THE EFFECTS OF PLATFORM SYSTEM ON TEACHERS’ MATHEMATICAL PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE FOR REMEDIAL INSTRUCTION

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish an internet platform system for the need of teachers to carry out mathematics remedial instruction. This study was action research and the platform was developed based on the cooperation of scholars and primary school teachers. In the two-years longitudinal study, team of scholars from universities provided primary school teachers with theoretical guidance and effective strategies for remedial mathematics instruction. These guidance and strategies included worked examples of life mathematics, children’s schema of learning mathematics and instructional strategies for mathematics reading comprehension. In addition, this platform also helped primary school teachers assess mathematics achievement and detect mathematics misconceptions of students. Totally all the 227 primary school teachers participated in two workshops each semester and one conference. All the above information and materials of guidance and strategies were accessed in the platform system. Those primary school teachers adopt these remedial instruction strategies within their mathematics classroom, especially for those students of low mathematics achievement. Moreover, they must do reflections about their own mathematics remedial instruction. The assessment analysis concluded that the platform could help teachers with remedial instruction and improve students’ mathematics achievement. Results showed that teachers’ mathematical pedagogical content knowledge has been improved. Therefore, the mathematics achievement of students made progress. Based on the feedback from teachers and findings of the results, some suggestions and recommendations were discussed for future research.