ASSESSING STUDENTS’ THINKING SKILLS IN MATHEMATICS CLASSROOM USING LESSON STUDY AND OPEN APPROACH

Abstract

          The purpose of this research was to assess students’ thinking skills in mathematics classroom using Lesson Study incorporating Open Approach. The target group were 19 third - grade students in the academic year 2019 and 4 teachers of lesson study team in Loei province. The first stage was mathematics teaching and classroom observation using lesson study incorporating Open Approach. This stage had proceeded since the academic year 2017. The second stage was the research’s data collection from the 7 lesson plans entitled Vertical Multiplication. The research instruments which were used in this study were lesson plan’s form, lesson plans, a video recorder, a camera still recorder, a recorder audiotape, and an observer behavior’s form which analyzes data according to the concept of Inprasitha. The study results showed that the lesson study team had assessed students’ thinking skills as follows. In the collaborative teaching planning phase, the lesson study team discussed various issues, such as the lesson’s contents, lesson’s objectives, open–ended problems, students’ mathematical thinking hypothesis, an instrumental study assessment, and the topics to assess. The lesson study team predicted students’ mathematical thinking in various ways. For the collaborative observation of the teaching phase by using lesson study incorporating Open Approach, the lesson study team assessed students’ thinking skills by observing students' thinking while the students solved the problem and found out that they can think by themselves in various ways. And at the collaborative reflection of the teaching phase, the lesson study team reflected on students’ thinking which was found in the classroom. The mathematical thinking that the lesson study team predicted was in accord and found students’ problems in mathematics problem - solving. The previous teaching class’s reflection could help develop of mathematical teaching’s plans in the next mathematics teaching class.