Abstract

Mathematical teaching in Thai tertiary education still employs traditional methods of explanation and the use of rules, formulae, and theories in order for students to memorize and apply to their mathematical learning. This results in students’ inability to concretely learn, fully comprehend and understand mathematical concepts and practice. In order to overcome this learning deficit, it is necessary that the concept of “reflection” be implemented in the teaching of this subject. It is believed that the adoption of this teaching concept will allow students to learn mathematics by themselves. This article is aimed at presenting mathematical problem-solving of undergraduate students on Calculus I. Concrete problems were assigned to students to participate, to improve students’ way of mathematical thinking, and to encourage the students’ mathematical learning and advanced mathematical thinking. The study was a qualitative research project conducted with first-year undergraduate students of Rajamangala University of Technology Phra Nakhon who had enrolled for Calculus I. Data were collected from interviews and field notes, along with video recordings. Findings showed that students succeeded in solving mathematical problems from simple to complex levels and using the subject fundamentals to connect to several methods of higher levels of thinking. Students also created effective means of problem-solving and applied these concepts to solve new problems.

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