Problem-Solving and Word-Problem Skills in Mathematics: Towards Essential Tools for Applying the Concepts to the Real-World Scenarios
Keywords:
problem-solving skills, word-problem skills, mathematics teaching strategies, graphic organizers, scaffolding, real-world applicationAbstract
This study examined mathematics teachers’ strategies in teaching problem-solving and word-problem skills as perceived by 120 junior high school students at Luis Y. Ferrer Jr. West National High School, Division of General Trias City, and translated the findings into essential tools for applying mathematical concepts to real-world scenarios. It used a descriptive-correlational design and a researcher-made, expert-validated questionnaire on a four-point scale. Frequency and percentage described the profile of the respondents; weighted mean assessed teachers’ strategies; independent-samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) tested differences by age, sex, and section; and Pearson correlation examined the relationship between the two strategy domains. Most respondents were 13 years old (72%) and female (59%), with exactly ten respondents from each of Sections A to L. Teachers’ problem-solving strategies were rated as somewhat strategized (composite mean = 3.39, SD = 0.47), led by reflection and debriefing (3.66) and scaffolding (3.61), while encouraging multiple strategies was lowest (3.22). Word-problem strategies were rated as highly strategized (composite mean = 3.54, SD = 0.48), led by graphic organizers (3.78) and modeling/think-alouds (3.69). Sex differentiated both domains; age differentiated word-problem strategies only; section differentiated neither. The two domains were significantly and moderately negatively correlated (r = -0.385, p < .001). The study proposes two classroom tools, the Strategy Canvas Board and the Say-It-Back Protocol, to strengthen flexible strategy use and reading comprehension before computation.
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