LEVEL OF DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING GENERAL MATHEMATICS AND

COPING STRATEGIES AMONG GRADE 11 STUDENTS IN SAGAY

NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Mathematics is the science that deals with logic of shape, quality, and

arrangement. Mathematics is in everything that people do. It is the building blocks for

everything in people’s daily lives. Individuals who experience Mathematics anxiety, or

negative feelings and apprehension toward Math are hypothesized to engage in math

avoidance behaviours such as taking fewer math-related courses and pursuing fewer

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)–related occupations than their less

math-anxious peers. Mathematics is commonly perceived to be a very difficult subject

(e.g. Fritz et al.2019).

Mathematical learning challenges are a common occurrence. Students who have

difficulty learning Mathematics are identified by "underdevelopment" changes

(Mathematics learning outcomes) when compared to other students. Even multiple types

of learning difficulties in this situation, both teachers and parents have the same goal, to

assist kids in overcoming learning obstacles. Students with learning disabilities require a

"counselor" who can understand, motivate, and provide suitable solutions and activities.

This situation needs to be changed, especially as we prepare students for the continuously

increasing demand for quantitative and computationally literacy over the twenty-first

century (e.g., Committee on STEM education 2018).

 However, there have been no in-depth studies of themes included in the

Philippines' Senior High School (SHS) General Mathematics curriculum. As a result, this

study was established in the school year 2017-2018 to investigate the difficulties faced by

Grade 11 teachers in teaching senior high school General Mathematics in the Division of

Sagay City. If students strive, they can prevent and treat arithmetic anxiety in themselves.

The learning strategies are very important in terms of having power or right and self-

regulated learning. Having various strategies may help students to answer more activities

easily and quickly (Gasco, Domingo and Goni, 2017).

It is a context that the researchers were motivated to conduct this study. It aims to

determine the difficulties faced by the students classified as personal, emotional,

according to teachers’ instructions and particular coping strategies employed by the

students in learning Mathematics. This study also wants to raise awareness to the teachers

and school administrators about the problem faced by the students and how they deal

with it. Once carried out, this study can make appropriate recommendations intended for

the improvement of the students in learning math as a whole.

Statement of the problem

This study will provide information and awareness about the difficulties

encountered in learning Mathematics and coping strategies of the Grade 11 Students of

Sagay National High School.

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents when taken as a whole and

grouped according to:

a. Sex?
 b. Socio-economic status?

2. What is the level of difficulties encountered by Grade 11 Students in General

Mathematics when taken as whole and when grouped according to:

a. Personal aspect?

b. Emotional aspect?

c. Learning activities?

3. What is the level of the use of coping strategies of the students in learning General

Mathematics when taken as whole and when grouped according to:

a. Avoidance?

b. Reconciliation?

c. Determination?

4. What is the significant difference between level of difficulties in Learning General

Mathematics and Coping strategies of Grade 11 Students when taken as a whole and

when grouped according to sex and socio-economic status?

5. Is there a significant relationship between difficulties in learning General Mathematics

and Coping strategies?

Hypothesis of the study

The research intends to test null hypothesis that will be able to determine the

difficulties and coping strategies of students in learning Mathematics.

The hypotheses are generated by the researcher and were tested in this study:

1. There is no significant different in terms of difficulties in learning General

Mathematics when taken as a whole and grouped according to

aforementioned variables.
 2. There is no significant difference in coping strategies of Grade 11 students

when taken as a whole and grouped according to aforementioned

variables.

3. There is no significant relationship between difficulties in learning

General Mathematics and coping strategies.

Significance of the study

The findings of this research are significant to the following:

Students. The result and findings of the study may help the students’ awareness

and preparation for the difficulties that they may encounter in learning General

Mathematics.

Mathematics Teacher. The results of this study will provide necessary

information regarding their professional needs that must be improved specifically in

terms of conceptual skills, human relations skills, and technical skills. This may also help

them identify their professional strengths and weaknesses.

Parents. This study will also help parents in guiding, monitoring and

understanding deeply their children’s performance and way of thinking.

School. This study is beneficial to the school for it to make necessary programs,

revisions, improvements and appropriate plans in order to address the need and problems

encountered by the Grade 11 students in a better way.

Department of Education. The result and findings of this study will help other

researchers to enhance and improve more their studies which are beyond the scope of this

study.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

 This study will focus on the level of difficulties encountered and coping strategies

of the Grade 11 students in learning General Mathematics. The participants of the study

are the grade 11 STEM Students (n=219 participants) in Sagay National High School

who were officially enrolled during the School Year 2021-2022, and the sampling

techniques we used was Stratified Sampling Design.

Definition of terms

The important terms that were used in the study are defined conceptually and

operationally in order to provide the readers with a clear interpretation and understanding

of the basic terms used in this research endeavour.

Coping Strategies. It refers to student’s self-generated thoughts, feelings, and

actions, which systematically oriented toward attainment of their goals. (Hesanbegovic,

2016). In this study, this term refers to one of the strategies used by the Grade11 students

in learning General Mathematics.

Avoidance. (Pizzie, Rachel G. & Kraemer, David J. M., 2017), the coping

journey of participants usually starts from the defense mechanism of “Avoidance”, it

refers to lack of beliefs in help, lack of willingness to cooperate in treatment options,

reception and denial of the situation, withdrawal behaviour, and tendency to weeping,

depressive symptoms, giving up, and exaggerated dependency on an adult figure.

In this study, the term refers to one of the strategies used by the G11 students in

learning General Mathematics.

Reconciliation. (Martinez-Sierra, 2020), the instructors’ belief indicated that the

strategy of reconciliation is the nature of purpose in Mathematics. It refers to a step on

the way to full acceptance of, and adaptation to the disability. In this study, this term

refers to one strategies used by the Grade 11 students in learning General Mathematics.

Determination. It refers to quantify human motivation to deal with the challenges

that people faces and examine its relationship to disorder motivation (Chong et al.2016,

Green, Horan, Barch & Gold 2015; Shenhav et al, 2017).

In this study, this term refers to one of the strategies used by the Grade 11

students in learning General Mathematics.

Theoretical Framework

Grade 12 retainers and their difficulties in General Mathematics on the previous

year. What are the parts of General Mathematics they find difficulties with and how do

they affect their academic performance.

Mathematics is a complex subject including different domains such as arithmetic,

geometry, algebra, probability statistics, calculus etc. that imply moiling a variety of their

abilities associated with the sense of quantity symbols, decoding, memory. Students

having problems with these domains may experience mathematical learning difficulties.

Barry, J. (2016) cited that a certain theoretical basis for math learning is E.

Thorndike’s Law of Exercise. He recommended that in Mathematics, students perform

much in drill and practice in correct procedures and fact to strengthen correct mental

bonds and B. F. Skinner, in his Operant Conditioning theory, agreed.

Furthermore, this study is anchored on the fact that emotional aspect affects

student’s determination to learn Mathematics (Horny, 2015). Emotional intelligence has

stressed the importance of “the capacity to soothe oneself, to shape off rampant anxiety,

gloom, or irritability”. People who are poor in this ability are constantly battling feelings
of distress, while those who excel in it can bounce back far more quickly from life’s

setbacks and upsets according Goleman‘s Emotional Intelligence Theory (Horny,2015).

In utilizing all these theories, the researchers and readers of this study may be able to gain

knowledge on the role of emotional problems of students in there learning Mathematics.

The schematic diagram that follows shows the relationship of variables to be used

in the study. The Grade 11 students may have encountered emotional, personal problems

and problems on Teacher’s instructions which may not be conducive for learning

Mathematics. Along with this, students may be able to cope using avoidance,

reconciliation, and/or determination.

Conceptual Framework

This study is grounded on the concepts that personal problems affect a person’s

performance in a gradual basis. Personal problems are the beliefs and attitudes that affect

learning. Personal problems can be influenced by past or current experiences and can

affect future performance. The fact that personal problems of the students can greatly

affect their performance, this concept will help the researchers understand why personal

problems of Grade 11 students may or may not have an effect on their performance in

General Mathematics subject. It is commonly perceived that General Mathematics is hard

to understand, difficult to comprehend, and of little interest to certain people. General

Mathematics also plays a major role in a number of other scientific fields. In this

connection, a positive attitude towards General Mathematics among students is an

important goal of Mathematics Education. We expect that this study will be successfully

done by providing an appropriate solution in terms of difficulties that the Grade 11

STEM students encounter in this particular subject.

 Output
The following are the
recommendations of
Input Process
the study.
Level of the Analysis of Data
difficulties through: Students
encountered in terms Questionnaire Teachers
of: Informal Interviews School
*. Personal aspect Statistical and DepEd
*. Emotional aspect Scientific Treatment Future Researchers
* Learning activities
Use of the coping
strategies in terms of:
* Avoidance
* Reconciliation
* Determine

Figure 1. Schematic diagram showing the conceptual framework of the study.

 Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter reviews the conceptual and research literature which have bearings

on the subject of the study. The researchers got additional insights from literature, which

they believed could provide valuable ideas in enriching the study.

A. Difficulties Encountered

Personal Problems and Students

In general, the respondents encountered personal problems relating to school

expenses, lack of interest and negative attitudes towards the subject. It could be gleaned

that the respondents are affected with school expenses incurred. They have to budget well

the allowance given by their parents to meet the other equally important and intermediate

needs in their studies. Socio-economic status contributes towards the academic

performance of students.

These difficulties, as discovered by Sukuriyanto et al. (2016), were attempting to

solve a problem that relates to general Mathematics, it is evident that a problem may be

encountered. The students’ lack of knowledge in comprehending a problem that relates to

a certain problem in solving General Mathematics will likely result to an error in the

solutions. This could also led to an error of the given information in the problem. This

proves that a poor mathematical skills and that the lack of understanding the problems

comprise the major obstacle in the domain of problem-solving skills.

According to Belbase (2016), the students learn Mathematics through active

construction of the meaning of concepts they learn through individual re-organization, re-

presentation, and re-construction and social negotiation with peers, elders, and teachers.
These imply that positive attitude towards Mathematics should be developed to improve

performance in the subject. Also, it could be expressed that the participants experience

high anxiety extent because of embarrassing experiences with their Mathematics teachers

and classmates before which caused lack of interest, negative attitudes towards

Mathematics and poor study habits.

Finally, involving themselves in different school activities consume much of

their time from studying their lessons. Their inabilities and inadequacies also hinder them

from achieving Mathematics competencies.

Furthermore, parents should make their children feel they are understood, cared

for, and well provided financially because being away from the family is difficult for

them.

According to the study of Lee & Kung (2018), the students who feel inferior

about their mathematical abilities tend to have lower performance in Math subject. He

emphasized that students fall below their expected extent of Mathematics achievement

for a variety of reasons. When asked why they were not as successful in learning

Mathematics, many people reply that they “never understood Math,” or “never liked it

because it was too abstract and did not relate to them.” These reasons and others can be

categorized, in general, as personal or individualized factors. Some students lack well-

developed mental strategies for remembering how to complete algorithmic procedures

and combinations of basic facts. However, strategies to improve capacities for

remembering facts, formulas, or procedures can be taught. Repeated games such as

calling out fact combinations and having students solve them and then repeat those that

were called before their turn can help.

 In a study of Fabito et al. (2021), they found that difficulty of clarifying topics on

solving problems or discussions with the professors, lack of study or working area

dedicated for a modular activities and the lack of learning materials, these concluded that

students are not ready for a modular classes. These students think that if they scored well

on a Mathematics assignment, they did so only because the content happened to be easy.

These students do not attribute their success to understanding or hard work. Students

might also believe that failure is related to either the lack of innate mathematical inability

or extent of intelligence. They view their achievement as accidental and poor progress as

inevitable. In doing so, they limit their capacity to study and move ahead.

Emotional Problem and Students

The emotional problems encountered are excessive stress in doing academic task

and low-esteem or not believing in one’s capabilities. Emotions directly influence

undesirably the respondent’s ability and interest in achieving Mathematics competencies

because of differences in personality, cognitive extent, and development.

The (OECD 2019) stated that the vast majority of children with learning

disabilities have some emotional problems associated with the learning difficulty. It

appears that despite with the interactions in the curriculum students still considered that

Mathematics is a difficult subject. It implies, that it is important to understand the

interaction of emotional functioning and learning disabilities and the impact of that

interaction on children’s learning Math. The interaction of emotional functioning and

learning disabilities is complex and not always clearly discernible in a given situation.

Although it may be impossible to definitively state any directional relationship, it is

essential to identify the possible interactions.

 Emotional concerns may intensify learning disabilities. According to (Deieso &

Fraser 2019), A constant failure and frustration may lead to strong feelings of inferiority,

which in turn may intensify the initial learning deficiency. Those who suffer from

Mathematics anxiety experience intense fear and worry while working with Mathematics

which impacts their cognitive development. As a result of having difficulties with certain

academic tasks, it decreases the child’s ability to attend and concentrate. (Klee & Miller,

2019)

It is in this context that emotions directly influence undesirably the ability and

interest in achieving Mathematics competencies because of differences in personality,

cognitive extent, and development.

(Kelley and Knowles 2016), suggest a greater focus on the improvement of

learning in Mathematics and along with an increased awareness in the learning

competencies of Mathematics, also in the regards of encountering emotional changes in

environment. However, the impact of integration on desired learning outcomes depends

on whether these subjects are integrated completely throughout the lesson or one of these

dominates in the lesson. It is identified that Mathematics learning style and preferences of

student in regard to the fine dimension of learning environment and in the perspective of

emotional, sociological and cognitive. Mathematics learning style elements included

motivation on the persistence to get the work done with confidence. In the emotional

dimension, the high achievers were highly motivated and more persistent; they were

highly motivated teacher dependent.

(McLoughlin et al. 2020), propose an integrated approach to the Mathematics to

develop a range of competences through addressing and solving real-world problems.

The researchers emphasise the importance of innovative curriculum and approaches for

achieving learning outcomes across the domains of knowledge, skills, attitudes and

values. Researches aver that teachers should encourage the students to participate in

school activities through student organizations. They can get a chance of exposure to

various activities related to academic, social, economic and community concerns. Thus,

the students gain approval from peers and authorities, strengthen self-confidence and self-

esteem.

Teacher‘s Instruction and Students

On problems relating to teacher’s instruction, these are no effective motivation

and introduction, and not creative enough to adopt his/her method.

The teacher’s inadequacies in the classroom create problems and difficulties to

students.

Researchers suggested that the teacher’s need to create a new way of teaching to

promote a better teaching process, many changes in the educational system of teachers

teaching ability that led to promote a new way of teaching (Birbal et al., 2018; Countiho

& Miranda,2019; Guimaraes et al., 2021) help students a lot. Furthermore, good teaching

strategies, material approaches and techniques, effective evaluate measures, follow-up

activities, and utilization of instructional materials make students more motivated,

achieve mastery of content, develop more positive attitude, productive discipline and

higher performance in Mathematics.

Teacher’s as a whole need to know and understand that differences and

uniqueness among learners exist and are widespread. They should endeavour to make the

necessary and appropriate adjustment to the general capabilities, needs and interest of
students to produce better learning outcomes. Anything the teacher does and fails to do in

the classroom redounded to the learners. Understanding and application of the different

principles of teaching and learning are necessary.

Mathematics instruction must provide many opportunities for concept building,

relevant challenging questions, problem solving, reasoning, and connections within the

curriculum and real-world situations. These teaching styles encompassed as a general

behaviour of the teachers learning process, as well as preferred that instructional

strategies, such as whether they are at the process of lecturing and in the uses of the

active learning techniques. Teaching style is more than the personality in teaching, it is

related to the instructors’ philosophy of teaching (Atasoy et al., 2018; Saritas, 2016).

Students who are taught in a way that relies too heavily on rote memorization and

isolated from meaning have difficulty recognizing and retaining Math concepts and

generalizations. It also implies the strengthening process of future teachers when they

learn to contribute the emergence of the generations of the self-reflective, metacognitive,

strategic, and self-regulated process in teachers (Vosniadou et al., 2021). In accordance of

(Countinho & Miranda, 2019; Gatti, 2016), teachers must not only master scientific and

specific theoretical knowledge but they must also acquire methods and strategies that can

help to maintain the knowledge of students and to improve their own learning. It is

“beyond knowledge of the facts or concepts of a domain”. Teachers must know and be

able to explain under what conditions a particular proposition can hold true.

According to the literature (McCombs, 2017; Weinstein & Acee, 2018) teaching

learning and study strategies to students is also possible to help them become more active

in their learning process. Students are expected to learn how to use learning study
strategies consciously and effectively, but educational institutions rarely teach them do

so. In fact, students have little access to strategies that can help them learn over the years

of schooling. And this may likewise demand them to conduct regular and objective

monitoring, creating strategies, supervising and evaluating teachers at work to measure

their effectiveness and efficiency to improve learning outcomes. This study may make

teachers revisit existing competencies in Mathematics and do appropriate and urgent

revision and modification to make it more relevant to the present needs, interests and

situations of learners and to the conditions and demands of the society as a whole. This

may pave the way to reflect further and benefit of the reflection as regards of their most

crucial roles and functions as developers and providers of accurate, useful, and relevant

concepts, principles and theories in Mathematics. This may commit them to deliver

quality instruction that will redound to students’ improved attitudes and performance in

Mathematics.

B. Coping Strategies

The term “coping” refers to the thoughts and actions to which one resorts when

dealing with a stressful situation (Cliché, 2017). Some coping strategies, however, are not

as helpful as others. While positive coping strategies give opportunities to actively work

toward solving the problems, negative coping strategies make anyone wear down over

time; and they often aggravate the situation. Ideally, positive coping strategies include

listening to music, going out with friend, discussing situations with a friend, making an

action plan to solve a problem, or seeking counselling to deal with stress; whereas

negative coping strategies involve criticizing oneself, yelling at friends, taking a

recreational drug, becoming aggressive, or simply avoiding friends and family. Anybody
can become stressed for various reasons in different fields and situations; consequently,

we need to choose the appropriate coping strategies.

Avoidance

According to (Pizzie, Rachel G. & Kraemer, David J. M., 2017), the coping

journey of participants usually starts from the defense mechanism of “Avoidance”. It is

specific to Mathematics appearances, when viewing at the negatively valenced,

Mathematics assessment is correlated with similar to the other forms of anxiety that also

led to occurrence of avoiding the topic. It indicates that even a brief exposure to

Mathematics, triggers to a neural response related to threat avoidance in the Mathematics

assessment. During this stage of the journey, they could still aim to do well in

Mathematics learning. However, they are affected psychologically whenever they are

engaged in Mathematics learning. Thus, to balance between their aim of passing the

examination and alleviation of Mathematics-related psychological pain, they can only

choose to avoid Mathematics learning periodically but not totally. They hope to pass their

assessment with the minimum contact with its learning scenarios.

With a clear presence of a comprehensive inventory of behaviours of students

who do not do well in Mathematics class, it will create an awareness of the problem of

maladaptive learning behaviours among the stakeholders in education. Such maladaptive

coping strategies in Mathematics learning must be made known to all students.

Reconciliation

According to (Martinez-Sierra, 2020), the instructors’ belief indicated that the

strategy of reconciliation is the nature of purpose in Mathematics were their beliefs about

teaching, learning and assessment are a series of computation or a way of thinking in

Mathematics. He stated that Mathematics has the process of comparing the problems and

solution. In the process it may lead to a situation such as the occurrence of a perceived

stress, and as a result the accumulate number are only 3% of the variance. However, the

extent of perceived stress in the respondents is high, and women compared to men, are

more likely to report that they experience stress in learning. In coping with stress, the

most preferred strategy is to increase effort and the least preferred is reconciliation as

their coping strategy. Still, this strategy could be seen among learners in Mathematics.

Reconciliation as a coping strategy. Mathematics learners actively seek out help

for their problems and do not deny them. They neither avoid their diagnosis nor repress

it. They accept their learning disability as part of their self-image. They are able to live

with the realization that they have a disability, but do not give in to feelings of despair.

They might still wish to be treated as ordinary boys and girls, but are cooperative with

and accepting of remedial help and assistance. Their emotional and cognitive coping go

hand in hand, as they deal with their difficulties and accept them on an emotional extent.

They approach their difficulties in a rational manner and display a sense of control over

their emotions.

Determination

According to (Anigbo, 2016), this coping strategy has to do with the preparedness

of a subject matter that can enable the learner to cope up with the next higher level of

learning of the subject matter or related to learning task. It features that determination

need to face and to deal with the challenges of their limitations, and to display their full

range of personal competencies despite the learning disability. The disability is perceived

as part of their self-image, and they show an ability to reframe the situation as one which
is amenable to change and with which they can cope. These students display resilience, as

they change the disability from a threat to their self-identity to a challenge to be met.

As they display a positive attitude so others in their social environment react more

positively and are more accepting of them, which in turn affirms and confirms their

strategy and their self-worth. Students in their final year who are determined have high

expectations of themselves and their performance, and work hard to achieve this. They

are able to shift strengths to answer specific challenges, and are spurred on to proving

that they can succeed despite their disability. The strategy of determination can employ

avoidant-like cognitive coping methods, which are in fact adaptive to positive ends,

avoiding the problem by finding ‘workarounds’ to dealing with challenges, by passing

their difficulties or compensating for them.

Teachers are in the front line of providing help and support, and the determined

students felt that if the teachers treated their disabilities as something natural and

acceptable, this would help them. Teachers also need to know what the current

dispensations are for learning disabled students.

Synthesis

There are vast related literatures which discuss about the problems encountered

by the learners in learning Mathematics. Most of the related researches focus on the

Personal, Emotional, and on Teacher’s Instruction Aspect of students in learning

Mathematics.

The problems encountered under the three categories were identified as constructs

of perceptions that influence student’s learning in Mathematics. Personal Aspect: school

expenses, poor study habits, involvement in school activities, poor grammar

competencies, and negative attitude towards the subject. Emotional Aspect: stress in

doing academic tasks, low self-esteem or not believing in one’ s capabilities, feeling of

timidity, frustration over an unfinished task, feeling of insecurity. Problems on Teacher’s

Instruction: lacks ability to give clear directions and logical explanations, not creative

enough to adapt his/her method to the learner’s capability, lacks the ability to encourage

critical and creative thought, has no sufficient and concrete examples to create

meaningful learning experiences, has no effective motivation and introduction.

The best way to overcome such problems encountered in learning General

Mathematics is the ability to use an appropriate coping strategy. The coping strategies

mostly used by the students were categorized into three: Avoidance, Reconciliation, and

Determination. Avoidance, they hope to pass their Mathematics assessment with the

minimum contact with Mathematics learning scenarios. Reconciliation, Mathematics

learners seek out help for their problems but accept their learning disability as part of

their self-image. Determination, students display resilience, as disability from a threat to

their self-identity to a challenge to be met.

 Chapter 3

METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research method to be used in this study. It includes the

research design, research locale, respondents of the study, research instrument, research

procedure and the statistical analysis of data.

Research Design

The main purpose of the study is to determine the level of difficulties encountered

by the Grade 11 Students of Sagay National High School in learning Mathematics and

how they deal and cope with those challenges.

To obtain a general overview of this matter, the appropriate research design to use

are the descriptive and correlational research design. The study will make use of the

descriptive research methodology in line with the research design and correlational

research design.

According to Creswell (2016), “Research designs are the specific procedure

involved in the research process: data collection, data analysis, and report writing”. The

research design in this research uses analysis research design. Penwarden (2015)

contends that descriptive research gathers quantifiable information that can be used for

statistical inference on the target audience through data analysis. As a consequence, this

type of research takes the form of closed-ended questions, which limits its ability to

provide unique insights; however, when used properly it can help an organization better

design and measure the significance of something about a group of respondents and the

population they represent. The researchers thought that it is the appropriate method to use

for it seeks to describe the nature of the situation and to explore how participants deal
with what is prevailing. According to Creswell, correlational research designs are used by

investigators to describe and measure the degree of relationship between two or more

variables or sets of scores. The goal of this research is to describe the relationship

between variables and to measure the strength of the relationship. A correlation describes

three characteristics of a relationship. The direction (positive/negative) of the relationship

and the form of (linear/nonlinear) of the relationship.

Participants of the Study

Sampling is a subset of the population that being studied. It represents the larger

population and is use to draw inferences about that population. It is one of the most

important factors which determine the accuracy of your research/survey result. If anything

goes wrong with your sample then it will be directly reflected in the final result. There

are lot of techniques which help us to gather sample depending upon the need and

situation. This blog post tries to explain some of those techniques. Seema Singh (2018).

This study uses the Probability sampling techniques in which every unit in the population

has a chance of being selected ¡n the sample. Specifically, Stratified Random Sampling

Design is a method of sampling from a population which can be partitioned into

subpopulations. In statistical surveys, when subpopulations within an overall population

vary, it could be advantageous to sample each subpopulation independently. The

researchers used Slovin's Formula to get the sample size of a population of Grade 11

students.

The participants of the study were the Grade 1 1 students of Sagay National High

School enrolled in School Year 2021-2022.

Table 1
Participants of the Study
Gender Sample Size
Participants Total Total
Male Female Male Female
A 13 28 41 7 18 25
B 11 29 40 7 16 23
C 17 23 40 10 18 28
D 19 22 41 6 15 21
E 15 26 41 8 14 22
F 19 21 40 17 16 33
G 12 28 40 7 13 20
H 6 34 40 6 17 23
I 13 28 41 9 17 26
J 8 33 41 3 26 29
K 16 25 41 9 18 27
L 16 25 41 11 14 25

Research Instruments

The instruments used in this study has four parts. Part I is the Data Sheet. It aimed

to gather information pertaining to the profile of the respondents. It includes the name,

year and section, sex and age. Part II was a structured questionnaire adapted and modified

from a study. The questionnaire is about the level of difficulties encountered by students

in learning General Mathematics categorized into Personal, Emotional, and on Teacher’s

Instruction. Part III of research instruments was a questionnaire developed by the

researchers. Part IV seeks to determine the level of use of the coping strategies of the

respondents in dealing with the problems in General Mathematics learning categorized

into Avoidance, Reconciliation, and Determination.

The research instrument was subjected to validity and reliability measures.

Validity of the Data Gathering Instruments

To determine the validity of research instrument, the researchers will adapt the

criteria develop for evaluation of survey questionnaire set for by Carter V. Good and
Douglas V. Scates (2011). The validity of the data gathering instrument involved three

types: face validity (1) content validity (2), construct validity (3).

The validity of the research instrument was established by the three validators

who are considered experts in the field of the Mathematics and research. The evaluation

instrument formulated by Good and Scates are used in providing numerical ratings which

resulted to a compute of 4.40, interpreted as very satisfactory which further means that

the instrument is appropriate for its purpose in the study. Suggestions and comments will

be considered for the improvement of the instruments.

Reliability of the Data Gathering Instruments

To determine the reliability of the data-gathering instrument, the researchers will

utilize the Cronbach Alpha test of reliability. The Cronbach Alpha is a measure used to

assess the reliability, or internal consistency, of a set of scale or test items.

The computed Alpha for the questionnaires on the Level of Difficulties in

Learning General Mathematics and Coping Strategies among Grade 11 Students is 0.847.

According Figueroa (2008), a coefficient of 0.847 indicates good reliability. This means

that the research instrument used by the researchers was reliable.

Data Gathering Procedures

There were three sets of data need in this study: Respondents Personal Data,

Difficulties Encountered categorized in Learning General Mathematics in terms of

Personal, Emotional, and on Teacher’s instruction, Coping Strategies.

The Researchers gave a letter to the principal which serves as a permission in

allowing the researchers to conduct the study. The researchers then reproduced and

distribute the questionnaire to the participants. After gathering all the data, the
researchers will tally and analyze the results in order to come up with the appropriate

interpretation and recommendations.

Data Analysis Procedures

The statistical tools that were used in the analysis of data vary according to the

specific problems of the study and their attendant hypothesis.

For the first statement of the problem, which determine the profile of Grade 11 –

STEM students in terms of sex and socio-economic status, Frequency and Percentage

were used.

For the second statement of the problem, which determine the level of difficulties

encountered by Grade 11-STEM Students in General Mathematics wen taken as a whole

and grouped according to Personal aspect, Emotional aspects and Learning Activities,

Mean and Standard Deviation were used.

For the third statement of the problem, which determine the level of the used

coping strategies of students in learning General Mathematics when taken as a whole and

grouped according to Avoidance, Reconciliation, and Determination, mean and

standard deviation were used.

For the fourth statement of the problem, which to determine the significant

difference between the level of difficulties encountered and coping strategies of Grade 11

STEM Students when taken as a whole and grouped according to sex and socio –

economic status, Independent-Sample T test and Anova were used.

The fifth statement of the problem, which to determine the significant relationship

between the level of difficulties in learning General Mathematics and coping strategies of
Grade 11 STEM students, Pearson-Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (Pearson r)

will be used in this study.

 Chapter 4

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

This chapter deals with the presentation of the results and its discussion. The

discussion of the result includes interpretation and analysis of the data gathered in

connection to specific problems of this investigation.

Level of Difficulties encountered in terms of profile of Grade 11 STEM Students

according to sex
Table 2 reflects the profile of the Grade 11 STEM Students. When grouped

according to sex, there were 119 or 54.3% female respondents, while the male

respondents had 100 or 45.7%. Among the Grade 11 STEM Students responded, the

female had the most number of respondents.

Table 2
Profile of Grade 11- STEM Students in terms of sex. (n= 219)
Variables Frequency Percentage
Sex
Male 100 45.7
Female 119 54.3
Total 219 100.0
Table 3 reflects the profile of the Grade 11 STEM Students. When grouped

according to socio-economic status, there were 181 or 82.6% in the middle class, 35 or

16.0% in the low class, while the high class had only 3 or 1.4% respondent which means

that among the Grade 11 STEM students, high class had the lowest number of

respondents.

Table 3
Profile of Grade 11- STEM Students in terms of socio economic status. (n= 219)
Variables Frequency Percentage
Low class 35 16.0
Middle class 181 82.6
High class 3 1.4
Total 219 100.0
Level of Difficulties encountered by Grade 11 STEM Students in General
Mathematics according to Personal Problems, Emotional Problems and Learning
Activities
Table 4, reflects the level of difficulties encountered by the Grade 11 STEM

Students in learning General Mathematics. As shown in this table, the level of personal

problems, emotional problems and learning activities obtained a mean of 3.190

(SD=0.560), 3.600 (SD=0.660), and 2.940 (SD=0.550) respectively. It indicated that the

level of personal problems and learning activities were satisfactory, while the emotional

problem was very satisfactory. When the level of difficulties encountered by the grade11

STEM students taken as a whole, the computed mean was 3.250 and the standard

deviation was 0.420. Hence, the tabulated result showed that there was a satisfactory

interpretation as a whole.

Result presented in this table reflected that Grade 11 STEM Students experienced

emotional problem which affected their performance in learning General Mathematics.

Emotional problem has factors that have a valuable effect on their learning in General

Mathematics. These are the problems on stress in doing academic task, low self-esteem

or not believing one’s capabilities, feeling of timidity, frustration over your unfinished

task and feeling of insecurity. Bruning agreed with the statement above for he stated that

emotional problems can affect future performance.

As a result of having difficulties with certain academic tasks, it decreased the

child’s ability to attend and concentrate. (Klee & Miller, (2019), Travers (2015) stated

that achievement is the result of what an individual has learned from some educational

experiences. Additionally, Mwanda (2015) found that achievement of a student in a

subject is influenced by technology lamp, in his study agreed that students do not relay

solely within themselves in learning General Mathematics.

 Students are to greater or lesser degrees, already autonomous and capable of

exercising this capacity and teachers should be fully aware of this and works to enhance

their already partially self-directed learning. Purcell (2016) conducted study also showed

that students of today can take advantage of the availability of educational material in

engaging multimedia formats and many become more self-reliant researchers.

However, Rainie (2015) agreed that experiencing problems on teacher’s

instructions also affected student performance in learning math because relying solely on

the information taken from outward source could not give an assurance of having a

quality and reliable information.

Table 4
Level of Difficulties encountered by Grade 11 STEM Students in General Mathematics according
to Personal Problems, Emotional Problems and Learning Activities(n = 219)

Difficulties Encountered (Personal Problems) Mean S.D. Interpretation

School expenses 3.100 0.800 Satisfactory
Poor study habits 3.240 0.820 Satisfactory
Involvement in school activities 3.210 0.760 Satisfactory
Poor grammar competencies 3.150 0.800 Satisfactory
Negative attitude towards the subject 3.290 0.850 Satisfactory

Table 4.1

Difficulties Encountered (Emotional Problems) Mean S.D. Interpretation

Stress in doing academic task 3.650 0.870 Very Satisfactory
Low self-esteem or not believing one’s 3.560 0.880 Very Satisfactory
capabilities
Feeling of timidity 3.570 0.840 Very Satisfactory
Frustration over your unfinished task 3.740 0.890 Very Satisfactory
Feeling of insecurity 3.490 0.980 Satisfactory

Table 4.2

Difficulties Encountered (Learning Activities) Mean S.D. Interpretation

Lacks ability to give clear directions and 3.170 0.850 Satisfactory
logical explanation
Is not creative enough to adapt his/her 2.920 0.710 Satisfactory
method to the learner’s capability
Lacks the ability to encourage critical and 2.840 0.750 Satisfactory
creative thought
 Has no sufficient and concrete examples to 2.840 0.730 Satisfactory
create meaningful learning experiences
Has no effective motivation and introduction 2.900 0.780 Satisfactory

Table 4.3
Level of Difficulties encountered by Grade 11 STEM Students in General Mathematics as a
whole. (n=219)
Difficulties Encountered of Students Mean Standard Interpretation
Deviation
Personal Aspect 3.200 0.560 Satisfactory

Emotional Aspect 3.600 0.660 Very Satisfactory

Learning Activities 2.940 0.550 Satisfactory

Whole Programs 3.250 0.420 Satisfactory

Level of use of the Coping Strategies of Grade 11 STEM Students in learning

General Mathematics such as Avoidance, Reconciliation and Determination
Table 5, reflects the level of use of coping strategies such us avoidance,

reconciliation and determination used by Grade 11 STEM Students in learning General

Mathematics. As shown in this table, the obtained mean of 2.020 (SD=0.24), 1.970

(SD=0.190) and 2.01 (SD=0.220) indicated that Grade 11 Students seldom used

avoidance, reconciliation and determination as coping strategies in learning General

Mathematics. Moreover, when the use of coping strategies when taken as a whole,

computed the mean is 2.000 and the standard deviation is 0.130. Hence, the tabulated

result shows that there is no significant difference on the use of coping strategies of

Grade 11 STEM students when taken as a whole.

Results presented in this table reflected that Grade 11 STEM Students used

avoidance, reconciliation, and determination as coping strategies in dealing with the

problems they had encountered. A study of Khiat (2015) supported the findings of this

study. He showed that the first reaction of an individual when faced with problems is to

avoid. During this stage of the journey, they still aim to do well in learning General

Mathematics. However, they are affected psychological pain, they can only choose to
avoid in learning General Mathematics periodically but not totally. They hoped to pass

their Mathematics assessment with the minimum contact with Mathematics learning

scenarios.

Moreover, the table also reflected that Grade 11 STEM Students always use

reconciliation as coping strategy in dealing with the problem they had encountered in

learning General Mathematics. It means that they adapted this strategy and accepted as

they tried to cope with the difficulties. A study of Givon (2016) reconciliation is a step on

the way to full acceptance of, and adaptation to, the disability. Students who adapt this

strategy experience the limitation but are willing to invest effort in coping them. At first

they sigh, but they cope. They display modes of emotional self-regulation, and treat

anxiety they might feel without overwhelming them.

Additionally, the table also reflected that Grade 11 STEM Students always use

determination as a coping strategy in dealing with the problem they had encountered in

learning General Mathematics. A study of Givon and Court (2016) supported the findings

of the study. It means that Grade 11 STEM Students are determined to face and deal with

the challenges of their limitation and display a full range of personal competencies

despite the learning disability.

Table 5
Level of the use of coping strategies of the students in learning General Mathematics as a
Avoidance, Reconciliation, and Determination(n=219)

Coping Strategies (Avoidance) Mean S.D. Interpretation

If I am stuck on a math problem, I give up. 2.300 0.680 Seldom
I’d rather copy the answer of my classmate 2.110 0.560 Seldom
than solve the math problem myself.
I refused the help of the others to solve math 1.780 0.650 Seldom
problem.
I leave the class whenever I don’t understand 1.720 0.820 Seldom
the lesson.
I cried whenever I am stuck on a topic I don’t 2.170 0.610 Seldom
understand.
Table 5.1

Coping Strategies (Reconciliation) Mean S.D. Interpretation

I used another way which I did not think would 2.270 0.680 Seldom
work, but at least I was doing something.
I tried to analyze the problem again in order to 2.150 0.580 Seldom
understand it better.
I told myself things that helped me to feel 1.680 0.580 Seldom
better whenever I sigh.
I made a promise to myself that things would 1.670 0.790 Seldom
be better next time.
I just concentrated on what I had to do next if I 2.080 0.570 Seldom
cannot make the first step.

Table 5.2
Coping Strategies (Determination) Mean S.D. Interpretation
I set goals and targets about my Mathematics 2.250 0.660 Seldom
learning.
I copy what the lecturer writes on the board 2.160 0.580 Seldom
then practice using examples.
I am being persistent in trying to solve a 1.750 0.620 Seldom
problem.
I fully open for a better way of solving math 1.730 0.820 Seldom
problems.
I ask someone who could help me solve a 2.160 0.630 Seldom
math problem.

Table 5.3
Level of the use of coping strategies of the students in learning General Mathematics as a whole.
(n=219)

Coping Strategies of students Mean Standard Deviation Interpretation

Avoidance 2.020 0.240 Seldom

Reconciliation 1.970 0.190 Seldom

Determination 2.010 0.220 Seldom

Whole Programs 2.000 0.130 Seldom

The Level of Difficulties in Learning General Mathematics and Coping Strategies

Encountered by Grade 11 STEM Students when taking as a whole and when group
according to sex and socio-economic status
As shown in Table 6, when students are grouped according sex, the computed

two-tailed value at the 0.050 level of significance is 0.757. Hence, the null hypothesis is

not rejected. Tabulated result showed that there is no significant difference on the coping

strategies of Grade 11 STEM students when grouped according to sex. While the level of
difficulties encountered by the students, the result implied that there is no significant

difference. Thus, the null hypothesis is not rejected.

According to Carver (2016), Coping is efforts to prevent or diminish threat, harm,

and loss, or to reduce the distress that is often associated with those experiences.

Table 6
Comparative Statistics in Level of Difficulties encountered by Grade 11 STEM Students in
General Mathematics and Coping strategies in terms sex(n = 219)
T-value P- value Interpretation
Coping Strategies 0.098 0.757 Not Significant
Level of Difficulties encountered 2.925 0.098 Not Significant
Legend: Significant at p-value < 0.05; R – Rejected; FR – Failed to Reject;S – Significant; NS – Not Significant

Moreover, when grouped according to socio-economic status, the computed two-

tailed value at the 0.05 level of significance is 0.316. Hence, the null hypothesis is not

rejected. Tabulated result showed that there is no significant difference on the coping

strategies of Grade 11 STEM students when grouped according to socio-economic. While

in the level of difficulties encountered by the students, the result implied that there is no

significant difference. Therefore, the null hypothesis is not rejected.

Table 7
Comparative Statistics in Level of Difficulties encountered by Grade 11 STEM Students in
General Mathematics and Coping strategies in terms socio economic (n = 219)
Coping Strategies T-value P- value Interpretation
Coping Strategies 1.043 0.316 Not Significant
Level of Difficulties encountered 0.201 0.657 Not Significant
As a whole 0.038 0.847 Not Significant
Legend: Significant at p-value < 0.05; R – Rejected; FR – Failed to Reject; S – Significant; NS – Not Significant

As shown in Table 8, the relationship between difficulties encountered in learning

General Mathematics and Coping Strategies is not significant with the p value of 0.871

higher that the alpha level 0.05% .Thus, null hypothesis is not rejected.

According to Hannelotte L. Timmerman (2017) this study the relationship

between difficulties in learning General Mathematics and coping strategies, in typically

developing by the Grade 11 STEM students (n=219) from a school for Senior High
School in Sagay National High School. Data was obtained using a Cronbach Alpha test

and math experience questionnaire. There was no correlation between the relationship in

learning General Mathematics and Coping strategies. The results suggest that simulating

positive feelings and beliefs of students in their own competences in math may lead to

better math achievement.

Table 8
Relationship between difficulties in Learning General Mathematics and Coping Strategies.
(n=219)
Mean r- value P - value Interpretation
Coping Strategies 2.00 1 Not Significant
Difficulties Encountered 3.25 0.031 0.871 Not Significant
As a whole 2.63 0.26 0.165 Not Significant

Legend: Significant at p-value < 0.05; R – Rejected; FR – Failed to Reject; S – Significant; NS – Not Significant
 Chapter 5

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presents the summary of findings, conclusions, and recommendations

formulated below:

Summary of Findings

The following are the findings of the study after which appropriate descriptive

correlational statistics were used:

1. The level of difficulties encountered by Grade 11 STEM Students in learning

Mathematics indicated that the level of personal problems and learning activities are

satisfactory while the emotional problem is very satisfactory.

2. The level of use of the avoidance as a coping strategy by Grade 11 STEM Students in

learning General Mathematics is seldom.

3. The level of the use of reconciliation and determination as coping strategies by Grade

11 STEM Students in learning Mathematics is seldom.

4. When grouped according to sex, Male and Female of Grade 11 STEM Students have

the same way in dealing with personal problem, emotional problem and problems on

teachers’ way of teaching.

5. When grouped according to sex, Male and Female have the same coping strategies

used in dealing with Mathematical problems.

6. There is no relationship between the difficulties in learning General Mathematics and

coping strategies among Grade 11 STEM Students.

Conclusion

Based from the findings, the following conclusions were advanced:

Grade 11 STEM Students tend to cope with personal and emotional problem and

with their Math instructions. They generally used avoidance, reconciliation and

determination as coping strategies to their problems in learning General Mathematics.

Both Male and Female have the same way in dealing with difficulties in learning

Mathematics and coping strategies. There is no relationship between the difficulties in

learning General Mathematics and coping strategies of Grade 11 STEM Students. This

showed that in learning General Mathematics both male and female students opted to

adopt such strategies to solve their problems.

Recommendations

Based from the findings and conclusion, the following are the recommendations

of the study.

Students. The study recommends that students should develop positive attitude

and believe in their capabilities to overcome timidity towards the subject Mathematics.

Teachers. The study recommends that the teacher should use more interactive

teaching techniques in Mathematics subject that will boost their interest in Mathematics

and the teachers should provide learning exercises and instructional materials and other

intervention activities which can help improve student’s engagement towards

Mathematics. The teachers should also provide all students with a lot of feedback and

encouragement to improve social skills between the students and teachers.

 School. The study recommends that the school must monitor the performance of

the students. The school is responsible in providing student’s high education in the field

of Mathematics.

Department of Education. The study recommends that the Department of

Education should create programs that can arouse and develop interest and enjoyment

when learning General Mathematics.

Future Researchers. The evidence of this study clearly raises many issues which

need further exploration. It is therefore recommended to the future researchers to utilize

other important variables.

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