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An open-ended approach to promote higher order thinking in mathematics among secondary two express students
Author
Chang, Chiou Yen
Supervisor
Koay, Phong Lee
Abstract
This study was an attempt to explore how the open-ended approach could provide an environment for students to be engaged in higher order thinking in mathematics. The approach was adopted from the book The Open Ended Approach : A New Proposal for Teaching Mathematics edited by Becker and Shimada (2002). According to them, in the open-ended instructional approach, "an 'incomplete' question is presented first. The lesson then proceeds by using many correct answers to the given problem to provide experience in finding something new in the process. This can be done through combining students' own knowledge, skills, or ways of thinking that have previously been learned" (p.1). A class of 37 Secondary Two male students participated in this study. The topic was linear and quadratic graphs. Three of the lessons on graphs were conducted using the open-ended approach.
The main aim of the study was to find out whether the open-ended approach could be a means to provide a learning environment to promote higher order thinking in the classroom. The other aim was to examine the students' responses to the open-ended approach in the teaching of graph. Hopefully, the findings could encourage teachers to use this alternative instructional mode to infuse thinking skills in mathematics lessons.
In comparison to the closed-ended questions, which the students were more familiar with, the open-ended questions posed a challenge to some of the students. Nevertheless, the students seemed to be able to demonstrate the skills of analysing, synthesizing and evaluating in the lessons using the open-ended approach.
On the whole, the sample of students gave positive feedbacks towards the open-ended approach. They enjoyed learning through the approach and commented that they were challenged to think out of the box and engaged in higher order thinking.
The main aim of the study was to find out whether the open-ended approach could be a means to provide a learning environment to promote higher order thinking in the classroom. The other aim was to examine the students' responses to the open-ended approach in the teaching of graph. Hopefully, the findings could encourage teachers to use this alternative instructional mode to infuse thinking skills in mathematics lessons.
In comparison to the closed-ended questions, which the students were more familiar with, the open-ended questions posed a challenge to some of the students. Nevertheless, the students seemed to be able to demonstrate the skills of analysing, synthesizing and evaluating in the lessons using the open-ended approach.
On the whole, the sample of students gave positive feedbacks towards the open-ended approach. They enjoyed learning through the approach and commented that they were challenged to think out of the box and engaged in higher order thinking.
Date Issued
2005
Call Number
QA14.S55 Cha
Date Submitted
2005