Problem-Solving Attitudes and Students' Academic Performance in Mathematics: Basis for Intervention Program
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21846321Keywords:
problem-solving attitudes, Mathematics performance, Grade 4 pupils, mathematics education, intervention program, descriptive-correlational researchAbstract
This study determined the problem-solving attitudes and academic performance in Mathematics of Grade 4 pupils and examined the relationship between these variables as a basis for an intervention program. A descriptive-correlational design was employed at Annafunan Integrated School, Tuguegarao City, during School Year 2024–2025. From a population of 202 Grade 4 pupils, 133 were selected through simple random sampling using the Raosoft sample-size calculation. Problem-solving attitudes were measured through an adopted questionnaire from Ndlovu (2017), validated by the research adviser and an expert, while academic performance was obtained from pupils' final Mathematics ratings. Weighted mean and descriptive analysis summarized the variables, and Pearson product-moment correlation tested their relationship at the .05 level of significance. The pupils generally agreed with the positive problem-solving attitude indicators (grand mean = 2.91). Their overall Mathematics performance was very satisfactory (average = 86.2), with 61 pupils (45.86%) classified as very satisfactory, 37 (27.82%) satisfactory, 21 (15.79%) outstanding, 14 (10.53%) fairly satisfactory, and none below expectations. A weak but statistically significant positive relationship was found between problem-solving attitudes and academic performance (r = .186, n = 133, p = .033), leading to rejection of the null hypothesis. The findings indicate that more positive problem-solving attitudes are associated with slightly higher Mathematics performance, although other instructional and contextual factors also matter. The resulting intervention program emphasizes confidence-building, small-group tutoring, teacher sensitivity, parent-teacher collaboration, engaging problem-solving activities, and continuous monitoring.
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