Teaching Mathematics And Science In Philippines

Teaching Mathematics And Science In Philippines

Introduction

Teaching mathematics and science has become a major issue in different countries andregions. The teaching strategies used by teachers and the quality of teachers have affectedperformance of the students as they are not able to understand the content being taught.  Thescience and mathematics education has deteriorated in many places including Philippines. Thisis according to a report released by the University of Philippines. 

The experts attributed the deterioration of the science and mathematics education withscience and mathematics curriculum as it was old.  The curriculum encouraged teachers to usepoor teaching methods such as rote learning instead of inquiry. Thus, this affected studentsgrades, understanding and acquisition of skills. This paper examines methods used to teachscience and mathematics in Philippines and how EDFD317 can help in teaching mathematicsand science in Philippines.

Purpose of the investigation

The research was aimed at determining factors that contributed to low achievement inmathematics and science in Philippines. Experts from the University of Philippines argued thatstudents from Philippinesperformed poorly in mathematics and science compared to students from other nations in theworld.  The experts identified several problems that contributed to the poor performanceincluding the teaching methods used by teachers   and poor curriculum.  The experts claimed

1 / 11

Teaching Mathematics And Science In Philippines

that the curriculum used encouraged rote learning and this made it hard for students to developskills and understand the content.

Learners are only required to memorize the content being taught and apply it in other areas. Teachers did not teaching methods that encouraged inquiry and affected students learning andgrades.  The curriculum being used did not encourage teachers to use inquiry strategies whenteaching and other strategies and prevented students from acquiring the necessary skills andknowledge that could help them in different aspects of life (Makgato &Mji, 2006).

Second, the study was aimed at identifying teaching strategies that can be used to improveteaching of mathematics and science in Philippines so as to improve student’s achievement. There are various strategies that can be used to teach students mathematics and science likeinquiry strategies and integrative strategies. Integrating the strategies into the curriculum used in

Philippines will boost student’s grades andgive them a competitive edge over other students. Third, the study was aimed at proposingchanges to the curriculum used in Philippinesto ensure it is inline with curriculums used by other countries and the UNESCO standard ofteaching mathematics and science(GMA.(2012).

Literature review

The science and mathematics curriculum being used in the high school and other institutionswas old.  The experts from the University of Philippines claimed that the curriculum encouragedrote learning instead of inquiry and high levels of thinking. Rote learning is a kind of learningmethod that concentrates on memorization of the content without using meaning to storecontent. In rote learning students learn by repeating the content so as to be able to rememberthe information.  Rote learning helps students recall the meaning of the content being taughtquickly.

Rote learning has been used in teaching mathematics and science in many institutionsincluding high school.  Rote learning is mostly used in mathematics to memorize themultiplication tables. In this case, complex problems are divided into small and simple

2 / 11

Teaching Mathematics And Science In Philippines

multiplications. The answers to the basic operations are important in complex mathematicaloperations.  The teachers believe that having the answers at hand mentally helps on complexmathematical operations and in learning advanced concepts.  Rote learning is used in collegesespecially when teaching abstract algebra and linear algebra (The Philippine star, 2011).

The “United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization” prohibited the use of rotelearning in schools in 1993 as it affected the performance of the students.

The director for National Institute for science and mathematics education development in the University of Philippines, Dr. Merle Tan claimed that the achievement of learners in mathematics and science in thecountry was lower than in other nations.  In addition, the director claimed that the curriculum didnot take into consideration the high drop out in the area and it did not meet the needs ofstudents who might have dropped out of school at a certain grade (The Philippine star, 2011).

The director claimed that there was a gap between  the  science  and mathematics  education practiced  and  their skills  and knowledge  that  are required for  day to day life.  The directorstated that students in other countries performed well in mathematics and science because theteachers taught the content in depth.  In addition,  the  teachers  introduced  skills  and ideas when  teaching mathematics  and science  and hence prepared students  for  real life situations.Teachers also helped students develop scientific literacy (The Philippine star, 2011).

The theories of cognition play an important role in teaching mathematics and sciences as thyenable teachers understand students learning ability and the teaching strategies to use.Researchers have conducted studies to determine teaching strategies that can be used to teachscience and mathematics education in high school so as to improve students performance. Thedevelopments in cognitive research, developmental psychology and the need to educatestudents have changed how mathematics and science are taught in schools.

Researchers argue that students learn best through personal experience and also by linkingwhat they have learned in class with what they believe and know. Jarrett (1997) studied howteachers can improve students’ performance in science and mathematics by using inquiry

3 / 11

Teaching Mathematics And Science In Philippines

method. Inquiry method is the best method of teaching student’s science and mathematicsinstead of rote learning.  

Using inquiry method enables the learners to investigate the nature of science.  Students areable to find explanations for things that they are curious. Inquiry consists of skills  and activities that  concentrate in  the  search  for knowledge  and  understand so as to satisfy students curiosity.  Inquiry method is important in teaching mathematics. Mathematics education doesnot only include arithmetic and algorithms, but it is a diverse field that entails data,measurements and pattern recognition.  The process of learning mathematics and doingmathematics does not only involve calculations and deductions, but it is entails observation ofpatterns, estimating results etc (Jarrett,1997).

The inquiry process happens on a continuum.  Teachers can use the inquiry method to usewhen teaching students from the continuum.  They can choose to use hand on activities andexperiments placed on one side of the continuum when teaching students. In addition they canuse science kits to teach students. Also, students can produce their own questions forinvestigation as evidenced in the farthest side of the continuum. 

Teachers should focus on the extreme end of the inquiry continuum where learners participatein the inquiry process.  Teachers can use lower level inquiry strategies to meet certain goals,but they should not assume the inquiries have all the components of inquiry. They can usehands on activities to meet certain goals.  Teachers are supposed to take into considerationvarious things when choosing inquiry strategies from the inquiry continuum.  They shouldconsider their teaching skills, learners’ readiness, age and ability and the pedagogical goals. The teachers will move from one end of the continuum to the other occasionally to meet specificgoals and situations (Jarrett,1997).

Researchers including (Makgato &Mji, 2006) have identified teaching strategies that areelements on inquiry used by teachers to teach mathematics and science. First, teachers useactivities to teach the subjects. They ensure activities have been set up to enable students to beactively involved in the learning processes. The activities enable students to investigateproblems and provide solutions. This ensures they are mentally and physically involved in thelearning process. Second, teachers utilize verbal interaction to determine whether studentshave understood the content or not. They encourage students to work in small groups so as tounderstand the content. Third, teachers utilize questioning method to engage the students anddetermine whether they have understood the content or not. They also offer clear explanations

4 / 11

Teaching Mathematics And Science In Philippines

to students when necessary (Jarrett, 1997).

Using inquiry strategies to teach mathematics and science can improve student’s performanceby improving understanding of the content. Inquiry strategies enable learners to develop criticalthinking skills as they use hands on activities and other activities to learn the content.  Thehands on activities enable students to apply the content learned in class in real life and findsolutions to problems.

Students learn how to work as a team, to articulate their own ideas and respect the opinion ofother students. Students acquire inquiry skills that help them in different aspects of life.Moreover, inquiry strategies encourages mathematical discovery. Inquiry strategies  enable students to learn mathematical  concepts  and  acquire  mathematical  knowledge by  exploring, reasoning  and  determining whether something  seem sensible.  The learners develop ideasand knowledge that can be applied in real life.

Lastly, inquiry strategies enhance student’s attitude and improve their academic performance. Students who use hands on activities and work as a team to solve problems like science andmathematics subjects. On the other hand, students who learn via lecturers and readings fromtextbooks do not like mathematics and science and hence perform poor compared to studentswho use hands on activities. Thus, the inquiry strategies can be implemented in   Philippines toimprove  teaching of science and mathematics and  students performance (Jarrett,1997).

Further, Mansilla and Nikitina (2003) identified integrative strategies that can be used to teachmathematics and science in high school.   The first strategy is essentializing.  Essentializingstrategy is aimed at showing the relationship between science and mathematics.  Teachers useessentializing strategy to bring together concepts from the two subjects when teaching. Essentializing strategy enables students to understand scientific concepts and mathematicalconcepts being taught as they are able to reason scientifically and mathematically.

Teachers in Philippines do not show the relationship between science and mathematics whenteaching and instead use rote learning. This has made it hard for students to know therelationship between the two subjects.  Students are able to see how various subjects likehistory and literature are related and hence understand them.  The essentializing strategy canpromote understanding of the science and mathematics content and improve student’sperformance in Philippines if implemented (Mansilla &Nikitina, 2003).

5 / 11

Teaching Mathematics And Science In Philippines

The second strategy is contextualizing.  This strategy weaves mathematics and science intohistory of idea.  The last strategy is problem centering. In this case, the instructors presentstudents with a problem and then ask them to solve it. This enables students to apply thecontent they have learned in class hence improve their problem solving skills, critical thinkingskills and understanding.

The strategies were used to teach mathematics  and science in  Illinois  mathematics and science  academy to teach  science and mathematics  and they proved effective as studentsperformance improved  Teachers were able to deliver the content to students well  and satisfythe students needs. The strategies can be used to teach mathematics and science in Philippines asteachers will be able to show the relationship between the two subjects and improve studentsproblem solving skills. This will in turn enhance student’s comprehension of the content beingtaught and hence give students from Philippinesan opportunity to compete with students from other countries (Mansilla &Nikitina, 2003).

Locale and sample

The study was conducted in Philippines as the researcher wanted to determine the causes ofpoor performance in science and mathematics and propose solutions.  A sample of 6 teachersand 5 high school students were used in the study.  The teachers were from various schools indifferent parts of the country. The teachers were from 1 school in national capital region, 1school in Pasig city, 1 school from Quezon City, 1school from Manila, 1 school from Davaocity and 1 from Cebucity.  Teachers and students were selected from each school.

The students were also from the schools.  The participants were selected using stratifiedrandom technique to ensure they represented the population being taught.  The selection of theparticipants was based on gender, occupation, education level etc.  A total of 3 teachers and 2students used in the study were female and the rest male. The participants were required to fill

6 / 11

Teaching Mathematics And Science In Philippines

a consent form before participating in the study to ensure they took part in the study voluntarily. The participants were educated on the benefits and risks of the study before making any choice. The research was approved by the institutional review board in the country (Makgato &Mji,2006).

Data collection method

Data from the participants was selected using interview method.    The interview questionswere related to the research problem and the literature review section. Using interviews tocollect data from the participants has a lot of benefits.  Interviews give the researcher anopportunity to ask for clarification where necessary. They also give the interviewee anopportunity to provide detailed information about the problem being studied.  However,interviews can led to biased results as the researcher can interfere with the responses given bythe participants.  The interview questions were well developed to ensure only importantinformation was collected from the participants (Makgato &Mji, 2006).

Results

The results from the study showed that teachers do not use appropriate strategies whenteaching students mathematics and science and this made it hard for them to understand thecontent. This was evidenced by the student’s comments.  The students used in the interviewclaimed that they did not understand the content as the teachers were too fast when teachingand those teachers encouraged them to memorize the content. 

When learning mathematics, students were encouraged to memorize operations as they usedthem when learning more complex concepts. This is according  to students 1,2  and 3comments “… how teachers encourage us to memorize the content…”  student 4  and 5 saidthey did not understand the content as teachers were fast and  promoted memorization ofcontent “… the teacher isvery fast … I donot understand mathematics and science. I want someone who is patient and does notencourage memorization…”.   Student 2 said “…my teacher does not use hands on  activities when teaching and am unable to understand the

7 / 11

Teaching Mathematics And Science In Philippines

topic…”.

Additionally , student 5 said the teacher used question strategy to determine whether theyunderstood the content, but did not give them problems to solve to improve their critical thinking, problem solving and apply what they have learned. Student 5 said “ how teacher asks usquestions at the end of the lesson... and this helps us understand the content…but he does notgive us problems to solve…”

The findings from the study also showed that students struggled understanding mathematicsand science. Though the teachers used building background strategy sometimes, students didnot understand why they used the strategy and this made it hard for them to connect thecontent they had learned before and the content being taught. This is shown by comments fromStudent 1. Student 1 said “…I sometimes wonder why the teacher talks about the things welearned before instead of teaching the topic now …” .  In addition,the teachers did not know the strategies to use to teach science and mathematics. 

The teachers mostly encouraged students to memorize the content as exemplified bycomments from teacher 1. “… actually I do not know how to teach science and mathematicsand I encourage students to memorize the content …” Theteachers did not use inquiry strategies and integrative strategies when teaching. The teachersrarely used hands on activities and laboratory experiments   when teaching students and thishindered students from acquiring appropriate skills. Teacher 4 said “… I rarely use hands on activities when teaching science and mathematics…I do not know theirimportance in teaching and learning…”. Teacher 3 said “… I use building background strategy to help learners connect what they read before and whatthey are reading, but I do not ask them whether they know why we are reviewing what welearned before…”. 

Teacher 2 claimed “… I have never used hand on activities and building background strategy ,but sometimes used  experiments…”.   Teacher 6 used questioning strategy to determinewhether students understood the content as shown by his comment “… I use questioningstrategy when teaching to determine whether students have understood and I rarely help them ifthey do not understand as the content is simple for them to understand…but I do not give them problems to solve

8 / 11

Teaching Mathematics And Science In Philippines

…”(Makgato &Mji, 2006).

Conclusion

In conclusion, poor teaching methods have contributed to poor performance in science andmathematics. Teachers do not use appropriate strategies when teaching students and this hasaffected their understanding and grades. Most teachers encourage memorization of the content.Students are encouraged to memorize the concepts and apply them.  Teachers do not useinquiry strategies and integrative strategies when teaching students. The teachers do not usehands on activities and experiments when teaching students and this has hindered studentsfrom applying the content learned in class and acquiring skills.   

The curriculum used in Philippine should be changed to satify the requirements of thestudents and give them a competitive edge. Lack of technology capacity in the country hasaffected science and mathematics education. The advancement in technology in the country willhelp improve science and mathematic education as educators will use inquiry strategies whendelivering instructions to students instead of rote learning. This will equip students with differentskills including critical thinking, problem solving, analytical etc.

Reference

GMA.(2012).PHL senator urges reforms in Science, Math education. Retrieved from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/248868/scitech/science/phl-senator-urges-reforms-in-science-math-education on 4/07/2012

Jarrett,D.(1997).Inquiry strategies for science and mathematics learning. Northwest RegionalEducation laboratory

9 / 11

Teaching Mathematics And Science In Philippines

Makgato,M.,&Mji,A.(2006).Factors associated with high school learners poor performance. Aspotlight on mathematics and physical science. Southern African journal of education, vol26,issue no2,p253-266

Mansilla,V.B.,&Nikitina,S.(2003). Three strategies  for interdisciplinary math and scienceteaching. A case of the Illinois mathematics and science academy. Retrieved from http://www.goodworkproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/21-Strategy-for-ID-Math-Science-3_03.pdfon 4/07/2012

The Philippine star.(2011).New curriculum  to improve math , science education. Retrievedfromhttp://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=666941&publicationSubCategoryId=442on 4/07/2012

Appendices

Interview questions

Student

Does the teacher involve students in teaching through questioning and discussion?

Does the teacher use hands on activities when teaching?

Does the teacher encourage memorization of the content?

Does the teacher build background to help students understand the content or topic?

10 / 11

Teaching Mathematics And Science In Philippines

Does the teacher use experiments to teach students?

Teacher

Do you use building background strategy when teaching students and do you inform them thereason you are using it?

Do you encourage students to participate in hands on activities or laboratory experiments whenteaching?

Do you encourage memorization of the content when teaching?

Do you use questioning strategy to determine whether the students have understood thecontent and give students problems to solve?

.

11 / 11