This research considers the use of one of the strategies of the concept-based learning, which allows students to absorb knowledge in a universal way, on the subject of mathematics when teaching secondary school students with this method and its features.
According to the traditional two-dimensional model of the curriculum, the content of knowledge is presented within certain topics that contain data. The given data usually form the student's ability to know and understand. It is observed that students in this type of model usually study factual information mostly and are not able to answer questions of the high order thinking types for analysis and evaluation (Medwell, J. & Wray, D., 2020). The acquired knowledge remains in the state of individually isolated data without logical relation between facts and conclusions. This does not contribute to the revitalization and development of deep-level mental activity of an individual.
Meanwhile, conceptual learning assumes not a simple comprehension of knowledge through teacher delivering but full immersion and skills focused curriculum (Erickson L., 2017). According to Wiggins and McTighe (1998), "A concept is a principle or conception of a broad-minded, long-term character that transcends the context of origin, time period, and material content." Based on the given definitions, the acquired knowledge should not be limited to a certain level, the knowledge should be used in a variable manner, on a wide scale.
Unlike a two-dimensional curriculum based on facts and skills, concept-based learning is based on big ideas (Murphy, 2017), not just subject content. And the ideas that arise from knowledge are wide-ranging, interconnected and interdisciplinary. For example, through concept-based learning, students can explore the big idea of "change," from patterns in mathematics to civilizations in social studies to life cycles in science. They become critical thinkers, develop the ability to solve problems creatively.
According to the results of the monitoring of knowledge, conducted at the beginning of the academic year, it was found that students struggle in performing tasks that require higher order thinking skills. The rate of completion of tasks assigned to mathematical modeling, which requires analytical skills, was 47%, while the level of completion of tasks requiring data collection and processing was 68%. The results of monitoring showed that although students have a tendency to perform calculations based on theoretical knowledge but analysis, evaluation and drawing conclusions are difficult for them.
This made the relevance of this research to study and draw conclusions on how the use of comparison and contrast strategy contributes to the ability of middle school students to connect individual facts and the formation of inference skills.
In this context, teaching through concept-based approach a teacher needs effective strategies to develop thinking skills of students. One of such strategies is a compare and contrast method that is aimed at drawing conclusions on the case studies by distinguishing similar situations and contrasting phenomena between two or more concepts.
The purpose of the study is to determine the impact of the comparison and contrast strategy of teaching on the basis of concepts on the formation of high-order skills of middle school students.
We also aimed to identify the difficulties that arise when using this strategy for students of this age to further find the best solutions on them.
Research questions:
- To what extent does the compare and contrast strategy affect the development of students’ high-order thinking skills on Maths lessons?
- What are the possible difficulties students may face when learning through the strategy and method?
This research is qualitative as the main method was to study five focused groups of students of grade seven (84 students in total).