STUDENTS' MATH ENGAGEMENT DURING THE CLASSES IN THE NEW

NORMAL

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction
One of the essential human virtues of a person is education wherein an
individual can gain knowledge around the world to make a decision for a better future.
Bhardwaj (2016) stated that education is not only giving a platform to a person in order
to succeed but also gave them the value of social conduct, good character and self-
respect. Education can happen through the interaction of teacher and students to
change information. Likewise, a face-to-face class is a traditional learning way to
educate the students where most of the universities are using it.
However, due to the pandemic, the government cancelled all the face-to-face
classes, and online classes have been arising to continue the study of the students. In
recent years, online education has drastically increased, including at the K-12 level
(Watson, Murin, Vashaw, Gemin, & Rapp, 2011). The enrollment of K-12 school
students in online courses continues to grow along with the popularity of virtual
schooling (Tucker 2009). The rapid growth of virtual schooling has been attributed to
numerous factors, especially its perceived benefits such as provision of individualized
instruction and broadening educational access. The effectiveness of online classes is
now largely considered equal, which may have added momentum to the growth of
virtual schooling (Barbour & Reeves, 2009).

Students are being challenged academically during this pandemic as they learn
through online which is called the “new normal”. Distance learning through online
classes is the new normal in country to avoid social interaction with each other.
Bukhkalo, Ageicheva, Komarova (2018) stated that that distance learning is where the
student is provided with the opportunities to access into different internal network or
interaction using the power of technology. Teachers, professors, parents, and everyone
are affected since providing the learning for students at new normal is a heavy task due
to some problems like unstable internet connection, loss of electricity, and lack of
learning materials such as cell phone, laptop, etc.

Other than that, students are having difficulties of learning mathematics as

everything is undertaken online and engagement between peers, teachers, and others
which is helpful for learning is not being sustained properly. Students’ engagement into
their classes will be beneficial to them to provide opportunities in gaining a high
understanding into a specific topic. It is also vital to student’s academic achievement
and long-term participation during the classes in the new normal.
In relation with that, engagement is a robust predictor of educational outcomes
and a malleable state that can be increased by making improvements to the social and
academic context; it holds tremendous potential as a key target for interventions
(Appleton, Christenson, & Furlong, 2008). Alickson and Flick (2011), described that the
student engagement is the involvement of students and they are interested in learning,
their connection in classes, teachers and classmates. In addition, it also refers to
student’s sustained motivation in their life-long learning for continuous improvement
and development (Gilbert, 2010; Skinner, Kindermann, Connell & wellborn, 2009).
Students’ engagement into their peers, teachers and instructional material is one
of the keys for the students to attain the success in learning. Dixon (2010) and King
(2014) also agree that the collaboration of students and instructors can increase
students’ engagement into classes which is agreed by Kuh (2010) explaining that the
premise of engagement is clear and simple to understand: the more students research
a subject, the more they know about it and the more students practice and receive
input on their writing and collaborative problem solving from faculty and staff members,
the more they come to understand what they learn. This definition emphasizes show
engagement results when the student’s involvement in learning (such as participating in
a discussion or collaborating on solving problems) contributes to their learning and
sustains their further involvement in course activities.Abrami, Bernard, Bures,
Borokhovski, and Tamim (2011) describe the student engagement in videos and using
of multimedia is such an effective way to engage inaninstructional material.
 In contrast, real world interaction of the students enhances subject mastery and
critical thinking skills of the students. Online learning in new normal gave difficulties for
the students on how they will engage to their peers, teachers and instructional
materials. Moreover, Martin and Bolliger (2018) found out that online discussions does
not increase students’ engagement in classes and did not achieve the highest level of
understanding of the student. In addition to that, in this time of pandemic, students
have some barriers to interact with each due to lack of materials in for online
discussions.
According to Almerino (2020), in every educational system, teaching and learning
mathematics is a major concern. Different researchers are making extensive attempts
to figure out the causes of the success of students in the subject. He added that
educational modules in this order in the Philippine setting include a particular subject
and instructional plan requirements to allow and to establish consistent and numerical
abilities that are required to achieve the basic mathematical concepts. Students can
only face a lot of frustrations without a secure and productive link, instead of
developing and improving literacy based on modern technologies. It is the goal of
educators to inspire distance learners, facilitate learning, and enhance the engagement
of learners, thus optimizing the learning outcomes of learners in terms of good grades.
But on a note, it would not guarantee the effectiveness of the materials
themselves by providing a better technology to produce learning materials for the
learners. (Cortez, 2020). Facing hindrances in learning math by students gave idea to
the researcher to conduct a study. Hence, researcher found out that several
researchers conducted a study about students’ engagement in online learning.
However, there have no recent studies on how the students engage in their classes in
time of pandemic. This gave interest on the researcher to conduct a study that aims to
determine the extent of the students’ math engagement in their classes in the new
normal in Mindoro State college of Agriculture and technology. The purpose of this
study is to learn and understand how the students engage in mathematics during their
classes while facing some obstacle like the contagious virus in Mindoro State College of
Agriculture and Technology. Researcher conducted this study to propose strategies to
help the institutions make their students engage in their class in the new normal.

Statement of the Problem

This study determined the extent of the students’ Math Engagement during the
classes in the new normal at selected math majors in Mindoro State College of
Agriculture and Technology for S.Y. 2020-2021. Specifically, this study aims to answer
the following questions:
1. What is the extent of thestudents’ math engagement during the classes in the new
normal at selected math majors in MinSCAT in terms of: 1.1. Student-to-student
engagement?

1.2. Students to teacher engagement?

1.3. Students to material engagement?

2. Is there a significant difference in the extent ofstudents’ mathematics engagement

during the classes in the new normal across indicators?
3. What are the proposed strategies to increase math students’ engagement in
MinSCAT?

Scope, Limitation and Delimitation of the Study

This study focused on determining the students’ math engagement during
classes in the new normal of selected 3rd year math major students of MinSCAT
Calapan City Campus for academic year2020-2021. Meanwhile the extent of students'
math engagement was apprehended with relating the engagement of the students to
students’ engagement, students to teachers’ engagement, students to peers’
engagement and students to materials’ engagement in the classes during new normal.
 Although the study has reached its goals, there have been some unavoidable
constraints. First, this research was performed only on a limited population size of third-
year BSEd-Mathematics in their first semester at MinSCAT Calapan City Campus due to
the time limit. Hence, more participants at different levels should have been involved in
the study. Second, the overloaded work of the students, to some degree, could affect
the outcome of the correlation between the math engagements of the students.