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European Journal of Education Studies ISSN: 2501 - 1111 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu Volume 3 │Issue 5 │2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.495003 JUNIOR SCHOOL TE‚CHERS OPINIONS ON TE‚CHING TOPIC TRAPEZOID BY DISCOVERY LEARNING: THE INVESTIGATION IN DONG THAP PROVINCE, VIETNAM Nguyen Phu Loc1, Nguyen Quoc Viet2 School of Education, 1 Can Tho University, Vietnam Master student in Mathematics Education, 2 Dong Thap University, Vietnam Abstract: Discovery learning is a method of inquiry-based instruction, in discovery learning, learners have opportunities to discover facts and relationships for themselves. In Vietnam, this method was approached from many decades ago. The paper will present the results of the investigating mathematics teachers’ opinions on the use of discovery learning in teaching geometry in junior schools of Vietnam in the case of instructing topic trapezoid . Keywords: discovery learning, teaching geometry, trapezoid, mathematics education 1. Background 1.1 Conception on discovery learning Discovery learning, according to ”runer , is an inquiry-based, constructivist learning that takes place in problem-solving situations where the learner draws on his or her own past experience and existing knowledge to discover facts and relationships and new truths to be learned “s a result, students may be more likely to remember concepts and knowledge discovered on their own (Bruner, 2009) 1.2 Topic Trapezoid in Mathematics 8 – Vietnam The content of topic Trapezoid in the textbook To{n consists of the following contents (see Table 1). Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group Mathematics of Vietnam 143 Nguyen Phu Loc, Nguyen Quoc Viet JUNIOR SCHOOL TE“CHERS’ OPINIONS ON TE“CHING TOPIC TR“PEZOID ”Y DISCOVERY LE“RNING: THE INVESTIGATION IN DONG THAP PROVINCE, VIETNAM Table 1: Contents of the topic Trapezoid in Mathematics - Vietnam Concepts Theorems Trapezoid A trapezoid is a quadrilateral with two sides parallel Theorem 1: In an isosceles trapezoid, two legs are equal. Right trapezoid A right trapezoid is a trapezoid with one right angle Theorem 2: Two diagonals of an isosceles trapezoid are equal. Isosceles trapezoid An isosceles trapezoid is a trapezoid in which two angles adjacent to a base are equal Theorem 3: Trapezoid with two diagonals equal is isosceles. Theorem 4: The line through the midpoint of one leg of a trapezoid and parallel to its bases will pass through the midpoint of the second leg. Theorem 5: The mid-segment of a trapezoid is parallel to the two bases and equals half the sum of the bases. The mathematics contents of the topic trapezoid as presented in Table allow us to assert that it is not difficult for the teacher to guide his students to learn by discovery. The problem is that in practice of teaching, do teachers have used this method? How do they think about discovery learning? They are main reasons for our investigation. 1.3 The purpose of investigating teachers opinions 1. To know what teachers’ perceptions on discovery learning are. 2. To find out whether teachers (and students) in secondary schools are interested in discovery learning. 3. To find out what difficulties of teachers have met in using discovery learning to teach topic Trapezoid . 2. Methodology  Questionnaire: In order to investigate mathematics teachers’ opinions, we  designed questionnaire of 8 closed questions with multi-choices.  schools of Chau Thanh district, Dong Thap province, Vietnam. Subjects: 40 junior school teachers of mathematics who are teaching in Junior Time: from 8-2016 to 11-2016 3. Results and discussion 3.1. The questions to investigate and their answers European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 5 │ 2017 144 Nguyen Phu Loc, Nguyen Quoc Viet JUNIOR SCHOOL TE“CHERS’ OPINIONS ON TE“CHING TOPIC TR“PEZOID ”Y DISCOVERY LE“RNING: THE INVESTIGATION IN DONG THAP PROVINCE, VIETNAM Question 1: During teaching, do you ever have use discovery learning to help your students explore the geometric contents? (The answers in Table 2). Table 2: Teachers’ the levels of using discovery learning to teach Geometry Very Frequently Frequently Occasionally Rarely Very Rarely 2 11 20 5 2 (5%) (27.5%) (50%) (12.5%) (5%) Question 2: When teaching the topic of trapezoid, which teaching method do you have used to transfer knowledge to students? (The answers in Table 3 and Figure 1). Table 3: Teachers’ the levels of using discovery learning to teach trapezoid in comparison with the others Teaching method Posing and solving problem Lecturing Discovery learning Modelling Co-operative learning Level of application Very Frequently Frequently Occasionally Rarely Very Rarely 0 (0%) 4 (10%) 12 (30%) 15 (37.5%) 23 (57.5%) 12 (30%) 5 (12.5%) 9 (22.5%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 9 (22.5%) 17 (42.5%) 8 (20%) 6 (15%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 40 (100%) 7 (17.5%) 16 (40%) 13 (32.5%) 4 (10%) 0 (0%) Posing and solving Problem Lecturing Discovery Learning Modelling Cooperational learning Figure 1: Teachers’ the levels of using discovery learning to teach trapezoid in comparison with the others European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 5 │ 2017 145 Nguyen Phu Loc, Nguyen Quoc Viet JUNIOR SCHOOL TE“CHERS’ OPINIONS ON TE“CHING TOPIC TR“PEZOID ”Y DISCOVERY LE“RNING: THE INVESTIGATION IN DONG THAP PROVINCE, VIETNAM Question 3: In your opinion, is discovery learning suitable for teaching the topic of trapezoid? (The answers in Table 4). Table 4: The appropriate levels of discovery learning in teaching trapezoid Absolutely appropriate Appropriate Neutral Inappropriate Absolutely inappropriate 6 19 13 2 0 (15%) (47.5%) (32.5%) (5%) (0%) Question 4: When applying discovery learning to your instruction, do you have used visual tools (learning cards, projectors, math software) to support in the lesson? (The answers in Table 5). Table 5: The use visual tools to support discovery learning Very Frequently Frequently Occasionally Rarely Very Rarely 3 17 11 8 1 (7.5%) (42.5%) (27.5%) (20%) (2.5%) Question 5: When using discovery learning, what difficulties did you meet? (The answers in Table 6 and Figure 2). Table 6: Teachers’ difficulties when using discovery learning Items The number of teachers (N = 40) 7 17.5 % Taking much time for preparation 32 80% Being less effective than traditional teaching methods 11 27.5% IT skills are limited 9 22.5% Other difficulties 0 0% Lacking teaching equipments Difficulties of discovery learning Lacking teaching equipments Taking much time for preparation Being less effective than traditional teaching methods IT skills being limited Other difficulties Figure 2: Teachers’ difficulties when using discovery learning European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 5 │ 2017 146 Nguyen Phu Loc, Nguyen Quoc Viet JUNIOR SCHOOL TE“CHERS’ OPINIONS ON TE“CHING TOPIC TR“PEZOID ”Y DISCOVERY LE“RNING: THE INVESTIGATION IN DONG THAP PROVINCE, VIETNAM Question 6: In your opinion, does discovery learning make students interesting in learning? (The answers in Table 7). Table 7: The interesting level of students towards learning by discovery Very interesting Interesting Normal Not interesting Absolutely not interesting 5 16 11 8 0 (12.5%) (40%) (27.5%) (20%) (0%) Question 7: According to your opinion, does learning by discovery help students to be easy to remember mathematical knowledge? (The answers in Table 8 and Figure 3). Table 8: Students’ levels to remember mathematics when learning by discovery Very easy to remember Easy to remember Normal Difficult to remember Very difficult to remember 5 23 8 4 0 (12.5%) (57.5%) (20%) (10%) (0%) Levels of remembering knowledge by discovering very easy to remember easy to remember normal difficult to remember Very difficult to remember Figure 3: Students’ levels to remember mathematics when learning by discovery Question 8: During teaching mathematics by discovery, are you associated with the other teaching methods? (The answers in Table 9). Table 9: Associating discovery learning with other teaching methods Very Frequently Frequently Occasionally Rarely Very Rarely 2 19 11 8 0 (5%) (47.5%) (27.5%) (20%) (0%) European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 5 │ 2017 147 Nguyen Phu Loc, Nguyen Quoc Viet JUNIOR SCHOOL TE“CHERS’ OPINIONS ON TE“CHING TOPIC TR“PEZOID ”Y DISCOVERY LE“RNING: THE INVESTIGATION IN DONG THAP PROVINCE, VIETNAM 4.2. Discussion Through Table 2, 50% teachers occasionally used discovery learning to teach geometry content. However, for topic of trapezoid, there are 47.5% teachers applied this method for teaching frequently. Figure 1 shows us that learning by discovering was used by the most teachers; this results coincide with the results in Table 3 in which many teachers (47.5%) stated that discover learning is an appropriate for teaching topic of trapezoid. Table 7 and Table 8 indicated that learning by discovering is an effective teaching method because it makes students interesting and easy to remember mathematical knowledge (see Figure 3). In addition to these advantages, we should note that it take much time for preparing the lesson with discovery learning (see Table 6 and Figure 2), and should associate the other teaching methods to increase the quality of instruction (see Table 9). 5. Conclusion Discovery learning is an active teaching method. It provides learners with opportunities to carry out discovering actions such as: analyzing, making hypothesis, generalizing,.. However, in order to use this method in an effective way, the teacher takes much time to prepare the lesson and know how to guide his students to re-invent knowledge if not, the teaching process will not produce results as expected. References 1. Bruner, J. S. (1961). The act of discovery. Harvard educational review. 2. Bruner, J. S. (2009). The process of education. Harvard University Press. 3. Chinh, P.Đ, Than, T. et al , Toán 8 (Mathematics 8), Hanoi: Vietnam Education Publication House (in Vietnamese) Received date Accepted date Publication date March 12, 2017 April 2, 2017 April 5, 2017 European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 5 │ 2017 148 Nguyen Phu Loc, Nguyen Quoc Viet JUNIOR SCHOOL TE“CHERS’ OPINIONS ON TE“CHING TOPIC TR“PEZOID ”Y DISCOVERY LE“RNING: THE INVESTIGATION IN DONG THAP PROVINCE, VIETNAM Creative Commons licensing terms Author(s) will retain the copyright of their published articles agreeing that a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) terms will be applied to their work. 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