STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC AND EMOTIONAL STRUGGLES

ON MATHEMATICS

RELYN V. ACINERO

An Undergraduate Thesis Manuscript Submitted to the Department of

Education, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern Mindanao,
Kidapawan City Campus, Sudapin Kidapawan City Partial
Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

BACHELOR OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

(Mathematics)

October 2015
 INTRODUCTION

Students really struggle on mathematics academically and emotionally.

They make a lot of effort to accomplish the task in stressful world of

mathematics. When the mathematics content is being taught is unconnected to

students’ ability level and/or experiences, serious achievement gaps result. Gap

exists, therefore, not only in the curriculum but between the learner and

perceived usefulness of the subject matter. Without intervention strategies,

students could remain “lost” for the duration of their education. Students who are

taught in a way that rely too heavy on rote memorization isolated from meaning

have difficulty in recognizing and retaining math concepts and generalizations

(Sherman et. al., 2014). A lack of sufficient mathematical skill and understanding

affects one’s ability to make critically important educational, life and career

decisions (NRC, 1989). Students may be mentally distract and have difficulty

focusing on multistep problems and procedures (Beck et. al., 2000).

Recent research has examines overall trends in the experimental literature

relating to students with academic and emotional disturbance (ED). The current

views conduct to examine both the status of and trends in interventions design to

improve the academic functioning of students with ED. Twenty-five studies

include in descriptive analysis, which spans the years from 1975 to 2002.

Descriptive dimensions of the research include participant demographics,

settings or research designs and dependent and independent variables ( Allyn et.

al., 2009). In Mathematics, results show that whilst there’s an improvement in

Mathematics performance by Portuguese students from 2003 to 2009, in 2009,

on a scale of six levels, Portugal still has in the region of 25% of their students at

level 2 or below because of struggle in the field of Mathematics (Yard, 2014).

Moreover, there is evidence to suggest that academic deficits tend to increase

over time (Nelson, 2001). Many students struggle to act purposefully and

strategically for their academic benefit in the school setting (Levendoski, 2000).

On the above concepts, the researcher desires is to determine the

students’ academic and emotional struggle on Mathematics.

Statement of the Study

This study focuses on students’ academic and emotional struggles on

Mathematics. Specifically, it answers the following questions:

1. What are the students’ academic and emotional struggles on

Mathematics?

2. What are the factors affecting students academic and emotional struggles

on Mathematics?

3. What are the aids in order to lessen the academic and emotional struggles

on Mathematics?

Objective of the Study

This study generally aims to determine students’ academic and emotional

struggles on Mathematics.
 Specifically, it aims to:

1. Determine the students’ academic and emotional struggles on

mathematics are.

2. Determine the factors affecting students’ academic and emotional

struggles on Mathematics.

4. Determine the aids in order to lessen the academic and emotional

struggles on Mathematics?

Significance of the Study

The significance of this study is to determine the students’ academic and

emotional struggles on Mathematics. It is essential in developing students’

performance and to lessen their struggles on Mathematics.

The study is beneficial to the following:

To the Students: The result of the study helps them to change their strategic

thinking in able to absorb the lesson effectively. It is beneficial to them in a way

that they can determine their struggles and to apply the aids that can help them

to lessen their struggles.

To the Teachers: This study will provide information on what strategies they will

use in order for the students to easily grasp the lesson. It helps them in realizing

some mistakes causing the students to struggle and apply some techniques that

are beneficial to the students.

To the Administrators: The findings of the study will be evidence that the

school should have an intervention and set goals to lessen the students’
academic and emotional struggle on Mathematics. This study will be their basis

in setting goals to enhance and develop students’ performance and to lessen

their struggles.

Scope and Delimitation of the study

This study will be delimited among 2 nd year BSE Mathematics Majors SY

2015-2016. The researcher will use a purposive sampling procedure.

A checklist questionnaire that contains items which corresponds to the

respondents’ struggles will be used in conducting the study at University of

Southern Mindanao-Kidapawan City Campus, College of Industry and

Technology, Sudapin, Kidapawan City enrolled in the first semester of SY 2015-

2016.

Operational Definition of terms

The terms are operationally defined according to their use in the study:

Achievement gap—refers to the distance from achievement or success to

failure. Failure of achieving something.

Descriptive dimensions—refers to descriptive way of measuring information

related to the topic.

Emotional Disturbance (ED)—refers to emotional aspects which are being

disturb or distracted.

Experimental literature—something done or experimenting important things

 that will prove the concept.

Intervention strategies—refers to ways or techniques that affects and influence

in delaying individual’s learning.

Mathematical skill—refers to the individual’s ability to compute, understand and

analyze mathematical problems.

 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Students’ Academic Struggle

According to Carino (2005), developing understanding in mathematics is

important but difficult goal. Being aware of the students’ difficulties and sources

of the difficulties and designing instruction to diminish them are important steps in

achieving their goal. Students fall below their expected level of mathematics

achievement for a variety of reasons. When asked why they were not as

successful in learning mathematics, many people reply that they “never

understood math,” or “never liked it because it was too abstract and did not relate

to them. Academic struggles namely, (a) Aiming for passing grade in the subject

matter, (b) understanding brain types, (c) teacher’s move on before everyone is

ready, (d) longing for the missing blocks- this is a legitimate cause for anxiety. If

you avoided math in lower grades or you just didn't pay enough attention in

middle school, you may be feeling stressed out because you know your

background is weak and (e) understanding complex mathematical problems- It is

true that math involves some very complex formulas. Remember the process for

overcoming any fear? Isolate it, examine it, and break it down into little parts.

That's exactly what you have to do in math. Every formula is made of "little parts"

or skills and steps that you've learned in the past. It's a matter of building blocks

(Carino, 2005).
Students’ Emotional Struggle

Some students believe that their mathematical achievement is mainly

attributable to factors beyond their control, such as luck. These students think

that if they scored well on a mathematics assignment, they did so only because

the content happened to be easy. These students do not attribute their success

to understanding or hard work. Their locus is external because they believe

achievement is due to factors beyond their control and do not acknowledge that

diligence and a positive attitude play a significant role in accomplishment.

Students might also believe that failure is related to either the lack of innate

mathematical inability or level of intelligence. They view their achievement as

accidental and poor progress as inevitable. In doing so, they limit their capacity to

study and move ahead (Beck, 2000).

Students with emotional and behavioral disorder (EBD) generally struggle

to succeed academically in school. Recent reviews of the academic status of

students with EBD indicated that the academic deficits occurred across academic

subject areas including reading, math, and writing (Trout et.al, 2003) and that the

magnitude of deficits was approximate. Emotional struggles namely,(a) patiently

waiting for the boring mathematics subject,(b) unconnected and not related with

the students,(c) math takes too much time and (d) analyzing stressful problems.

Factors Affecting Students to Struggle

According to Senthil (2012), there are factors affecting the learning of an

individual: (a) Motivation- heart of learning (b) Maturation- makes speedy

learning possible (c) Physical and Mental Development- the child who is mentally

and physically not developed learns at a slower rate (d) Home Conditions and

School Environment-ground zero for academic performance (e) Academic and

Memory Ability (f) Meaningfulness of the subject matter (g) Teaching methods

(h) Peer Influence (i) Understanding the language of Mathematics

Motivation

Assuring Relevance Builds Intrinsic Motivation: When reading material is

made relevant for students, they are more likely to become engaged and

competent readers (Vansteenkiste et. al., 2006). When teachers encourage

intrinsic motivation in students by making the reading activity in class relevant,

students initiate and persist with the reading tasks.

To assure relevance, text and activities should be linked to real life

experiences, hands on activities, a conceptual theme, and should be culturally

relevant. This is the purpose of hands-on science activities in Concept-Oriented

Reading Instruction that we have examined extensively (Guthrie et. al., 2007).

Activating the background knowledge of students before, during and after

reading helps them to make connections between their own lives, their interests,

and the text. For example, having a discussion about a child's recent trip to the

city may help get students' minds set for an upcoming text about urban

architecture.

For situations where students have little or no existing background

knowledge, hands-on activities help to bring personal experience of a new

concept to the class. Dissecting an owl pellet and observing the animal bones,
skulls and hair found within is a good way to bring quick personal experience to a

text about the survival mechanisms of the owl. These are some of the activities

used in Grade 3 implementations of Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction

(Guthrie et. al., 2004).

This experience provided an enriched foundation for students' reading of a

text about the survival mechanisms of the owl. Students are much more likely to

pick up a book about owls and read it with engagement after such a hands-on

activity, resulting in effective practice of cognitive reading strategies and gained

conceptual knowledge (Guthrie et. al., 2007).The power of hands-on experiences

that are tightly linked to book reading activities was shown in one investigation by

Guthrie et. al., (2006). Reading growth was higher for students in classrooms

where there were a larger number of hands-on science activities (tightly linked to

books), than in classrooms where fewer activities of this kind occurred.

As well as selecting texts that connect to students' interests and

backgrounds, teachers encourage intrinsic motivation in students by making the

reading activity in class relevant for students. Relevance gives them reason to

initiate and persist with the reading task. Students are also more likely to be

engaged in reading if there is an ongoing, relevant conceptual theme. Teachers

who create units of study that focus on some conceptual theme based on student

interest are encouraging students to enthusiastically read the expository and

narrative texts over a prolonged period of time, sustaining engagement.

While providing experiences for students that activate and add to their

background knowledge centered on a conceptual theme, teachers must be

aware of the cultural backgrounds in their classrooms. This is especially

important since studies have found differences in levels of intrinsic motivation

between ethnic groups. Unrau and Schlackman (2006) studied urban middle

school students' intrinsic motivation for reading. The middle school was located in

Los Angeles, and the majority of the students (about 75%) were Hispanic and

20% were Asian.

The authors found that intrinsic motivation positively related to and

predicted reading achievement for the Asian students, but they did not find this

result for Hispanic students. With respect to intrinsic motivation, there was also a

direct effect on reading achievement for Asian students but not for Hispanic

students (Unrau et. al., 2006). It is, therefore, important to consider what cultural

values and what opportunities students are presented within the context of their

homes and communities. Including themes and texts from varied parts of the

world enriches students' appreciation for and understanding of their culture as

well as cultures outside their own. Teachers who include texts and references to

the specific cultures represented in the classroom are more likely to engage

students, especially those who do not normally see their backgrounds reflected in

mainstream instruction and texts.

This helps to bring some of their own personal background knowledge to

the reading activity, thereby increasing comprehension. With repeated

experiences of relevance in the classroom, students increase their interest, and

their reasons for reading increasingly become enjoyment rather than external

pressure.
 Non-relevance Undermines Intrinsic Motivation: When teachers do not

assure the relevance of text or reading activity, students tend to avoid reading

(Assor et. al., 2002). For example, students may experience low relevance when

there are multiple unrelated topics within one lesson, with few or no links to

background knowledge. Teaching texts and topics that have no basis or

connection to students' background knowledge disengages students and gives

them a reason not to read the text.

If they are consistently given texts and reading activities that are outside of

their own experiences, with no regard to student interest or preferences, there is

little reason for students to initiate reading the text, and even less chance that

students will become immersed in the reading. Over time, the readings will be

seen as tedious chores. Disliking the texts, students will tend to avoid reading

(Oldfather, 2002).

Maturation

According to Moursund (2007), Math Maturity has a tantalizing ring to it,

but what does it really mean? This document provides some answers and

discusses how educators can use the concept of math maturity to better meet

their teaching and student learning goals. Here are four important

aspects/challenges of math education: (a) Math has long been a required part of

the school curriculum. This is because some math knowledge, skills, and ways of

thinking are deemed important for all students. (b)We know that math is quite

useful in helping to represent and solve problems in many different academic

situations as well as in many situations people encounter at home, at work, and

at play (c) We know that the overall field of mathematics is very large and it is still

growing (d) We also know that students taking math courses vary widely in how

well they learn and understand the math, and how well they can apply their

knowledge and skills in a variety of math-related problem-solving situations.

Learning with understanding, applying/using math, and long term retention all

relate to math maturity.

The term Math Maturity is often used in discussing a person's math-oriented

knowledge, skills, insights, ways of thinking, and habits of mind that endure over

the years. Most of us quickly or gradually forget many of the details of the math

that we have studied but do not routinely use. However, our success in

increasing our level of math maturity tends to stay with us and serve us for a

lifetime. Math has long been a required part of the school curriculum. This is

because some math knowledge, skills, and ways of thinking are deemed

important for all students.

How can teachers teach and how can students learn for increased math

maturity? These are the two unifying questions addressed in this document. The

intended audience is parents, teachers, teachers of teachers, students, and all

others who are concerned about and involved in our informal and formal

educational systems.

Some Examples Helping to Describe Math Maturity

"What is math maturity?" This Introduction provides background that leads

into some answers to the question.

 It is well recognized that rote memory learning is a very important

component of math education. However, much of this rote-memory learning

suffers from a lack of long-term retention. It also suffers from the learner’s

inability to transfer this learning to new, challenging problem situations both

within the discipline of math as well as to math-related problem situations outside

the discipline of math.

Thus, math education is now moving in the direction of placing much more

emphasis on learning for understanding and for solving novel (non-routine)

problems. There is substantial emphasis on learning some "big ideas" and

gaining math-related "habits of mind and thinking skills" that will last a lifetime.

These two approaches to math learning are major contributors to gaining an

increased level of math maturity.

However, there is much more to math maturity. For example, a student

needs to learn how to learn math, how to self-assess his or her level of math

content knowledge, skills, and math maturity, how to make use of aids to doing

math, how to relearn math that has been forgotten or partially forgotten, how to

make effective use of online sources of math information and instruction, how to

make effective use of technological aids to both learning and doing math, and so

on.

Physical and Mental Development

Helping students learn subject matter involves more than the delivery of

facts and information. The goal of teaching is to assist students in developing

intellectual resources to enable them to participate in, not merely to know about,
the major domains of human thought and inquiry. These include the past and its

relation to the present; the natural world; the ideas, beliefs, and values of our

own and other peoples; the dimensions of space and quantity; aesthetics and

representation; and so on. Understanding entails being able to use intellectual

ideas and skills as tools to gain control over every day, real-world problems.

Students should see themselves, either alone or in cooperation with others, as

capable of figuring things out--of using mathematics to define and reason through

a problem; of tracking down the origins of current social policy; of interpreting a

poem or story, of understanding how physical forces operate; of recreating in

writing a feeling, idea, or experience. They should both be able and inclined to

challenge the claims in a politician's speech, to make sense of and criticize

presentations of statistical information, and to write an effective letter to the

editor.

A conceptual mastery of subject matter and the capacity to be critical of

knowledge itself can empower students to be effective actors in their

environment. Good teaching demands that teachers know a lot of other things--

for example, about learning, about their students, and about the cultural, social,

and political contexts within which they work. That teachers may hold such goals

for student learning that grow out of their study of subject matter does not,

however, dictate a particular pedagogy. In helping students develop such

understandings, teachers may play a variety of roles and draw on a variety of

knowledge and skills.

Home Conditions and School Environment

A large amount of a child’s time is spent sitting in a school classroom. This

place is where they will learn the various skills deemed necessary and proper for

them to achieve success in the global society. The classroom is where they will

gain an understanding of their place in the world and the gifts that they have to

offer it. It is where the student develops what they want their future to look like,

as well as knowledge of the skills needed to reach that goal.

With the classroom being such an important place in the growth of a child

it is important to understand the ways in which to affect this environment in order

to receive maximum effectiveness in instruction. If schools really do play a large

role in teaching the next generation how to be successful members of society

then every precaution should be taken to make sure that the learning

environment is one that helps students thrive. If not approached correctly, a

classroom can be set up in a way that stifles creativity or does not promote

positive learning environment. There are many things that can affect this

environment. There are physical elements such as wall art, arrangement of

desks, or resources. Also, there are intangible elements such as the energy of

the classroom, the rules, or the sounds within the room. Each of these can

impact a student’s focus and achievement in the class. They can also affect a

teacher’s attitude in the class. Included in each of these elements of the

classroom is the emotional environment.

The way in which a teacher organizes their class or how they control it, will

yield positive or negative consequences for their students. If a teacher is

unmotivated or negative there will be a direct impact on the students within the

classroom. Similarly, if a teacher is motivated and positive they will likely have a

beneficial impact on their students as well. It is important for a teacher to

understand this cause and effect in order to understand how to organize their

classroom to create a better learning environment. The standard for many

classrooms today is to have desks aligned in rows within the classroom. This

system of arrangement seems to make students lose focus and creates a higher

number of disruptions in the classroom. This structure does not encourage

interaction between students and focuses more on the student as an individual

completing their own work.

Humans are social creatures that want attention, and if they aren’t going to

be able to get it from their classmates then they will commonly act out to get

attention from their teacher. One of the first areas that make a noticeable impact

on student success is the physical environment of the classroom. This can

pertain to a variety of details. It can be structure, resources, color. All of these

can play a role in determining whether the classroom will be conducive for

learning. Each may not have a large effect individually, however together they

can work to strengthen a student’s ability to learn. When a student first steps into

a room they will make a judgment about the type of class they are going to be

taking. They will look to see how desks are arranged. They will notice what is

hanging on the walls. The way in which a teacher sets up their class allows them

to communicate with their students non-verbally. By adding various learning

centers or activity centers the students will know that this is a classroom that
likes to do hands-on experiments. It also conveys that they will not just sit and

take notes, but they will act out what ever subject they are learning. The wall art

will demonstrate to the student that the teacher cares about their work enough to

show it off. Students will also gain an understanding of the social expectations of

the teacher in the classroom based on how the desks are organized. Each of

these tools can be used in any classroom regardless of the content.

If it is English, then the teacher could have a corner of the room set up like

a theatre where the students could act out scenes from various plays that they

are reading. There could be an area of the room with comfortable chairs and a

small library where they could pick a book to silently read if they have finished all

of their work for the day. This could be viewed as warm and inviting for a student

who does not like to read because now they see that English can involve moving

around. The small library will also allow them to choose what they want to read,

rather than them having to read what was assigned (Grubaugh et. al., 2013).

Academic and Memory Ability

Some students lack well-developed mental strategies for remembering

how to complete algorithmic procedures and combinations of basic facts.

However, strategies to improve capacities for remembering facts, formulas, or

procedures can be taught. Repetition games such as calling out fact

combinations and having students solve them and then repeat those that were

called before their turn can help. For example, the teacher would call out “3 X 5 =

15 and a student would respond with “15.” That student would then ask a number

question such as “7 - 5" of the group. The responder would reply, “3 X 5 = 15 and
7- 5 = 2.” The game continues as each player calls out a new fact and each

responder answers with all the previous combinations and the new answer.

Students’ ability to organize their thinking and use it to recall data will affect

success throughout the curriculum (Beck et. al., 2000).

Meaningfulness of the subject matter

People fail to connect math with real life. Many students look at a linear

equation With a bunch of letters, numbers, and funky-looking symbols while

wondering,” What is the point? Why do I need to know this?"

Associating math lessons to real life is important, especially for adult

learners. Making a connection to everyday life has been proven to increase

peoples' interest level in math and prompt them to actually want to learn it.

Knowing how all those symbols translate to real life is crucial to how

satisfactorily a person will retain an abstract topic (Lopukhova, 2012).

According to Lopukhova (2012), math is a sequential subject. It is a highly

objective subject, which means each problem has one correct solution and an

infinite number of wrong answers. It is also a sequential subject, so what you

learn today builds upon the math you learned in the past. Also, the math you are

learning today is the foundation of all future mathematical learning. If the basic

concrete foundation (read: arithmetic) has cracks, you will almost certainly

struggle with future mathematical learning that involves more complexities and

abstractions (read: algebra and beyond). Unfortunately, many students move into

more abstract math courses with a dangerously crumbled foundation in the

essentials. All too often, this spells disaster.

Teaching methods

Teaching style refers to educators’ behavior as they teach in the

classroom (Genc et. al., 2004). Good teachers are able to create a learning

environment in which students have high involvement and positive expectations

about their learning, co-operate behavior is pronounced, and the culture

encourages learning to occur. Teachers need to be aware of students’ difficulties

in learning mathematics. Standard written symbols play an important role in

student learning on mathematics but students may experience difficulties in

constructing mathematical meaning of symbols ( McNaught, 2007).

Peer Influence

According to Baqueque (2001), peer influence is second only to parental

influence and is likely to be particular importance during periods of rapid social

change. Adolescences are dependent on their peers in their future plans and

including the choice of an occupation. Focused on students’ importance on

his/her time discount behavior, it was found that it has influence on their

academic performance. Weak peers might reduce the grades of meddling or

strong students (Winston et.al, 2002).

Understanding the Language of Mathematics

Students are confused by words that also have special mathematical

meaning, such as “volume,” “yard,” “power,” and “area.” Lack of understanding of

mathematical terms such as “divisor,” “factor,” “multiple,” and “denominator”

seriously hampers students’ abilities to focus on and understand terms and

operations for algorithms and problem solving. Memorizing these terms without

meaning and context is not productive.

Aids to lessen struggles on mathematics

Students struggling with mathematics may benefit from early interventions

aimed at improving their mathematics ability and ultimately preventing

subsequent failure. This guide provides eight specific recommendations intended

to help teachers, principals, and school administrators use Response to

Intervention (RtI) to identify students who need assistance in mathematics and to

address the needs of these students through focused interventions. The guide

provides suggestions on how to carry out each recommendation and explains

how educators can overcome potential roadblocks to implementing the

recommendations. Each recommendation is rated strong, moderate, or low

based on the strength of the research evidence for the respective

recommendation. Specific recommendations include: (1) Screen all students to

identify those at risk for potential mathematics difficulties and provide

interventions to students identified as at risk; (2) Committee-selected instructional

materials for students receiving interventions should focus intensely on in-depth

treatment of whole numbers in kindergarten through grade 5 and on rational

numbers in grades 4 through 8; (3) Instruction during intervention should be

explicit and systematic, and should include models of proficient problem solving,

verbalization of thought processes, guided practice, corrective feedback, and

frequent cumulative review; (4) Interventions should include instruction on solving

word problems that is based on common underlying structures; (5) Intervention

materials should include opportunities for students to work with visual

representations of mathematical ideas and interventionists should be proficient in

the use of visual representations of mathematical ideas; (6) Interventions at all

grade levels should devote about 10 minutes in each session to building fluent

retrieval of basic arithmetic facts; (7) Monitor the progress of students receiving

supplemental instruction and other students who are at risk; and (8) Include

motivational strategies in tier 2 and tier 3 interventions. Four appendixes are

included: (1) Postscript from the Institute of Education Sciences; (2) About the

authors; (3) Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest; and (4) Technical

information on the studies (Gersten et. al., 2009).

According to Barnes (2006), students made several suggestions as to

how to reduce mathematics difficulty. They felt that teachers should teach

students study habits, raise students confidence in their mathematical abilities,

walk around the classroom to help students and answer questions and for

teachers to provide more hands on activities during mathematics class. They

also suggested that students use self-help programs to answer their questions

about mathematics. Teachers must modify their teaching styles and teach a

minds repertoire of strategies. One teaching style cannot be used with all

students. For learning to take place, teachers need to use various teaching styles

and to help students, including those with learning difficulties, develop their own

learning strategies and are these strategies effectively and efficiently ( Callaham

et. al., 2004).

 A discovery approach is a teaching strategy that aims to assist the

student in finding solutions to answer a problem on attaining a learning objective

through self-discovery. Equip yourself with the skills you need to improve the

impact you make; Mathematics Tutor, Math Program, Study Skills, Homework

and Understood your brain type, Make the learning process as concrete and

visual as possible. Use graphic organizers to provide visual prompts for written

expression. With math, use a peer tutor or paired learning with teachers. To aid

memory, use mnemonics (memory tricks) and “visual posting” of key information.

Modify teaching methods. For example, by modeling how to write an

essay through use of an overhead projector, using color for demonstrations and

highlighting key information. Reduce written work by shortening assignments if

appropriate. Modify testing and grading by extending test time and dividing long-

term projects into segments. Parents should be notified of any long-term projects

in advance. Modify level of support and supervision by assigning “row captains”

to check that homework is written down and gets turned in. Use computers and

teaching software often (Barkley, 2006).

Assumption of the study

This study assumes that there are various students’ academic and

emotional struggle on Mathematics among 2 nd year BSE Mathematics Majors of

University of Southern Mindanao-Kidapawan City Campus enrolled in the first

semester of SY 2015-2016.
 METHODOLOGY

The chapter discusses the research design, research locale, research

respondent, research instrument, sampling procedure, data gathering procedure

and statistic tool used.

Research Design

This study will use descriptive method to determine students’ academic

and emotional struggle on mathematics among Mathematics Major Students of

University of Southern Mindanao, Kidapawan City Campus, College of Industry

and Technology, Sudapin, Kidapawan City.

Research Locale

This study will be conducted at the University of Southern Mindanao,

Kidapawan City Campus, College of Industry and Technology, Sudapin,

Kidapawan City.

Research Respondents

The respondents of the study are the second year Mathematics Majors of

University of Southern Mindanao- Kidapawan City Campus SY 2015-2016

Research Instrument

A checklist questionnaire will use to gather information about students’

academic and emotional struggle on mathematics. It contains item requiring the

respondents to check “yes” or “no” to identify what particular struggle they do.

Sampling Procedure

The researcher employs purposive sampling procedure which currently

present in this SY 2015-2016. The respondents are all require answering based

on their availability.

Data Gathering Procedure

The research will secure a permit from the Campus Dean to conduct the

survey among mathematics’ majors as respondents. When the permit will be

granted, the research set a schedule time to conduct the survey and the

researcher will personally manage by giving a survey questionnaire to the

respondents during their vacant or available time.

Statistical Tool Used

The responses to every item of the survey questionnaires will be tallied

and processed using the appropriate statistical treatment. The data obtained or

gathered from the questionnaires will be tabulated and used to determine its
weighted mean, frequency count and standard deviation in summarizing,

analyzing and computing the data on the assessment for each specification of

the respondents in regards with the students’ academic and emotional struggles

on Mathematics.
 Republic of the Philippines
University of Southern Mindanao
Kidapawan City Campus
College of Industry and Technology
Sudapin, Kidapawan City

DR. RONEILYN F. PINSOY

Campus Dean
USM-Kidapawan City Campus
Sudapin, Kidapawan City

Madam:
Greetings of peace and prosperity!
The undersigned is a second year Bachelor of Secondary Education of this
College who will undergo a research entitled STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC AND
EMOTIONAL STRUGGLE ON MATHEMATICS.

In this connection, the undersigned wishes to request permission form your office
to allow her to conduct a survey among second year mathematics major students of
USM-KCC to find out what struggle they do in the field of mathematics. The data that
the researcher will gather will surely contribute to the success of this study.
Your kind and favorable approval in this matter is very much appreciated.
Thank you and more power!

Respectfully yours,

(SGD.) RELYN V. ACINERO

Researcher
Noted By:

(SGD.) JAYLORD UMALI

Adviser

Approved by:

(SGD.) RONEILYN F. PINSOY

Campus Dean