Teachers implementation of the new grade 7 mathematics curriculum in selected schools: Opportunities for improvement

• Main Author: Castro, Anthony C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2017
• Subjects: Mathematics > Study and teaching > Philippines; Mathematics teachers > Philippines
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/5768
• Institution: De La Salle University

The purpose of the study was to determine how teachers implement the new K to 12 grade 7 Mathematics curriculum in terms of content coverage, objectives, teaching learning activities and assessment of students learning and to determine the challenges they encounter in its implementation. It was carried out among selected private schools in Metro Manila that are being collectively run by a religious order. To understand the phenomena, multiple case studies design was executed using a triangulation of data collection strategy. With the permission from the rector/research head/principal, data were collected on the schedule given in coordination with the Mathematics Department heads/academic coordinators, who then coordinated with the participating grade 7 teachers for classroom observations, semi structured interviews and retrieval of curricular documents. Results have shown that across schools, they have anchored their respective grade 7 mathematics content coverage and objectives with the prescribed minimum standards set by the Department of Education namely: number and number sense; patterns and algebra; geometry; and statistics and probability. Also, interviews have shown that schools are gearing up towards student centeredness in terms of teaching learning activities but classroom observations show that one class exhibits high quality instruction where the teacher engaged the students with the phenomenon, integrating music and games, integration to real life situations, and immersing students to problem solving and reflective thinking, that focused on important learning objectives were effectively used. The rest were traditional in nature, incorporating the used of lecture discussion where one teacher posed challenging questions that will develop students higher order thinking skills and while the other one posed lower level questions and focused on algebraic algorithms without focusing on a deeper conceptual understanding. In almost all schools, they have anchored their assessments with the prescribed standards set by the Department of Education: 40% for performance task, 40% for written works; and 20% for summative test but with some modifications and deviations in the written works and performance task grades.