"Difficulties Encountered in Teaching Mathematics in Grade 9 Students: basis

for developing a training design.

Theoretical Framework

This study is anchored on the following theories: Bruner's' Constructivism theory, Gibbs

Reflective Cycle, Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and Burch’s Conscious

Competence Theory (CCT). The first model is Bruner's theory of constructivism_encompasses

the idea of learning as an active process wherein those learning are able to form new ideas or

concepts based upon their current/past knowledge. People believe that experience is the best

teacher (Paul Smith).. Often, people are interested to learn the topic when they tend to relate it

with their past experiences. They will take pieces of their past knowledge and experiences and

organize them to make sense of what they know, then base further concepts and solve additional

problems based upon a combination of what they already processed and what they think should

be processed next.

For Bruner (1961), the purpose of education is not to impart knowledge, but instead to

facilitate a child's thinking and problem-solving skills which can then be transferred to a range of

situations. Specifically, education should also develop symbolic thinking in children. The four

major principles of Bruner's theory on constructivism encompass 1) a predilection toward

learning. The second, how a grouping of knowledge is able to be constructed to best be

understood by the learner. The third is effective manners for the teacher to present said material

to the learner, with the fourth and final aspect being the progression of rewards as well as

punishments.
 Bruner (1960) explained how this was possible through the concept of the spiral curriculum.

This involved information being structured so that complex ideas can be taught at a simplified

level first, and then re-visited at more complex levels later on. Therefore, subjects would be

taught at levels of gradually increasing difficultly (hence the spiral analogy). Ideally, teaching his

way should lead to children being able to solve problems by themselves. Seeing as this theory

takes known information and expounds upon it, any teacher lesson plans, teacher worksheets, or

resources should in fact be constantly building the learner's knowledge in a spiral manner.

Bruner (1966) was concerned with how knowledge is represented and organized through

different modes of thinking (or representation) in which information or knowledge are stored and

encoded in memory. Bruner's representation of Constructivism is shown in figure 1.

Figure 1. Bruner’s three fold Analysis of Experience

Reflecting on experiences can help people deal with them better in the future. Many people find

that they learn best from experience. However, if they do not reflect on their experience, and if

they do not consciously think about how they could do better next time, it is hard for them to

learn anything at all. This is where Gibb’s Reflective Cycle is useful. They can se it to help their

people make sense of situations at work, so that they can understand what they did well and what

they could do better in the future.

About the model

Gibbs published his Reflective Cycle in his 1988 book “Learning by Doing.” It’s

particularly useful for helping people learn from situations that they experience regularly,

especially when these do not go well. Gibb’s cycle is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Gibb’s Reflective Cycle – Theoretical Framework of the Study

Notably; Gibb’s original model had six stages. The stages that have not covered here is

“Analysis” – which is included in the Evaluation stage.

Using the Model

Someone can use the model to explore a situation themselves, or they can use it with

someone they are coaching–they may look at coaching use in this article, but they can apply the

same approach when they’re on their own. To structure a coaching session using Gibb’s Cycle,

choose a situation to analyze and then work through the steps below:

Step 1: Description

First, ask the person he’s coaching to describe the situation in detail. At this stage, he

simply wants to know what happened – he’ll draw conclusion later. Consider asking questions

like these to help him describe the situation: when and where did this happen?; Why were you

there? ; Who else was there?; What happened?; What did you do?; What did other people do?;

and What was the result of this situation?

Step 2: Feelings

Next, encourage him to talk about what he thought and felt during the experience. At this

stage, avoid commenting on his emotions. Use questions like these to guide the discussion: What

did you feel before the situation took place?; What did you feel while the situation took place?;

What do you think other people think during this situation?; What did you feel after the

situation?; What do you think about the situation now?; and What do you think other people feel

about the situation now?

It might be difficult for some people to talk honestly their feelings. Use Emphatic

Listening at this stage to connect with them emotionally, and try to see things from their point of

view.

Tip 2:

One can use the Perceptual Positions technique to help this person see the situation from

other people’s perspectives.

Step 3: Evaluation

Now it is a need to encourage the person one is coaching to look objectively at what

approaches worked, and which one did not. Ask him: What was positive about this situation?;

What was negative?; What went well?; What didn’t go so well?; and What did you and other

people do to contribute to the situation (either positively or negatively)? If appropriate, use the

technique such as the 5 whys to help a team member uncover the root cause of the issue.

Step 4: Conclusions

Once the situation is evaluated, one can help a team member to draw conclusions about

what happened. Encourage him to think about the situation again, using the information

collected so far. Then ask questions like these: How could this have been a more positive

experience for everyone involved?; If you were faced with the same situation again, what would

you do differently?; and What skills you need to develop, so that you can handle this type of

situation better?
Step 5: Action

He should now have some possible actions that his team member can take to deal with

similar situations more effectively in the future. In this last stage, he needs to come up with a

plan so that he can make these changes. Once he identified the areas he will work on, get him to

commit on taking action, and agree a date on which both will review progress.

This tool is structured as a cycle, reflecting an ongoing coaching relationship. Whether

they use it this way depends on the situation and their relationship with the person being coached.

Gibbs published his Reflective Cycle in 1988. There are five stages in the cycle: 1. Description;

2. Feelings; 3. Evaluation; 4. Conclusions; and 5. Action. It can be used to help team members

think about how they deal with situations, so that they can understand what they did well, and so

that they know where they need to improve.

From the aforementioned description of Gibb’s Reflective Cycle Model, it is considered

by the researcher as the model or procedures in answering problems posted in this study:

determining the difficulties; reasons for such difficulties; overcoming the difficulties and in

developing a training program to address the difficulties.

Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and Burch’s Conscious Competence Theory (CCT). Kolb’s

ELT is a method where a person’s skills and job requirements can be assessed in the same

language that is commensurability can be measured. The theory states that the learning involves

the acquisition of abstract concepts that can be applied flexibly in a range of situations. It

explains further that learning is a process whereby knowledge is created through the

transformation of experiences. The theory works on two levels, namely, the learning cycle and

the learning styles. However, this study focused on the learning cycles, which consist of four

stages, namely, concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization and active

experimentation. Effective learning can be seen when the learner progresses through the cycle.

The learner can enter the period at any stage of the cycle with a logical sequence.

According to Kolb (1976), the experience stage is where new experience or

reinterpretation of existing experience happens. The learner’s skills or activities are observed and

collected. In the reflective observation stage, a learner reflects on the background on a personal

basis. The observed and collected experiences (new or re-existing) are reviewed, processed and

reflected. The third stage, abstract conceptualization allows the learners to form new ideas based

on the reflection, or this stage could be a modification of the existing abstract ideas. Moreover,

active experimentation is the stage where the learner applies the new ideas or modified of

existing plans to the surroundings to see if there are any changes in the next appearance of the

experience. The learning cycle happens in short duration or in an extended length of time.
 The current study is strongly connected to Kolb’s ELT because it utilized the experiences

of the teacher-respondents, such as teaching experiences, training and seminars attended and

educational attainment. These experiences are collected and gathered during the first stage of

Kolb’s learning cycle. In the second stage, the teacher-respondents reflect on their self-evaluation

on their competence level in the learning competencies which the assessment of the teachers

comes from the acquisition of knowledge and their experiences to deliver the knowledge to the

learners. In the third stage, the experiences were correlated with the competence level in the

learning competencies of the grade 9 mathematics curriculum. It is also where new ideas and

re-existing of concepts were created and modified as a solution for the challenging findings. The

strategies and executions of plans happened on the fourth stage of the learning cycle.

The researchers believed that the experiences of the teacher-respondents and their

competence level of the content and pedagogy are learning experiences that can create new ideas

or modification of existing knowledge. These can be applied through an enhancement program

which produces an outcome that would be beneficial to teachers and students’ performance

inside the classroom. The entire study followed the model of the learning cycle of Kolb’s ELT, as

shown in Figure 3

Figure 3: Kolb's experiential learning style theory

progressing from incompetence to competence in a skill. Burch develops the Conscious Ladder.

The model stressed on two aspects, namely, consciousness level (awareness) and skills level

(competence). According to Burch’s model, as shown in Figure 2, people move from one step of

the ladder to the next as people move up with their awareness and competence, thus improving

their performance through time.

According to the model, the persons move through the following levels as they build

competence in a new skill. The first level is unconscious incompetence, where people do not

know that they do not have this skill, or that they need to learn it. The second stage is conscious

incompetence, wherein people at this level know that they do not have the expertise. Third,

conscious competence level is where people know that they have this skill. Finally, the

unconscious competence level is where they do not see that they are using this skill. It seems

natural and is part of their performance (Burch, 2014).

The cited theory strongly supports the processing and determining the competence level of

the teacher-respondents. The teachers’ competencies are determined and classified according to

the level as unconsciously incompetence, consciously incompetence, consciously competence

and unconsciously competence. The model is significant to organise the teachers’ competence

level and to show the movement landscape of the teacher’s progress through time and

experiences. It guides teachers to upgrade their competence level.

References:

McLeod, S. A. (2019, July 11). Bruner - learning theory in education. Simply Psychology.
www.simplypsychology.org/bruner.html