DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY NORTH LA UNION CAMPUS Bacnotan, La Union

Factors Affecting the Ability of Pupils in Solving Mathematical Problems

Ancheta, Jennifer Camba, Jemima Cabanilla, Melody Corpuz, Joanne Salibad, Maya

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Rationale/ Background of the Study

Mathematics is one of the basic subjects in the elementary grades which is given emphasis because of its practical value in their day-to-day life. It equips students with knowledge and skills that are essential to be a productive citizen in such a society. Through mathematical activities that are practical and relevant to their lives, students develop mathematical understanding, and problem-solving skills that they can apply in their daily lives and, eventually, in the workplace.

But in spite of the fact that mathematics is considered as a basic learning need and is a big advantage for development, Philippines still faces the problems of low performance in mathematics at primary school level. It has been the subject of many researches and findings that generally students do not perform well a firm and good background in analysis and computational skills. It has also been said that it is the most difficult and disliked subject by many learners especially in the area of ability in mathematical problem solving even it is known to be the primary focus and goal of mathematics in the real world.

Consequently, a need exists to identify the factors affecting the performance of Grade 5 pupils at DMMMSU CE-ELS in solving worded problems to ameliorate wordproblem deficits early in the primary grades.

Statement of the Problem This study aims to assess the factors affecting the mathematical abilities of Grade 5 pupils in terms of solving worded math problems in Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University-North la Union Campus, College of Education-Elementary Laboratory School at Sapilang, Bacnotan, La Union during the school year 2011-2012.

Specifically, it is sought to answer the following questions: 1. What are the problems encountered by Grade 5 pupils in solving worded math problems? 2. What is the attitude of the Grade 5 pupils in solving worded mathematical problems? 3. What is the performance level of Grade 5 pupils in solving worded math problems?

Research Objectives: 1. To identify the difficulties encountered by the pupils regarding their performance in solving mathematical problems 2. To determine the attitude of the pupils toward problem solving 3. To determine the performance level in solving math problem

Significance of the Study The findings of the study would be significant and of interest to the school, since it will help them to minimize the large percentage of failure and negative attitude of

students towards mathematics. School administrators will also be guided in planning for effective teaching competencies. Mathematics teachers will be made aware of the students weaknesses in problem-solving. By revealing the factors in problem solving where the students encounter difficulty, they could decide on which method of teaching will be used to improve the students abilities and skills in the solution of mathematical problems. Likewise, students will be benefited because the particular part of problem solving in which they are weak will be identified, and if the remedial teaching is done, then their ability to solve mathematical problems will be improved. Another importance is the assessment of students attitudes toward the subject. If found to be related to their ability to solve mathematical problems, then some measures can be done to make them learn to appreciate the subject. Definition of Terms To facilitate understanding and clearer view on the study, the following terms are operationally designed: Ability. It is the capacity to learn or to do something. Attitude. It refers to the feeling of the individual towards mathematics as a subject. Mathematics. It is a science that deals with relationship and symbolisms of numbers and magnitudes.

Performance. It refers to the way a job or task is done by an individual, a group of an organization. Problem Solving. It is a strategy on how to approach problem situations, which the pupils had no immediate ideas for finding a solution. Worded Math Problem. It refers to any mathematics exercise expressed as hypothetical situation explained in words.

Chapter III METHODOLOGY

A. Respondents of the Study Respondents of the study will be the total number of Grade V pupils of Elementary Laboratory School DMMMSU-NLUC. B. Research Design The researchers will employ the Newman Procedure Design which analyses errors in sentence problems and Likert Scale to measure students attitudes towards the solving worded problems. C. Data to be Gathered The data to be gathered will be the pupils scores from the interview to be conducted to identify at which level students errors occur in problem solving and from the Likert scale. D. Data Gathering Instrument The interview was conducted using five questions requiring students to solve the given problems and 10 questions requiring for practical answers (See Annex) E. Data Gathering Procedure An interview will be administered to the Grade 5 pupils.

Conceptual Framework of the Study

F. Data Analysis The information that will be collected from the interview will be examined in terms of the following: a) General performance of the students b) Attitude of pupils towards mathematics c) Difficulties encountered by the students

Chapter IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION General Performance of Students Table 1 shows the levels at which the students errors occurred in each question. Table 1. The Students Level of Errors in Questions 1-5 I No. Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 n % N II % n III % n IV % n V % n VI % TOTAL n %

0 0.0 0 0.0 18 72 3 12.0 2 8.0 2 8.0 25 100.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 13 40.0 5 20.0 1 4.0 6 24.0 25 100.0 0 0.0 2 8.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 23 92.0 25 100.0 0 0.0 12 48.0 1 4.0 2 8.0 2 8.0 8 32.0 25 100.0 0 0.0 5 20.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 20 80.0 25 100.0 Note: I=Reading Level, II=Comprehension level, III=Transformation Level, IV=Process Skills, V=Encoding, VI=Correct answer, n=frequency of students Question one is a multiple choice question to find the number of sides of a cube.

The Table1 shows that 72 % of the students surveyed could not interpret the meaning of the question for selecting an appropriate mathematical operation to solve the question. Thus, only 8% of the students got the correct answer during the interview. It is because most of the students could only see visible parts in the diagram but could not surmise invisible parts of the cube that has three more sides at the back. In this question, there were only two students who could answer correctly. Question two is also a multiple choice question to find the length of a classroom. The result shows that 40% of the students made a mistake at the transformation level and only 24% of students could get the correct answer. Most of the students did not know the formula to find the area of a rectangular shape nor at least understand the

relation between the length, width and area in the formula. They simply attempted calculation such as addition or subtraction, to get something that matches one of the given choices. Some students could read and understand the meaning of the question that is required to find the length of an area. They, however, did not know what were length and width. On the other hand, the students who could get the correct answer were able to recall the formula and apply it appropriately. Question three is a structured question that asks to find the number of fruits. The result shows that 8% of the students made mistakes at the comprehension level and 92% of the students got the correct answer. Students made a mistake because they could not understand the phrase half of sixteen and were not able to proceed with solving the problem. Question four is a structured question that asks to find the total number of students in a class, and the proportion of girls in the class. The result reveals that 48% of the students made errors at the comprehension level. It is because they could not understand the meaning of the question and they failed to determine whether it was an affirmative sentence or a question. Besides, they did not understand how to express their answer in proportion and fraction. Most of them obtained the answers by guessing and explained the process with pictures. In most cases, however, the explanations were found meaningless. They did not seem to understand the meaning of 1/2 either. Question five is a structured question that asks to estimate the number of cartons of milk in the given graph. The result reveals that 20.% of the students made errors at the comprehension level while 80% of the students could get the correct answer. In this question, the structure of the sentence was simple and the only calculation necessary was addition. Therefore, most students did not have any

difficulties. Some students who gave wrong answers did not seem to understand the word a week. Students Attitudes towards Solving Worded Mathematical Problems Table 2 shows the students scores that represent the students attitudes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 5 Q 6 Q 7 Q 8 Q 9 Q 10 Note: 1=Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neither Agree nor Disagree, 4=Agree, 5=Strongly Agree 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2 0 2 1 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5

Conclusion In this research, we have analyzed the mathematics performance of Grade Five students in DMMMSU-NLUC by using Newman Procedure. And we have revealed that there are many stages that students need to go through in order to arrive at correct answers in the mathematical problems. The findings are as follows.

(1) Students errors in multiple choice questions were mostly made at the stage of mathematical processing that comprises of transformation, process skills and encoding level, while those in structured questions were made at the stage of thecomprehension level. They call for more attention to the importance of language factors in mathematics learning. As stated above, this paper results clearly showed poor performers had linguistic and conceptual comprehension problem. This is why language teachers and mathematics teachers should collaborate in considering their appropriate teaching methods. In case of mathematics, the teachers should give clear explanation about mathematical concept to ensure that each student understands it. Students have different comprehension levels, and therefore, some activities may be employed to support poor performers understanding through working with good performers. And they learn how to interpret the mathematical problems from their peers. Finally, this paper also found the usefulness of Newman Procedure to examine thestudents level of problem solving skills. Our future issues are related to application of this method. They are to diagnose students level of errors, and to improve daily practice through these, which will result in improvement of students performance in the long run.

References Bureau of Education Testing (2002). General Achievement Test 2002: Mathematics Grade 3. Retrieved March, 2004 from http://bet.obec.go.th/gat_sat/p3_45.pdf Bureau of Policy and Planning (2002). Geography of General Achievement Test 2002: Mathematics Grade 3. Retrieved February, 2005 from

http://www.moe.go.th/webbpp/Achi2545/GAT2545/Gat45/gat13_02/index.html Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology (1997). Report Research and Evaluation with The Third International Mathematics and Science Study. Education journal in 12 years, 2, 64-75. International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (1997). Mathematics Achievement in the Primary School Years. Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02167, USA. Newman, M. A. (1977). An Analysis of Sixth-Grade Pupils Error on Written Mathematical Tasks. Victorian Institute for Educational Research Bulletin , 39, 31-43. Office of the National Education Council (2004). Education in Thailand 2004 . Bangkok: Amarin Printing and Publishing Public Company Limited. UNESCO (1990). Meeting Basic Learning Needs. Retrieved March, 2004 from http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/ed_for_all/background/jomtien_declaration. shtma WHO (1999-2000). Thailand Health Profile-Ministry of Public Health. Retrieved March, 2004 from http://w3.whosea.org/eip/thf/English/tex%20english_pdf/CHA4_2.pdf