Action Research Proposal: Mathematics Problem-Solving Skill And Reading Comprehension

It cannot be denied that problem solving is an important part of Mathematics education. Mathematics, in general, is an important subject because of its practical role to a person and the society as a whole. However, before a student can successfully solve a problem, he has to posses good reading comprehension, analytic and computational skills.

_________________________________________________________________

I. Situation

Problem solving in Mathematics and reading comprehension go hand in hand. Solving Math problems entails or requires the students to do or apply two skills at the same time- reading and computing. It is a two-edged sword which the student should conquer, so to speak.

As a teacher of Mathematics in Grade 6 for five years in the public school, I have encountered many pupils who are poor both in comprehending and analyzing Mathematics word problems. Specifically in SY 2010-2011 Grade 6 class, only 11 out of 60 pupils can successfully solve problems in Math without or with just little help from the teacher. The rest need to be guided to understand the problem. Approximately 82% find it hard to picture the situation indicated by the problem they are trying to solve. The slow ones would even ask the meaning of a certain word in the problem. When they have understood it, it is only then that they fully grasp the event/situation pictured in the problem. However, there are still some who cannot understand it, probably because they can’t connect or relate the ideas explained in the problem. When it is time to analyze or break down the problem, only the 11 pupils mentioned earlier can actively participate.

During group activities, the leaders would most often report that their members have to be monitored closely so that they would be able to correctly analyze the problem. Based on their report, roughly 3 out of 7 members actively contribute in their output.

That is why, during formative tests, only11 can get a perfect score. Majority of the class get 0-3 correct answers out of 5 given problems. Since the beginning of the school year, I have noticed that roughly 85%of the class has poor reading comprehension skills. The Grade 5 teacher warned me beforehand that this class is the slowest batch he has handled; particularly in reading comprehension. Many of the pupils in the class have poor vocabulary skills. True enough, I experience the same thing now. It seems that the present batch of pupils is worse than the previous one. Translating this into analyzing the problems in Mathematics, there is a grim prospect that they would find it hard to understand Math problems and thus affect their performance in the said area,notwithstanding their numerical skills. In straight computations like plain addition, multiplication, subtraction and division, they can solve them successfully with very little help. But when these are written in the verbal context-not in the numerical context- they are already at a loss, so to speak. Obviously, the bane of these pupils is the understanding of the contents of the math problems correctly and connecting the ideas expressed in it to fully grasp and find a way to successfully solve the problem.

________________________________________________________________

II. The Problem

The problem is the failure of the Grade VI pupils of Zapote Elementary School, SY 2011-2012, to correctly analyze word problems in Mathematics due to poor reading comprehension abilities.

Possible Causes:

1. Limited vocabulary words in Mathematics

2. Lack of technique in solving word problems

_________________________________________________________________

III. Generation of Alternative Solution

This action research offers alternative solution to the following:

1. Limited Mathematics vocabulary

a. Provide unlocking of difficulties through vocabulary development before the beginning of the Math class

b. Establish a tutor-tutee relationship wherein a good pupil tutors or teaches a slow classmate assigned to him in areas of reading comprehension and problem-solving

c. Provide interesting and challenging vocabulary activities involving Mathematics vocabulary such as in contests and games

2. Lack of technique in solving word problems

a. Organize the given information found in the problem

b. Use object representation and manipulatives to picture clearly the given Math problem

c. Substitute large numbers by simpler numbers or restate the problem in much simpler terms through improved reading comprehension

d. Make a number sentence out of the word problem

e. Use the “trial and error” method or the “guess and check”

________________________________________________________________

IV. Plan of Action

a. Objectives

1. Improve the pupils’ limited vocabulary wordsin Mathematics and enhance reading comprehension ability of the students

2. Develop the pupils’ techniques in solving word problems

b. Time Frame

This study will be conducted for one quarter, from July to September of SY 2011-2012

c. Target Subjects

The target subjects for this study are the Grade VI pupils of Zapote Elementary School during the academic year 2011-2012.

d. Activities to be Undertaken

V. Evaluation Criteria

The result of this research shall be reported after 100% of the Grade VI pupils have improved their Mathematics problem-solving skills.

______________________________________________________________

VI.Research Design

This action research is purely descriptive in nature which uses pre-test/post-test results and survey results to address the pupils’ problem.