ABSTRACT
The study was conducted with the purpose of determining the effects of utilizing multi-tiered lessons in teaching Mathematics to improve the academic performance of Grade 7 students in Paso De Blas National High School. It was limited to two (2) sections of heterogeneous class. One group was taught using the traditional approach while one group was subjected to multi-tiered lessons.
The researcher adopted quasi- experimental with mixed approach method. For quantitative data, pretest and posttest questionnaire was used to test the effectiveness of the study. Qualitative data was also gathered using a survey questionnaire, this data was collected to support the result of quantitative data and to determine the experience of the participants under multi-tiered lessons.
The results of pretest and posttest of experimental group and control group showed that the utilization of multi-tiered lesson helped the learners to improve their mathematical academic performance.
The result of thematic analysis shown that students enjoys varied activities that are suited in their level. It was also found out that multi-tiered lessons helped students to learn the topics in their in-depth understanding.
Keywords: Mathematics Education, Academic Performance, differentiated instruction, scaffolding, Multi-tiered lessons
INTRODUCTION
One of the most significant issues and concerns for educators is the quality of mathematics instruction and learning. Furthermore, Mathematics has always been perceived as the most difficult subject to learn and teach. Filipino students’ performance in Mathematics is always low as compared to other subjects in the curricula from the national level down to school level (Callaman & Itaas, 2020)
Behind the low performance of students in mathematics, many factors considered to affect the students’ mathematical performance such as students’ lack of motivation, interest, and solid foundation. Teacher-factor is also pointed as one of the primary reasons in complexity in absorbing the lessons in Mathematics. With the continuous below the standard scores of students in international assessments, developing teacher’s methodologies and pedagogies are necessary. When it comes to the delivery of the lesson, most of the teachers are using conventional method of teaching, wherein they directly instruct the students then after the discussion, seatwork will follow. This traditional method of teaching hinders the development of creativeness and critical thinking of the students since there is no deeper understanding and analyzing of lesson that took place, leading to a situation wherein students learn conceptually without meaningful learning. In this new MATATAG curriculum, the teachers’ main objective in teaching Mathematics is to create a mathematically proficient and critical problem solver Filipino learners that could explore, appreciate and think critically. Thus, trying different methods to address the needs of the students should be done. Various pedagogies were employed to address the issues in mathematics education, teachers are constantly devising and implementing new strategies on how to improve their students’ mathematics performance.
One of the strategies that was introduced was differentiated instruction. In most of public schools, students are heterogenous, classrooms are filled with different types of learners, and there is a difficulty in accommodating all types of learners in discussion, teachers should modify the lesson to meet the needs of diverse learners.
According to Nagl (2023), differentiating instruction entails teaching the same topic to all students using a range of instructional methodologies, or it may require the teacher to provide lessons at differing levels of difficulty dependent on each student’s capabilities.
Differentiated instruction helps teachers to differentiate the lessons and activities, this strategy assists in reaching every student at their own level and increasing their chances of success. When the content is differentiated, every student is inspired to work on their own pace. In addition, differentiated instruction allows a motivates the students to participate and contribute to classroom activities, no students are left out of learning opportunities simply because the assignment and activities were based on their skills, talents, and interest.
The advantage of differentiated instruction as compared to traditional method is reflected on the research by Wilson (2021), stating that lecture is the least effective educational approach, with only 5 - 10% retention after 24 hours. Engaging the students in discussions, practicing after exposure to content, and teaching others are much more successful ways of ensuring learning retention.
Differentiated instruction is very familiar and yet, some teachers are not aware on how they can differentiate the instruction in their classes. There are different strategies to differentiate instruction these are: Though Menus, Rubrics, and Learning Style Inventories, Curriculum Compacting, through Independent Study and Learning Centers, Cubing and Lastly, Tiering Lessons/Multi-tiered Lessons.
In this study, the chosen type of differentiated instruction is the tiered lesson. In this instruction, the teacher have to tailor the instruction to meet individual needs of students. It is also about layering the lesson base on the learning readiness of the students. This strategy can be done by tiering the assignments, activities, assessment, learning materials and the lesson itself, also by knowing your students’ interest, readiness, and learning style.
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