HOW TO DEVELOP TEACHING LEARNING PROCESS OF MATHEMATICS IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL AND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

HOW TO DEVELOP TEACHING LEARNING PROCESS OF MATHEMATICS IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL AND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

By: Latif Kurniawan (PMATSUB ’09: 09301241042)

Mathematics Education Departement

Mathematics and Natural Science Faculty

Yogyakarta State University

(latifkurniawan.blogspot.com)

A.  Introduction

Teach mathematics is not easy because student can not learn mathematics easy too. At first student comprehension about mathematics are concrete matters but the true mathematics are abstract matters, so there are need to differenced between mathematics and school mathematics. Student learn school mathematics since the begining of their formal education, student learn school mathematics start from concrete mathematics till they can achieve the true comprehension about mathematics as abstract matters. The purpose of giving mathematics  lesson since the begining of formal education are to give student some abilities like mathematical thinking, mathematical reasoning, implement their mathematics knowledge, etc.

Teachers sued to always accommodate their teaching method  with march of time. Till present there are no agreement on the best method  to teach mathematics, because there are no the best method to teach mathematics. Nowdays in Indonesia the curriculum is change from teacher centered into student centered teaching learning process. If we use student centered teaching learning process, mathematics are emphasized to serve student needs then the learning process is centered on the student, student will construct their own knowledge with teacher guidance. School based curriculum that placed student as the center of teaching learning process is the newest curriculum that now applied in Indonesia.

Based on school based curriculum in each school of junior high school has their own curriculum appropriate with their school characteristics, also in each school of senior high school they should make their own curriculum appropriate with their school characteristics. This curriculum give opportunity to teachers and other education personnels to develop their own teaching learning process of mathematics so that student get more meaningful experience on learning mathematics and skill on solving problems.

B.  Developing Teaching Learning Process

School based curriculum is the newest mainfarame of education system in Indonesia. Based on this new curriculum student is placed as the center of learning process. Student should construct their own comprehension with teacher guidance. Teacher in this curriculum should act as facilitator, informator, and motivator. One of the obstacle to implement this curriculum is the fact that many teachers is difficult to change their teaching learning method. To implement this new curriculum teacher should leave their old paradigm that student is an empty vessel. So, teacher should doing revolution on their paradigm of teaching learning process. Teacher can start their move of revolutionary act on:

1.    Lesson Plan

Lesson plan is teacher’s detailed description of the course for class before the begining of the lesson. Lesson plan is guidance for teacher to start their teaching learning process. Lesson plan commonly consist of standard of competence, basic competencies, indicators, time allocation, learning purposes, learning materials, teaching learning method, learning activities, assesment, evaluation, etc.

Lesson plan is teacher guidance to manage their classroom activities, so the teaching learning process can be more effective and efficient. The good lesson plan will determine the quality of teaching learning process, so teacher should make their lesson plan as good as posible. If teacher can not make a good lesson plan, they can ask for help to another teachers through lesson study or MGMP (Musyawarah Guru Mata Pelajaran).

2.    Student Work-sheet

Student work-sheet is guidance for the student to understanding the material of the lesson. Student work-sheet not only collection exercise but also can be step by step ways to solve problems, to proof theorems, to generate/formulate a formula, etc. Student work-sheet has several benefit, there are student can learn some matter independenly, student can be more active in learning process, student can be more creative to solve problems, teacher can use student work-sheet as enrichment teaching, etc.

3.    Small Group Discussion

On teaching learning process there are very hard to the teacher to handle many students, so teacher can separate the students in some groups. In small group discussion teacher can diagnose the difficullty of their student on understanding the lesson materials, after that teacher can give little help to solve the problem. In small discussion student can communicate their ideas among the group members, improving team-work skill through interaction with another students, train their self confidence to present their discussion result to another groups, etc.

4.    Various Interaction

Teachers must interact with their students, teacher can start the class activites with whole class interaction. In whole class interaction commonly teacher start with explain about the material that the student will learn and the next class activities. In whole class interaction, teacher should regain grip the class and given their attention for all student.

After that teacher can separate the class into some groups to discuss some problem related to the material lesson. In small group teacher can diagnose their student difficulty in undestanding the material and give little help to solve the group problem. After the small group discussion teacher can ask one of the student to give a presentation about their discussion result.

Individual interaction is happened between student and the teacher. Individual interaction can be student ask a question to the teacher, teacher found someting wrong about the student work and give the student the true explanation, or teacher ask a question to one of the student in the class about his/her opinion about something.

5.    Various Teaching Method

The old paradigm on teaching learning process is student is placed as empty vessel that ready to filled, but its wrong paradigm. Teacher should placed their student as a seed with their own characteristic to grown up. Teacher must give their student opportunity to grow up their own abilities, characteristics, and skill. Teacher should act as facilitator, informator, and motivator to their student such that the teaching learning process is centered on the student.

There are many kinds of teaching method based on constructivism education theory: inquiry learning, problem-based learning, contextual teaching learning, problem solving, problem posing, project-based learning, realistic mathematics education, open-ended problems, cooperative learning, and computer-assisted learning. The fact is there are does not exist the best method to teach mathematics, every method has their own weakness and strength. But by the creativity of the teacher, teacher can combine one method with another to make better teaching learning process. By implement various teaching method student can be more active, more curious, and the teaching learning process does not monotonous.

6.    Student Reflection/Presentation

Student reflection can be done after the smallgroup discussion or teacher can ask one of the student to give his/her result/solution of the problem. Student reflection is very important to know student achievement about how far the student understanding about the materials. Be sides of that student reflection can improve student self confidence to communicate their ideas or their group discussion result to another students. Student can compare their result with the another students result.

7.    Cognitive Scheme

Cognitive scheme are information/concept about something that already owned by the student. The student cognitive scheme can be develop by giving the student a education. By education student will get new information called schema that will compare with the student previous schema. The information will accepted by the student if the new schema is satisfy with the previous schema, this process called assimilation. If the information is not satisfy with the previous schema, student must construct new comprehension and accept the new schema, this process called accommodations.

8.    Student’s Conclution

At the end of the class meeting or learning process teacher and student should review the material that already explained that day. Teacher can ask the students to review about what they has done that day and what are they get that day. Basically student should construct their own conclusion not the teacher. If the student’s conclusion does not correct or not complete teacher can give opportunity to the another student to give his/her review, on eventually if the review that given by the student does not correct or incomplete teacher can completed the review.

9.    Apperception

Apperception is the readiness of student to start learning something. Apperception is belong to the student and teacher just help the student by ask some question or giving some problems related to the matter or topic that they will learn. The question should be related with the student daily life activities (contextual or realistic problem). Student can answer the question with their own ways before teacher introduce the formal ways. Then teacher can ask some student with different ways to get the solution to present their work, so student can compare one way with another to get the solution.

10.     Assesment

Assessment is the process of documenting, usually in measurable terms such as cognitive, psychomotorics, and affective competencies. Assessment is focused on the student individually. So the teacher should record student’s comprehension of the material. Assessment are differ to two kinds, first is formative assessment that diagnose the student difficulty on undestanding the material, and the second is summative assessment that known as evaluation.

11.     Various Media and Teaching Aids

Students are easier learn mathematics in concrete form before they know the abstract form. Then teacher can use media and teaching aids to help student in understanding the material easily. The teacher must be creative to make and develop media or teaching aids, because the good media or teaching aids can assit student to understand the material easily. There are many kinds of media like video, audio, powerpoint, website, blog,  etc.  There are many kinds of teaching aids like cube replica, measurement ledder, etc. So, teacher act as facilitator that just helping student to understand the lesson through education media and teaching aids.

C.  Conclusion

Teach and learn mathematics is not easy. Student comprehension about mathematics are concrete matters but the true mathematics are abstract matters, so there are need to differenced between mathematics and school mathematics. Teacher must help student to learn mathematics by act as facilitator, informator, and motivator so the student is placed as the center of learning process. To implement  school based curriculum that placed the student as the center of learning process teacher should leave their old paradigm that student is an empty vessel. The new paradigm is, student is a seed that has their own characteristics to grow up and develop their abilities. So, teacher should doing revolution on their paradigm of teaching learning process. Teacher can start their move of revolutionary act by improving some matter on: lesson plan, student work-sheet, small group discussion, various interaction, various teaching method, student’s reflection,  cognitive scheme, student’s conclusion, apperception, assessment, various media, and teaching aids.