Students’ practical flexibility and potential flexibility in performing operations involving fractions

• Main Author: Faustino, Joy Camille M.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Fractions; Problem solving; Science and Mathematics Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_scied/33; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=etdm_scied
• Institution: De La Salle University

Educating the students about fractions prepares them to solve higher mathematics and real-world problems. Solving real-life problems takes time and students have limited time. With this, it is important to develop students’ flexibility – knowing and using the most efficient strategy to solve problems. However, designing and implementing an effective instructional method, as well as assessing students’ flexibility might be challenging for educators. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the implementation of the comparison of worked examples using Worked Example Pairs Materials (WEPs) in students’ practical and potential flexibility in performing operations involving fractions. This study utilized the Tri-Phase Flexibility assessment to measure students’ practical and potential flexibility. The 13 participants of this study came from one Grade 6 – mathematics class enrolled in a public elementary school during the academic year 2020-2021. However, only 11 students completed the whole intervention. Since this study was conducted during a pandemic, the implementation of the intervention was done remotely – using Google Meet and Jamboard. The pretest was administered to determine the students’ initial practical and potential flexibility. A series of discussions were conducted to highlight pairs of logical strategies used for each item. The students were subjected to prompting about comparing the strategies presented. After the intervention, a post-test was administered to measure the students’ improvement in practical and potential flexibility. The researcher used the concurrent triangulation mixed method design and utilized frequency count, percentages, mean and standard deviation as the measures in this study. The intervention was effective in improving students’ practical and potential flexibility. Efficient strategies and standard strategies were used more frequently after the intervention. Students were also able to determine which among their strategies were efficient strategies. The intervention helped the students realize that the use of efficient strategies is easier and faster. The WEPs also developed the students’ preference in using smaller numbers. Although there is an increase in students’ flexibility scores, it was relatively low. Further research about improving both students’ flexibility and accuracy is recommended.