A Study of Mathematical Skills and Decimal Division Achievement of Grade 6 Students Using the Constructivist Learning Theory and the Polya Problem-Solving Process

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to 1) examine mathematical problem solving process skills on the subject of Decimal Division for grade 6 students, and achieve at least 70 % of the total score and 2) study mathematical learning achievement on this subject with the mean of at least 70 %, and at least 70 % of them would pass the 70 % criterion.  The target group consisted of 23 grade 6 students at Piafan-Nohnsawan School, under the Office of KhonKaen Primary Educational Service Area 4, during the 1st semester of the academic year 2017.  One-Shot Case Study Design was applied to this research. The instruments were 1) 6 lesson plans on the subject of Decimal Division based on the Constructivist Theory and Polya's problem solving process for 12 instructional periods, 2) a 3-problem subjective test on mathematical problem solving process skills showing the methods of solution finding, and 3) a learning achievement test consisting of 30 questions with a 4-choice type of objective test.  The collected data were analyzed by means of mean, standard deviation, and percentage. 

The findings are as follows:

1. The mean of the mathematical problem solving process skills on the subject of Decimal Division is 83.03 % and 23 students (100 %) passed 70 % of the criterion. It was higher than the set one. 

2.  The mean of mathematical learning achievement was 24.78 from the score of 30 or 82.60 %, and 20 students (86.9 %) passed the 70 % criterion.