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ENHANCING ACHIEVEMENT AND INTEREST IN MATHEMATICS

THROUGH THE USE OF MANIPULATIVE ACTIVITIES
IN GRADE 4 LEARNERS

An Action Research Presented to

The Faculty of Graduate School
GOLDEN GATE COLLEGES
Batangas City

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Master in Education
Major in Educational Management (Non-Theis)

Joanna Mae T. Armas

May 2023
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I. Context and Rationale

Teaching and learning for understanding requires a big swing.

Recognizing the changes in the standard of teaching cannot happen

overnight.

Teaching mathematics is challenging and animating because

significant changes are taking place in mathematics education. New

insights learned and children who are growing up in an ever-changing

society command a different approach to the teaching of mathematics.

According to Horton (2011), instructional strategies are ways in

which learning objectives can be achieved that have often been

formalized for use across various institutions. More specific

instructional strategies might prescribe timed intervals for certain types

of learning or might even have preset course materials designed to

teach a specific skill. In many cases, instructional strategies can be

though of as teaching technique but sometimes these strategies involve

more input from learners and are thus better outputs.

In current educational setting, instructional strategies are often

tested scientifically and designed to improve the learning experience of

the learners. More formalized strategies are developed and they

become flexible and can be used in most learning objectives. One of

those strategy used in teaching is the used or realia.

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Realia is a term for real things, concrete objects that are used in

the classroom to build background knowledge and vocabulary. It

provides the learners with experiences on which to build and an

opportunity to use all the senses in learning. The common realia used

by Mabini Central School Grade IV pupils are based on the following

categories: for beginner television timetables, cinema timetables, train

timetables, restaurant menus, post cards, bills, application forms and

recipes; for intermediate they used the following magazines, newspaper

articles, instruction manual, advert and flyers. Most of those realia

facilitates learning and lead our learners to perform well inside the

classroom.

This study focused on determining how effective the used of

manipulatives in teaching Mathematics subject among Grade IV pupils

in Pisa Elementary School. The researchers believed that teaching a

systematic presentation of facts, ideas, skills and strategies, leads to

more positive and productive teaching and learning experiences This

prompted the researchers to conduct the said study.

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II. Brief Review of Literature

Topics on realia were reviewed in this study to have clarity and

direction. Based on the gathered concepts and ideas the used of real

objects into the classroom made the learning experience more

memorable for the learner.

Harmer (2010) mentioned that in eduaction, realia are objects

from real life used in classroom instruction by educators to improve

students' understanding of other cultures and real life situations. A

teacher of a foreign language often employs realia to strengthen

students' associations between words for common objects and the

objects themselves. In many cases, these objects are part of an

instructional kit which includes a manual and is thus considered as

being part of a documentary whole by librarians.

Realia are also used to connect learners with the key focal point of

a lesson by allowing tactile and multidimensional connection between

learned material and the object of the lesson. They are best

represented by simple objects lending themselves to classroom settings

and ease of control with minimum risk of accident throughout the

student-object interaction.

Technology has begun to impact the use of realia by adding

the virtual realia option, whereby three-dimensional models can be

displayed through projection or on computer screens, allowing the

learner to see detail otherwise difficult to acquire and to manipulate the

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object within the medium on which it is displayed. The option of

zooming and looking within objects makes virtual realia an important

learning tool in technical environments where it may be difficult or

impractical to examine an object in as much detail manually, such as

the workings of living organs or machinery containing hazardous parts,

such as combustion engines.

In education, realia (/riˈeɪˌliˌə/ pron. ree-ay-lee-ah) are objects from real

life used in classroom instruction by educators to improve students'

understanding of other cultures and real life situations. A teacher of

a foreign language often employs realia to strengthen students'

associations between words for common objects and the objects

themselves. In many cases, these objects are part of an instructional kit

which includes a manual and is thus considered as being part of a

documentary whole by librarians.

Technology has begun to impact the use of realia by adding

the virtual realia option, whereby three-dimensional models can be

displayed through projection or on computer screens, allowing the

learner to see detail otherwise difficult to acquire and to manipulate the

object within the medium on which it is displayed. The option of

zooming and looking within objects makes virtual realia an important

learning tool in technical environments where it may be difficult or

impractical to examine an object in as much detail manually, such as

 olden ate Colleges raduate School
the workings of living organs or machinery containing hazardous parts,

such as combustion engines.

To put it simply, realia is “stuff” that is created either naturally or is

man-made. Realia can be objects that are used on a daily basis or even

object important to a certain culture from the past. More importantly, it is

the bringing of the physical world alive to students.

Realia helps to create a connection between the intangible world of

vocabulary to the tangible world of “stuff”. Having students use as many

sensory perceptions as possible to connect with a concept or event

strengthens the memory of what is being taught.

There are several kinds of Realia that can be used by the teacher.

They are: 1. The real object being learnt and it can possibly show to the

student, such as, stationeries (book, pencil, eraser, bag, pen, ruler, etc),

things in the classroom (table, chair, blackboard, picture, chalk, etc),

parts of the body (hand, hair, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, foot, etc), etc. 2.

The replica of the object if the real objects are not possible to bring to

the classroom, such as, animals (cow, goat, frog, cat, lion, dog, etc),

vehicles (bus, train, plane, motorcycle, etc), occupations (Doctor,

soldier, steward, policeman, fisherman, etc) etc. As a substitute of the

real object, the teacher can use dolls or toys. The main advantage of

using real objects into the classroom is to make the learning experience

more memorable for the learner.

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V. Research Question

The study aims to determine the use of realia approach in improving the

performance in Science among Grade VI in Mabini Central School.

1. What is the extent of effectiveness of using realia in teaching

science?

2. What is the significance difference between the Pre and Post Test

of pupils after the implementation of realia approach?

3. What is the impact of realia approach in the pupil’s performance in

science subject?

4. Based on the analysis, what suggested activities may be

formulated for effectiveness of realia in all science grade level.

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VI. Methodology

This part presents the research design, subjects of the study,

data gathering Instrument and procedure and statistical treatment of

data used in this research.

Research Design

The main purpose of this study is to study the vocabulary level of

the learners, identify the least mastered skills, the effectiveness of

vocabulary power exercises and identify or cite some activities to

strengthen learners’ vocabulary power strategy in teaching English 6

lessons.

To achieve the purpose of the research, the researcher employs

the descriptive method of research utilizing questionnaires, focus group

discussion and interview. The goal of descriptive research is to

understand a specific set of variables in a group of individuals,but stops

short of understanding the relationship between the variables, what

caused them or what their implications are. This study aims to briefly
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discuss vocabulary power strategy and its features in teaching English 6

lesson. It mainly focusses to gather relevant data to recommend this

approach in the current English teaching scenario. Surveys and

questionnaires are a cost-effective way to get input from large groups of

individuals in a relatively short time frame.

Descriptive research can be explained as a statement of affairs

as they are at present with the researcher having no control over

variable. Moreover, “descriptive studies may be characterized as simply

the attempt to determine, describe or identify what is, while analytical

research attempts to establish why it is that way or how it came to be.

According to Perwarden (2014) descriptive research is a method

used to gather quantifiable information for statistical inference by

describing, recording, and analyzing the gathered data to measure and

interpret the significance of some aspects about a group of respondents

and the population they represent and to reveal the strengths of target

group’s opinions, attitudes and behaviors with regards to a given

subject.