The Development of Grade 5 Students’ Creative Problem-Solving Ability Basing on Polya’s Problem-Solving Process

Abstract

          The objectives of this study were 1) to develop Grade 5 students’ creative problem-solving ability through learning activities basing on Polya’ problem-solving process on the subject of percentage in order that the students made a mean achievement score of 70% or better, and at least 70% of the students passed the criterion, 2) to develop Grade 5 students’ learning achievement in the science subject of percentage through learning activities basing on Polya’s problem-solving process in order that the students made a mean learning achievement score of 70% or better, and at least 70% of the students passed the criterion and 3) to study the students’ satisfaction with the learning activities based on Polya’s problem-solving process.  The study applied the One-Group Post-test Only Design to the experiment.  The target group consisted of 31 Grade 5 students in Pattanakarn Sueksa School during the second semester of the 2020 academic year. Research instruments included 1) 6 lesson plans on the mathematics subject based on Polya’s problem-solving process, 2) a 5-item essay test to measure the students’ creative problem-solving ability, 3) a 20-item, 4-choice objective learning achievement test and 4) a 10-item questionnaire to elicit the students’ opinions regarding their satisfaction with learning activities based on Polya’s problem-solving process. 
           The findings show that:
           1. The students made a mean achievement score of 20.26 or 81.03% of the full marks on creative problem-solving ability, and 28 students or 90.32% of the student group passed the 70% criterion which is higher than the prescribed criterion,
          2. The students made a mean learning achievement score of 15.64 or 78.22 percent, of the full marks, and 28 students or 90.32% of the student group passed the 70% criterion which is higher than the prescribed criterion,
          3. The students’ overall opinions regarding learning activities based on Polya’ problem-solving process was a “high” level (X = 3.85).  However, when each aspect of the learning activities was scrutinized separately, it was found that the learning atmosphere was ranked at a “high” level (X = 3.92), learning activities was ranked at a “high” level (X = 3.90), and benefits gained from participating in the learning activities was also ranked at a “high” level (X = 3.72).