1 | Page Raffles Institution Year Two Research Education Project Report 2011 Modifying The Method Of Teaching Word Problems By Team Leader : Muthu (18) Team Members : Soorya (24) : Mohamed Haseef Bin Mohamed Yunos (14) : Jackie Tan (26) Class : Secondary 2G Teacher-Mentor : Mrs. Suhaimy Raffles Institution Research Education
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Raffles Institution
Year Two Research Education
Project Report 2011
Modifying The Method Of Teaching Word Problems
By
Team Leader : Muthu (18)
Team Members : Soorya (24)
: Mohamed Haseef Bin Mohamed Yunos (14)
: Jackie Tan (26)
Class : Secondary 2G
Teacher-Mentor : Mrs. Suhaimy
Raffles Institution Research Education
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Contents
PAGE NUMBER
1. Acknowledgements 4
2. Abstract(Overview of Project) 5
3. Introduction (Chapter 1) 6
- Singapore Primary School Education in the 6
21st century
- DFC Journey 6
- Research Findings 6
- Hypothesis 9
- Research Question 9
- Aims(Objectives Of Project) 9
- Need of Study(Campaigning for Change) 9
4. Methodology (Chapter 2) 11
- Thought Process (Brainstorming of Solutions) 11
- Analysis of Current Situation & Solution 12
- Preparation For Action Week 12
- Action Week 15
- Modified Teaching Method 16
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-
5. Results (Chapter 3) 18
- Analysis Of Survey 18
- Analysis of Pre-Test & Post-Test Results 22
6. Discussion (Chapter 4) 24
- Reflection 26
7. Bibliography (Chapter 5) 29
8. Appendices (Chapter 6) 30
- Appendix 1 - Survey Questionnaire 30
- Appendix 2 - Transcript Of Interview 34
- Appendix 3 – Pre-Test & Post-Test 38
- Appendix 4 – Five Worksheets Using Modified 48
Teaching Approach
- Appendix 5 – Results Of Students’ Survey 74
- Appendix 6 – Results Of Pre-Test, Post-Test 75
and 5 worksheets
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Acknowledgements
We owe our special thanks to Mrs. Suhaimy, teacher of Raffles Institution, English
Department, Singapore, for her suggestion, valuable guidance, encouragement,
sustained support and interest in the completion of this work. It was largely because of
her that our project was a success. She was able to see the loopholes in our project and
thus, always guided us to the right path. Our thanks are due to her, for opening our
mind‟s eye into the avenues of research.
We profoundly thank Mdm Aisah Bte Mohd Osman, an experienced Maths teacher for
providing the necessary information on the research topic and for kindly accepting our
questions to her. She has been very co-operative with our team and was always there
to help us. Mdm Aisah also did a lot of very important favours such as guiding us in the
designing of the worksheets and also suggesting new ideas to improve our project.
Hence, from the bottom of our hearts, we would like to thank you, Mdm Aisah, for all
your help.
Our thanks are rendered to our friends of Class 2G, Raffles Institution for their precious
help and support as well as the encouragement during the course of this project.
We would also like to show our greatest appreciation to each and every one of our
family members for without them, we would never have the spirit to continue this project
till the end. They also have helped us in many other ways, especially by giving new
ideas to improve our project and spending their time and effort to guide us from the start
till the end.
Last but not least, we would like to thank all those people and friends who have helped
us in one way or another. Although your names may not be mentioned here, we would
just like to say that we remember and appreciate all the help that you have given us in
the course of this project.
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Abstract (Overview of Project)
The project aims to help upper Primary students, who have difficulties in solving
complex word problems, improve their level of proficiency by introducing a modified
teaching method into the school curriculum. Through the interview and survey, the real
reason behind the students‟ inability to perform well in Mathematics was found.
39 primary five students whose mark ranges from 50 to 91 marks in their Semestral
Assessment 1 in Mathematics were the participants in this project. They took part in a
survey and Mdm Aisah Bte Mohd Osman, a Maths teacher in Meridian Primary School,
was interviewed prior to the implementation of the project to find out the challenges that
students face in Mathematics. From the survey and interview it was found that most of
the students were not able to perform well in Mathematics because they were not able
to apply the concept had they learned especially in multi-steps, complex word problems.
The pupils also feedback that they lost significant marks due to careless mistakes .and
their inability to complete the paper on time. Through the survey and interview the root
problem and topics to focus on were identified.
The team brainstormed for ideas on how to motivate and help pupils overcome the
barrier of solving multi-steps word problems. The team came out with the idea of
designing worksheets that break down word problems into simpler concepts. 5 such
worksheets were given to students with time frame to simulate exam conditions to help
pupils manage time better. Finally, pre and post tests were given to examine the effect
on the experiment. The results from the post-test revealed remarkable improvements.
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Introduction (Chapter 1)
Singapore Primary School Education in the 21st century
A child in Singapore undergoes six years of primary education, comprising a four-year
foundation stage from Primary 1 to 4 and a two-year orientation stage from Primary 5 to
6. At the foundation stage, the core curriculum comprising English, the Mother Tongue
and Mathematics are taught, with supplementary subjects such as Music, Art & Craft,
Physical Education and Social Studies. Science is included from Primary 3. To
maximize their potential, students are streamed according to their learning ability before
advancing to the orientation stage. At the end of Primary 6, students sit for the Primary
School Leaving Examination (PSLE). It was noticed that students struggled during the
PSLE examination and this was very disturbing. They were in need of help and thus,
this project aims to help these students.
DFC Journey
After watching the design for change video, the team was greatly inspired and
motivated to help the less fortunate or less intelligently inclined people. We felt that they
had been suffering a lot. Unlike us, we have everything we want. In addition, we also
thought that if we as the younger generation do our part, what will the future generation
be? Thus, we wanted to do our part to help and contribute to the society.
Research Findings
Researches have shown that Mathematics is the toughest subject that is tested in
PSLE. The PSLE Maths exam has received complaints from students and even parents
that the questions set are tough. For example, the 2005 PSLE Maths paper was set so
hard that the pupils could not finish the paper on time and started crying over the marks
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lost. The questions set were not textbook oriented but more on the application of
concepts learnt.
Through intensive searches through the internet and through journals there were many
factors that contributed towards students‟ inability to handle Mathematics paper at
PSLE. From one of these searches, an interesting comment in CollegeNet forum was
found. The following was quoted from a blogger as to why Maths is difficult:
“Some teachers throw formulas and theorems at you and give you a vague
explanation of how it works and what its usefulness is.”
After much thought, the team agreed that the comment was actually true. Based on our
own experiences, most teachers in Singapore teach a formula but do not explain the
concept behind the formula. Instead of exploring the derivation at that particular formula,
teachers generally will go on to the practice questions immediately. It was discovered
that the problem arises when the student does not understand the concept behind the
formula.
Doing a word problem correctly is an essential and important factor for a student‟s
success in Mathematics. The primary school Maths papers have a high percentage of
word problems ranging from 2 to 6 marks each. Therefore, if a student does not have
the ability to handle word problems correctly, there is a high probability that this student
will fail the Mathematics examination.
“One of the most important skills that children need to master is their ability to
become independent thinkers and problem solvers.” (Grace, 2010)
This quote from Ms Elizabeth Grace further supports the facts that word problems are
extremely important in the Mathematics examination in this context of time.
Most students are able to do simple 2 or 3 marks word problems but many of them are
unable to do the multi-steps word problems with the weightage of 4 to 6 marks each.
This is mainly because those questions tests a few Mathematical concepts combined
together and thus, the answers usually require many different steps. This was
mentioned by one of the researchers in Mathematics:
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“Students can solve most one-step problems but have extreme difficulty trying to
solve non-standard problems, problems requiring multi-steps, or problems with
extraneous information.” (Carpenter et al., 1981)
Hence, it can be clearly seen that there is a serious problem that needs attention and
should be dealt with quickly otherwise students will continue to struggle. A revolutionary
method of teaching which is more effective than the standard method of teaching should
be adopted so as to help students achieve the results that they desire.
Besides this, the problem of making careless mistakes is also another serious issue.
Many students lose marks due to careless mistakes. However, this problem is really just
due to the fact that students do not check their work.
“Check all answers for accuracy and reasonability, backtracking line by line; and
reserve time on tests for a final check. If you practice being careful as you work
homework problems, you can overcome the problem of “careless” or “stupid”
mistakes. But it is interesting that many students would prefer to blame their
intelligence or their carelessness before their effort becomes the variable.” (Keith
& Cimperman, 1992)
This quote supports the fact that the problem of making careless mistakes can be
avoided if the students check and backtrack their answers for accuracy. Furthermore,
this quote also claims that students blame their intelligence or their carelessness for
making careless mistakes. However, if they take the extra effort to check their work
thoroughly, they will be able to spot their careless mistakes and edit their answer.
Many students have been reminded time and again to check their work by their
teachers and parents. However, the problem is that the teacher or parent does not
explain clearly to their child or student how to check their work. During a research done
by Wiens on careless mistakes, he stated that the students “didn‟t spend as much time
reviewing their tests as I would like them to because they had never been taught how to
check over their work; they thought they were doing what I was asking them to do just
by looking over their test for neatness.” Hence, it is very important that the teacher
guide the students in terms of explaining clearly how to check their work.
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Hypothesis
The team believe that students will be able to answer Maths questions well if they
understand the concepts. To explore this believe, the question, “When does Maths
become difficult?” was included in the survey. As expected, majority of the pupils
surveyed responded that they are not able to apply the concepts they have learned.
Thus, our hypothesis is that the students will be able to answer complex word problems
which require multi-steps answers that test different concepts if they are able to break
down the problems into simpler steps.
Research Question
In this project we hope to address the following question:
“Do simplifying words problems into simpler concepts improve students‟
achievements?”
Aims (Objectives of Project)
Our main goal is to help students handle multi-steps word problems by breaking down
the problems into basic steps that help scaffold students‟ understanding so that
eventually they will be able to handle the word problems in the complex form.
Need of Study (Campaigning For Change)
This project could be a breakthrough in the teaching of Mathematics especially in the
teaching of multi-steps word problems. Through this project we hope students will
develop better skills in problem solving and it will also help to build students‟ critical
thinking skills and a strong foundation in Mathematics. We also hope to enlighten
teachers with an approach that could bring about better results in students‟ performance
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and motivate them towards the learning of Mathematics. Parents could also adopt this
method to effectively guide and support their children in the area of problem solving.
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Methodology (Chapter 2)
Thought Process (Brainstorming of Solutions)
A few solutions were derived after the team brainstorm for ideas and getting
feedback from teachers. The first solution was to teach the students in a fun way
by incorporating games during the Mathematics lessons to motivate students. The
team believed that engaging students in this manner during lessons would motivate
them to do better. Students tend to remember things better when they have fun
and are more engaged.
The second solution was to ask students in groups to take turn to make a
presentation of the lesson taught. The teacher will teach the students in the normal
way. However, instead of the normal way of assessing their learning through tests
and exams, they are tested in a creative way. They would be required to make a
presentation on the lesson that was taught. The presentation would be just a short
one and would include whatever the students had learnt during the lesson. From
their presentation, the teacher would be able to know if they students had
understood the lessons. Prior to the presentation, the students would be asked to
read up on the topic. This method would enable students to have a chance to
revise the topic and they would remember the topic better.
The last solution was to break the complicated Mathematics word problem into
simpler concepts and manageable parts. By breaking the word problem into
simpler concepts and having a question on each concept, the students would be
able to finally complete the complex word problems. A pre-test and a post-test
consisting 5 very complex word problems would be used to measure the
effectiveness on this method.
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Analysis of Current Situation & Solution
The team deliberated on the three solutions before deciding on the most effective
solution. Team members debated on the pros and cons of each solution before
making the decision. The team felt that the first solution was too childish and upper
students might not like games. Besides this, the students might end up playing the
games for fun and not learn anything from them. The second solution was not
feasible due to the time constraints. The group presentation might take up too
much time so the teacher in-charge might not be willing to participate in this
project. Furthermore, students might get bored after sometime and do their
presentations half-heartedly. The team collectively agreed that the last solution was
the most attractive and sound. However, some members had some doubts on the
effectiveness of the method. The other criticism was it would require a lot of time
and effort to design worksheets and tabulate the result as well as explain the
results. However, since the third solution was the most viable, the group decided to
put in lot of hard work to complete this project.
Preparation For Action Week
Work allocation (What had to be done & Who did it)
There was quite a lot of work that had to be done. We had to ensure that they were
progressing along the correct path. We had to first of all, find an appropriate group
of students who would want to cooperate with us. However, with Haseef‟s help we
managed to find a teacher teaching Primary-5 Mathematics to help us implement
the project. Moving on, we needed a strategy to teach them. One that was different
from their current one and that would be impactful. This was strategized by Jackie
and Soorya. The effectiveness of the method was assessed by Mdm Aisah during
the interview and confirmed by the students survey. Hence, after verifying, we finally
came up with another method. After this the next task was to implement this
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method. The method was to have a pre-test consisting 5 questions which were
totally different from one another. Then, create 5 different worksheets with 4
questions each of them focusing on 1 of the 5 question set in the pre-test. Finally,
we had a post-test to measure the effectiveness of the method. We decided to
measure the effectiveness of the method by comparing the pre-test and pos-test
results.
From our survey, students said that it would be preferable to be taught in small
groups. Hence, we broke up the class into groups of 8.
The next task was to set all the worksheets. The task was carried out by all the
team members. It took us quite a long time to set the worksheets and edit them as
we were neither professionals nor a teacher. We struggled a bit but we managed to
do it well, especially with the help of Mdm Aisah who guided us along the way
correcting us as we set the worksheets. Then, the next part was to print out and
assign the worksheets to all the students. This was mainly done by Haseef who co-
ordinated with the P5 teacher to find suitable time slots which we could use to
conduct the lessons. Finally, we bought snacks and issued it to them freely during
their breaks and whenever they did well, as promised.
Timeline of Tasks
The team knew what needed to be done so we planned a timeline. The timeline was
as follow:
Find a group of students and create a strategy to teach them – By 8th July
Design the worksheets – By 18th July
Start on the action week – Dates: 21st, 22nd, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th of
July
Complete marking the worksheets and key in the results – By 2nd August
Start on the report – By 30th July
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Resource Management
We had enough resources and we made references to some of the Primary-5
Mathematics worksheets and assessment books when preparing the worksheets
and one of our biggest resource was Mdm Aisah who gave us some important tips
and guided us in the preparation of the worksheets.
Risk Management
As the saying goes, “It is better to be safe than sorry”, we did some conducted the
survey and interview to ensure that the proposed method is sound and viable. The
only risk that we took was to implement that new method. However, we thought
through the process carefully to minimize the risk. As our project involve students,
we had to ensure that there were no detrimental effects on the students‟ learning.
On the other hand, the possibility of success was high.
Who is involved?
There were quite a lot of people involved in this project. First of all, the group of
students who took part in this project were very involved and committed and
motivated. Next their teacher helped us with the logistics. The team members were
very committed and shared the workload equally and every member contributed by
carrying out the task assigned without fail.
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Action Week
Participants (Who is affected)
The participants were 39 primary five students aged between 10 and 11 years. These
students were chosen because of the mix ability nature of the group as their
Mathematics marks ranges from 50 to 91 in their Semestral Assessment 1 examination.
They have also gone through 5 years of Mathematics lessons in school and their
opinions on the method of teaching of Mathematics would be invaluable.
Instrumentation
A survey was designed to gather feedback on students‟ perception of Mathematics. The
key elements in the survey include students‟ difficulties in Maths, the reasons for losing
marks in examinations, their opinions on how they could achieve better results in Maths,
and their suggestions on how to motivate them to learn Maths. A draft questionnaire
was prepared to test its effectiveness. Appropriate transitions and section introductions
were also added. Prior to being finalized, the questionnaire was pre-tested on a small
number of respondents. These respondents were from Raffles Institution and through
this survey pre-testing, we were able to ensure that our questions were easily
understood and straightforward. Through this survey, the group was able to identify
topics students are weak in and the reasons why they do not do well. These are
factored into the design of the project.
We also interviewed an experienced Maths teacher, Mdm Aisah Bte Mohd Osman, who
has been teaching upper primary Mathematics for more than 25 years. She has vast
and deep knowledge on the teaching of Mathematics in Primary schools. The questions
were designed based on the current method of teaching Mathematics, the type of
questions teachers usually set in exam papers and students‟ ability in handling such
questions. From the interview, the team triangulate on the topics to focus on and the
approach to be taken.
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A pre-test and a post-test were used to measure the effectiveness of the method
adopted. The pre-test and the post-test were the exact worksheets made up of 5
complex word problems on topics students‟ have difficulties in.
The Modified Teaching Method
The modified teaching method basically breaks down multi-steps or complex word
problems into basic steps/concepts that help scaffold students‟ understanding so that
eventually they will be able to handle the word problems in the complex form.
Pupils were given a pre-test which consist 5 complex word problems on topics students
have difficulties in under exam condition prior to the implementation of the project. The
main aim of this pre-test is to gauge the students‟ ability in solving complex word
problems before the implementation of the modified teaching approach. The pre-test
was not given and none of the questions were discussed with the students.
The modified teaching approach was implemented over a period of two weeks.
Students were given five worksheets consisting 4 questions where the last question in
every worksheet is similar to one question in the pre-test worksheet. The first 3
questions in all the five worksheet were scaffolding questions to help pupils break down
the fourth question into simpler steps and concepts. For example, if question1 of the
pre-test tested the concept of changing fraction, balancing ratio and changing
percentage, then the worksheet 1 would have a question testing each concept and the
last question will be similar to the question 1 of the pre-test. Students were given only
one worksheet per day and a time frame of 30 minutes to complete the 4 questions.
This is to simulate exam conditions.
After students had completed the worksheet, the team split the class into groups of 8
and along with the teacher‟s help; we taught each group on how to avoid careless
mistakes and explain the concepts that the students were not very clear with as well as
the answers. This was to ensure that the pupils understand how to break the complex
problems into simpler steps and concepts. The splitting of the class enabled better
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monitoring of the students‟ learning. We could focus on each student and hence
maximise learning.
After students had completed the five worksheets, a post-test was administered. The
post-test had exactly the same questions as the pre-test to ensure the validity and
reliability of the instrument used to measure the effectiveness of the method.
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Results (Chapter 3)
Impact of Actions
Analysis of Survey
Figure 1 shows the topics which the students find the most difficult to understand.
.2.6% (1) of the 39 students ranked Whole Numbers as the most difficult topic. 5.1%(2)
of the students ranked Fractions as the hardest topic. 7.7% (3) of the students found
ratio the most difficult while 84.6% (33) of the students thought Percentage was the
most difficult topic. Based on this data the team incorporated Percentage in all the 5
worksheets that made used of the modified teaching method.
Figure 1. The Difficult Topic In Maths.
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Figure 2 reflects the reason why Maths is difficult to the students. 25.6% (10) of the
students responded that they find Maths difficult when they did not have enough
practice. 38.5% (15) of the students reflected that the difficulty in Maths is because of
many steps involved, 15.4% (6) of the students finds the teacher too fast and 20.8% (8)
of them could not apply the concepts learnt. Based on the students‟ responses it was
quite clear that they are not able to handle multi-steps word problems as they were not
able to apply concepts well and most likely these are complex word problems.
Therefore, the focus of the project was sound.
Maths Becomes Difficult When
8
6
15
10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
TOO MANY STEPS
TEACHER TOO FAST
NOT ABLE TO APPLY CONCEPT
NOT ENOUGH PRACTICE
Re
aso
ns F
or
Wh
en
Ma
ths B
eco
me
s
Dif
ficu
lt
Number Of Respondents
Figure 2. Reasons For Difficulty In Maths
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Figure 3 reflects the students‟ preference in the way Maths is taught. 12.8% (5) of the
students like to learn Maths through play, on-line learning or one-to-one tutoring.
However, most students, that is 61.5% (24) prefers small group tutoring. Thus, the team
adopted small group tutoring as part of the modified teaching strategy.
Able To Achieve Better Maths Results Through
5
5
5
24
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
MATHS CARD GAME
ON LINE LEARNING
ONE - TO - ONE TUTORING
SMALL GROUP TUTORING
Fa
cto
rs T
o A
chie
vin
g
Be
tte
r R
esu
lts
Number Of Respondents
Figure 3. Preference In The Way Taught
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Figure 4 illustrates the motivational factor. 38.5% (15) of the students preferred snacks
during breaks, 17.9% (7) of them wanted soft music, 25.6% (10) of them wanted token
prizes to be given to those who did well and 20.5%(8) needed frequent compliments
from the teacher. The team decided to reward students with snacks during their breaks
so as it motivate the students to do well.
Feel Motivated To Learn Maths If
15
7
10
8
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
FREE SNACKS DURING BREAKS
SOFT MUSIC AT THE BACKGROUND
TOKEN PRIZES FOR THOSE WHO DID WELL
FREQUENT COMPLIMENTS GIVEN BY TEACHER
Mo
tiv
ati
on
s W
he
n
Lea
rnin
g M
ath
s
Number Of Respondents
Figure 4. Motivational Factors
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Analysis of Pre-Test & Post-Test Results
Figure 5 displays the average marks scored by the students for the Pre-Test, the 5
Worksheets and the Post-Test. The average marks of all the 5 worksheets are much
higher than the average mark for the pre-test. This means that students are able to
handle complex word problems much better when they are broken down into simple
steps. Also, there is a remarkable improvement of the average marks from the pre-test
to the post-test from 3.1 to 6.7 respectively. This is very significant considering the
short time spent that the method was introduced.
Average Of All Worksheets
3.1
6.5
9.7
11.4
6.7
8.2
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Pre
-Tes
t
Work
shee
t 1
Work
shee
t 2
Work
shee
t 3
Work
shee
t 4
Work
shee
t 5
Pos
t-Test
Worksheet Name
Average Marks
Pre-Test
Worksheet 1
Worksheet 2
Worksheet 3
Worksheet 4
Worksheet 5
Post-Test
Figure 5. Average Marks for Pre-Test, 5 Worksheets and the Post-Test
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The students were able to handle the complex word problems more effectively after
going through 5h of the modified teaching method. 87.2% of the students showed
improvement in the Post-Test. Figure 6 clearly displays the variation in marks between
the Pre-Test and the Post-Test for the 39 pupils.
Figure 6. Pre-Test & Post-Test Results of 39 Pupils.
Based of the above results it can be concluded that modified teaching method where
students were taught to break complex word problems into simple steps/concepts has
contributed significantly towards students‟ better achievements.
There are two sections in this survey. You are required to answer all the questions in both sections truthfully.
Your answers will be kept confidential. The time spent in doing this survey is greatly appreciated.
Background Information
Please circle the appropriate information
Gender: Male
Female
Race: Indian
Chinese
Malay
Others (please specify):___________
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Results for previous Maths exam: 91 and above
75 - 90
60 – 74
50 – 59
35 – 49
20 – 34
33 and below
On the scale of 1-10, how difficult is Maths to you? (Please circle accordingly)
Least Difficult Most Difficult
Student’s Perception on Mathematics
There are 5 questions in this section. Please rank the answers from 1 to 4. 1 being the most appealing/preferred option and 4 being the least appealing/ preferred option.
1. Rank the topics below in the order of their difficulty. Beginning with 1 as the
easiest topic and 4 as the most difficult topic.
Percentage
Ratio
Fractions
Whole number
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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2. Maths becomes difficult when
there are too many steps
the teacher is too fast
I’m not able to apply the concepts learnt
I don’t have enough practice
3. I usually lose marks in a Maths exam because
I am not able to solve the multi-steps word problems
I am not able to complete all the questions in time
I am too dependent on the use of calculator
I tend to make careless mistakes
4. I will be able to achieve better Maths results through
play e.g. Math card game
online learning
one-to-one tutoring
small group (of about 4-5 students) tutoring
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5. I will feel very motivated to learn Maths if
free snacks are provided during breaks
there is soft music at the background
token prizes are given for those who did well
there are frequent compliments given by the teacher
Thank you for your cooperation in completing the survey!
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Appendix 2 – Transcript Of Interview
Transcript
Interviewee Mdm Aisah Osman
This is an interview we conducted with Mdm AIsah Osman, an
experienced Maths teacher with 25 years of experience in the
teaching upper primary Mathematics. This transcript of the interview
will provide a better idea on the current teaching methods in
Singapore, improvements that can be made to it and the interviewee’s
opinion of our project.
Transcript
Muthu:
What is your opinion on today‟s teaching Mathematics teaching method especially for
Primary-5 students?
Mdm Aisah:
I think that today‟s teaching method is effective in producing A-Star students, but that is
only if the learner is fast and good. As you already know, in the educational system in
Singapore, students are categorized according to their marks, and the good students
continuously get good marks while the poor students continuously get poor marks. That
is why, though we have students who get very high marks, we still have students who
get very poor marks and the mark range tends to be very vast. Hence, the teaching
method is good for producing good results from good students but not good in helping
the poor students to improve.
Muthu:
So how do you think we can improve today‟s teaching method then?
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Mdm Aisah:
As I have said earlier, today‟s students are categorized according to their marks. Hence,
there is need for 2 different teaching methods to address the two groups of students.
We can continue with the current teaching method for the good students as it has
produced good results. However, for the weaker students we need have come out with
a more effective teaching method that suits them better.
Muthu:
How do you think we change the way these students teaching are taught?
Mdm Aisah:
The most effective way in my opinion is to drill them. Teach them in a structured manner
how to approach a question especially word problems and how to break down a
question into simpler steps. By doing this students will understand the problem better,
they can apply the concepts they have learnt and there would be an improvement in
their results. In my opinion, it all lies on the fundamentals, which include the method
they use to approach a question, and if their fundamentals are correct, they will be
good.
Muthu:
From your experience, which topics do you think P5 students find difficulty in?
Mdm Aisah:
Ratio and Percentage
Soorya:
Do you think that today‟s students are interested in the lesson?
Mdm Aisah:
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Some of them are, but some of them are not. Hence, you must captivate them in a way
that everyone would become participative
Muthu:
What are some ways we can use to motivate students to do well in Mahtematics and to
be interested, more enthusiastic and participative in class?
Mdm Aisah:
Frequent compliments are good and giving them rewards works fine too
Haseef:
What do you think of our project? Is it realistic? Do you think there is a need for it?
Mdm Aisah:
I think it is an excellent idea as it will benefit students as well as improve the way they
are taught. It may even achieve better outcomes.
Soorya:
Our targeted participant in this project is the Primary-5 students. Do you think it is right
choice?
Mdm Aisah:
I think you should go ahead with the Primary-5 students as they are the ones who will
eventually sit for the PSLE. It is not so possible to conduct such sessions with the
Primary-6 students as it is too near to their PSLE and they need the time to revise. I
also think introducing this at the P5 level will be suitable as students need time to
assimilate and get used to a certain method.
Jackie:
Do you have any comments on our project?
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Mdm Aisah:
I think that you should just focus on the more challenging topics like ratio and
percentage and focus on multi-steps word problems as students tend to lose a lot of
marks due to their inability to handle word problems. This would be beneficial for the
students as the improvement in marks would encourage and motivate them to do better.
If you just focus on the easy topics you might not see much difference in their marks.
Moreover, don‟t rush when going through with the class. Go slow and ensure that every