Orca Share Media1520165053700
Orca Share Media1520165053700
Orca Share Media1520165053700
If you hear the word “Mathematics” what comes first in your mind? Is it the
hardship of solving one problem? Is it those many formulas that are needed to be
memorized? Is it that long solution on a single problem just to only come up with an
answer of zero (0) or one (1)? Or is it just a piece of cake that you can solve in just a
minute? In most cases of some students, they despise the word “Math” and give terrible
In the new curriculum of the Department of Education, which is the K-12, two
more years are added in the school system. This is known as the Senior High School
(SHS). It refers to Grades 11 and 12, the last two years of the K-12 program. Students
in SHS begin to study the subjects that will introduce them to their preferred career path.
Mathematics is an essential subject for the SHS students especially to those who prefer
the academic track. This subject is being studied in all of the strands that are included in
and change. There is a range of views among the mathematicians and philosophers as
to the exact scope and definition of Mathematics. It is divided to different branches such
Chemistry.
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As the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (1991) made this statement:
“One of the curious aspects of our society is that it is socially acceptable to take pride in
being good in Mathematics.” Since Math is known as one of the hardest subjects taught
in school, students tend to create a “myth” stating that Math is hard. This so-called myth
gets passed on until the only thing they remember whenever they hear the word “Math”
is that it is hard. Thus, it will be stuck inside their minds in which will eventually lead to
fear of the subject. Fearing the subject will also lead to having math anxiety. The more
you get anxious with the subject, the more you will avoid it. And that is one of the
mathematical concepts and evaluation methods (Cates & Rhymer, 2003). Math anxiety
can lead to several consequences. For example, Suinn and Richardson (1972) found
that mathematics anxiety may prevent students from pursuing higher-level math
courses. HO, Senturk, Lam Zimmer, Hong, Okamoto, Chui, Nakazawa, & Wang (2000)
stated, “Math anxiety has been found to have a negative relationship with mathematics
This research focuses on the factors why SHS students in CDS get bad grades
or fail in Mathematics. With the help of this, the researchers can identify the main cause
of the problem and also determine the methods in order to solve the problem. The
This research aims to know the status of the performance of the SHS students in
Colegio de Sebastian when it comes to Mathematics. It will look for the reasons why
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(only if) most of the students have failing grades in math-related subjects. It will also
provide solutions and services in helping them achieve a better performance in these
subjects.
This is also to encourage the students to like Mathematics and to motivate them
In January 20, 2011, Colegio de Sebastian was founded by a couple who are
known philanthropists and educators. Its primary purpose is to offer accessible quality in
the tertiary level, the couple’s dream for the young people of Pampanga. It was
to the community. The initial programs in the School of Business and Accountancy are
and Bachelor of Management. The initial program in the school of Arts and Sciences is
It was named after Mr.Sebastian Pagcu, the husband of the president, Mrs.Carina
Pagcu. Its sister school is the Infant Jesus Academy. In the year 2012, CDS in
partnership with IJA, began to offer Senior High School especially the academic track
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San Fernando was established as an individual municipality on August 15, 1754
during the term of Spanish Governor General Pedro Manuel de Arandia. Among the first
families to reside in the capital city were the Arrozals, the Catacutans, and the Davids.
San Fernando got its name from King Ferdinand II of Spain. 1756 marked the building
of the first Catholic Church that was headed by Father Sebastian Moreno. The town
celebrates its fiesta every 30th of May. Aside from this, San Fernando celebrates a wide
variety of festivals but it is famous for the annual Giant Lantern Festival celebrated
The capital city truly boasts a rich culture that would attract the attention of not
only tourists but of residents as well. From the lively festivities to the sumptuous dishes
all the way to the historical and natural sites, you can find it all in San Fernando,
Pampanga.
conducted to which the present proposed study is related or has some bearing or
similarity. They are usually unpublished materials such as manuscripts, theses, and
dissertations.
There are different articles in forms of surveys that proves Math is, indeed, the
subject that students perform badly at; in which are helpful to this research since this
research is all about finding reasons and solutions and is also in putting an effort to put
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According to the Gallup youth survey conducted by Lydia Saad (2005), entitled
“Math Problematic for U.S. Teens” one of the articles in a form of a survey that made
the researchers assume that getting bad grades or failing math subjects is common for
the students was the subject that the teenagers find most difficult is Mathematics. Thus,
Saad (2005) said that it is not surprising how the subject has the lowest performance
rate. The relevance of this topic is that it proves that Mathematics is a difficult subject
said that repetition in Mathematics is common among UP students that almost one out
of three repeat a mathematics course. Cabahug and Ladot (2005) also said that the
faculty of the UP Cebu National Science and Mathematics Division or NSMD has felt
the declining performance of students in basic Math. This article helped this study to
have a strong basis that even students in bigger universities also have failing grades in
Math.
According to the study of Hidi (2011), entitled "Interest and its contribution as a
information is determined by our interest most of the time. It is an article that is helpful
for the researchers in determining the factors why some students find math subjects
difficult and how psychological and physiological aspects of students affect their
performance on the subject is a study by Hidi (2011), She continued that our interests
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can also affect our cognitive functions and learning. She proposed that there is a huge
is interesting or not. This article indicated that the grades of the students depend on
their behaviour toward Mathematics. This will help the researchers in finding the causes
Furthermore, the researchers' learned about that one factor why students fail and
why some students do not want to pursue college because of their fear in higher level
Math courses is this one factor, or rather, condition called Math anxiety. According to
the journal of Cates, G. L., & Rhymer, K. N. (2003) entitled “Examining the relationship
reactions to mathematical concepts and evaluation methods). Math anxiety can lead to
several consequences. For example, Suinn and Richardson (1972) found that
mathematics anxiety may prevent students from pursuing higher-level math courses.
HO, Senturk, Lam Zimmer, Hong, Okamoto, Chui, Nakazawa, & Wang (2000) stated,
“Math anxiety has been found to have negative relationships with mathematics
inability to concentrate, a blank mind, and a feeling of sickness when they are
confronted with taking a math test. Math anxiety is described as “feelings of tension and
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anxiety that interfere with the manipulation of mathematical problems in a wide variety
of ordinary life and academic situations.” Educators need to recognize the causes of
math anxiety – such as poor math instruction, negative attitudes about math, negative
math experiences, and low self-esteem. This helped this study to have a further basis
objectives and fundamentals. The objectives identify the goals and purposes of financial
reporting and the fundamentals are the underlying concepts that help achieve those
circumstances to be accounted for, how they should be recognized and measured, and
Teacher Competency
in Mathematics
Education
Instructional
Strategies and Motivation or
Methods Concentration
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These five are the factors affecting the performance of students in Mathematics.
First is the teacher competency in Mathematics education, many studies report that
what teachers know and believe about mathematics is directly connected to their
instructional choices and procedures (Brophy, 1990; Brown, 1985; National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics, 1989; Thompson, 1992; Wilson, 1990a, b). Geliert (1999)
also reported that "in Mathematics education research, it seems to be undisputed that
mathematics classes" (p. 24). Teachers need to have skills and knowledge to apply
mathematical knowledge and concepts in ways that transform their meaning and
hypothesize the facts and ideas of mathematics. Students with high arithmetic ability or
Third is curriculum, many concerns have been emphasized in the literature about
the existing math curricula that emphasize students should never learn to compute, but
that students must learn how to critically analyze mathematical problems and produce
effective solutions. This requires them to learn, how to make sense of complex math
the ability to understanding one’s current state of knowledge, build on it, improve it, and
make changes or decisions in the face of conflicts. To do this requires problem solving,
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abstracting, inventing, and proving (Romberg, 1983). These are fundamental cognitive
for today’s education is that it requires disciplined study, concentration and motivation.
addressed by a problem solving team and should be presented to them (or created by
them) before they try to solve a problem. On the other hand, a statement of the problem
is a claim of one or two sentences in length that outlines the problem addressed by a
study. The statement of the problem should briefly address the question. When bringing
together a team to achieve a particular purpose, they would be provided with a problem
statement.
This research states the problem about students getting bad grades in Math-
related subjects.
2. What factors should be considered in order to improve the skills of the students in
3. How should the students handle or cope up with their grades in Math?
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4. Will the teaching strategies of Math teachers change or improve with the help of this
study?
1. A lot of factors contribute to students’ failure in Mathematics such as not seeking help,
lack of practice, insufficient prior knowledge, not asking questions, difficulty paying
attention, loss of motivation, and hate for the subject. Some external factors include
2. In order to improve a students’ skill in Math, he/she should have good attitude and
behavior toward their studies, should be focused and willing to learn and solve problems,
and be an attentive listener. The student’s instructor should also be able to help him/her
3. Students should accept their grade but should aim to get a passing grade for the next
quarter. They should not complain. Instead, they, themselves should make ways on
4. Yes, this study will affect the teaching strategies of Math teachers. By reading this
research, they will have more knowledge and learn the status of the students when it
comes to Mathematics. In that way, they will know what to improve or change with their
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5. Yes, the students' performances improve with the help of this study. Students will be
able to learn the different factors why they get bad grades in Math. They will also know
With this research aspiring to know the factors why most of the students find
Math-related subjects difficult and why poor performances were mostly observed in
these subjects, only shows that this research will provide the reasons and the main
cause of the said problem. This research will also provide methods in order to give
solutions for the problem. The status of the performances of Senior High School
students in Colegio de Sebastian were covered in this study which only concludes that
this research will only be gathering information or data from SHS students of Colegio de
Sebastian.
The researchers provided the definition of some terms in this research for better
comprehension.
Calculus - the branch of mathematics that deals with the finding and properties of
infinitesimal differences
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Chemistry - the branch of science that deals with the identification of the substances of
Math anxiety - a feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear that interferes with math
performance
Meta-analysis - is the statistical procedure for combining data from multiple studies.
particular attribute.
Philanthropist- a person who seeks to promote the welfare of others, especially by the
Physics - the branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and
energy. The subject matter of physics, distinguished from that of chemistry and biology,
includes mechanics, heat, light and other radiation, sound, electricity, magnetism, and
factors
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Statistics - the practice or science of collecting and analyzing numerical data in large
quantities, especially for the purpose of inferring proportions in a whole from those in a
representative sample
Methodology
A research design refers to the overall strategy that you choose to integrate the
different components of the study in a coherent and logical way, thereby, ensuring you
will effectively address the research problem; it constitutes the blueprint for the
collection, measurement, and analysis of data. It typically includes how data is collected,
what instruments will be employed, how the instruments will be used and the intended
Qualitative research is the type of research design used in this study. Qualitative
research is a type of social science research that collects and works with non-numerical
data and that seeks to interpret meaning from these data that help us understand social
This research aims to know the reasons why students get failing grades in any
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understand their reasons as well as their opinions in order to provide solutions and
The target respondents for this study are the Senior High School students of
Colegio de Sebastian. The total number of the population of the SHS students is 212.
One hundred students (20 students per section) were chosen to answer the pre-survey
questions; and of those 100 students, 15 students were chosen to answer the survey-
questionnaires. They are chosen to be the target participants because they are the main
focus of this research. Nowadays, the students who are getting lower grades in math-
related subjects are mostly Senior High School students. Knowing that Senior High
School has many math-related subjects, the researchers chose the said students
because they are near to them and with that, they can easily obtain information. Also,
according to the numbers of students in this school, the researchers will easily know
who and how many of the students are getting bad grades in Math-related subjects.
A sample design is the framework, or road map, that serves as the basis for the
selection of a survey sample and affects many other important aspects of a survey as
well. In a broad context, survey researchers are interested in obtaining some type of
The kind of sampling design that the researchers used is Probability Sampling
participants that represent the population are identified and included in the sample.
Cluster involves cluster of participants that represent the population are identified and
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Out of the 212 students of Senior High School, the researchers chose 100
students as their target participants. Twenty students in each section were chosen to
answer the pre-survey questions. The numbers of participants who will be chosen to
answer the questionnaire were based on the answer of the 100 students in the pre-
survey.
to gather data about the Correspondence of Senior High School Students of Colegio de
The researchers chose this kind of instrument for reasons that the information
needed can easily obtained with the question directly handed to them, the exact
The researchers gathered data by means of survey forms. They have prepared
different questions that will be included in their pre-survey and survey questionnaires.
These questions were allotted to be given and answered by the target participants or
respondents of this research. The questions indicated will provide the needed data for
this research for further analysis and conclusions to be made. These questions will be
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After the researchers obtained the data from their respondents, they tallied the
answers based on who answered yes or no in the pre-survey. Those who have
answered yes with a grade ranging from 70-85 were chosen to answer the survey
questionnaires. The researchers then analyzed the gathered data by comparing and
drawing conclusions based on the answers of the respondents by the allotted questions
Based on the answers of the chosen respondents, the researchers found out that
the students usually have negative reactions such as nervousness, confusion, shock,
worriedness, difficulty, and pressure when seeing mathematical problems. Also, most of
them said that they get stressed when having Math lessons. The respondents have
difficulties in both computing and analyzing Mathematical problems. Almost all of the
students think that the reason why they are having a hard time in certain Math subjects
is because of lack or loss or motivation and focus. To improve their skills in Math
subjects, different answers were obtained. The respondents said that they should be
more attentive and listen more to better understand the lessons, be focused and
motivated, practice more in analyzing and computing, study hard, and self-study. More
For the question that asks the single most important factor in learning Math,
different answers were obtained such as patience, studying hard, critical thinking, the
teacher, attentiveness, determination, and being familiar with the concept of numbers.
However, more students answered focus, motivation, and analyzation. The respondents
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said that they would cope with their grades in Math-related subjects by reminding
themselves of their skills in other subjects, more focused, studying harder, reviewing
Math per se is indeed a difficult subject as it was said by most of the respondents.
Most of them have the same initial reaction which is a negative one when encountering
answered "yes" to a question if they get stressed when having Math lessons is higher
than those of respondents who answered "no," which led the researchers to a
conclusion that having Math anxiety is one of the reasons why students get bad grades
in Math-related subjects. Also, it is their lack and loss of motivation and focus are what
fueled the problem even more since majority of them answered this.
It was concluded that no other factors affect the students in getting bad grades in
Math-related subjects other than themselves. It is also in the students if they are willing
to improve and increase their skills on the subject. Hard work, patience, and
determination of a student are what will help them learn Mathematics. Mathematics is
The researchers would like to recommend for those who will take this study as
their research topic may gather data from different schools in order to find an even
wider range of answers from different perspectives. This will make them see better
solutions to the general problem. They may also use different methods in analyzing the
data gathered in which they think is a lot better for them to understand and therefore
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make a conclusion. They may also gather information from school professionals that
Based on the results from the survey, the researchers did further analyzation of
the answers and found that students are truly having a hard time on Math-related
subjects. This was found when their initial reaction when encountering these subjects
was mostly negative. The reason for asking if they feel stressed when having Math
lessons is to know whether they have Math anxiety or not; the results were mostly "yes"
from the respondents meaning that Math anxiety is one of the reasons why students get
bad grades in Math, knowing that Math avoidance is the product of Math anxiety.
The loss of motivation and focus is the most said reason of the students on why
they think they are having a hard time on the subjects. So, it is the students who are in
charge of the results or grades they get if they continue to lack motivation and focus.
However, the students knew what to do and what they lack in order to improve their
performances on the subjects. They knew what they should be doing and what not.
Basically, it is the students' will or desire to learn are what will be helping them to
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_anxiety
http://cds.edu.ph/aboutus.ph
https://thekapampanganway.wordpress.com/history-of-san-fernando/
www.officialgazette.gov.ph/k-12/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics
https://www.scribd.com/doc/7103441/Causes-of-Negative-Attitudes-Toward-
Mathematics-in-Middle-School-Students
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AND-STUDIES/
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libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/researchdesigns
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Questionnaire
Cabahug, L., Ladot, C(2005). The Academic Performance in Basic Mathematics of UPV
Cebu College Freshmen From School Years 2000-2001 to 2003-2004: A Basis For
Cates, G. L., & Rhymer, K. N. (2003). Examining the relationship between mathematics
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APPENDIX A
Colegio de Sebastian
Mac Arthur Highway, San Isidro, City of San Fernando, Pampanga
Ma’am,
Greetings!
We, the Grade 12 students of Colegio de Sebastian, are conducting a research work
entitled: Correspondence of Senior High School Students of Colegio de Sebastian on
Getting Bad Grades in Math-related Subjects and are going to conduct a survey on this
topic.
In connection with this, we would like to request your good person to allow us to
conduct a pre survey in your school for us to be able to determine our target
respondents for the said research. As part of our data gathering, we will randomly
distribute survey questionnaires to the students after the pre-survey. Any given
information will be treated with confidentiality.
We earnestly hope that this request be given your most favorable attention and
consideration.
Thank you.
Noted by:
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APPENDIX B
Colegio de Sebastian
Mac Arthur Highway, San Isidro, City of San Fernando, Pampanga
Name:____________________________ Age:_______
Gender:________ Year/Section:________________
Rest assured that whatever information given in this survey will be treated with
utmost confidentiality.
Yes No
APPENDIX C
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Colegio de Sebastian
Mac Arthur Highway, San Isidro, City of San Fernando, Pampanga
Name:____________________________ Age:_______
Gender:________ Year/Section:________________
Rest assured that whatever information given in this survey will be treated with
utmost confidentiality.
Answer:____________________________________________________________
_
Answer:____________________________________________________________
_
4. What do you think is/are the cause/s on why you are having a hard time on these
subjects? (You can check more than 1 box.)
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Answer:____________________________________________________________
_
6. What do you think is the single most important factor in learning mathematics?
Answer:____________________________________________________________
_
Answer:____________________________________________________________
_
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