BOARD WORK PAIRING IN THE RETENTION OF SKILLS

INVOLVING RECTANGULAR COORDINATE SYSTEM

TO IMPROVE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN
MATHEMATICS OF GRADE 8-HICKORY

Ermil P. Gabuat
Teacher I – Mathematics
Muntinlupa Business High School
Division of Muntinlupa City

Keywords: board work, pairing, rectangular coordinate system, and

retention of skills, academic performance

ABSTRACT

It is demonstrated that attitude towards mathematics are

related to performance (Akey, 2006). Anxiety towards mathematics
hampers retention of basic skills leading to stunted development of
critical thinking and problem solving. Cooperative learning as a core
principle with which the K-12 Mathematics curriculum is grounded
upon should be utilized to counter the feelings of anxiety. To this
end, paired board work exercises was implemented as an
intervention. A pre-test and post-test was administered before and
after the intervention, respectively. The test scores were analysed
using Paired Sample t-test that determined significant difference in
the overall performance of students after the intervention was
implemented. Recommendations on the integration of cooperative
learning and board work exercises are given in aid of improving
quality of instruction.

INTRODUCTION

The twin goal of the Mathematics Curriculum as per the

Department of Education Guide is Problem Solving and Critical
Thinking grounded on constructivism and cooperative learning in
the classroom setting. The Grade 8 level offers a new dimension of
Mathematics as it merges Algebra and Geometry through the

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rectangular coordinate system. However, there a common hurdle
with which mastery is attained is the failure of grasping the basic
mathematic skills in arithmetic and stunts development of critical
thinking skills. Various factors attribute to this failure to attain
mastery of the basic topics such as language barriers in instruction,
limited access to resources such as technology and books, and
anxiety towards the subject in itself.

Cooperative Learning, being a primary principle in learning

mathematics effectively, therefore, becomes an essential tool in
bridging gaps of understanding and lack of resources. To alleviate
the quality of delivery of mathematics, students learn better
through the aid of peer learning. This also helps in minimizing the
anxiety of students in dealing with mathematics problems in
general.

Having performance tasks take a large portion of student

grades in the K-12 setting, it is imperative that students are given
simulations of demonstrating their skills and determine their
weaknesses so as to improve on them with immediate feedback.
Board work exercises provide a good platform for students to show
their skill development and assess what they can improve on as
affirmed by the teacher.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine the effects of board work

pairing exercises in relation to the rectangular coordinate system in
the retention of mathematics skills in the improvement of academic
performance of selected Grade 8 students from Muntinlupa
Business High School - Main.

These Grade 8 students are of homogeneous intellectual

capabilities that have varying performances in mathematics based
on their performances in class and various assessments of the 1 st
Quarter (SY 2017 – 2018).

Specifically, this study aimed to answer the question:

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 Does the implementation of board work pairing exercises to
rectangular coordinate system in the retention of skills in
mathematics improve academic performance of Grade 8 students?

Hypotheses

This study ordeal the null hypotheses below:

There is no significant improvement in the academic performance of

Grade 8 students after implementation of board work pairing
exercises.

Conceptual Framework

Board Work
Pre-Test Pairing Post-Test
Exercises

Figure 1 Research paradigm

The board work pairing exercises served as an intervention

to the teacher-centered lecture type of learning. This directly
involves students in a simulation of an interactive learning session
for mathematics discussion. A pre-test and post-test was
administered to determine if there is significant effect on the overall
performance of students in mathematics.

Scope and Delimitations of the Study

This study used an experimental research design to

determine if there was a significant effect on the performance of
Grade 8 students after implementation of board work pairings to
solve problems involving rectangular coordinate system. The data is
gathered through the use of a pre-test and post-test method, before

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and after the intervention was implemented to Grade 8 section
Hickory students composed of 29 males and 24 females of
homogeneous composition in terms of their academic performance
and ability.

The research focused mainly on the performance through

test scores of the students in the pre-test and post-test administered
before and after implementation of the intervention.

The intervention was delimited to solving problems that

involved rectangular coordinate system, particularly graphing linear
equations in two variables and solving systems of linear equations in
two variables. Specifically, problems that require basic addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division and substitution in solving for
variables, and problems that require construction of a rectangular
coordinate system were used in the paired exercises which is where
the 2nd Quarter of the curriculum focuses upon.

METHOD

A. Selection of the Topic

The Rectangular Coordinate System is a topic in Grade 8

Mathematics that merges the arithmetic and geometric aspect of
the subject and is also a pre-requisite knowledge in higher level
topics of the subject. This, therefore, makes understanding of said
topic to become a vital cog being the basic building block in the
deeper understanding, not only of mathematics, but the other
subjects as well, such as Physics and Economics.

High school students according to Akey (2006) showed that

attitudes toward mathematics are related to performance.
Consequently, this is related to the anxiety levels of students toward
mathematics contribute to poor performance of students. Despite
this, low-achievers tend to excel in cooperative learning classroom
(Poore, 2008). Therefore, pair work in answering Mathematics

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problems was chosen to reinforce abilities and minimize anxiety
towards the task at hand.

The two point of interests were combined by implementing

a paired work exercise on problems relating to the rectangular
coordinate system to analyse its effect on the retention of concepts
indicated by the overall performance of the students.

B. Selection of the Respondents

Grade 8 students of one section from Muntinlupa Business

High School composed of heterogeneous composition in terms of
intelligence level were selected to participate in the study. All valid
data samples were used in the analysis as long as the student
completed both the pre-test and post-test and has taken the
intervention exercises.

C. Pre-Test, Post-Test, and Intervention

C. 1. Pre-Test and Post-Test

A pre-test was administered before the paired board work

exercises was given to the students using the 2 nd Quarter Periodic
Examination of the previous school year that followed the same
curriculum and evaluated the same set of topics the students are
taking at the time the research was conducted. This was
administered shortly after the completion of topic discussion about
the basic concepts of systems of linear equations in two variables.
50 out of the 53 students of Grade 8-Hickory were able to take the
pre-test. These students were taken out of the data analysis.

The 2nd Quarter Periodic Examination of the current year the

research was conducted served as the post-test after the
intervention was implemented to assess the academic performance
of the students. Both examinations were 50-item, multiple-choice
tests covering topics included in the 2 nd Quarter Curriculum of K-12
Mathematics (2016). Only 44 out of the 50 students who already
took the pre-test were taken as valid data for the post-test analysis.

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C. 2. Board Work Pairing Exercise Intervention

The students were permitted to pair up and select their own

partner allowing them to minimize further tension and anxiety in
dealing with the problem solving task given to them as intervention.
It was explained that the task was recorded as a Performance Task
activity.

The pairs were selected in random using drawing of names

and asked to answer a problem on the board in front of the rest of
the class, two pairs at a time. They were allowed to work with each
other for the given full five minutes in completing the task. The
teacher also gives occasional feedback as to where students are
committing errors. Problems specifically focused on graphing linear
equations and systems, and students were asked to create their own
rectangular coordinate system. Two sessions of the activity were
given to the class, giving each pair two attempts at answering
problems.

D. Results and Discussion

The pre-test scores of the students represented the

performance level of Grade 8-Hickory students before the
implementation of the Paired Board work intervention.

Below are the Mean Percentage Scores (MPS) of the 50-item

pre-test and post-tests administered to the 44 students of Grade 8-
Hickory students.

Table 1

Mean Percentage Scores of Pre-Test and Post-Test

Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error
Mean

Pre-Test 75.93 44 2.386 .360

Post-Test 81.30 44 3.380 .510

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 From Table 1, the pre-test score has MPS of 75.93 (37.97
out of 50 points) while the post-test has MPS of 81.30 (40.65 out of
50 points), with a change of 5.37 units between them or 2.685
points in the 50-point scale. By eye test, it can be noted that there
was an improvement in the post-test scores after the
implementation of the paired board work intervention as compared
to the pre-test scores.
Further analysis was made by conducting a paired sample t-
test on the pre-test and post-test scores to verify if the intervention
had a significant impact o the positive change in the Mean
Percentage Scores of the pre-test and post-test. The t-test used α =
0.05, 95% confidence interval, and p<0.05. Shown below are the
results of the paired sample t-test:

Table 2

Correlations
N Correlation Sig.
Pre-Test & Post-
44 .628 .000
Test

Paired Samples Test

t df Sig. (2-
tailed)
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Std. Std. Error Difference
Mean Deviation Lower Upper
Mean

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Pre-Test -
-5.36 2.642 .398 -6.167 -4.560 -13.47 43 .000
Post-Test

The p-value of the pre-test to post-test comparison using

the Paired Sample t-test is less than 0.05 (p < 0.05), and therefore,
the null hypothesis was rejected. This means that there is a
statistical significant difference in the test scores before
implementation (M=75.93, SD=2.386) and after (M=81.30,
SD=3.380; t(43)=-13.47, p<0.05) implementation of the paired board
work intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

The negative attitude towards mathematics hinders

students to master the concepts that are essential in the
development of critical thinking that is essential to problem solving
skills. The anxiety of students to deal with mathematics is a crucial
factor in the learning environment and overall performance of
students. One way to counter this pre-conceived notion of fear
mathematics is to utilize cooperative learning where students can
realize that staggered learning in the subject is not a unique
experience. This can also pave the way for students to learn on their
own while being able to share it with others.

Cooperative learning in secondary students is very

important as it is in these age of adolescents that, psychologically,
students are more eager to interact and build relationships
according to Saeed (2012). This reinforces the idea that working
with others help students be able to shed off their anxiety toward
learning even relatively complex mathematics concepts being able
to seek help from their peers. This then helps in the retention of
basic mathematics skills and master basic concepts.

It is imperative that in the delivery of mathematics,

cooperative learning is utilized in aid of learning. Demonstration of
skills and provided with immediate and authentic feedback for

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students that will help them in identifying their mistakes and
correcting them and develop their skills. Cooperative learning
integrated with the chance to demonstrate their skills in front of an
audience of peers, as shown in this research, helps in the
development of critical thinking to help in the improvement of
overall performance in mathematics.

RECOMMENDATIONS

On the basis of the foregoing findings and conclusions, the

researcher came up with the following recommendations:

1. Teachers should integrate delivery of mathematics topics

with cooperative learning and pairing to improve quality of
instruction.

2. Teachers should give students ample chances for board

work exercises and provide authentic feedback to correct
their mistakes and develop their mathematics skills.

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