Effects of organizing mathematics learning activities based on heuristics and model method approaches on algebraic thinking and mathematical problem solving abilities of seventh grade students
Abstract:
The purposes of this research were 1) to study algebraic thinking and mathematical problem solving abilities of students being taught by organizing mathematics learning activities based on heuristics and model method approaches, 2) to compare algebraic thinking and mathematical problem solving abilities of students before and after being taught by organizing mathematics learning activities based on heuristics and model method approaches, 3) to compare algebraic thinking and mathematical problem solving abilities of students being taught by organizing mathematics learning activities based on heuristics and model method approaches and by conventional learning activities, and 4) to study features of algebraic thinking of students being taught by organizing mathematics learning activities based on heuristics and model method approaches. The subjects were 68 seventh grade students in academic year 2012 of Bantakhunwittaya School. There were 35 students in the experimental group and 33 students in the control group. The experimental group was taught by the organizing mathematics learning activities based on heuristics and model method approaches and the control group was taught by the conventional method. The instruments of data collection were 1) Algebraic thinking abilities tests, 2) Mathematical problem solving abilities test, and 3) An interview protocol. The experimental materials constructed by the researcher were lesson plans focusing on heuristics and model method approaches and conventional lesson plans. The data were analyzed by arithmetic mean, mean of percentage, standard deviation, and t test. The results of the study revealed that: 1) Algebraic thinking and mathematical problem solving abilities of students in the experimental group were higher than 50% of the criterion, 2) Algebraic thinking and mathematical problem solving abilities of students in the experimental group were statistically higher than before at .05 level of significance, 3) Algebraic thinking and mathematical problem solving abilities of students in the experimental group were higher than that those of students in the control group at the .05 level of significance, and 4) the experimental group used various representations to think algebraically; these representations included tables, diagrams, graphs, expressions, equations, and words; through the use of these representations, the algebraic thinking abilities of the students were shown to be much more highly developed.