Module 3 – INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICS

1
IN THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES
 Module 3 – INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICS
2
IN THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES
MODULE 3

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICS IN THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES

INTRODUCTION

This module was designed and written to help students be equip with various learning strategies
anchored in the constructivist learning theory. These strategies are research-based and have been proven
to be effective in developing mathematical thinking in young children. The activities in this module will
engage you in planning out your lessons using these strategies.

MODULE CONTENT

The module is divided into two (3) lessons, namely:

Lesson 1 : Problem Solving, Inductive Learning and Concept Attainment

Lesson 2 : Mathematical Investigation, Design Thinking and Game-based Learning
Lesson 3 : Use of Manipulatives, Values Integration, Collaboration and Teaching by
Asking

MODULE LEARNING OUTCOMES

In this module, you will be able to:

• plan a lesson that uses a problem-solving strategy;

• plan a lesson that allows the students to inductively learn;
• plan a lesson that applies concept attainment strategy;
• generate investigative tasks and anticipate possible problems that may arise from the task;
• execute the empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test stages of the design-thinking
process;
• develop a game to motivate students, cater mathematical investigation, or practice a
mathematical skill;
• develop a manipulative to aid mathematical instruction;
• plan a lesson in which values education can be incorporated into existing mathematics
curricula;
• design collaborative activities that will encourage involvement, interdependence, and fair
division of labor among the students;
• formulate purposeful questions that encourage students to participate in classroom
discussions.
 Module 3 – INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICS
3
IN THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES
Lesson 1

Problem Solving, Inductive Learning and Concept Attainment

Lesson Learning Outcomes

In this lesson, you will be able to:

• plan a lesson that uses a problem-solving strategy;

• plan a lesson that allows the students to inductively learn;
• plan a lesson that applies concept attainment strategy;
• compare and contrast inductive learning and concept attainment strategies;
• create lesson plan that make use of the problem solving strategy;
• create lesson plan that allows the students to discover a rule inductively;
• create lesson plan that allows the students to discover the meaning of a mathematical
term.

PRE-ASSESSMENT

Instruction: Let’s find out how much you have already known about this lesson. Read, analyze and
answer the questions.
1. The students form rules in their minds as they observe. In this stage, encourage the students to
share their thoughts.
A. Observe
B. Hypothesize
C. Collect Evidence
D. Generalize
2. The students would now formalize their hypothesis to a rule.
A. Observe
B. Hypothesize
C. Collect Evidence
D. Generalize
3. The students test their hypothesis by applying their hypothesis to other examples.
A. Observe
B. Hypothesize
C. Collect Evidence
D. Generalize
4. It is sometimes called discovery learning
A. Observe
B. Hypothesize
C. Collect Evidence
D. Generalize
5. Another instructional strategy anchored to the constructivist learning theory.
A. Problem-solving
B. Inductive Learning
C. Concept Attainment
D. Instructional Strategy
 Module 3 – INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICS
4
IN THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES

LESSON MAP

As you learn this lesson, you will be guided with the lesson map below.

INSTRUCTIONAL
STRATEGIES

PROBLEM CONCEPT INDUCTIVE

SOLVING ATTAINMENT LEARNING

THE TIME GIVEN

THE WORD THE COLLECT
TO STRUGGLE
PROBLEM WITH THE
MATHEMATICAL OBSERVE HYPOTHESIZE GENERALIZE
PROBLEM
DISCOURSE EVIDENCE

Figure 1: The map above shows that there are different instructional strategies namely: a.)problem
solving which consist of the word problem, the time given to struggle with the problem, and the
mathematical discourse, b.) concept attainment and c.) inductive learning which consist of observe,
hypothesize, collect evidence and generalize.
 Module 3 – INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICS
5
IN THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES

CONTENT

ENGAGE ENGAGING TOWARDS PROBLEM-SOLVING STRATEGY

Activity 1: Observe Me

INSTRUCTIONS: Study the following lesson plan. Take note that the plan only shows development of the
lesson that involves the problem-solving strategy; other parts are not included.

Topic: Division of Fractions

Grade Level: 5
Target learning competency: By the end of the lesson, the learners will be able to divide a whole
number by a fraction.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills:

1. Fractions as part of a whole
2. Fractions as repeated subtraction
3. Division of decimals
4. Multiplication of fractions
5. Reciprocal

Presentation of the problem:

I have 6 liters of milk. I will transfer the milk to glasses. Each glass can hold 2/5 liter. How many
glasses can I fill?
Present the problem above in a narrative approach that will engage the students. See example
below.
“Have you heard of feeding programs? What do you know about feeding programs? Who benefits
in feeding programs? Have you participated in such? How many children usually participate? What kind of
food is usually served in feeding programs?
Last weekends, I volunteered in a small feeding program. I got to meet some Grade 5 children like
you. I was in charge of distributing milk. We brought with us 6 liters of milk. My task was to pour the milk
into glasses. If my estimate is right, each glass approximately contained 2/5 liter of milk. The milk we
brought was just enough for all the children in the area. How many children do you think we served during
the feeding program?”

Generations of solutions:
The students will work in pairs or triads. Encourage the students to think about the problem and
share their thoughts with their classmates. Assure them that there is no one right solutions. They may do
calculations or draw; any solution is welcome as long as they can explain why they did such.

Watch out:
The students should realize that given is a division problem. Their discussions with their
partner/group mates should revolve around figuring out how many 2/5s would “fit in” 6. Give guide
questions to pairs/groups that may not be realized this. In giving guide questions, determine first what the
students know and then build on that.
 Module 3 – INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICS
6
IN THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES

Processing of solutions:

Have some pair/group write their solutions on the board and explain.

Possible solutions:
(1) Illustrations

(2) Use of decimals

(3) Division as repeated subtraction

Guide the students to realize that the difference solutions all lead to the same answer,
which is 15- there are 15 children who were served during the feeding program. Ask the students
who among them did the same as the ones presented in class.

Tip:

Name a solution after the students who shared it. For example, the illustration is “Paolo
and Jose’s technique.” Doing this would (1) deepen the students’ sense of ownership of their
learning and (2) motivate them to think of unique solutions when given the same task in the
future.

Lead the students to realize that 6÷2/5 is equal to 15.

 Module 3 – INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICS
7
IN THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES

Questions:

1. How are the three possible solutions shown above different from each other? What goes in mind of
the students who would possibly give those solutions?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

EXPLORE EXPLORING THE CONCEPT OF PROBLEM-SOLVING, INDUCTIVE LEARNING AND

CONCEPT ATTAINMENT

Read Me!

Instruction: Closely read the text below.

PROBLEM-SOLVING

The problem-solving strategy involves students being challenged to collaboratively solve real-world math
problems that they have not yet previously encountered. It is student-centered and promotes critical and
creative-thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and communication skills. The integral part of this strategy
is the time given to the students to struggle with the problem, and its beauty is in the varied solutions that
the students would produce.

There are three main elements of problem-solving that you should take note of: (1)the word
problem, (2) the time given for the students to struggle with the problem and (3) the mathematical
discourse that happens during the struggle and during the processing of the students-generated solutions.

The Word Problem

In many Filipino classrooms, word problem are given at the end of the lesson and the students are
expected to answer them by applying the concept or skills that have just been taught to them. In most
cases, the teacher first demonstrates how to solve a problem, and then the students would independently
answer a similarly structured problem. In these practices, the students are not doing problem-solving – they
already know how to solve the problem! They know that the just-taught lesson is the key to solve the
problem and they pattern their solutions to what the teacher demonstrated. In using the problem-solving
strategy, the problem serves as the starting point of the learning experience. Therefore, it is given at the
beginning of the lesson. The challenge for you, the teacher, is to choose or create a problem that can be
solved using the target concept of the lesson at hand can but can also be answered using previously
learned knowledge and skills.
 Module 3 – INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICS
8
IN THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES
How you present the problem also matters especially for the elementary grades. It is not always
helpful to introduce the problem by posting it on the board; doing this may intimidate some of the students
and reading and comprehension skills may intervene. Instead, it is suggested to narrate the problem in
storytelling manner to engage the learners. Encourage the students to imagine the scenario and allow
them to clarify information if they find some details confusing. Showing drawings or real objects might help.

The Time Given to Struggle with the Problem

The goal is for the students to collaborate –share their ideas with each other – to come up with
solutions. Encourage the students to use their previously learned knowledge and skills to solve the problem
and to communicate their ideas with their classmates through words, equations, and /or illustrations. It is
natural for the students to find this phase burdensome especially when it is their first time to engage in
such an activity; critical thinking and communicating ideas are not easy tasks after all. So, it is the task of
the teacher to encourage the students to think out of the box. Tell the students that there is more than one
way to solve the problem, so they do not need to worry about their solutions being wrong as long as every
step they did is meaningful to solving the problem.

The Mathematical Discourse

This is the most exciting element of the problem-solving strategy. While the students are working in
small groups to solve the problem, you get to move around and enjoy the mathematical talk that the
students are engaging in. of course, you may intervene in the students’ discussion when corrections and
clarifications are needed but be careful not to give hints. It may be tempting to do so especially when the
struggling but don’t. As you encourage your students to think, believe that they can actually can. Allow
yourself to be amazed at how the students would defend their thinking; correct each other’s ideas, and
figure things out on their own.

Remember that all students-generated solutions, as long as correct, can be directed to the concept
or skill that is the objective of the lesson. The challenge is how you would process those various solutions,
make sense of each of them, and use them to generalize or come up with a solution that makes use of the
knowledge/skill that is the objective of the lesson. In this phase comes the importance of the teacher’s
fluency of the subject matter.

INDUCTIVE LEARNING

The inductive learning strategy, sometimes called discovery learning is based on the principle of
induction. Induction means to derive a concept by showing that if it is true to some cases, then it is true for
all. This is he contrast to deduction where a concept is established by logically proving that it is true based
on generally known facts. The inductive method in teaching is commonly described as “specific to general,”
“concrete to abstract,” or “example to formula.” Whereas the vice versa is used to describe the deductive
method.
In an inductive learning lesson, the teachers design and facilitate activities that guide the learners in
discovering a rule. Activities may involve comparing and contrasting, grouping and labeling, or fining
patterns. In mathematics classes. The learners engage in inductive learning when they observe examples
and then, later on generalize a rule or formula based on the example. There are four processes that the
 Module 3 – INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICS
9
IN THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES
students go through when given an inductive learning activity: (1) observe, (2) hypothesize, (3) collect
evidence, and (4) generalize.

Observe
Children love looking for patterns. When given many examples, it is natural for them to look for
similarities and assume rules. So, the key is to give them examples to observe. These examples must be
well-thought-of so that the student would eventually arrive at a complete rule. For instance, if you want your
students to discover the rule in multiplying decimal numbers, it is better to use the examples in set B than
those in a set A so that the students’ observation would focus n the “placement” of the decimal point

A B
0.6×2=1.2 6×2=12
1.8×0.3=0.54 0.6×2= 1.2
0.21×1.4= 0.294 0.6×0.2=0.12

Hypothesize
The students form rules in their minds as they observe. In this stage, encourage the students to
share their thoughts. Assure them that there are no wrong hypotheses. Acknowledge the variety of the
students’ ideas but also streamline them to later o, test only the unique hypotheses. In our example, the
hypothesis , “place the decimal point according to the number of the decimal places of the factors” may be
considered the same as, “from the whole number product, move the decimal point to the left according to
the decimal places of the factors.”

Collect Evidence
Here, the students test their hypothesis by applying their hypothesis to other examples. If there is
more than one hypothesis generated by the class, intentionally give a counterexample for them to test.

Generalization
Finally, the students would now formalize their hypothesis to a rule. Support the students so that
they would use mathematical terms in stating their rule. For example, instead of saying “the number of
digits to the right of the decimal point,” lead the students to say, “the number of decimal places.” Doing this
would develop the students’ mathematical vocabulary and therefore their overall mathematical
communication skills.

CONCEPT ATTAINMENT

Concept attainment is another instructional strategy anchored to the constructivist learning theory. In this
strategy, the concept is not directly taught to the students. Instead, the students understand and learn
concepts by identifying common attributes through comparison and contrast of examples and non-
examples. Since concept attainment is used in understanding meanings, it is often applied in English
vocabulary lessons. However, it is also useful in learning mathematical terminologies.
There are five simple steps in the concept attainment strategy: (1) presentation of examples and non-
examples, (2) listing of common attributes, (3) adding student-given examples, (4) defining the
mathematical term, and (5) checking of understanding.

Presentation of examples and non-examples

 Module 3 – INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICS
10
IN THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES
Alternately give examples and non-examples. The students should be able to guess some common
attributes based on the examples alone. Non-examples are given to confirm their guesses.

Listing of Common Attributes

List down the common attributes given by the students. This may be done as a whole class or by
pairs or triads first. Some listed attributes may be later crossed out as the listing of examples and non-
examples go on.

Adding student-given examples

Ask the students to provide their own examples based on the listed attributes. Then confirm
whether their suggestion is indeed an example. Based on the students’ answers, some of the attributes
may be revised to make them clearer for the students.

Defining the mathematical term

Help the students come up with a word or phrase for the concept. The exact term may not come from
them, especially when it is too technical (e.g., polyhedron), but the etymology of the word may be derived
from them (e.g., many polygonal faces).

Checking of understanding
To verify that the students have understood the concept, give them a list and ask them whether each item
on it is an example or a non-example.

EXPLAIN DELVING TOWARDS PROBLEM-SOLVING, INDUCTIVE LEARNING AND CONCEPT

ATTAINMENT

Activity 2: Explain Me!

INSTRUCTIONS: Answer the following questions below to verbalize your understanding about problem-
solving, inductive learning and concept attainment.

A. PROBLEM-SOLVING

1. As a teacher, how would you ensure that the word problems will give genuinely promotes
problem solving?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
2. Explain how inductive learning is related to the constructivist theory of learning discussed in the
previous unit.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
 Module 3 – INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICS
11
IN THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
3. Compare and contrast inductive learning and concept attainment strategies.

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

4. What is the importance of giving the examples and non-examples given by batch? Will there be a
difference if all of them are presented at once? Explain.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
 Module 3 – INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICS
12
IN THE INTERMEDIATE GRADES

TOPIC SUMMARY

In this lesson, you have learned that …

✓ Not all word problems develop problem-solving skills. A good use of the problem-solving strategy
involves a realistic problem, ample time for students to thsing about the problem, a venue to engage
the students in mathematical discourse.
✓ Inductive learning is about the students discovering the mathematical concepts by themselves with
the teacher as guide. In this strategy, the students observe, hypothesize, collect evidence and
generalize.
✓ Mathematics is considered a language with its own set of jargons. Mathematical terms can also be
defined through discovery by applying the concept attainment strategy.

REFERENCES

Gusano,R,Masangkay, M, Rocena, L, Unida, M(2020). Teaching Math in the Intermediate

Grades. Rex Publishing.