RUNNING HEAD: UPLIFTING THE SKILLS IN SOLVING WORD PROBLEMS

UPLIFTING THE SKILLS IN SOLVING WORD PROBLEMS USING SELECTED

LITERACY STRATEGIES FOR GRADE 6 MATHEMATICS IN KABALUTAN

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

KARLO D. VILLANUEVA

Orani Annex

Schools Division Office of Bataan

August 2019

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Table of Contents

Title Page .................................................................................................................................1

Context and Rationale ............................................................................................................3

Research Questions ............................................................................................................5

Hypothesis...........................................................................................................................6

Significance of the Study ...................................................................................................6

Scope and Limitations .......................................................................................................7

Method ....................................................................................................................................8

Type of Research ................................................................................................................8

Respondents and Sampling Method .................................................................................8

Proposed Intervention/Innovation/Strategy ....................................................................8

Instruments ......................................................................................................................10

Data Collection Procedure ..............................................................................................10

Ethical Considerations.....................................................................................................10

Data Analysis ....................................................................................................................11

Work Plan .........................................................................................................................12

Cost Estimates ..................................................................................................................13

Plan for Dissemination and Utilization ..........................................................................14

References .........................................................................................................................15

Appendix A - Instruments ...............................................................................................16

Appendix B – Consent and Assent Letters ........................................................................

Appendix C – Declaration of Anti-Plagiarism ..................................................................

Declaration of Absence of Conflict of Interest ..................................................................

Request Letter ......................................................................................................................

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CONTEXT AND RATIONALE

Literacy skills are essential for success across the school curriculum. The inclusion of

reading and writing skills on standardized math tests illustrates the value placed on the ability to

communicate mathematical concepts effectively. The Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for

School Mathematics, first published by The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

(NCTM) in March, 1989, and revised in 2000 includes a communication process standard that

states "instructional programs from prekindergarten - grade 12 should enable all students to

organize and consolidate their mathematical thinking through communication" (Crosswhite,

Dossey, & Frye, 2000) (p.60).

Bullock (1994) defines mathematics as a form of language invented by humans to discuss

abstract concepts of numbers and space. He states that the power of the language is that it enables

scientists to construct metaphors, which scientists call “models.” Mathematical models enable us

to think critically about physical phenomena and explore in depth their underlying ideas. Our

traditional form of mathematics education is really training, not education, and has deprived our

students of becoming truly literate. Knowing what procedures to perform on cue, as a trained

animal performs tricks, is not the basic purpose of learning mathematics. Unless we can apply

mathematics to real life, we have not learned the discipline. (Kenney, Hancewicz, Heuer, Metsisto,

& Tuttle, 2005)

(Escudero, 2016) explained that children reach an important milestone in their

education when they go from learning to read to reading to learn. Good reading

comprehension opens the door to acquiring new knowledge. Better reading

comprehension has a positive impact on a child’s academic performance in all subjects

where reading is the main source of information – including mathematics. Many studies

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UPLIFTING THE SKILLS IN SOLVING WORD PROBLEMS

show a relationship between certain types of linguistic abilities and mathematical abilities

(see, eg, Zhang, Koponen, Räsänen, Aunola, Lerkkanen and Nurmi, 2014).

Fuentes (1998) examined the importance of reading comprehension in Mathematics and

the role of reading in Mathematics. Fuentes went on to discuss why students failed when it came

to comprehension. When it came to reading and comprehension, most educators tended to assume

that these were things taught in English class and not in Math class. This was probably one of the

most misunderstood concepts today. A big stress was teaching students to solve problem, and most

of these problems had lots of words. The words they were reading were intertwined with casual

language and mathematical concepts. The problem then became “What do we do?” This article

went on to give several ideas for increasing the comprehension of students. Whatever educators

did, just remember, that they were doing all of this to get students to experience success.

Mathematics teachers faced an even more difficult challenge: creating in students a love for

mathematical texts—or at least teaching them not to dislike or fear them (Fuentes, 1998).

When solving story problems, children need to understand the language and factual

information in the problem, translate the problem using relevant information to create an adequate

mental representation, devise and monitor a solution plan, and execute adequate procedural

calculations (Desoete, Roeyers, & De Clercq, 2003; Mayer, 1999).In short, solving word problems

is closely related to comprehension of the relations and goals in the problem (e.g., Briars &Larkin,

1984; Cummins, et al., 1988; De Corte, Verschaffel, &DeWin, 1985; Kintsch&Greeno, 1985;

Riley, Greeno, & Heller, 1983). Despite their difficulty, story problems are critical in helping

children connect different meanings, interpretations, and relationships to the mathematical

operations (Walle, 2007).

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UPLIFTING THE SKILLS IN SOLVING WORD PROBLEMS

(Muth, 1988) contends that we can help students become more successful at Mathematics

problem solving by helping students see that the same comprehension monitoring skills used by

effective readers will help them become more successful in solving word problems planning,

monitoring, and remediation. She notes that "teaching these processes to students has been shown

to make them better problem solvers (p. 61)."

The result of the standardized Project All Numerates pre-test (Project AN) for Grade Six

of Kabalutan Elementary School for this school year shows that pupils got very low in

Mathematics and most of the items were on problem solving. This further indicates that somehow

reading comprehension has something to do with the ability of pupils to solve word problems.

Hence, with the intention to achieve the department’s vision and mission, and likewise to

obtain effective teaching and learning, the teacher-proponent endeavors to utilize different literacy

strategies for grade six pupils of Kabalutan Elementary School in improving their reading

comprehension in word problems, specifically in Solving Routinary and Non-Routinary Word

Problems Involving Division of Decimals (Quarter 1 Week 8).

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study will determine the effectiveness of utilizing various literacy strategies to Grade

Six Mathematics class.

Specifically, it will seek to answer the following questions:

1. What is the performance of the two groups of respondents in the pre-test?

1.1. Control group

1.2. Experimental group

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2. What is the performance of the two groups of respondents in the post-test?

2.1. Control group

2.2. Experimental group

3. Is there a significant difference between the pre-test scores of the control and

experimental group?

4. Is there a significant difference between the post-test scores of the control and

experimental group?

5. Is there a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the control

and experimental group?

HYPHOTESES

The following null hypotheses will be tested at 0.05 level of significance.

There is no significant difference between the pre-test result of the experimental and

control group.

There is no significant difference between the post-test result of the experimental and

control group.

There is no significant difference between the pre-test and post-test result of the

experimental and control group.

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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will be a great help to;

Pupils. This study may be a great help to pupils. It could give them motivation on how to

cope at their own pace and motivate them to improve their skills and domains of literacy

specifically, mathematical skills.

Teachers. They may find the result of the study helpful in planning and initiating

appropriate materials in teaching Mathematics at any learning level inside the classroom and

encourage other teachers to upgrade their methods and techniques in the teaching-learning process.

School Administrators. The results of the study may serve as a blueprint to school heads.

They will be able to plan as how teachers can further be improved their teaching pedagogies

through utilizing different literacy strategies in solving word problems which will be a great

avenue in improving the pupils’ academic performance.

Future Researchers. To the future researchers, this study may offer literature and findings

that they may find useful in the conduct of their study.

Scope and Limitations

This proposed study will focus on determining the effectiveness of various literacy

strategies in teaching Mathematics in Grade Six.

The respondents who will be involved in this study will be 18 Grade 6-Villanueva pupils

in Kabalutan Elementary School this School Year 2019 – 2020. Nine (9) of which will be randomly

assigned to the experimental group and 9 to the control group.

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They will be equally and randomly divided into experimental and control group through

the fish bowl technique. The experimental group will be taught using different literacy strategies

in solving word problems, specifically on Quarter 1-Week 8 of the Mathematics curriculum, using

selected literacy strategies presented in Microsoft Office PowerPoint Presentations. This

intervention will take place at grade six classroom having 1 television set with laptop, while the

control group will be taught using the traditional method of teaching.

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METHOD

Type of Research

True experimental design, particularly pre-posttest design with control group, will be used

in this action research. This design is regarded as the most accurate form of experimental research,

it tries to prove or disprove a hypothesis mathematically, with statistical analysis. One class under

the control group will be exposed to traditional lecture-discussion method while the experimental

group will be given treatment, the computer-aided instruction.

Respondents and Sampling Method

The participants in this study will be 18 Grade 6 pupils in Kabalutan Elementary School 9

of which were randomly assigned to the experimental group and 9 to the control group.

The experimental group will be taught using selected literacy strategies, specifically on

Week 8 of the Mathematics curriculum, using Microsoft PowerPoint® Presentations. This

intervention will take place at grade six classroom having 1 television set with laptop, while the

control group will be taught using the traditional method of teaching.

They will be equally and randomly divided into experimental and control group through

the fish bowl technique.

Proposed Intervention/ Innovation/ Strategy

With the legal mandate of promoting the right of all citizens to take appropriate

steps in making education accessible to all, the Department of Education (DepEd) is geared

towards the transformation of education through the DepEd Computerization Program (DCP).

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DCP aims to provide public schools with appropriate technologies that would enhance the

teaching-learning process and meet the challenges of the 21st century. This program shall respond

to the computer backlog of public schools by providing them hardware and software, and training

on simple trouble shooting. Provision of e-classroom to elementary schools was successfully done

in the Division of Bataan. Integration of ICT in the school system is already achieved in most

schools.

When it comes to e-classroom usability, PowerPoint presentations are used in the

presentation of the lesson. The term "PowerPoint presentation" was coined when Microsoft

introduced its software program PowerPoint. PowerPoint is commonly used by presenters as a

digital aid when presenting their topic to an audience. It is probably the most used presentation

software program.

Microsoft estimates that over 30 million PowerPoint presentations are given daily around

the globe. PowerPoint is a quick and easy way to organize ideas and information. It is easy to

create colorful, attractive designs using the standard templates and themes; easy to modify

compared to other visual aids, such as charts, and easy to drag and drop slides to re-order

presentation.

With this in view, an enhanced PowerPoint presentation will be developed after

administering the diagnostic test in Mathematics. Based on the least mastered skills, it appeared

that pupils need remediation on the topics of Quarter 1-Week 8, specifically, in reading and solving

routinary and non-routinary word problems involving division of decimals. With the use of images

and designs to further make the presentations more captivating to the pupils, the researcher decided

to produce this kind of material to further improve pupils’ mastery on the mentioned topics and

seek to uplift skills in solving word problems in Grade Six..

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Instruments

Teacher-made pre-test and posttest will be used as instruments of this study. (Appendix

A). To ensure their validity, the tests will be peer reviewed and validated by the teachers, School

Mathematics Coordinator and School Principal. These will be administered first to another set of

Grade 6 pupils. Based on the results, the tests will be revised by the researcher and rechecked by

the School Research Committee. It will be administered by the researcher to both the experimental

and the control groups at the beginning and at the end of the experiment.

Data Collection Procedure

The pretest scores of the randomly selected control and experimental groups will be

compared using independent t-test. Moreover, if the pretest scores are normally distributed, a

variance ratio test will be performed to determine whether t test for groups with equal or unequal

variance will be used.

After the intervention, the posttest scores will also be compared following the same

procedures mentioned for the pretest scores.

P-values less than 0.05 will be considered statistically significant. Statistical computations

will be performed using Stata.

Ethical Considerations

This study will adhere to ethical considerations such as: voluntary participation of

respondents and request permission from their parents; the use of offensive, discriminatory, or

other unacceptable language will be avoided in the formulation of questionnaire; privacy and

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UPLIFTING THE SKILLS IN SOLVING WORD PROBLEMS

anonymity of respondents is of a paramount importance; acknowledgement of works of other

authors used in any part of the research with the use of APA referencing system and maintenance

of the highest level of objectivity in discussions and analyses throughout the research. (Bryman

and Bell, 2007)

Data Analysis

Two-sample t-test will be used to compare the pre-test scores of the control group and

experimental groups. Another instrument will be used to compare the post test scores of the control

group and the experimental group. On the other hand, one-sample t-test will be used to compare

the pre-test scores and the post- test scores of the control group as well as the pre-test and post-test

scores of the experimental group.

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WORK PLAN

Resources
Time Persons Expected
Activities Needed/
Frame Involved Outcome
Funding
Identifying the
Conceptualizing June 12- Identified Least
Least Mastered 14
Researcher 0
Research, Title Mastered Skill
Skill
Surfed the
Internet surfing
Writing Context June 19- Bond paper internet and
Reading 21
Researcher (130.00)
and Rationale read
articles/books
articles/book
Identified the
Identifying the problem and
Formulating problem June 27- browed the
28
Researcher 0
Research Questions Net browsing for internet for
effective strategy effective
strategy
Research Identifying Researcher Identified
July 3-5 0
Methodology respondents Pupils respondents
Browsed the
Proposed
Net browsing Bond Paper internet
Intervention/ July 10-
Reading books 17
Researcher (130.00) Read books
Instrument
Test construction Constructed
Development Ink (300.00) tests
Seeking Principal Sought
Implementation
permission July 24- Parents Bond paper permission
- Data Gathering 26 (130.00)
Conducting the Pupils Conducted the
study Teachers study
Checking of test Data were
Data Analysis Pupils
papers 0 treated
Researcher
Getting the scores statistically
Findings were
Discussion of Refer findings to August Principal
20
0 referred to the
Findings the Principal researcher
principal
Sought
Seek assistance Principal
Conclusions and August assistance from
from principal and 21
Teachers 0
Recommendations principals and
teachers Researcher
teachers
Ink Checked the
Checking of
(300.00) manuscripts and
Printing of the manuscripts August
25-27
Researcher sought
Manuscript Seeking assistance Bond paper assistance from
from the principal (130.00) the principal
Sought
Seeking assistance
Submission of the Review assistance from
from the principal August
Final Research 28
Board 0 the principal
and research
Output Researcher and research
review board
review board

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Seek permission
Sought
from the District Supervisor
permission from
Dissemination of the Supervisor and August Mathematics
Fare (50.00) the District
Study District 29 Coordinator
Mathematics
Mathematics Researcher
Coordinator
Coordinator

COST ESTIMATES

Particulars Amount
A. Implementation of the Approved
Research Proposal
 Supplies and Materials for
Php 600.00
Conducting Research
 Local Transportation for
Validation/Pilot Testing of Php100.00
Instrument and Gathering Data
 Food Php 100.00
 Communication Php 200.00
 Reproduction of Research
Php 200.00
Instruments
 Reproduction of Final Copy of
Php 400.00
Research Paper
B. Results Dissemination
 District/Cluster Research
Php 100.00
Congress/Colloquium
Grand Total Php 1, 700.00

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PLAN FOR DISSEMINATION AND UTILIZATION

Resources
Activities Persons
Time Frame Needed/ Expected Outcome
Involved
Funding
Propose a training
matrix and design
Researcher
for a Proposed a INSET
October 7 – Researchers
Cluster/District Bond Paper training matrix and
11 from
Research design
cluster/district
Congress
(INSET)
Seek permission Sought permission
from the District from the District
Supervisor and Supervisor and
Bond Paper
District October 14 Researchers District
Folder
Mathematics Mathematics
Coordinator Coordinator

Prepare
Prepared
presentations,
presentations,
proofread hand-
proofread hand-outs
outs and produce
October 15-24 Researchers Bond Paper and produced
pamphlets of
pamphlets of
Research
Research Findings
Findings

Conduct a
District
Cluster/ District Conducted a
Supervisor
Research Bond Paper Cluster/ District
October 25 School Heads
Congress Food Research Congress
Researchers
Participants
Upload Research Uploaded Research
Findings to Social Findings to Social
Internet
Media DepEd October 28-29 Researchers Media DepEd
connection
groups / websites groups / websites

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REFERENCES:

Crosswhite, F. J., Dossey, J. A., & Frye, S. M. (2000). NCTM Standards for School

Mathematics: Visions for Implementation. Journal for Research in Mathematics

Education, 513-522.

Escudero, A. (2016, September 28). Better Reading Comprehension Leads to Better Math

Comprehension. Retrieved from smartickmethod.com:

https://www.smartickmethod.com/blog/math/word-problems/better-reading-

comprehension-math-comprehension/#comments

Fuentes, P. (1998). The Clearing House. Reading Comprehension in Mathematics, 81-88.

Kenney, J. M., Hancewicz, E., Heuer, L., Metsisto, D., & Tuttle, C. L. (2005). Literacy

Strategies for Improving Mathematics Instruction. Chicago.

Muth, K. D. (1988). Research and Practice. Comprehension Monitoring: A Reading-

Mathematics Connection, 60-67.

Walle, J. A. (2007). Elementary and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally,

6th Edition. Virginia.

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Appendix A
B. Instruments

Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region III
Schools Division Office of Bataan
Dinalupihan Annex
SAN PABLO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

MTB-MLE WEEK 16
PRE-TEST
TABLE OF SPECIFICATIONS
Item Specification (Type of Test and
Placement)

No. of %

Understanding
Remembering
Content Area CG
Items/

Evaluating
Analyzing
Applying

Creating
Skills CODE
Points

Nahihinuha ang mga detalye MT1ATR-

IIa-i-1.1
sa kwento batay sa nalalaman 3 10 % A: 2 A: 1 A: 3
tungkol sa mga tauhan
Napagsusunud-sunod ang MT1LC-
IIf-g-4.3
mga pangyayari sa kuwento
sa pamamagitan ng B: 4,
3 10 %
5, 6
pagsasabi kung ano ang una,
pangalawa,
Naibibigay ang mga tunog ng MT1PWR- C: 7,
IIa-i-4.1 8, 9,
mga letra sa alpabeto/ Cc 5 17 %
10,
11
MT1PWR- D: 12,
IIa-i-1.2 13,
Naibibigay ang mga tunog ng 5 17 % 14,
15,
mga letra sa alpabeto/ Jj/
16
Naibibigay ang mga tunog ng MT1PWR-
D:
IIa-i-1.2
mga letra sa alpabeto/ Jj/, 17, C:
4 13 % 18, 21-
/Cc/
19, 30
20

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MT1C-
Naisusulat ang mga salitang IIa-i-1.2 10 33 %
nagsisimula sa titik Jj at Cc.

100
TOTAL: 30 4 5 5 6 10
%
Legend: A: Multiple-Choice B: Sequencing C: Identification D: Matching-type

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