The Effects of Problem Posing and Sense-Making on Students' Conceptual Understanding and Anxiety towards Mathematics

This study examined the effects of problem posing and sense-making on students’ conceptual understanding and mathematics anxiety. It utilized a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group design to gather the data. The researcher made use of the teacher made test and mathematics anxiety test with a reliability coefficient of 0.89 and 0.88, respectively. Two intact classes of Grade 8 students at Bugo National High School, Bugo Cagayan de Oro City were randomly assigned as the control group and the other as the experimental group. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that the conceptual understanding of students taught using problem posing and sense-making has significantly higher than those taught using a conventional method of teaching. However, the mathematics anxiety of the students exposed to the two methods of teaching was comparable.

Keywords: Problem posing, sense-making, conceptual understanding, mathematics anxiety