Republic of the Philippines

NEGROS ORIENTAL STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Teacher Education, Main Campus I
AACUP Re-accredited Level II
Kagawasan Avenue, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING DAMATH BOARD GAME IN IMPROVING

SELECTED GRADE 2 PUPILS’ MASTERY LEVEL IN FUNDAMENTAL
OPERATIONS

An
Action Research Proposal
Submitted to the
Faculty of College of Teacher Education
Negros Oriental State University

In Partial Fulfillment of Teaching Internship (ED 405)

By
Mondejar, Ferlan S.
Viente, Michael L.

2023

1|Page
 Republic of the Philippines
NEGROS ORIENTAL STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education, Main Campus I
AACUP Re-accredited Level II
Kagawasan Avenue, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
Table of Contents

Cover Page
Table of Contents …………………………………………………………………………… 2
I. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….. 3
II. Problem …………………………………………………………………………….…..... 5
III. Action Hypothesis to be Tested…………………………………………………………. 5
IV. Procedure……………………………………………....................................................... 6
a. Research Arrangement……………………………………………………………. 6
b. Data Collection Method……………………………………………………………7
c. Data Analysis……………………………………………………………………... 9

2|Page
 Republic of the Philippines
NEGROS ORIENTAL STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education, Main Campus I
AACUP Re-accredited Level II
Kagawasan Avenue, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
I. INTRODUCTION

One of the most challenging subjects in school for many pupils is mathematics. From

merely solving a simple equation to word problems, many are still struggling with understanding

and learning mathematical fundamental operations. A wide range of abilities and ideas are

included in mathematics. These knowledge areas and ideas are interconnected and frequently

build upon one another to help comprehend and resolve common issues. For mathematics facts

to make sense, operations must be comprehended. Learning fundamental mathematical ideas and

techniques should be fun and exciting rather than a tedious task for the students.

In history with the intervention, DaMath was a board game that was popular in the

Philippines. Jesus Huenda, the creator, developed the math game dama in the late 1970s as a

result of his difficulties instructing pupils in basic math (Huenda, 2010). His aim was to

transform mathematics into an enjoyable and educational subject for the students. After the

events of introducing the game to the country, the game has become highly addictive and

Huenda received a presidential merit award for his educational project. Since it was thought to be

an effective training tool for mathematics, the game has received widespread promotion in

schools all over the country. DaMath is composed of chips, which signifies numbers, and a board

similar to chess but with the basic mathematical symbols in it. The invention of DaMath

contributed techniques for educators to improve numeracy skills among students, particularly in

primary education

The basic mathematical operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division

are taught to students in elementary school. If students struggle to grasp these fundamental

3|Page
 Republic of the Philippines
NEGROS ORIENTAL STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education, Main Campus I
AACUP Re-accredited Level II
Kagawasan Avenue, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
procedures throughout their primary school year, they will find it challenging to achieve in high

school and college (NMAP, 2008). Furthermore, Fuson (2018) pointed out that the students' lack

of fundamental knowledge on fundamental operations is making things challenging for them. In

order to assist students’ better understanding of mathematical fundamental operations, research

on interventions is required.

The primary level pupils of Valencia Central Elementary School, particularly the Grade

2- SSEC students of Ma’am Cedlynette Villegas happened to have some pupils who struggle in

performing the mathematical fundamental operations such as addition, subtraction,

multiplication, and division. This is alarming as SSEC sections are composed of “advanced

students” who are/may expected of greater achievement than other sections. This study will

investigate into solving the dilemma through the utilization of DaMath board game as

intervention strategy in enhancing learners' mastery level in fundamental operations. The

researchers selected DaMath for the proposed action research plan since this ushers the pupils

into the new millennium by equipping them with competitive life-long learning skills and

understanding.

As to the significance, the learners will benefit from this study since this game-based

learning satisfies their educational goals while they are having fun. It will also be advantageous

to the teachers when using DaMath board game as a useful tool in preparing their mathematics

lessons with a focus on boosting the mastery level of the pupils’ fundamental operations.

Additionally, it will assist them in creating another unique, locally relevant games that teachers

may use to make math lessons more engaging and enjoyable for students.

4|Page
 Republic of the Philippines
NEGROS ORIENTAL STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education, Main Campus I
AACUP Re-accredited Level II
Kagawasan Avenue, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental

II. PROBLEM

ACTION RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This research intends to investigate the effectiveness of using DaMath Board Game in

improving the fundamental operational skills of selected Grade 2 learners at Valencia Central

Elementary School.

This study specifically intends to answer the following questions:

1. What is the level of performance of the pupils that are lag behind in fundamental

operations?

2. What is the level of performance of the pupils that are lag behind in fundamental

operations after the implementation of DaMath Board Game?

3. Is there a significant difference on the level of performance of the pupils that are lag

behind in fundamental operations as compared to after the implementation of DaMath

Board Game?

III. ACTION HYPOTHESIS TO BE TESTED

The various hypotheses under investigation shall be tested at 5% or 0.05 level of

significance.

5|Page
 Republic of the Philippines
NEGROS ORIENTAL STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education, Main Campus I
AACUP Re-accredited Level II
Kagawasan Avenue, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
H 0: There is no significant difference on the level of performance of the pupils that are

lag behind in fundamental operations as compared to after the implementation of DaMath Board

Game.

H¹: There is a significant difference on the level of performance of the pupils that are

lag behind in fundamental operations as compared to after the implementation of DaMath Board

Game.

IV. PROCEDURE

a. Research Arrangement

ACTIVITIES/STRATEGIES TIMELINE/TIME PERSON/S MEANS OF

FRAME INVOLVED VERIFICATION
Acquire information regarding Researchers Class record
the pupils' fundamental and Teacher
operational skills. 1 DAY

Evaluate the performance of Researchers Class record

learners using data collected and Teacher
prior to intervention.
Request a brief meeting Researchers Learning Session
session with the teacher. and Teacher
Formulate possible 1 DAY Researchers Class record and
interventions to address the Observation sheet
problem.
Implementation of the DaMath 1 WEEK Researchers Face-to-face
Board Game to be played and Teacher Classes

6|Page
 Republic of the Philippines
NEGROS ORIENTAL STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education, Main Campus I
AACUP Re-accredited Level II
Kagawasan Avenue, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
every day in 1 week only
during the vacant time of the
selected students.
Assessing learners’ progress Teacher and
after the intervention has been Pupils
implemented. 1 DAY Class record

Evaluation of the action Researchers

research plan. and Teacher

b. Data Collection Method

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This section exhibits the research design, research respondents, research environment,

data gathering procedure, and statistical treatment of data which is utilized in this study to

determine the effectiveness of using Damath Board Game in improving selected Grade 2 Pupils’

mastery level in Fundamental Operations. A descriptive approach will be used to garner the

findings intended for this study. The above-mentioned are discussed below.

Research Design

The researchers will be investigating on the effectiveness of using Damath Board Game

in improving the selected Grade 2 Pupils’ mastery level in Fundamental Operations. In this

study, the design to be used is quantitative. According to Muldyagin (2018), the quantitative

approach can be used to study the relationship between variables and utilize descriptive

statistical analysis through collected results from the DaMath board game to assist in the

7|Page
 Republic of the Philippines
NEGROS ORIENTAL STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education, Main Campus I
AACUP Re-accredited Level II
Kagawasan Avenue, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
presenting of the research findings. Furthermore, the approach to be used is descriptive

correlational. This study shows the information of the variables as well as the relationships that

exist between and among them. In addition, it is used to describe, examine, and interpret the

effectiveness of using DaMath Board Game as well as to analyze the learning status and situation

of the Grade 2- SSEC learners when it comes to numeracy skills specifically on fundamental

operations.

An intervention strategy will be given to the selected Grade 2- SSEC pupils at Valencia

Central Elementary School. A board game which is called DaMath will be used as intervention

in mastering the fundamental operational skills of the pupils in which a piece of board, also

known as illustration board or cardboard, and chips made of cardboard, poker chips, and bottle

caps are the current materials. Each player will begin the game with 16 chips labelled with

numbers. These chips are used to attack and capture opponent’s pieces. A player may only move

a single chip at a time or tackle an opponent’s chip. Moving a chip means placing the selected

chip diagonally in a forward direction only except in the special case known as dama. In

tackling, the ‘taker’ chip jumps over the opponent’s chip and uses any of the four arithmetic

symbols of +, –, ×, and ÷, where the ‘taker’ chip lands.

Research Respondents

The research respondents will be selected Grade 2- SSEC pupils from Valencia Central

Elementary School who are lag behind in fundamental operations. Researchers use descriptive

and correlational research methods to share their perceptions on the effectiveness of using

Damath Board Game in improving the selected Grade 2 Pupils’ mastery level in Fundamental

8|Page
 Republic of the Philippines
NEGROS ORIENTAL STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education, Main Campus I
AACUP Re-accredited Level II
Kagawasan Avenue, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
Operations. The pupils from Grades 2- SSEC will be chosen as research respondents because it is

one of the year levels observed by the one of the researchers and also, this has been observed by

the researchers that this year level and section experienced difficulties in understanding and

solving math equations using the fundamental operations.

Research Environment

This study will be conducted at Valencia Central Elementary School. The researchers

choose to conduct the study in the mentioned school because it is the school where they interned

in.

Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers will seek permission first from the Office of the School Principal. After

the approval, the approved letter will be sent to the adviser whose class is being observed.

Afterward, the approved letter will be attached to the parent’s consent for the purpose of letting

the selected students’ parents know of the study of which their sons/daughters are part of. During

the conduction of the study, DaMath board games will be given to the selected pupils. Each pair

of pupils will be given one board game, chips, and score sheets. There will be two players in this

board game and only one score sheet will be used in every game. The pupils will be asked to

play the game for a week and the researchers will collect their score sheets. To monitor the

conduct of the study, score sheets will be checked by the researcher. Mean will be used to

analyze the result of the study.

c. Data Analysis

9|Page
 Republic of the Philippines
NEGROS ORIENTAL STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education, Main Campus I
AACUP Re-accredited Level II
Kagawasan Avenue, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental

Mean will be used to analyze the result of the study.

Statistical Treatment of Data

The following are the statistical tools to employ in analyzing and interpreting the data

gathered:

Sample Mean. This will be used to determine the effectiveness of using DaMath Board

Game in improving the fundamental operational skills of selected Grade 2 learners at Valencia

Central Elementary School.

The effectiveness of using DaMath Board Game in improving the fundamental

operational skills of selected Grade 2 learners shall be identified using the Likert scale which is

illustrated below:

Scale Frequency
1.00 – 1.80 Not at all Effective
1. 81 – 2.60 Slightly Effective
2.61 –3.40 Moderately Effective
3.41 – 4.20 Very Effective
4. 21 – 5.00 Extremely Effective

Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient. This is used to identify the degree of

relationship between the level of performance of the pupils that are lag behind in fundamental

operations and the level of performance of the pupils that are lag behind in fundamental

operations after the implementation of DaMath Board Game.

10 | P a g e
 Republic of the Philippines
NEGROS ORIENTAL STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education, Main Campus I
AACUP Re-accredited Level II
Kagawasan Avenue, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental
To interpret the correlation value (r) obtained, the researcher applied the following

classifications.

±1.00 - perfect correlation

Between ±0.80 and ±0.99 - very high correlation

Between ±0.60 and ±0.79 - high correlation

Between ±0.40 and ±0.59 - marked correlation

Between ±0.20 and ±0.39 - slight correlation

Between ±0.01 and ±0.19 - negligible correlation

11 | P a g e