Developing conceptual understanding and procedural fluency for junior high school students through model-facilitated learning (MFL)

Abstract

Conceptual understanding (CU) and procedural fluency (PF) are two important mathematical competencies required by students. CU helps students organizing their knowledge into a coherent whole, and PF helps them to find the right solution of a problem. In order to enhance CU and PF, students need learning experiences in constructing knowledge and procedures. One of learning approaches which supports CU and PF enhancement is Model-Facilitated Learning (MFL). In MFL, students are given opportunities to build their knowledge and construct their own procedure through exploration with a virtual model. This study was an experiment based on pretest-posttest control group aiming to examine the influence of Model-Facilitated Learning on students' achievement and enhancement of CU and PF. The research subjects were 55 students of grade VII State Junior High School (SJHS) 19 Kerinci, Jambi Province. The results showed that the students who learned mathematics under Model-Facilitated Learning (MFL) had higher CU and PF than the students who received Conventional Learning (CL). Furthermore, the result showed that the students who learned by using MFL had higher enhancement of CU and PF than the students who received Conventional Learning (CL).