Promoting conceptual understanding of integers through process instruction

This study sought to determine the effect of Process Instruction Strategy in the teaching of integers. Moreover, it enumerated, classified, compared, and contrasted the thinking processes, correct patterns, and error patterns elicited by the students. This study also investigated the effect of retention or application of what they have learned in integers to real numbers and algebraic expressions. The research design was qualitative (descriptive) and quantitative (quasi-experimental) combined. This matching-only pretest-posttest control group design study was conducted using first year students. Two sections were chosen and randomly (drawing slots) one section became the experimental group and the other the control group. The experimental and control groups were matched using the administered IQ test and gender. Thirty-five matched pairs were produced. The statistical analysis was performed using the Paired-Samples t-test and Analysis of Covariance. The results showed the following conclusions: No significant differences were found relative to academic achievement between the experimental and control groups The experimental group elicited more thinking processes than the control group, this was specially so under the mathematics cognitive domain reasoning which is a higher order thinking skill (HOTS). Process Instruction is an effective teaching strategy in developing the conceptual understanding of students in integers compared to the exposition strategy. There were evidences that exposure to the Process Instruction Strategy and training result in a higher retention of the concepts learned