Difficulties Encountered by Grade IV-VI IP Pupils of Putingkahoy Elementary School in Solving Word Problems in Mathematics

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Putingkahoy Elementary School is a school with IP pupils, Aetas in particular. Knowing that many pupils have difficulties in solving word problems in Mathematics, but among them, IP pupils are the most. Based on the previous teachers of Grade IV-VI IP pupils, they derived for only one perception with regards to their problem-solving abilities and performance. Our government today focuses on them and there are so many programs and projects for them, that's why they have to take into consideration. It is in this context that this action research was undertaken, that is, to identify the difficulties encountered among IP learners.

METHODS

The study used descriptive quantitative research that aims to identify the difficulties encountered by the respondents in solving word problems. The problem-solving the type of test was administered in the study to determine the difficulties of the pupils in solving Mathematical problems. The test was given during their Mathematics class. They were given an allotted time in solving word problems within 50 minutes.

RESULTS

As identified from the participants' answers to the ten-item test in the form of a questionnaire, the common difficulty committed by the pupils were unable to proceed with the solution to a problem. The results of the study show that the difficulties of the pupils in problem-solving are the inability to determine for the operation to be used, inability to translate the problem into number sentences, inability to solve the problem and inability to check and state the correct answer.

DISCUSSIONS

The findings of the study suggest a focus on teaching mathematical concepts and formulas to pupils and a need to expose them with a variety of math problem types, which will require them to think analytically by trying different problem-solving strategies that are appropriate to solve problems. It requires an authentic dedication in part of the facilitator when it comes to handling IP learners to achieve the best results.