A page closer to RME (a reflection to chapter 2) part 1

RME is one of instructional theory in education about which mathematics teacher have to know. If one doesn’t know about RME at all, this paper will provide a sufficient information about it which hopefully, will make one know it more.  

RME (realistic mathematics education) is a teaching learning theory which was developed and first introduced by Fruedental Institute in Netherland. This theory has a relation to what one people thought about mathematics. Even more, despite what people think about mathematics, this theory which is influenced by Frudental has a concept where mathematics is seen  as human activities. According to Fruedental, students have to be more active in mathematics learning, thus mathematics teaching should guide the students to reinvent the mathematics theory by experienced it themselves.

There are five characteristics of RME which was the combination of Van Hiele’s three level, Freudental’s didactical phenomenology, and Treffer’s progressive matematization. These characteristics can be used as a guidelines not only in the process of adapting RME, but also as the process of training for teacher wanna be. Those characteristics are:

1.  The use of context in phenomenological exploration
2. The use of models or bridging by vertical instruments
3. The use of  pupil’s own creations and contributions
4. The interactive character of teaching process or interactivity
5.  The intertwining of various mathematics strands or units

The use of context in phenomenological exploration

In RME, mathematics instruction should make the students experienced the mathematics concept in contextual situation. More importantly, mathematics should not be taught directly as a formal knowledge. Mathematics should serve as an opportunity to provide the students the progress mathematics from informal notion to mathematical domain.

The process of transferring the concept describe as conceptual matematization (according to de Lange). This process let students to do many things, such as exploring the given situation, finding and identifying the relevant mathematics element, discovering patterns by schematizing and visualizing the concept, and developing a model which will lead to a mathematical concept. It is expected that the pupils will use the mathematics concept in other aspects of their live, thus it will reinforce and strengthen the concept. This last process called applied mathematization.

The use of models or bridging by vertical instruments

There are two terms of model that related to this characteristics. Those two are model of and model for.

Model of is when the pupils familiar with the situation, whence model for is an entity which is gotten by a process of generalizing and formalizing. So in other word between daily life situation and formal level of mathematics there are two steps of model, model of as a referential model, and model for as general model.

The use of pupils own creations and contributions

by making a product, pupils will be able to show their reflection on the learning processes. not only that, the greater initiative are shown by the students when they are encouraged to produce their own way to solve a problem. in addition to that, this step can be seen as a part of an assessment.

the interactive character of the teaching process or interactivity

in RME teaching learning processes, the interaction between teacher and the pupils take place as a substantial part. by using the constructive learning processes pupils will find a way to develop their confidence in using math.

the constructive learning processes are shown in explicit negotiation, intervention, discussion, cooperation, and evaluation.

the intertwining of various learning strands or units

the integration pf mathematical units , also known as holistic approach, is very substantial in RME. this process implies that the learning units should not be seen separately. therefore, students will be able to apply mathematics in daily life because this intertwining processes.