Developing 6th Grade Students’ Mathematical Problem Solving Skill Basing on Polya Concept of Problem Solving Process together with STAD Technique of Cooperative Learning Management Process

Abstract

        The objectives of the present research study were 1) to develop 6th grade students’ mathematical problem solving skill basing on Polya Concept of Problem Solving Process together with STAD Cooperative Learning Management Process Technique so that the students made a mean achievement score of 70% or better and at least 70% of them passed the mean score and 2) to develop the students’ learning achievement in mathematics basing on Polya Concept of Problem Process together with STAD Cooperative Learning Management Process Technique so that the students made a mean learning achievement score of 70% or better and at least 70% of the students passed the mean achievement score.  The sample consisted of 34 grade 6 students in room number 6/1 in Ratanabundit Kindergarten in Ratanawapi Sub-district, Ratanawapi District, Nongkai Province, under the Office of Private Education Promotion Board. The students were selected randomly through a cluster sampling during the second semester of the 2519 academic year.  The study follows the One-Group Only Posttest Design procedure for data collection.Three categories of research instruments were used in the study which included
         1) 13 mathematics lesson plans basing on Polya Concept of Problem Solving Process together with STAD Technique of Cooperative Learning Management Process, and each lesson took 1 instructional period to finish, 2) a 10-item essay test on mathematical problem solving skill on addition, subtraction and multiplication of decimals and 3) a 30-item multiple-choice learning achievement test on addition, subtraction and multiplication of decimals.  The collected data were analyzed by arithmetic mean, percentage and standard deviation.The research results showed that: 1. The students made a mean achievement score in mathematical problem solving skill of 73.90% of the full marks and 85.29% of the students passed the  criterion of 70% which were higher than the prescribed criterion of 70/70, 2. The students made a mean learning achievement score of 82.16% of the full marks and 85.29% of them passed the criterion of 70% which were higher than the prescribed criterion of 70/70.