Keberkesanan pengutaraan masalah statistik dalam meningkatkan kemahiran berfikir aras tinggi pelajar menengah rendah

Abstract

Fostering students' higher order thinking skills (KBAT) has always been an important aim of education. Recently, reformation in Mathematics education has called for a pedagogy that can generate KBAT among students. One alternative pedagogy that offers improvement of students' HOTS is problem posing. Despite the interest in integrating mathematical problem posing into classroom practice, little is known about the effectiveness of this approach towards students‘ KBAT, and its process in posing quality mathematical problems. Therefore, this research aims to identify the effectiveness of problem posing approach in generating KBAT among students, and the process of KBAT in posing quality mathematical problems. This study used a quasi-experimental design of control and treatment groups pretest-posttest design. The research samples comprised 94 students, 51 being in the control group, while the rest were in the treatment group. The instruments used were Statistics KBAT Test, students‘ reflections and interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively to obtain frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation whereas inferential analysis were done through ANCOVA and MANCOVA. Qualitative data were analyzed using deductive content analysis. Findings of the study showed that mathematical problem posing in teaching and learning provided a significant positive impact on generating KBAT among the students. Results of ANCOVA analysis between the mean scores of post-test control group and treatment group showed that there was a significant difference (p<0.05). Results of MANCOVA showed that, there was a significant difference between the post-test control group and the treatment group for cognitive dimensions of applying (p <0.05) and analyzing (p <0.05), but not for evaluating and creating (p> 0.05). In addition, the qualitative analysis showed that all the students highlighted the elements of KBAT in posing quality mathematical problems, despite the existence of different elements of KBAT among students. For the element of applying, students were inclined to think about the problem posing strategy but for the element of analyzing, a majority of the students showed their thinking skills by =connecting'. Subsequently, the students made revisions and justifications for the problems posed. There were also some students who highlighted thinking skills of 'producing' in posing mathematical problems. Based on the findings, this research developed a framework that contributes ideas and direction for educators and policy makers to generate KBAT among students through mathematical problem posing.