Differentiated Instruction in Plane Trigonometry Class

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of differentiated instruction on students’ achievement in Plane Trigonometry. It tried to determine the pretest and posttest performance of experimental and control groups, the difference on scores of students in the pretest and in the posttest, and the difference from pretest to posttest scores in the two groups of students. The quasi-experimental design was used in the study. Two intact class of first year college students enrolled in Plane Trigonometry in School Year 2017-2018 were purposively sampled and used for the study. One class was randomly assigned to experimental group while the other served as the control group. Instructions were made using flexible groupings and varied formats (cooperative learning, individual or group projects, and whole-class discussion) with various strategies such as agenda, compacting, cubing, vocabulary choice boards, tier assignment, think-tac-toe, and RAFT activity. The students explored, collaborated, worked in pairs or groups in different activities. Data were tabulated and analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, and t-test for independent samples with the aid of the statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The findings revealed that the experimental group and control groups showed significant improvement in students’ performance in plane trigonometry. However, the score suggested that the improvement of the scores under the experimental group was defined and noticeable. Generally, the results revealed that students who were taught differentiated instruction performed better than those taught using the conventional instructional approach.