Scaffolding strategy in teaching mathematics: Its effects on students' performance and attitudes

th 2013 This study aimed to determine the level of effectiveness of the use of scaffolding and traditional strategies in the selected topics in Mathematics III based on the Mathematics performance and attitudes of the third year high school students of La Union National High School, City of San Fernando, La Union, Philippines for the school year 2007-2008. The study made use of the true experimental design, specifically the pretest – posttest, descriptive and correlational research designs. Two sections of the 3rd year high school students were the participants of the study. There were 12 participants for each group with first and second grading averages ranging from 78 – 90. The experimental group was exposed to scaffolding strategy, and they were handled one hour from Monday to Friday (11:00 – 12:00 PM). Combinations of several techniques such as modeling, offering explanations, clarifying students’ responses, use of scaffolding questions, use of visual organizers, cooperative learning (think pairshare technique), guided practice, and computer technology integration were employed to the experimental group. The control group was exposed to traditional strategy which utilized board work, worksheets, lecture method, and the like, with an hour of lecture from Monday to Friday (12:00 – 1:00 PM). Both groups completed the selected topics in Mathematics III which were Classifying Quadrilaterals, Properties of Parallelograms, Proving Quadrilaterals as Parallelograms, Special Parallelograms, Trapezoids and Kites, and Congruent Quadrilaterals. There were two instruments used to gather data, the 45-item pretest-posttest and the Modified Fennema-Sherman Attitudes Scale which had four subscales, namely, confidence in learning mathematics, attitude toward success in mathematics, mathematics anxiety and perception of teacher’s attitudes which were twelve items each. The study revealed the following findings: 1. Based on the pretest, the two groups were comparable. The posttest revealed significant difference with mean performance of the experimental group higher than the control group; 2. There was no significant difference on the level of attitude of the two groups of participants before and after the conduct of the study in terms confidence in learning mathematics, attitude toward success in mathematics, mathematics anxiety and perception of teacher's attitudes; 3. A positive high relationship existed between performance and attitudes of the experimental group. There was a significant relationship between the level of performance and level of attitude of the experimental group; 4. The scaffolding strategy was found to be effective in improving the performance and had an impact on the attitudes of the participants toward mathematics. The following conclusions were formulated based on the findings of the study: 1. Scaffolding teaching strategy can improve mathematics performance of high school students. It can result to meaningful personal connection with the teacher and peers in the classroom; 2. Scaffolding strategy can affect the attitude of the students toward mathematics; 3. A positive attitude toward mathematics can result to higher performance in the subject; 4. Scaffolding strategy when integrated to the traditional teaching strategy is effective in