Effectiveness of 3 Minutes Daily Drill in Improving the Multiplication Skills of Grade 7 Students

Abstract

NTRODUCTION

To produce 21st Century Learner has been the goal of theDepartment of Education for all Filipino students, but this yet far from reality for most of our students, especially in public schools. Our low ranking of our country in the previously held TIMMS and the declining result of our student's mathematics in the National Achievement Test (NAT) are reflections where our students now. And the increasing number of non-numerate students enrolling in Grade 7 had been very alarming. In this study, we will determine the effectiveness of 3 minutes daily drill in improving the multiplication skills of non-numerate Grade 7 students and measure the automaticity and accuracy of the students in multiplying single digit numbers.

METHODS

A One-Group Quasi-Experimental design was used in this study. Data were treated through the use of frequency count, percentage, T scale, mean, and standard deviation.

RESULTS

(a) The comparative results on the automaticity level showed that many of the identified non-numerate students have least nor mastered the multiplication table before they enter high school, most of the students were "very poor" or "poor" in performing single digit multiplication indication why most of the students were not participating in class discussion or not answering questions related to multiplication.(b) After the intervention, many of the students had greatly improved their automaticity from" Poor" to "Very Satisfactory" in their performance. This indication proves the effectiveness of the 3 minutes oral drill intervention(c) In addition, after the intervention, most of the students showed an improvement in their accuracy whereas most students belong to the "excellent and Best Imaginable" level. The improvement of the skill of the students shows the positive effect of theintervention applied to them.

DISCUSSIONS

The significant difference in the pre-test and the post-test results proves the effectiveness of 3 minutes oral drill in improving the skills of the students in performing multiplication of one-digit number. It implies that even though oral drills are just basic activities (elementary drill), its positive effect cannot be denied in improving the automaticity and accuracy of our high school students, especially to our non-numerate students. In light of the conclusion, it is recommended that teachers should focus on improving the basic skills of the students for this is their foundation of learning a higher concept of mathematics. Drills like recitation, window cards, and flashcards are not just for elementary students, it can be used as an intervention to improve the mathematical skills of our high school students.