Action Research

Norielene C. Bagunas

Math Wall as Instructional Support in Teaching Mathematics among Grade 9

Students

Introduction and Context:

Instructional support in teaching Mathematics is an effective teaching practice that

can support students acquiring new mathematical facts. This can also support

acquisition of factual, procedural, and conceptual knowledge in the emerging view of

Mathematics education, students make their own Mathematics learning individually

meaningful. Math Wall can help the students understand different Mathematical

formulas and equation that they can face almost every day. It can support them to

memorize different formula at the end of the week. This assessment can play a role in

exemplifying the new types of Mathematics learning students must achieve. This

Instructional Support can help both students and teachers improve their performance.

Students need to learn, monitor, and evaluate their own progress. When students are

encouraged to assess their own learning they become more aware of what they know,

how they learn, and what resources they are using when they do Mathematics.

When students encounter new topics in Mathematics, they often cannot see how

unfamiliar ideas are connected to anything they have seen before. Today’s students will

not be taking notes in the classroom, preferring instead to record the lesson on his

phone, or they will complain that the lesson does not come with a slideshow

presentation that could at least be photographed, since it was not posted on the
internet. Students struggling with formulas, shapes, and number related concepts. This

makes it difficult for them to understand and process math problems. For many students

who struggle with Math, basically they do not have the proper foundation needed for

success when students go in expecting math to difficult, they are quicker to give up

when they don’t understand something. For many students, Math is a subject where

they simply memorize concepts and formulas without really understanding them.

Mathematics teachers themselves, must understand that most students take time to

learn Math formulas (Putnam, Heaton, Prawat and Remillard 2013) Thus, they must be

patient with students and not expect instant results from them. All students regardless of

sex, culture, socio- economic status, religion and educational backgrounds deserve to

learn and be taught good and correct Mathematics (Gates 2012). Teachers must be

able to guide students into learning Mathematics better, ought to know how to lay out

Math content and break them down into manageable chunks of materials as well as

they must know the why’s and how’s of Mathematics by having a deep understanding

and knowledge about it. (Ball and Bass 2014). Mathematics teachers need to possess

strong knowledge of Math content. They must not be satisfied with knowing just enough

Mathematics but rather aim for a deeper level of understanding on it.(Heid 2015).

Many students are struggling in solving Mathematics especially in finding a formula

to the problem. Math isn’t something that students automatically get it takes time and

practice to understand. Since many students do not enjoy Math, getting them to sit

down and practice can be a struggle. Without that practice, students can have a hard

time keeping up with what they are learning because they still do not have a handle on

the basics. Students encounter difficulties in finding the right formulas in solving
Mathematical problems. Usually students start struggling in the basic part of

Mathematics and they cannot move on to the next topic. In that way many students just

are not excited, they tend to do the bare minimum before moving on to something they

would rather be doing, which is not going to help set them up for success in Math class.

Math Wall as an Instructional Support in Teaching Mathematics improves student’s

awareness about Math formulas and other Mathematical equation. The purpose of this

study is to develop student’s knowledge in solving Math problems using this

Instructional support. Furthermore, it can be easy for the students to find the formula in

a particular problem and they can move on to the next topic. Math wall can promote

teachers strategy in teaching Mathematics among Grade 9 students and help them

engage on the difficulties they experience in solving Math problems. That way, students

learn how to solve Math problems on their own using Math wall. They will encourage

and unafraid in trying to solve Math problems through the support of Math wall in the

classroom.

Research Questions:

The study aims to assess the Instructional Support of teachers in teaching

Mathematics among Grade 9 students as basis for implementation plan.

In particular, the study seeks to answer the following:

1. What is the performance of the Grade 9 students in the pre-test administered by

the researcher?

2. What intervention can be formulated to improve the performance of the Grade 9

students in solving Math problems using the formula?

 3. How effective is the innovation formulated by the researchers in improving

performance of students in solving Math problems using formula?

Null Hypothesis

Ho: There is no significant difference in the performance of Grade 9 students before and

after the implementation of program

Scope and Limitation

The present study seeks to determine the effectiveness of Math Wall as an

Instructional Support in Teaching Mathematics among Grade 9 students, the study will

be conducted at St. Vincent College of Cabuyao during SchoolYear 2019-20. The study

will involve the select Grade 9 students as the respondents.

Significance of the Study

The researcher believes that this study will be beneficial to the following:

Curriculum Policy Making- The result of this study will also serve as a source of

knowledge for the policy makers in crafting well- prepared and effective policies in

making instructional support suited to improve pupils performance in Mathematics.

St. Vincent College of Cabuyao- This study will be able to help improve the quality of

their learning lessons.

Administrators- This study will be useful to the administrators in helping them choose

a better way to improve their way of instruction.

Teachers- The teachers in Junior High School who are teaching Mathematics will be

aware of using instructional support to help them in catching the attention of the

students.

Students- Through this study, it will be a great help to the students to determine what

materials for instruction and effective for them to learn in Mathematics.

Researcher- The researcher will be able to search on how to develop more skills and

update the existing ones.

Future Researcher- It will be useful in adopting the existing literature on the same

research area and will also provide a rich ground for further research based on the gaps

left out by the research.

Definition of Terms

For better understanding of this study, the following terms are operationally defined:

Instructional Support- It is defined as an effective teaching practice that can support

students acquiring new Mathematical facts. This is also improves students awareness

about Math formulas and other Mathematical equation.

Mathematics- Its deals with logical reasoning and quantitative calculation and its

development of idealization and abstraction of its subject matter.

Math Wall- It refers to the intervention to improve the performance of the students in

solving Mathematical equation.

Review of Related Literature

(Watson & Gable, 2013) stated that authorities in Mathematics agree that attaining

Mathematics conceptual understanding and procedural skills encompasses various

cognitive processes. This includes constructing representations, making arguments,

reasoning about mathematical object, explaining their thinking, constructing proofs,

among others.

Ghazalia, Othmanb,Aliasc, and Salehd (2013) added that teaching practice create

correct connections on content by using learning materials, and it connects

appropriately procedural understanding to conceptual understanding. The stance stated

above makes a construct that more effective instruction by the teacher practice, the

greater the connections to student’s understanding, and the more engaged are the

students in learning Mathematics.

Similarly, (Reis and Boeve 2015) claim that when students are given an opportunity to

select their own content based reading materials on their area of interest, they are able

to read more appropriately; and when the teacher provides flexibility in solving practical

problems in the number sense activities, they encourage students’ critical thinking. If

instructional materials are varied and students are in different instructional groups, they

will learn more.

Additionally, (Greenwood, Tobin & McInnes, 2016) cited that students in differentiated

instruction, when given individual learning contrasts, are found greatly motivated.

Moreover, when students are differentiated based on students’ need and targeted

learning outcomes, significant increases in students’ achievement occur. Besides, when

teachers differentiate through identifying students’ starting point of their learning

experience, students gain explicit definitions of the knowledge, understanding and skills.

.Furthermore, (Ikwuas and Dada 2016) state that improvised materials involved

selection and deployment of relevant instructional elements of teaching and learning

processes in absence or shortage of standard teaching and learning materials, for

meaningful realization of specified educational goals and objectives.

Correspondently, (Abimbade 2014) had earlier noted that the approach of using

improvised instructional support in mathematics assist in proper introduction of new

skills, develop understanding as well as show the appropriate way of doing things.

Instructional strategies need to be identified where the use of manipulative are often

suggested as some of the effective approaches to improve student mathematics

achievement.

(Chang 2014), mentioned that assessment of students’ Mathematical understanding

should not be solely based on their writing of the problems but also on their

demonstration and oral interpretation. Concrete manipulative are concrete objects used

as tools that allow students to experiment and explore mathematical concepts.

(March and Cooked 2013), invented the Geo boards as a learning tool, it provides a

means to act upon the world and can be used as cognitive scaffold that facilitates the

extension of knowledge. Through using geo boards, students cannot only work towards

space and geometry outcomes but also be engaged in working Mathematically. Geo

board can be used for teaching and learning different areas of Mathematics. It has been

found to be a particularly useful instructional support for problem solving approaches.

(Carboneau, K. Marleys 2013) explored the use of instructional support to develop

students geometric thought. It is important to take into account the background and the

culture of the learner throughout the learning process, so as to shape the knowledge

and truth of the learner creates, discovers and attains in the learning process.
Norielene C. Bagunas

Methodology of Action Research

Methods

The study utilized the descriptive type of research through a bounded experiment

wherein it is a type of experiment that needs a specific time to conduct an experiment in

order to test the hypothesis or to answer questions concerning the current status of the

study. Descriptive research is mainly done when a researcher wants to gain a better

understanding that he wanted to explore and analyze.

Through the use of bounded experiment, the learners were able to test their

ability to remember a certain topic in Mathematics by means of geometric formula. The

said experiment is a synonymous to restrict. Meaning, the execution of the said

intervention in teaching geometric equations was only good for at least one group or

section as the respondents of the study and the time to conduct to this kind of

experiment was only limited as well. The researcher had provided the schedule which

was approved by the principal of St.Vincent College of Cabuyao.

Participants

This study involved all the grade 9 students in St. Vincent College of Cabuyao. The

table below shows how the respondents were distributed.

Category of Population Percentage Sample Size

Respondents
Grade 9 students 194 19% 36
 As shown on the table above, the researcher determined the respondents of the

study through a purposive method wherein the researcher is chosen who among to the

grade 9 students are suited for the intervention that will be prepared. The researcher

had chosen the Grade 9- F. The said class was the respondents to the study which

compose individual comprising__ of the population

Data Analysis

The following statistical tools will be utilized in the study.

1. MPS Percentile Distribution will be used to determine the performance of the

learners during and after the intervention.

2. t-test will be utilized to determine the difference in the performance of the

learners in pre-test and post-test.

Ethical Consideration

The researcher respects the decision and willingness if the target participants to

be involved in the present study.

Inform the school heads and teachers regarding the schedule of the experiment.

The researcher will ensure that the conduct of the experiment will not affect the regular

class schedule.

Work Plan

Activity Date Person to be Needed Resources Amount

involve
Letter to the June 24, Researcher,  Printed Letter ₱ 50

authority 2019 Dean, School

Representative

Pre- survey July 2. 2019 Researcher  Pen ₱12

and target  Notebook ₱18

participants ₱ 30

Interview with July 4, 2019 Researcher  Recorder ₱ 250

the teacher and teacher  Pen ₱ 12

 Snacks ₱ 350

₱ 612

Orientation July 5, 2019 Researcher,  Snacks ₱ 350

regarding to the teachers and

implementation target

of Math Wall as participants

an Instruction

Support in

Teaching

Mathematics

Crafted July 8, 2019 Researcher  Bond Paper ₱ 100

Instructional  Glue ₱ 100

Materials for  Scissor ₱ 50

the Intervention  Marker ₱ 100

 Colored Paper ₱ 250

 ₱ 600

Administration July 9, 2019 Researcher  Bond paper ₱ 200

of Pre-test and the  Print ₱ 100

particpant  Snacks ₱ 350

₱ 650

Implementation July 10, Researcher  Whiteboard ₱ 100

of the 2019 and the Marker

Intervention Participant  Eraser ₱ 30

 Snacks ₱ 350

₱ 480

Administration October 14, Researcher  Bond Paper ₱ 200

of Post-test 2019 and the  Print ₱ 1oo

Participant  Snacks ₱ 350

₱ 650

Data Analysis/ October 16, Researcher  Professional ₱ 1,500

Statistical 2019 and the Fee

Treatment Statistician

TOTAL ₱ 4922

Monitoring And Evaluation

 June July August September October
Activities 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3
Letter to the

Authority

Pre-survey

Interview with the

teacher

Orientation

regarding to the

implementation of

Math Wall as an

Instructional

Support in

Teaching

Matheatics

Crafted

instructional

materials for the

intervention
 June July August September October
Activities 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3
Administration of

Pre-test

Implementation

of the

intervention

Administration of

Postest

Data Analysis/

Statistical

Treatment