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Best Practicein Mathematics Teaching
Best Practicein Mathematics Teaching
Anubanyasothon School
Researcher:
The researcher wish to express her deepest thanks and gratitude to the following
people who have extended their valuable time and support for making this study possible.
Without them, this case study would not have been successful. Thanks to :
Mrs. Prenpapa Charaenporn, Anubanyasothon School’s MEP Head, for the support;
Mrs. Sunant Rueangsanam, Anubanyasothon School MEP Coordinator, for the moral
support and partner in teaching Mathematics ;
And above all to God who gives me wisdom and good health making this project into
reality.
Teacher Mae
ii
Table of Contents Page
Title page…………………………………………………………….
Acknowledgment…………………………………………………… ii
Contents……………………………………………………………. iii
List of Tables………………………………………………………… iv
Abstract……………………………………………………………. v
1. The Problem
Introduction……………………………………………
Conceptual Framework………………………………………..
Assumption………………………………………………….
Definition of Terms…………………………………………
2 Review of Literature
On Teaching Mathematics……………………………………
3 Methodology
Research Design……………………………………………
Research Locale……………………………………………
The Subject/Respondents…………………………………
Sampling Procedure………………………………………
Research Instruments………………………………………
Management of Classes……………………………………
Summary………………………………………………………
Recommendations…………………………………………….
References
Appendices
List of Tables
Table Page
V
Abstract
This study was realized after 5 years of teaching Mathematics both in Primary and Secondary
Level. This was through careful observation and thorough investigation on how learners learn best in
teaching Mathematics. The aim of this study was to investigate effective teaching approaches,
strategies, method, and techniques in teaching Mathematics; and to check whether the reusable
instructional material made was effective in teaching Mathematics. Secondary students from Intensive
English Program in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand and Primary Students from Mini English Program
(MEP) in Yasothon, Thailand were observed and investigated from School Year 2009-2013. The
results showed that Learners learn best in Mathematics through experiential, student-centered, and
cognitive method of teaching; and the reusable instructional material made was effective in teaching
Mathematics because students were more engaged, more interactive, and gained more conceptual
The Problem
Introduction
planning, preparing of Instructional Materials, figuring out the best and effective teaching approaches,
strategies, methods and techniques to be used and helping out influence the learners to develop love
for Mathematics. But teaching is not just a job, it is in fact more than a job since teaching is not only
to instruct students in the subject but also influences them to love learning. That is, learning to love
Mathematics.
This paper was made into reality after five years of teaching Mathematics in Thailand both in
Primary and Secondary Level. This was made by investigating the students’ problems and difficulties
in learning Mathematics and how to solve these problems. Some of the problems encountered by the
students were noted and based on these problems, varied teaching approaches, methods and strategies
were tried to test which ones were effective in teaching Mathematics. This is how ‘Best Practice’ was
developed.
of-the-art teaching. It involves content based knowledge at the same time gaining knowledge of the
Principles of Teaching. As you read through the following pages, you can find valuable information
that will guide you in teaching Mathematics and will help you love teaching this subject.
This study was concerned to investigate the how Mathematics students learn best.
This study was conducted in Northeast Schools in Thailand, particularly at Ave Maria School
2013.
teaching Mathematics.
Mathematics.
Assumption
the students in the learning process, and develop in them the love for Mathematics.
The results of this study will provide information regarding varied approaches
effective in teaching Mathematics that will bring important implication and insights to the
following:
important mathematical concepts more effectively and enjoyably, specifically on the concepts
of fraction.
The Teachers. The finding of this study will create an opportunity for teachers to find
out how well the students benefit from their instructional efforts and materials by presenting
their lesson using student-centered approach. This will enable them to better assist the
students in the learning concepts without merely requiring them to memorize a list of facts.
The School Administrators. The findings of this study will provide useful information
that will enable administrators and supervisors to determine what specific instructional
materials to be used and how instruction should be modified and paced to maximize
resourceful and innovative in presenting their lessons using experiential approach, student-
centered method and by using Higher order thinking skills( cognitive) approach.
The Ministry of Education. The recommendations derived from the findings of this
study could be a guiding source of significant information for the Ministry of Education
officials. They could then initiate in-service trainings and seminars in designing appropriate
teaching strategies that will provide greater focus to assist teachers to become more
resourceful and innovative in presenting their lessons in a varied ways. This hopefully should
The Researchers. The findings of this study will also serve as reference for future
researchers who plan to conduct further study on topics related to this research.
This study was conducted in two different schools in the Northeastern part of
Thailand. One is the Secondary School at Ave Maria School in Srimuang Road, Amphur
Muang, Ubon Ratchathani and the other is a Primary school at Anubanyasothon School,
Jangsanit Road, Nai Muang, Amphur Muang, Yasothon from School Year 2009 to 2013. This
Definition of Terms:
learning which is translated into the classroom. It comes from the teacher’s own
philosophy of education, the nature of education, the role of the teacher, and that of
the student.
goal in teaching.
immediate objective.
Chapter 2
Review of Literature
The following review of literature is a description and summary of the research results
that inspired and guided the study. Included are the findings of the study that investigated
Mathematics.
On Mathematics Teaching
logical manner, formulating and testing conjectures, making sense of things, and forming and
when we recognize and describe patterns, construct physical and conceptual models of
phenomena, create symbol systems to help us represent, manipulate, and reflect on ideas, and
invent procedures to solve problems (Battista, 1999) as cited by the Alliance Education
(2006). These are the basis why and how teachers teach Mathematics.
Thailand has joined the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
(TIMSS) which was first conducted in 1995. TIMSS reports every four years on the
mathematics and science achievement of fourth and eighth grade students worldwide. TIMSS
2011 is the fifth in the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational
improving teaching and learning in mathematics and science. Findings from the survey are
used to inform education policy-makers and to improve teaching ( The Nation, Oct. 22, 2012)
. Furthermore, The results of the world's famous international math and science
test have shown that Thai students' achievements continuous declines over the past decade
since Thailand joined TIMSS. Thai students' scores were 525 for science and 522 for
mathematics in 1995. The scores dropped to 482 (science) and 467 (maths) in 1999. Even in
2007, the scores also dropped to 471 (science) and 441 (math). Meanwhile, TIMSS average
scores were about 500 or a little more or less than 500 ( The Nation, Oct. 22, 2012).
By this report, there is a need for effective Mathematics Instruction here in Thailand .
What can Math teachers do to improve this? Teachers can do a lot. By helping Thai students
love Mathematics and by effective instruction, Mathematics teachers can help Thai students
improve their Mathematics skills and problem solving skills. This is why the author
conducted this study. The main aim of this study is to determine effective teaching
approaches, strategies, methods and techniques for effective Math teaching. This is the
The United States of America (USA) has also conducted a study of this Best Practice
because of the poor performance of U.S. students in math. The researchers have traced it to
the method used to teach math at the elementary level. The focus is on specific problems and
not on building the foundations necessary for understanding higher level math. These
foundations can only be built with a mathematics program that teaches concepts and skills,
the Thai Mathematics Curriculum and Mathematical Connections and have found out that the
educational curriculum in Thailand in the past was Content-based curriculum. As a result, the
teachers gave an importance to teaching based on the content by using textbooks as major
material for instructional organization because the textbooks included the determined content
in curriculum of each class. Specifically, throughout the long period of former time, Thai
educational system was the centralized system. The curricular were determined by Ministry
of education. The same total content frame was organized throughout the country. Textbooks
into lessons for the teachers’ convenience in organize their instruction. Therefore, they were
familiar to teaching by the texts as if they were curriculum. The National Educational
In addition, the research findings found that the present curriculum was used for more
than 10 years. The curriculum use wasn’t be able to develop the basis for thinking or
constructing Thai people’s learning technique in organize and life skill (Ministry of
Education, 2001). In addition to the information from the 10th issue of National Economic
and Social Development regarding to guidelines for developing human beings in Thai society,
and the focus of Ministry of Education in developing youth into the 21th century, the revision
of Basic Education Curriculum 2001 was revised in order to be core curriculum of Basic
Education 2008 with clearness both in objective of curriculum in developing the students’
quality development, and skill process in putting curriculum into practice in The Educational
Service Area and schools (Ministry of Education, 2008, p.2). In practice, the movement of
curriculum into classroom didn’t include the clear guidelines determined by curriculum.
mathematics is designed to clearly identify what students should learn at each level.
Standards provide more than a curriculum framework as they delineate the skills, concepts
teachers must understand the rationale for using standards, know applicable national and state
standards and use them as a basis for planning instruction, and implement best practices
classroom include:
Methodology
This chapter presents and describes the research design, research locale, subject
conduct of the study, management of classes, data collection procedure, and the treatment of
the data.
Research Design
This study was carried out by qualitative data analysis. This was done by listing down
the problems encountered during and after teaching Mathematics. Interviews were also done
from the Mathematics teachers from different schools about the effective teaching techniques
they commonly use in teaching Mathematics. Some Questionnaires were also given to the
Research Locale
This study was conducted at two different schools in the Northeastern Part of
Thailand specifically Ave Maria School School ( School Year 2009-2010) in Srinarong Road,
Muang Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand and Anubanyasothon School (School Year 2010-2013),
Jangsanit Road, Yasothon, Thailand. These schools are under the supervision of the Ministry
Anuban Yasothon School’s Director was Mr. Prakart Suwannaharn. Mini English Program is
The Subject-Respondents
There are approximately 1500 pupils enrolling every year at Anubanyasothon School .
It is divided into many programs namely, English Communication for Life (ECL) and Mini
English Program (MEP). MEP is in its seventh year which has almost 2 sections in each
grade level. For this study, the subject-respondents were the Grades 4-6 students only.
At Ave Maria School, there are about 1500 students enrolling every year. The
subject-respondents observed were the Grades 7-8 Intensive English Program (IE) students.
Sampling Procedure
Mathematics
Grade 4 17 18 35
Grade 5 10 11 21
Grade 6 5 14 19
TOTAL 42 43 85
A. Classroom Observation.
Classroom observations were recorded and problems encountered by students about the
mathematical concepts were listed down to enable the researcher to completely capture what
was happening in the classroom focusing on the case students to check which teaching
approach, strategy, technique was effective for mathematical concepts. Ideas on how to solve
B. Determining Varied Approaches in Teaching Mathematics which are effective for Thai
students
Different teaching methods and strategies were tried out in each mathematical
concept and determined if those methods were effective or not in the class. According to
The Education Alliance (2006) survey, ‘’Mathematics should be taught using multiple
strategies, however, the teacher is responsible for selecting the strategies appropriate for a
specific concept’’. That is why the researcher tried out the following approaches and
1. Interactive-you make learners interact with you (their teacher), with their classmates
activities.
8. Metacognitive- You make learners think about their cognitive and thought processes.
9. Collaborative-You make learners work together.
10. Reflective-You make your students reflect on what they have learned and how they
have learned.
C. Some Principles of teaching and learning which are found effective in teaching Math
Chapter 4
This chapter presents analyses and interprets the data obtained from the respondents.
The presentation of results is organized based on the order of the stated problems presented in
Chapter 1: (1) Determining the effective approaches in teaching Math; (2) Check whether the
Below are some of the teaching approaches, methods, techniques in Math teaching
which I found it effective. I tried out many more strategies but this 10 are the more
effective ones.
1. Interactive- Making the students interact with the teacher, with their classmates and
75/100.
In Mathematics teaching, the author usually asked students to justify their
answer so that speaking is encouraged and critical thinking is enhanced since students
must think how they arrive to their answer and must use English words to explain.
Therefore this teaching approach encourages students to interact with their teacher,
their classmates and the learning material. Teacher also gives extra points to those
to interact with their teacher as well as their classmates and with the instructional
material and there were more talking in the class than merely solving the equations
Teacher doesn’t overuse one teaching method. (e.g. using Multimedia in teaching
and division, when a teacher uses multimedia such as PowerPoint, video or smart
board is proven effective. The author had observed one Thai teacher who teaches
Math using PowerPoint presentation enhances the students learning ability and enable
them to understand fully the concepts since it is explained with such animation that
life. Usually I use this approach when I teach ‘Division and Fraction solving
sensing and defining the problem 2) Formulating hypothesis 3) testing the likely
and formulating conclusion. Then I tried to give the steps on how to solve the
mathematical problem. First, is to write the given, second is to write the mathematical
sentence, third, show solution, fourth is write the answer. I have to tell them they can
solutions to a problem so they are free to chose which solution they like to follow. Of
This Approach is effective since students explore, inquire and discover new learning. I
don’t tell students everything they need to know rather I gave them opportunities to
inquire and discover. One best example is teaching ‘Data Analysis and probability’. I
usually give students some questions and they look for answers. They explore, inquire
with their past experiences. This is an effective technique in teaching Math since it
requires students’ prior knowledge to connect or relate to the new lesson. I usually
give students activities by grouping them and giving them some tasks to do and talk
about such as why is 3/6 is equal to 27/54, and topics such as ‘Identifying the size of
usually use since I have to consider student’s learning style and I have to come up
with my lesson objectives. The best technique I use since I have to switch from one
technique to the other as the need arises. Since there must be clear understanding of
the objectives of the lesson and strategies to be used. Most of the time, I have my
lesson planning and I do use the strategy I plan to use like using 5E’s instructional
model-Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate, but then I find some
students do not understand the concept yet so I have to switch to Interactive approach.
But take note, this approach needs a background of some if not all the teaching
equations, letting the students experience and recall how to solve the equation by
remembering the rules and formulas and applying it to solve the equation. In my
effective for students. That’s why I always tell my students to remember the formulas
In most mathematical concepts, learners must use critical thinking skills to solve
mathematical equations and mathematical problems. This will help the students learn
best when the cognitive skills are used such as students’ memory, intelligence,
intellect and the five senses to think critically with higher order thinking skills.
9. Collaborative- Teachers make learners work together. In some of my lessons such as
work together and share what they have understood about the lesson, then I let one
representative to report in front of the class, while the rest show or role play what they
were able to learn. This is another approach which the researcher-teacher found
effective in teaching since students are given time to reflect on what they have learned
and how they were able to learn such as in Adding, Subtracting, multiplying and
dividing Fractions. After they reflect on what they have learned, teachers usually ask
them to justify their answers by speaking in English and discussing how they are able
to get their answers. By this, students have enough time to contemplate, recall and
practice the vocabulary the researcher-teacher introduce to them in each chapter of the
lesson.
Some other techniques the researcher-teacher find it useful in Teaching Mathematics for Thai
1. Teaching by repetition. By repeating the steps how to add, subtract, multiply and
are able to experience it or associate it in their present life. If teachers teach about
parallel and perpendicular lines, teachers usually associate parallel lines to two
students standing in front in straight line. So two lines never cross each other. For
perpendicular line, I let one student do hands forward then one student do hands up so
how to solve a mathematical equation by example. Students usually follow the steps
understand better, or students can look over to their English-Thai Dictionary for those
words. Examples of these vocabulary words are additive inverse, Lowest Common
Other principles of teaching and Laws of learning the researcher-teacher find it useful
in teaching Math for Thai students are the following: Some of these are things the
1. Law of readiness- Students learn best when they are ready to learn. If students are
still busy doing something, they won’t learn best so better stop teaching first then let
students be in their seats and be quiet for 2-3 minutes before starting a lesson.
2. Law of recency- Students learn best when it is the latest topic we’re discussing in
class. The past topics are sometimes forgotten so sometimes the researcher-teacher
had to remind them of the mathematical concepts they’ve learned from the past.
3. Law of experience- Students learn best if they have experience such thing. So
oftentimes teachers let them practice solving problems, give them homework so they
the Law of repetition. So in teaching Math, it is also necessary to repeat the steps on
how to divide, how to solve complex fraction problems, etc. So students can
not misconceptions because Students create a strong impression and remembrance the
first thing teachers teach them. It should be right at the first time of teaching.
6. Law of Intensity- The more intense the concept or material used, the more it is likely
learned. If teachers teach more on fraction, basically students learn more and best in
this topic.
students are more engaged in the lesson, more participative, more interactive and
more active. I used two teaching methods in testing the effectiveness of the learning
material. One is without the use of that instructional material and using only lecture
method and one is by using it through games. Then I evaluate students’ academic
performance. Based on the results, those students that participated in the game using
that instructional material have higher scores than those students only listen to the
teacher through lecture method. This concludes that teaching math by using
Chapter 5
Summary, Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations
This chapter presents the summary and findings, discusses relevant conclusions, and cites
Summary
This study was realized after 5 years of teaching Mathematics both in Primary and Secondary
Level. This was through careful observation and thorough investigation on how learners learn best in
teaching Mathematics. The aim of this study was to investigate effective teaching approaches,
strategies, method, and techniques in teaching Mathematics; and to check whether the reusable
instructional material made was effective in teaching Mathematics. Secondary students from Intensive
English Program in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand and Primary Students from Mini English Program
(MEP) in Yasothon, Thailand were observed and investigated from School Year 2009-2013. The
results showed that Learners learn best in Mathematics through experiential, student-centered, and
cognitive method of teaching; and the reusable instructional material made was effective in teaching
Mathematics because students were more engaged, more interactive, and gained more conceptual
Based on the researcher-teacher observation, experiences, and personal interview, she found
out some common problems encountered by students and teachers in teaching and learning
Mathematics. Some common ones are the accuracy and spelling of number words, adding of
denominators when asked to add fractions which should not be, reading and writing fractions
incorrectly, language barrier problem, misconceptions, and many more. Therefore varied approaches
were tried out to solve these problems and had found out 10 effective approaches in teaching
mathematics so learners learn best. These are 1) Interactive 2) Innovative 3) Integrative 4) Inquiry
example and by translation. The Laws of Learning I find it effective in Math class are the
Law of readiness, Law of exercise, Law of Recency, Law of Exercise, Law of Primary and
Law of Intensity.
Recommendation
teaching and trying out if they are also effective in teaching Mathematics. It is also
recommended to use other grade level students as respondents to compare the results. It is the
hope of the researcher that her work with the Best Practice in Mathematics teaching will give
Mathematics teachers another tool to improve the Mathematics Education not just in
References:
Corpuz, B and G Salandanan ( 2013). Principles of Teaching, 3 rd Edition, Lorimar
Publishing ,Inc. Manila, Philippines.
Jaijan, W. The Thai mathematics Curriculum and Mathematical Connections, Khon
Kaen University, Thailand. Retrieved on August 24, 2012 in
http://www.recsam.edu.my/cosmed/cosmed09/AbstractsFullPapers2009/Abstract/Mathe
matics%20Parallel%20PDF/Full%20Paper/18.pdf
The Education Alliance (2006) . Closing the Achievement Gap: Best Practices In
TeachingMathematics. Retrieved on August 24, 2013 at
http://www.educationalliance.org/files/Teaching-Mathematics.pdf.
The Nation (October 22, 2012). Key maths, Science test results due out soon .
Retreived on August 24, 2013 at http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Key-maths-
Science-test-results-due-out-soon-30192784.html.
Appendix
Table 2. Some common problems encountered by students and teachers in teaching and learning
Mathematics
fractions.
Reading and Writing of 14 is read as “forty” while 40 is read as “fourteen”
word problems.
Place value Some students are confused with the place value of