Supporting mathematics learning in situational-referential phase with emergent modeling

Abstract

This study aims to describe learning activities that can stimulate student activity in learning in this case their activities in submitting arguments related to mathematics in two important phases, namely the situational and referential phases. Improvement at this stage will greatly help students progress in the next stage, namely the general stage and formal mathematics. If each activity in this phase can be categorized as good, then students will not experience problems in building a complete understanding of mathematics. The study specifically answer the question ”How can the student learn to build understanding about the problem in situational and referential phase?” The description on how emergent models are used in stimulating the progress of the movement from model of to model for is elaborated. The specific model used was the percentage bar as a tool to understand as well as to solve the design activities. The method of this study is design research, started with preparation phase in formulating and revising the Hypothetical Learning Trajectory, preliminary teaching, teaching experiment, and retrospective analysis, the study showed that the lesson using the percentage as a model can support students’ understanding about the situation of the problem, this finding need to be proved for the next two stages, general and formal phase.