Enhancing the Performance of Students in Solving Problems in Mathematics through Teacher Made Resource Material on Problem Solving Heuristics (Tmrmpsh)

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

The language of Mathematics is based on rules that must be learned but it is important that students move beyond rules to be able to express things in the language of Mathematics. This involves renewed effort to focus on: seeking solutions, not just memorizing procedures; formulating conjectures, not just doing exercises; exploring patterns, not just memorizing formulas.

An effective way of doing this is to extend "exercises" to "problems" but most of the learning materials available in the field do not have that kind of "problems" which will make the students come up with different strategies in solving word "problems" in Mathematics. Thus, the researcher came up with an instructional material which will expose different problem-solving heuristics in solving "problems" in Mathematics.

METHODS

The method employed in the study was pre -experimental design specifically one -group pretest posttest design. The respondents of the study were purposively chosen. There were thirteen (13) Grade 11 STEM students who took the test before and after the intervention. The resource material developed by the researcher was composed of seven (7) different problem-solving heuristics which the researcher introduced to the respondents during the intervention period.

RESULTS

The result showed that the respondents' performance in solving problems in Mathematics was very low. An average score of 2.3 was very low considering that the respondents were enrolled in a STEM class. This was an implication that even STEM students perform low in solving problems in Mathematics. A performance level of 17.8% was very low as compared to the passing performance level set by theDepartment of Education which is 75.00%.

During the posttest, the respondents' average score was 10 with a variance of 2.167 and a performance level of 76.9%. By implication, this would mean a positive change in the performance of the respondents after the intervention administered to them.

A performance level of 76.9% was an indication that the respondents achieved more than that of the standard passing performance level set by the Department. Though there was still a slim margin of 1.9%, this showed that the standard performance level can be achieved whenever the intervention done was effective.

The result showed that there was a significant difference in the performance of the respondents in solving problems in Mathematics before and after the intervention.

DISCUSSIONS

The use of the Teacher Made Resource Material on Problem Solving Heuristics (TMRMPSH) was effective in improving the performance of the students in solving word "problems" in Mathematics. The features of the intervention material can be used by both the teachers and the students in exploring different problem-solving heuristics in Mathematics. Sample "problems" presented in the material were contextualized and based on real -life scenarios which might have motivated the students to solve the word "problems".