Capacity Building in Teaching Mathematics through Problem Solving

Abstract

Drawing from the national evaluation of the DOST-SEI’s project STAR, this paper presents the case of the Northern Mindanao. Teaching Mathematics through Problem Solving (TMPS), interdisciplinary contextualization, and Lesson Study are the main training content of the project STAR. A good mixture of theory presentation, demonstration, practice, feedbacking and coaching compose the typical training design of the project. This evaluation study revealed that the training from 2014-2017 have applied the training content in different settings, mostly in the classroom and among small group of teachers The participants’ teaching practice are impacted by the training evidenced by the change of their beliefs, attitudes and roles in the classroom Teacher participants also claimed to have gained professional skills as they continue on their implementation but have also encountered various challenges such as the lack of monitoring and feedback. Form the insights on student interviews and class observations, there are evidences that students indeed benefitted from the teachers’ implementation of the training content. Recommendations based from the results are also discussed..