Zone of proximal development and scaffolding required by junior high school students in solving mathematical problems

Introduction. Mathematics comprises grading concepts. It means that one specific concept can be interrelated to another concept, which embodies a continuous process. Mathematics instruction at schools is ordinarily delivered from the easiest to the hardest concepts and requires a considerably deep understanding of each concept. By acquiring the understanding, it is quite certain that students can solve mathematical problems effectively.Aim. The current research aimed to analyse and describe the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and scaffolding required by junior high school students in mathematical problem-solving. There is also an attempt to describe the actual level of competence possessed by students, and to determine the level of scaffolding needed to develop students’ learning competencies.Methodology and research methods. The present research employed a qualitative method within the descriptive approach. The research sample consisted of six students who attended the ninth grade at Muhammadiyah Junior High School 1 in Malang, Indonesia. The participants were grouped based on their mathematical competence levels, i.e. two high-achievers, two average-achievers, and two low-achievers. The data collection technique is done by giving tests, interviews, and observations. As for the teaching material, geometry was chosen as the main theme, covering the topic “Volumes of a Tube and a Ball”.Results. This research revealed that ZPD of the high-achievers was effective to help them solve mathematical problems independently. Conversely, the average- and low-achievers were found to be problematic at solving mathematical problems independently. The teachers must review and restructure the scaffolding strategies, dealing intensively with students who are less competent in solving mathematical problems.The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that previous studies have described efforts to improve the quality of learning through scaffolding (Siyepu S., 2013). This study describes in full the scaffolding process in the classroom: identification of students’ actual abilities and potential abilities after implementing instructional scaffolding.Practical significance. Referring to the results of the research, it is suggested that teachers should be so heedful about their students’ ZPD and thus more appropriate scaffolding treatments can be applied. In addition, teachers are strongly recommended doing self-training in scaffolding and keeping the instruction for their students to analyse their answers repeatedly to avoid a fallacy in operations. Besides, teachers should prepare their students to be good problem-solvers by exposing them to various exercises. For further studies, it is highly expected that more relevant research should be conducted from different viewpoints, i.e. investigating the effective scaffolding strategies.

The Role of Self-Regulation in Remote Emergency Learning: Comparing Synchronous and Asynchronous Online Learning

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools and universities across the world have had to switch to online learning, which is offered either synchronously or asynchronously. This study examined the role of self-regulation on students’ performance in each of these modes by comparing the use of self-regulation skills between high and low achievers in each mode and assessing the relationships of using these skills with students’ performance. The data were collected from students who enrolled in a data structures course in fall 2020 in either synchronous or asynchronous mode. The results show that self-regulation is an essential factor for learners’ success in both modes of online learning. However, there was a variance of using self-regulating learning strategies between students in synchronous and asynchronous modes.

Modes and Trajectories of Shadow Education in Denmark and China: Fieldwork Reflections by a Comparativist

Purpose In the domain of shadow education (private supplementary tutoring), Denmark and China may be placed at opposite ends of a spectrum. Denmark has a recently emerged, small, and high-cost sector that mostly serves low achievers, while China has a more industrialized sector with a long history and economies of scale. The paper juxtaposes the two to shed light on each. Design/Approach/Methods The article is a personal narrative of the author's research experiences. She grew up and had initial education in China before moving to the Nordic realm for 2 years. This provided a set of initial lenses, which were subsequently deployed in research partnership from her current base in China with colleagues in Denmark. Findings The juxtaposition raises questions that might otherwise not have been asked and provides insights that might otherwise not have been gained. Danish families hesitate to use shadow education for advantages in the egalitarian society, in contrast to Chinese patterns that stress competition and achievement. These facets have implications for the modes of shadow education and even the names of tutorial companies. Originality/Value The paper has a methodological value in addition to its substantive insights on the trajectories of shadow education in the two countries.

Changes in academic performance in the online, integrated system-based curriculum implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic in a medical school in Korea

Purpose: This study aims to examine how students' academic performance changed, based on the test results of 16 integrated courses conducted in 3 semesters at Hanyang University College of Medicine that underwent a transition to online learning after COVID-19 in Korea. Methods: For the 16 required courses that included an integrated system-based curriculum that runs for t3 semesters, the major examination's raw scores were collected for each student. Percent-correct scores were used in the subsequent analysis. We used a t-test to compare grades between 2019 and 2020, and Cohen's D was calculated as a measure of effect size. The correlation of scores between courses was calculated using Pearson’s correlation coefficient.Results: There was a significant decrease in scores in 2020 for 10 courses (62.5%). While most of the integrated system-based curriculum test scores showed strong correlation, with a coefficient of 0.6 or higher in both 2019 and 2020, the correlation coefficient was generally higher in 2020. When students were divided into low, middle, and high achiever groups, low achievers consistently showed declining test scores in all three semesters. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the transition to online classes due to COVID-19 has led to an overall decline in academic performance. This overall decline, which may occur when the curriculum is centered on recorded lectures, needs to be addressed. Further, medical schools need to consider establishing a support system for the academic development of low achievers.

Motivational and personality variables distinguish academic underachievers from high achievers, low achievers, and overachievers

Previous studies have associated several variables concerning motivation and other domains with underachievement, i. e. a student's academic achievement falling short of what their cognitive abilities, as the best predictor of academic performance, would indicate. The present study extends these findings using a more rigorous approach in defining underachievers and suitable control groups. Using discriminant analysis, underachievers identified in a German twin family study were compared not only to achievers with comparable IQ scores, but also with students of lower aptitude, but comparably low grades, as well as overachieving students. Results confirm previous findings that compared to successful students, underachievers report lower levels of motivation and parental support; beyond this comparison, underachievers also differed from other low achievers, mostly in terms of their personality. In total, 40% of the variance between the groups were explained. Additionally, the data shed doubt on the common assumption that underachievers are an unusually heterogenous group of students.

UNDERSTANDING LOW ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT BASED ON PASS AND ERICKSONIAN HUMANISTIC THERAPY

Academic underachievement is a burning problem far from being solved. This study evaluated the efficacy of a humanistic psychotherapy intervention program based on planning, attention, successive and simultaneous (PASS) inductive learning, and indirect metaphorical Ericksonian communication grounded in the neuroscientific knowledge of human behavior. The rational neuroscientific foundations are explained throughout the discussion, highlighting the interaction cognition-emotion. The sample was 600 subjects classified as low achievers, very low achievers, and behavioral-psychosomatic dysfunctional low achievers. The mean age was 13.93 (SD = 1.56; range 12-17), 29.5% women. A normal control group of 172 subjects was selected (mean age, 13.88; SD = 1.75;range 12-17; 49.4% women). ANOVA and stepwise regression analysis were performed. No PASS deficit explains the low achievers. A dysfunctional emotional reason is suggested. A lower simultaneous PASS appears related to very low achievers. A lower planning PASS and the "N" pattern appear related to behavioral-psychosomatic low achievers. The "N" pattern is a suggestive marker of emotional dysfunction. After 6 months of intervention, 55% of very low achievers, 85% of low achievers, and 80% of behavioral-psychosomatic participants did not satisfy the criterion of an underachiever. More studies are required to contribute to the accumulative understanding of scientific phenomena, and so investigate replication.

Difficulties of Grade X students in learning Trigonometry

This paper aims to explain the difficulties of grade X students in learning trigonometry that were explored from an empirical study in the year 2017 AD. The researcher used explanatory mixed research design where 155 students of grade X were selected randomly from the four schools of Kirtipur municipality to conduct initial survey to find low achievers and most difficult content areas of trigonometry by using achievement test. Then five low achievers and respective three mathematics teachers were selected and interviewed with the help of semi-structured interview guidelines to explore what difficulties had they experienced and encountered in learning trigonometry. The results revealed that mean achievement score of students in institutional schools was greater than that of students of community schools. However, there are some common areas of difficulties of students in both types of schools for learning trigonometry including the difficulties related to memorization of facts; comprehension of new concepts; transformation of verbal problems; derivation and proofs of trigonometric relations and unfamiliarity with the solving process of problems in application level. These difficulties are due to several reasons including abstract nature of contents, poor prerequisites among students, demonstration of teacher centered instruction, and focusing on rote memorization rather than conceptual understanding. Hence, it is recommended that both students and teachers need to focus on conceptual learning rather than rote memorization for meaningful understanding in trigonometry.