Comparative effectiveness of three methods of remediation in Algebra

This study focuses on the comparative effectiveness of three methods of remedial teaching in Algebra to third year high school students. Theses methods are the modular approach, the peer tutoring method, and the traditional lecture/discussion method. The researcher attempted to determine which method of remediation could be the most effective in increasing the achievement and improving the attitude of students in Algebra. The Methodology: The subjects of this study included 30 third year high school students from Manila Science High School. They were randomly selected from the third year classes in Algebra which the researcher taught during SY 1992-93. They were selected from those who got below the median of the results of a diagnostic test in Algebra given at the start of the school year. Three groups with ten students per group were formed. Each group was randomly assigned to a method of remediation. The experiment lasted for eight weeks, two hours per week - a total of 16 hours. The lessons, exercises, and tests given were all the same for the three groups except for the method of teaching used. All the three groups were under the supervision of the researcher herself. At the end of the remediation program, an achievement test which also served as a post test, was administered. A Mathematics Attitude Inventory Scale by Dr. Fe de la Rosa was also given. This was administered before and after the experiment to determine attitude changes. Analysis of Covariance was used to test the difference in the achievement of the students in the three methods of remediation. The Tukey Method was also used to compare the differences between pairs of methods. The Gain Index was determined to find the gain from the diagnostic test to the achievement test. A correlation matrix was done to determine the correlation between the raw scores in the mental ability test, previous grades in Math II, and scores in the diagnostic and achievement tests. The Kruskall-Wallis test was used to determine which method of remediation would be the most effective in improving the attitude of students towards Algebra. The Spearman Coefficient of Rank Correlation was determined to find the correlation between the students\u27 achievement and attitude towards Algebra. The Gain Index was also computed, using the results of the pretest and posttest in the Mathematics Attitude Inventory Scale.Findings: Ancova tests revealed that there is a significant difference in the students\u27 achievement in Algebra under the three methods of remedial teaching since the computed F is 4.13. This is greater than 3.37, the critical value of F [2,26] at a = 0 .05, hence the null hypothesis was rejected. The results of the Tukey Method tests indicated that the peer tutoring method is better than the modular approach. No significant difference has been noted between the modular approach and the traditional lecture/discussion method. There is also no significant difference between the peer tutoring method and the traditional lecture/discussion method. The Kruskall-Wallis test has shown very small H-values hence, it may be concluded that there is no significant difference in the attitude of the students towards Algebra before and after the experiment, using any of the three methods