List the strategies you would use so that students will not feel bored and feel depressed (Give examples).
“Boredom is all too often present in the classroom” (Csikszentmilayli & Larsen, 1984).
“When classrooms offer minimal arousal potential, students are inattentative; they daydream and may actually fall asleep” (Heron, 1957).
1. Create differentiated instruction as it helps teachers avoid student anxiety and boredom that can be evident in one-size-fits-all curriculum. This would also mean that teachers are catering for all the individual differences in the classroom. "Differentiation is changing the pace, level or kind of instruction you provide in response to individual learner needs, styles, or interest." (Heacox). When learning tasks are consistently too hard, students become anxious and frustrated. On the other hand, when tasks are consistently too easy, boredom arises. Both boredom and anxiety inhibit a student's motivation to learn, and affects the achievement.
2. Use a wide and mixed range of teaching strategies in the classroom instead of a single approach to the lesson. It is up to the teachers to pick suitable teaching strategies within the lesson to capture and maintain students’ interest and avoid boredom. Example; break the lesson into short-structures or activities in which children can actively participate such that teaching and learning can take place.
3. Use ICT as part of the teaching tools so that both teachers and pupils have an active and a two-way interaction. The integration of ICT with the mathematics curriculum has the potential for developing children’s interest in mathematics and enriching their learning experiences. ICT helps to bridge the gap between abstract concepts and concrete experiences.
4. Use a variety of representations in the classroom in order to facilitate the development of the content knowledge and processes involved such that the delivery of lesson in the classroom is balanced. For example; concrete materials will help children to develop basic mathematics concepts. This will facilitate the development of higher order skills and thought processes which can then be related with the use of real diagrams, real life examples, verbal representations and symbolic representations to help children move from concrete to more abstract ways of thinking.
5. Incorporate suitable and relevant games in the classroom when appropriate so that students will be interested and learn at the same time in a non-threatening environment. Such as board games during the main (development) part of the lesson that are related to mathematical concepts, i.e. monopoly for teaching money and so on.
6. Give interesting homework which is not derived from the textbook or unfinished class work which is relevant and at par with the students’ level based on the lesson learned of certain mathematical concepts, i.e. puzzles, mind-teasers, etc.
7. Varying modes of instruction such as the use of storytelling in solving mathematical problems both orally or written. For e.g ‘Ali, Abu and Ahmad were friends. They went to a playground to play marbles. Ali has 10 marbles and Abu has 5 marbles and Ahmad only has 3 marbles. In the end Ali lost all his marbles. What happened?’ The teacher can ask the students to continue and make up stories by using simple mathematical functions and concepts which they have learned.
8. Generate the element of suspense or surprise during the lesson. The dynamics of suspense offer teachers’ curiosity-inducing opportunities in the classroom thus it makes the students anticipate eagerly what are they going to learn in the classroom. It can be accomplished e.g. by keeping a particular activity for the lesson secret. This will arouse their curiosity because students encounter unexpected, novel, strange, and unpredictable objects.This will also simulate and maintain their interest towards the lesson and reduce boredom.
9. Provide opportunities for role-play in the classroom relevant to any mathematical concepts. Role play makes learning fun, arouse students’ interest and reduce boredom in the classroom. Through role-play, i.e. to teach the concept of addition and subtraction for money problems, students can be asked to make a shopping list of items they can buy with a certain amount of money. This would also make them active participants in learning.
10. The physical classroom design is also important to reduce boredom. Traditional seating arrangement in rows limits interaction with one another. While it maintains students’ behaviour in the classroom, learning therefore takes place in a routine way. Teachers should change the seating arrangement periodically which would maximise the teaching and learning in the classroom. Allow for students to work in groups for a given project suitable with the content such that it breaks the routine of seatwork exercises from just focusing on the textbook or workbook.
11. The use of rewards should be introduced and established in the classroom learning context. A reward system is effective to reduce boredom as students have something to look forward to (a form of gratification) if they did what is required from them of certain tasks. Rewards need not be always tangible such as sweets but it can be simple things like an extra time to work on the computer, etc.
Done by:
Haji Ruzaini Haji Mazin 06B0405
Md. Salleh Hamidy Awg. Julidy 06B0407
Afrah Izzat Hj. Tejuddin 06B0408
Ahmad Humaizi Hj. Samehon 06B0409
Ak. Nabil Fikri Pg. Osman 06B0419
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