The Effectiveness of Teacher-Guided Modular Instruction Towards Students' Mathematical Problem-Solving Skills

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Mathematics is often viewed as a difficult topic despite its importance in daily life. The role of a teacher in a mathematical setting is to assist the students in seeing the big picture, construct accurate knowledge and frame the details to help illuminate the end result. In order to address this concern, the researcher conducted this study to determine the effectiveness of teacher-guided modular instruction focusing on the problem-solving skills of 10th-grade learners.

METHODS

The research study utilized a quasi-experimental design employing quantitative methods. Data were collected for analyses of both the treatment and control group and students belonged to Grade 10 level taking up Mathematics subjects during the first quarter of the school year 2016-2017. The first class was given a Teacher Guided Modular Instruction method and the other class was given the traditional method of teaching. Apart from that, 6 randomly picked respondents were also interviewed to get more detailed responses on their views towards the use and relevance of this approach. The pretest and posttest scores of each group were analyzed using the dependent t-test.

RESULTS

The students' level of academic performance increased after being exposed to Teacher-Guided Modular Instruction thus enhanced their problem-solving ability in Mathematics than those students exposed to the traditional method The posttest means scores of the experimental group were 31.72 with a standard deviation of 3.12 (80%) which is interpreted as satisfactory academic performance. Further results revealed the pretest between the two groups showed that t-value is 0.311 with a probability of 0.715 indicating that it is not significant.

DISCUSSIONS

Based from the significant findings of the study, the researcher recommends that in order to promote quality teaching and learning process, the teachers must be adept in giving the students opportunities to do problem-solving that is responsive to their needs and abilities. Teachers need to utilize effective teaching techniques to reinforce learning. Quality and effective teaching is an aggregate of organized strategic methodologies aimed to produce a desired learning outcome for the students.