Making Mathematical Connections with Transformations Using Open Approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT            The purpose of this study was to investigate the mathematical connection making with transformations at elementary education level using open approach. It was a qualitative research study utilizing a natural setting. The researcher as a research instrument paid attention to the process and described the meaning from the collective observations of the mathematics classroom based on the problem solving as a teaching approach. The target group included the teachers and 24 fifth grade students at the Ban Chonnabot Community School, implementing a lesson study and open approach. The data were collected on the learning activities in the four problem situations on parallelograms of the students enrolled in 2010 academic year, the collaboratively designed research lesson, collaborative observing the research lesson, together with the teaching approach, through the recorded video, recorded audio, semi-structured interviews, field notes, the students’ works, classroom observation forms, and the collaborative reflections on teaching practice. The results showed that the mathematical connection with cutting, folding, moving, connecting, and making the complete units for the students were the natural ways of thinking about transformations through the teaching approach. The concepts discovered were parts that were reshuffled, the cutting out to make a rectangle, the measurement of the base and height for further calculation, the class discussion of the solutions, the procedural knowledge of counting, measuring, cutting, moving, and base multiplied by height. Moreover, the transformations served as the mathematical connector to link the numbers and operations.