Multi-Sensory Instructional Materials: Effect on Mathematics Performance of Grade 10 Students

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Despite vast advantages and benefits of the Mathematics subject, this has been considered by many students as one of the most difficult. In fact, given the chance to decide on the subject to be taken in school, the students would prefer other subjects than Mathematics. This may be one of the reasons that explain the findings of the Department of Education that Mathematics Education in the Philippines is facing a dilemma as shown in the low performance of students in National Assessment in Mathematics whereas the National performance of fourth year high school in (NAT) from the school year 2004 to 2013 were all below the 75% standard criterion. Knowing that not one method of learning is appropriate for all students, teachers should have a variety of methods and strategies to choose from. One way is the adoption of a multi-sensory approach. This approach is also known as VAKT (visual-auditory-kinesthetic-tactile) which implies that students learn best when information is presented in different modalities.

METHODS

Research & Development (R & D) and quasi-experimental methods of research were employed in this study. T-test was used to determine the significant differences of pre-test and post-test of the students in the control and experimental classes and Cohens D' effect size was used to determine the effect of multi-sensory instructional materials on the Grade 10 Mathematics competencies.

RESULTS

As to content validity of the multi-sensory instructional materials, the evaluation means results were interpreted as very high valid; The experimental group higher than the control group; There was a significant difference between the control and experimental post-test scores, and there was a large effect on the performance of the students after using multi-sensory instructional materials on the developed competencies in Mathematics as described by the Cohen's D computed value of 1.65.

DISCUSSIONS

The developed multi-sensory instructional materials fully complied with the expected standards for Grade 10 Mathematics under the K to 12 curriculum; The students in the experimental class who used the multi-sensory instructional materials in Mathematics instruction performed better than their counterparts in the control class; The performance of the experimental group exposed to the multi-sensory instructional materials experienced a greater amount of learning; and The multi-sensory instructional materials were effective in enhancing the Grade 10 Mathematics competencies.