Development of Strategic Intervention Material: Its Effectiveness to Grade 7 Academically Challenged Learners on Concentration of Solutions

Abstract

Based on the first quarterly examination S.Y. 2014-2015, Grade 7 students had difficulty in understanding solutions, especially on parts that need mathematical operation. Most of the students left the problems unanswered. Moreover, after the discussion of the concentration of solutions, specifically on percentage by mass and volume during the first quarter of S.Y. 2015-2016, several exercises were given, but still there were students who really needed remediation. Out of the 125 students handled by the researcher, there are 31 or 24.8% who needed remediation. In this regard, this study is geared towards the development of a strategic intervention material (SIM) in Grade 7 Science that enhances learning and remedies the least mastered competency of the students. The researcher identified the learners needing remediation in expressing concentration of solutions based from the result of their summative test. The students were divided into two (2) groups. The first group was exposed to the prepared strategic intervention material and the second group to the traditional method of teaching. Initially, there was no significant difference on the performance of the experimental and control group in the pretest. It implies that both groups of respondents have the same level of mastery before the strategic intervention material was introduced. Posttest results revealed that there is a significant difference between the two groups of respondents. There is also a significant difference in their mean gain scores. It means that the intervention materials were effective in addressing the least mastered competency than that of the traditional method of teaching. The test of difference between the pre-test and posttest results of the experimental group showed significant difference. This indicates that the experimental group had performed well in the posttest than in the pretest. These results imply that there was a positive transfer of learning in experimental group after the presentation of the strategic intervention material.