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Effect of Strategic Intervention Materials on

Mathematics Performance of Grade 9

Low Achieving Learners

Christian Paul B. Diaz

Chapter 1

Introduction to the Study

Chapter 1 is made up of five (5) parts namely: (1)

Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study, (2)

Statement of the Problem and the Hypotheses,(3) Significance

of the Study, (4) Definition of Terms, and (5) Delimitation

of the Study.

Part One, Background and Theoretical Framework of the

Study, provides the introduction and rationalizes the

importance of conducting the research. It presents the

theoretical framework which serves as the foundation or base

of reference and the basis of the study.

Part Two, Statement of the Problem and the

Hypotheses, presents the general and specific questions to

be answered as well as the hypotheses were tested.

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Part Three, Significance of the Study, states the

essence and importance of the study and its positive

benefits to the recipients.

Part Four, Definition of Terms, defines the important

and key terms used in the study in both their conceptual and

operational definitions.

Part Five, Delimitation of the Study, enumerates the

limitations, scope and boundaries of the research in terms

of research design and the respondents.

Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study

As economic, social and cultural changes are taking

place faster and faster, it seems clear that education

should prepare people to face new situations and changing

social conditions so as to satisfy both the individual needs

of learners and the collective needs of the society.

Education nowadays moves from traditional face to face

classes into distance learning due to the closure of both

private and public schools around the world. This current

situation simply describes how education is also

revolutionizing in an answer to the needs of the learners

that paved the way for a flexible learner-centered

classroom.
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As part of the Department of Education’s Learning

Continuity Plan and for every school to still attain its

mission and vision which is to provide quality education to

every Filipino learner, the Department of Education

implemented the Modular Distance Learning (Quacquarelli

Symonds, 2020).

The Modular Distance Learning modality is currently

used by all public schools in the Philippines because

according to a survey conducted by the Department of

Education (DepEd), learning through printed and digital

modules emerged as the most preferred distance learning

method of parents with children who are enrolled this

academic year. This is also in consideration of the learners

in rural areas where internet is not accessible for online

learning (Brighter, 2020).

Learner-centered classroom has a goal of helping

students become independent so that they could also have

independent minds. Teachers on the other hand requires to

maximize their creativity to explore different strategies

and approaches for better learning and understanding of

students of the difficult concepts in Math and Science in

particular. In the Philippines, DepEd data shows that

achievement rate of fourth year students in Science dropped

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from 39.49% to 37.98%. Furthermore, the Philippines ranked

67th of 140 countries in quality of Math and Science

education in the 2015-2016 Global Competitiveness Report of

the World Economic Forum, 79th of 138 in the 2016-2017 data,

and 56th of 137 in the 2017-2018 data (World Economic Forum,

2017). The Trends in International Mathematics and Science

Study 2019 shows the Philippines scored ‘significantly

lower’ than any other country that participated in grade 4

math and science assessments. These data imply that the

Philippine education still have problems that waits to be

resolved. The unavailability of learning materials is just

one of the problems which have a big impact on the teaching

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and learning process inside the classroom that is still

hounding the country’s new basic education program, K-12

implementations.

Strategies in teaching are vital to the process of

teaching and learning. It is the teachers’ responsibility to

abreast themselves to the different teaching styles that

will help them cater the diversity of the learners under the

new normal.

The researcher observed that mathematics is considered

by the students to be the most difficult subject taught in

high school especially now in modular distance learning. As

observed by the researcher, students are experiencing

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mathematical learning difficulties as the result students

got a low mathematics performance especially in the lower

sections. The researcher also observed that students cannot

adapt with the self-learning module especially those

students with math difficulty that resulted to poor

Mathematics performance. These difficulties convinced the

researcher to adopt new strategy that is Strategic

Intervention Material(SIM) that can be used to improve the

Mathematics performance of low achieving learners of Grade

10 students.

The researcher believes that when students will be

exposed to the use of Strategic Intervention Material(SIM),

this will facilitate students’ mathematical thinking. Asides

being an effective aid to learning, one other significant

advantage of SIM are that they can be used in a wide array

of situations involving learning of difficult topics in

mathematics for those students who get lower performance and

use of SIM as a remediation of the topics. By utilizing this

material, students’ performance in mathematics may be

improved that could secure academic success among them.

According to (Bunagan, 2012) intervention materials

tries to increase and deepen skills, knowledge and

understanding from concrete to what is more abstract. It

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gave students the chance to explore their understanding and

add up of those new ideas. Furthermore, an intervention

material meant to recall the concepts and skills to assist

and help the learners master a competency-based skill which

they were not able to develop during classroom discussion.

According to Dy (2011), Strategic Intervention Material

(SIM) as a teaching aid Strategic intervention material: A

tool in enhancing students’ mathematical performance

International Journal of Research Studies in Education 65

introduced into the teaching methods to stimulate the

activity of the students and thereby increase their level of

understanding.

The Department of Education prescribed the use of

Strategic Intervention Material (SIM) to boost students’

achievements and reduce least mastered skills in Mathematics

subjects. Different studies have shown that the utilization

of SIM successfully decreased the least mastered skills in

Mathematics subject; thus, poor performance is addressed.

Furthermore, SIM is an instructional material

prescribed by the Department of Education (DepEd) to boost

students’ performance in Mathematics subjects. To promote

successful learning within the field of Science and

Technology subjects in both elementary and secondary among

public schools, DepEd provided the teachers with training

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and workshop on how to prepare this intervention material.

To promote and encourage teachers to use and develop

intervention materials, SIM making for Math teachers was

included by the Department of Education in the annual

Mathematics Fair as one of the contests in in the school,

division, region, and national level competitions.

There are numerous studies conducted on the

effectiveness of strategic intervention materials in

mastering the competencies set by the Department of

Education. Alboruto (2017) in her study on Beating the

Numbers through Strategic Intervention Materials (SIMs):

Innovative Science Teaching for Large Classes, found out

that the use of SIMs significantly contributed to the

mastery of science concepts and also to the development of

science process skills. She used experimental research

design where students were grouped into two – the control

and experimental group. Similar to the method being used in

this research, the experimental group was given the

Strategic Intervention Materials as an aid for learning. She

also concluded that the project [strategic intervention

material] is effective in improving student performance.

Modular learning is a form of distance learning that

employs the use of self-learning modules (SLM). These self-

learning modules are based on the most essential learning

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competencies (MELCS) provided by DepEd. Ideally, the modules

should include sections on motivation and assessment that

serve as a complete guide for both the teacher's and

students' desired competencies. The teachers will monitor

the learner's progress through home visits (following social

distancing protocols) and feedback mechanisms and guide

those who need special attention, (Estrada, 2021).

Modular Distance Learning involves individualized

instruction that allows learners to use self-learning

modules (SLMs) in print or digital format/electronic copy,

whichever is applicable in the context of the learner, and

other learning resources like Learner’s Materials,

textbooks, activity sheets, study guides and other study

materials. Learners access electronic copies of learning

materials on a computer, tablet PC, or smartphone. CDs,

DVDs, USB storage and computer-based applications can all be

used to deliver e-learning materials, including offline E-

books. The teacher takes the responsibility of monitoring

the progress of the learners. The learners may ask

assistance from the teacher via e-mail, telephone, text

message/instant messaging, etc. Where possible, the teacher

shall do home visits to learners needing remediation or

assistance. Any member of the family or other stakeholder in

the community needs to serve as para-teachers.

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Self-learning modules as the name implies are modules,

which can be used by the students for learning on their own

and normally do not require any teacher help. Since their

use is completely in hands of students these are self-paced

learning materials which aid students to learn at their own

pace and interest. The student is free to choose what he

wishes to learn, how he wishes to learn, when he wishes to

learn and wherever he wishes to learn. This flexibility in

leaning is becoming more important these days. The learning

which resources could be used for self-learning a specially

referred as self-learning modules with presence of self-

learning features (Sequeira, 2012).

Mathematics is one of the learning areas given focus in

the Basic Education Curriculum even prior to the

implementation of K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum in

school year 2012-2013, at present known as K to 12 Basic

Education Program. Ironically, mathematics is one of the

subjects that consistently obtain the low mean percentage

scores in the National Achievement Tests administered to the

public schools both in the elementary and secondary levels

(NETRC NAT Results, 2004-2012).

Learning mathematics with meaningful understanding is a

vital goal of mathematics teaching in schools and studies

have shown that sharpening students’ performance entails

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students learning mathematics with understanding.

Mathematics performance is used to capture what it means for

anyone to learn mathematics successfully. It is an indicator

that someone understands and can do mathematics. It is the

quality of being skilled and exhibiting expertise,

competence, knowledge, beliefs, and facility in doing

mathematics and becoming proficient problem solver with high

productive disposition, Pagtulonan, E. & Tan, D. (2018).

According to Sangcap (2015), this declining status of

mathematics and poor mathematical performance among students

had been a worldwide concern for the past years as indicated

in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

Report 2010. In concurrence, the 2010 Trends in

International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) reported

low achievement scores for Mathematics (and Science) of

Filipino students in Grade 4 and Grade 8 (2nd year high

school).

According to Maccini and Gagnon (2012), more students’

scores below basic level of performance in mathematics.

Their low performance is due to difficulty with self-

regulation skills, deficits in computational skills and

problem with high-level Mathematics that require necessary

skills.
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This study is anchored on John Dewey and Lev Vygotsky’s

Constructivist Theory of Learning and Jerome Bruner and

Edward Gagne’s Cognitive Learning Theory. Constructivism is

a way of teaching and learning that intends to maximize

student understanding. Constructivism is a theory of how

learning occurs (Henson, 1996 as cited by Parsons et al.,

2000). It is a view that says how people construct their own

understanding and knowledge of the world through

experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.

When students encounter something new, they reconcile it

with previous ideas and experiences. In the classroom, the

constructivist view of learning can point towards a number

of different teaching practices. The teacher makes sure she

understands the student’s preexisting conceptions, guides

the activity to address them and then build on them. In this

study, the researcher made use of students’ prior knowledge

about a certain science topic (what is known) and guide slow

learning students to understand the topic through a

developed strategic intervention material in understanding

science concepts which are too difficult for a student or

learner to master on his own. Through this, therefore,

student’s previous knowledge about science concept is

enhanced.
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This study is also anchored on the theory of Carroll

and Jensen cited by Isiderio (2012) that cognitive abilities

impose constraints on cognitive performance and learning

which influence the potential growth of a student’s math

ability. In the words, mathematical performance refers to

one’s ability to put mathematical knowledge and skills to

functional use rather than just mastering them within a

school curriculum. To “engage in” mathematics covers not

simply physical or social actions but also wider uses,

including taking a point of view and appreciating things

expressed mathematically. Mathematical ability involves

one’s ability to pose and solve mathematical problems in a

variety of situations. Since the Strategic Intervention

Materials (SIM) used by the students involved several parts

wherein the students worked on, it is in this context that

learner-teacher dialogue was observed. It follows from this;

constructivists maintain that learners need to be empowered

and to have control over the learning process. So, the

teacher relinquishes a great deal of authority and becomes a

facilitator.

This study investigated the effect Strategic

Intervention Material on the Mathematics performance of

Grade 9 low achieving learners of Feliciano Yusay Consing

National High School for school year 2021-2022.

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Figure 1 below shows the variable relationships in this

study.

Independent Variables Dependent Variables

Strategic Intervention
Materials(SIM)

Mathematics Performance

Self-Learning Module

Figure 1. A Schematic Diagram Showing the Effect of

Strategic Intervention Materials on the Mathematics
Performance of Low Achieving Learners

Statement of the Problem and the Hypothesis

The study will be conducted to determine the effect of

Strategic Intervention Material on Mathematic performance of

Low Achieving Learners of Feliciano Yusay Consing National

High School for school year 2021-2022.

Specifically, the study seeks to answer the following

questions:

1. What is the level of mathematics performance of in

the pre-tests and post-tests of the control and the

experimental groups?
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2. Is there a significant difference in mathematics

performance in the pre-tests of the control and the

experimental groups?

3. Is there a significant difference in mathematics

performance between the pretests and posttests of the

control and the experimental groups?

4. Is there a significant difference in mathematics

performance between the posttests of the control and the

experimental groups?

Based form the above mentioned statement of the problem

the following hypotheses are forwarded:

1. There is no significant difference in mathematics

between the pre-tests of the control and the experimental

groups.

2. There is no significant difference in the

mathematics performance between the pretests and posttests

of the control and the experimental groups.

3. There is no significant difference in mathematics

performance between the posttests of the control and the

experimental groups.

Significance of the Study

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The result of this study is beneficial to the following

stakeholders: students, Mathematics teachers, school

administrators, parents and future researchers:

Students.The result of this study will help students be

aware on the effect of SIM to improve their performance in

Mathematics, so that they would not be left behind from

their classmates even without the availability of textbooks

and other references in school. The findings of this study

could help students to get a high grade in the area were

they got low grades and to have an alternative way of

learning where they can learn by themselves, save time, and

can be helped for easy understanding of Mathematics lessons

using the Strategic Intervention Materials.

Mathematics Teachers. The findings of this study may

provide baseline data to faculty members who are teaching

Mathematics subjects. The results may also serve as guide

for teachers on the appropriate teaching materials that they

must employ in order to address the low achievements of

learners in the subject. Likewise, the result of the study

will be the basis of the teachers as to what concepts in

mathematics do learners experience difficulty. The result of

this study will also help in making the teaching and

learning process since the teachers will be able to develop

material that may help learners in achieving lower grade.

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Mathematics teachers can decide of material must be used in

order to address the problem.

School Administrators. The findings of this study could

help school administrators to encourage their teachers to

use Strategic Intervention Material in the teaching and

learning process. This also helpto provide the school

administrators an insight on what the teachers need to focus

in, and what material is suited to the needs of the

learners.

Parents. The result of this study will give awareness

to parents about the use of Strategic Intervention Material

in the improvement of the performance in Mathematics and

encourage the latter to use the material as a supplement in

order to give remedial to the low performance of their

children. The results of this study may also benefit the

parents as they are partners in the education of their

children. They may be encouraged to help their children

improve their performance by doing their own share through

helping their children facilitate the assigned material

given to their children.

Future Researchers.This study would provide rich

literature regarding Strategic Intervention Material which

would benefit the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate

students who are interested in pursuing research on the

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effectiveness of any kind of material that may improve

students’ performance. More and more insights would be

offered to the body of researchers that would cater good

reviews and available resources.

Definition of Terms

For clarity and precision, the following terms were

given their conceptual and operational meanings:

Control Group – refers to the group that is not exposed

to the same factor to which the experimental group is

exposed to, or it received a different treatment or it is

left to its usual way of doing things (Laguda, 2018).

In this study, “control group” referred to the group of

Grade 9 low achieving learners that will be exposed to the

self-learning modules.

Experimental Group – refers to the group exposed to the

influence of a factor, an intervention or treatment under

consideration (Laguda, 2018).

In this study, “experimental group”referred to the

group of Grade 9 low achieving learners who will be given

Strategic Intervention Material(SIM).

Mathematics Performance – refers to the performance in

Mathematics subject. Performance is the standard to which

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someone does something such as a job or an examination

(http://www.macmillandictionary.com, retrieved 08/29/20).

In this study, “Mathematics performance” referred to

the scores obtained by the Grade 9 students in the 80-item

researcher-made Mathematics performance test during the

pretest and posttests. This will be taken from the following

topics: determines the conditions that make a quadrilateral

a parallelogram, uses properties to find measures of angles,

sides and other quantities involving parallelograms, proves

theorems on the different kinds of parallelogram (rectangle,

rhombus, square), proves the Midline Theorem, proves

theorems on trapezoids and kites, solves problems involving

parallelograms, trapezoids and kites. This test will be

composed of test items, which is based on the list of topics

in Mathematics 9 for the third grading period. This will

categorized as: very high (32.01-40.00), high(24.01-

32.00),average (16.01-24.00), low (8.01-16.00) and 0.00-8.00

(very low).

Pretest – refers to a test administered before the

instruction of a unit of instruction to determine how much

the student already learned (Laguda, 2018).

In this study, “pretest” referred an 80-items multiple

choice Mathematics performance test with four options given

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to the participants before given them Strategic Intervention

Material and self-learning modules.

Posttest – refers to a test given to student after

completion of an instruction program or segment and often

used in conjunction with a pretest to measure their

achievement and the effectiveness of the program

(https://merriam-webster.com).

In this study, “posttest” referred to an 80-item

multiple choice mathematics performance test with four

options which is the same as that of the pretest but the

items were scrambled so that it would appear different from

the pretest. This was given to the participants after giving

them Strategic Intervention Material and self-learning

modules in teaching Mathematics after four weeks.

Delimitation of the Study

The quasi-experimental research design will be used to

determine the effects of online and modular distance

learning modalityof instruction on the Mathematics

performance of Grade 9 low achieving learners of Feliciano

Yusay Consing National High School during the school year

2021-2022.

This study will utilize all the low achieving learners

of Grade 9 that will be divided into two groups. Low

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achieving learners will be determine using their average

grade in the first and second grading of the S.Y. 2021-2022.

One group will be exposed in a traditional teaching learning

process without the use of Strategic Intervention Material

while the other group will be given Strategic Intervention

Material. The number of participants for both groups will be

determined by comparing their average grades during the

first and second grading of the S.Y. 2021-2022in Mathematics

to ensure similarity of both groups. Elimination of students

in each group will made until their grades become comparable

using t-test for independence. Those students who will be

selected in the first group was assigned in the experimental

group and will be taught under the self-learning module and

will be given Strategic Intervention Material as well while

the second group will be assigned in the control group and

will have a self-learning module only.

Data will be gathered using an 80-item researcher-made

Mathematics performance test to measure the Mathematics

performance of the students. The items covered topics during

the third grading period. The Mathematics performance test

will underwent content validation by the Mathematics

teachers of Feliciano Yusay Consing National High School and

panel of experts. After the validation, it was pilot tested

to thirty (30) students of who will not be included as

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participants of the study. The result of the pilot tested

will be used to determine the computer-processed factor

analysis and construct validation of the research instrument

used in the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS)

software. After the item analysis, the items that will be

left will be used as pretest and posttest instruments to

measure the Mathematics performance of the Grade 9students.

The independent variables in this study will be the use

of Strategic Intervention Material and self-learning modules

while the dependent variable will be the Mathematics

performance of the students.

The descriptive statistics that will be used in the

study were the frequency count, percentage, mean and

standard deviation. Moreover, for inferential statistical

tools, t-test for independent and dependent samples was

utilized. The alpha level of significance was set at 0.05.