Difficulties of Grade Six Pupils of Emilia L. Malabanan Integrated School in Mathematics Problem-Solving: Basis for Intervention Program in Enhancing Mathematical Skills

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Improving the performance of the pupils in problem-solving should start from the teachers' initiative. Through proper encouragement, careful motivation, and appreciation of what students have acquired initially, learning may be sustained through the formation of a gainful experience leading to building a more intense desire to mathematics easily and creatively. In view of the foregoing, the researcher, being the public school teacher, aimed to conduct this study to provide basis for awareness and better understanding of the difficulties in performing the fundamental operations in solving word problems for the current performance level in mathematics by the thirty-eight pupils in Emilia L. Malabanan Integrated School for the school year 2018-2019. The researcher wants to discover the strengths and weaknesses of such interventions within the school that are to be retained or eliminated by the school and pupils themselves.

METHODS

This is descriptive qualitative research that aims to identify the existing phenomena on solving word problems in mathematics. The respondents are the grade six pupils of the researcher which composed of38 pupils. A questionnaire was utilized to gather the responses. They are guided in answering the questionnaire. Scores were tallied using frequency, percentage, and ranking as a statistical tool.

RESULTS

The study shows that the respondents were all in the right age for their grade level. They were also either not too old or too young for their grade level to understand the lesson. It also shows that most of the respondents belong to a below average performance level in mathematics. This only means that most of the pupils regardless of age have difficulty in dealing with mathematics especially in solving a word problem. The subject of the study also manifested difficulties in reading comprehension, which is one of the factors that affect their ability to solve a word problem in mathematics.

DISCUSSIONS

The results demonstrate the needs of some interventions to enhance the skills of the pupils in solving a word problem in mathematics. Furthermore, they need to improve first their ability to comprehend word problem for them to be able to understand the problem and find the solution using the formula suited to the problem. They should focus on the reading comprehension of the pupils so they could easily perform their skills in solving word problems.