Blending Constructivism and Collaborative Approaches in Teaching Selected Topics in Basic Calculus

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Creating a collaborative and constructivist classroom can be full of challenges and dilemmas but, somehow, can be a wonderfully rewarding opportunity. The researcher, being the powerful agent for a change, wanted to promote and engage students in group activity and desirable learning experiences to come up with the primary goal of mathematics in education -a community where everyone is welcome to join, participate and grow although it demands responsibility, persistence, and responsibility. The researcher believed that these learning strategies are effective in the teaching-learning of math.

METHODS

An experimental research design, specifically the pre-test and posttest group design, tested the performance of students in knowing the intervention activities that will satisfactorily suffice the learning difficulties. Statistical tools used for the analysis and interpretation of results were frequency, mean, percentage, standard deviation, and t-test.

RESULTS

A variety of collaborative and constructivist approaches such as skill-builder group tasks can be creatively used and applied in the different learning areas in Basic Calculus to enhance the proficiency of students in the subject. Further, these provided opportunities for students to deepen their mathematical understanding and reasoning. Both groups were in a fairly satisfactory level during pre-test then improved to a satisfactory level on their post-test. However, hypothesis testing revealed a significant difference in the performance of students in pre-test and post-test of the controlled and experimental group. Therefore, it appeared that the use of collaborative and constructivist activities made learning better. The proposed intervention activities may be an enriched way of teaching Basic Calculus.

DISCUSSIONS

Students often become motivated to learn when teachers have interaction with them and provide them with an appropriate response. Students working creatively and collaboratively with others to solve selected topics in Basic Calculus further improve the learning process. This activity may often be used by the teachers to catch up with their students easily in the desired topic in the subject. The researchers recommended the teachers to try out the proposed intervention activities to enhance students' learning in Basic Calculus. Furthermore, they should use collaborative and constructivist approaches in teaching. Lastly, a similar study may be conducted to validate the findings of this study.