Primary School Teachers’ Perceptions of the Bar Model Method in Mathematical Problem Solving: The Case of Border Patrol Police School Teachers
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Abstract
Two online workshops were conducted to introduce the bar model method as a problem-solving heuristic to the Thai Border Patrol Police (BPP) officers who also served as primary mathematics teachers in schools located in remote areas. These security personnel had limited teaching experiences. Therefore, teaching their students to solve mathematical word problems, a difficult topic for many students, is very challenging. This paper seeks to learn the effectiveness of online workshops and the BPP teachers’ receptiveness to the bar model as a problem-solving heuristic. An online questionnaire was used to ascertain 333 participating teachers’ perceptions towards the bar model. Teachers expressed positive perceptions towards the use of the bar model. Most of them reflected that they could solve mathematical word problems using the bar model method after the workshops. They felt the bar model could support their students’ problem-solving ability as a useful tool for visualizing and understanding word problems. Although the teachers would like to implement the bar model in their teaching, they had certain reservations such as their own understanding of the method and the students’ language barriers. These issues may increase the challenges teachers face while teaching and learning the bar model. Teachers requested for additional training courses to review the bar model method, and other supplementary supporting teaching and learning resources such as lesson plans, and student worksheets. The paper concluded by offering some recommendations concerning the future design of professional learning to support BBP teachers use of the bar model in their teaching.
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