Intervention Lessons to Reduce Anxiety and Improve Performance in Mathematics

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Mathematics anxiety is the fear of the Mathematics subject. To reduce the anxiety an Intervention Lesson was developed using a detailed lesson plan in fractions and decimals that were based on Curriculum Guide Grade V under the K-12 Basic Education Curriculum. This study aimed to develop an Intervention Lesson to reduce the anxiety and improve the performance of Grade V Pupils of Oson Elementary School for the SY 2017-2018.

METHODS

The pre-experimental design was used in this study. The single group, pre-test-post-test design measured the group two times before and after the intervention. The study involved 25 Grade V pupils. It collected qualitative and quantitative data. The survey was used to measure the level of anxiety. The interview and focus group discussion were conducted to know the causes of math anxiety.

RESULTS

Results showed that the pupils attained a high level of anxiety with a mean of 2.24. The twenty-item pre-test was administered to respondents to measure their level of performance in fractions and decimals. Based on the results, the overall mean in the four fundamental operations in fractions was 2.24 or MPL of 25% and classified as poor performance level. Pupils were able to identify the general causes of anxiety such as difficulty in computing word problem, fear in math, fear of committing mistakes, lack of preparation and comprehension, and teacher's pedagogy.

DISCUSSIONS

To know the effects of the intervention lessons to the performance of Grade V pupils, a post-test was administered. After the execution of Intervention Lessons, the mean was 0.995 which was classified as a low level of math anxiety. Statistical results using t-test showed that there is a significant difference among the mean results of the pre-post-tests which means that the intervention lessons reduced the anxiety and improved the performance of Grade V pupils in Mathematics.