Applying experiential learning to teaching the equation of a circle: A case study

Abstract

Methods of education in schools should promote students' activeness, self-awareness, initiative and creativity; be suitable with the characteristics of each class and subject; foster self-study methods, ability to work in groups, practice skills to apply knowledge into practice, and impact emotions to bring joy as well as excitement to students. Experiential education is a method of teaching and meets the above requirements. Experiential activities are closely related to teaching and educational activities in schools, in order to create an environment for learners, associate theory with practice, and unify awareness with action and learners, and have the opportunity to experience their behaviour. The study was aimed at assessing the performance of activities through experience in solving problems about the equation of a circle and investigate students' attitudes as well as beliefs in such activities. The experimental class included 30 10th grade students and was taught by the experiential learning model, while the control class also had 30 students and was taught in a conventional way of teacher’s guidance. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis methods were utilised to analyse and evaluate the collected data. The results showed that the experimental class achieved better mathematical results than the control class as well as had a positive learning attitude, showing interest in the learning topic.