The Process of Approaching and Implementing Experiential Learning for Teaching Maths to Junior Secondary School Students in Viet Nam

Abstract

Vietnam's current general education curriculum is designed in a content-oriented manner and there is a lack of capability-orientation for students. With the requirement of human resource training for the country's industrialization and modernization, the Vietnamese Communist Party Central Committee promulgated Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW dated 4 November 2013 with the basic orientation for the fundamental and comprehensive reform of education and training in Vietnam. One of its major breakthroughs is to renovate the teaching and learning methods in learners’ capacity development-oriented manner. Teaching mathematics to junior secondary school students through experiential activities is of considerable interest to a large number of Vietnamese authors nowadays. It is not only appropriate for the psychological characteristics of the junior secondary school students, who gradually shift from the learning method based on visual model and conceptual description at the elementary level to the learning approach based on conceptual definitions and logical reasoning; but it also meets the orientation of mathematical education in Vietnam’s new General Education Curriculum. In order to reach these goals, it is required of the teachers to have appropriate and effective ways in the organization of experiential activities to meet the requirements of the educational reform. As a matter of fact, the proposals for implementing experiential learning in Maths classes for junior secondary school students is not yet of great concern. This article discusses the approach of Vietnamese education in recent years in order to catch up with the new General Education Curriculum, which is expected to be nationwide applied in 2019. A number of steps for organizing experiential activities for Mathematics learners are also mentioned in the paper.