning activities using conventional approach. The research instruments were the mathematics concept test and mathematics learning achievement test. The data were analyzed by means of arithmetic mean of percentage, standard deviation, and t-test. The results of the study revealed that 1. Mathematics concepts of seventh grade students being taught by organizing mathematics learning activities to develop mathematical understanding were higher than minimum criteria of 50%. 2. Mathematics concepts of seventh grade students between groups being taught by organizing mathematics learning activities to develop mathematical understanding were not higher than those of students being taught by organizing mathematics learning activities using conventional approach at .05 level of significance. 3. Mathematics learning retentions of seventh grade students between groups being taught by organizing mathematics learning activities to develop mathematical understanding were higher than those of students being taught by organizing mathematics learning activities using conventional approach at .5 level of significance.