10 Action Research Project Proposal Project Title Your Name Date Points Allocated: Computer-Based Instruction (CBI) as a Way of Reducing Mathematics Anxiety INTRODUCTION Comment by shravan uttakalla: this section can be much shorter than this. Mathematics plays a vital role in people’s daily lives. The citizen of the modern world could not afford to be ignorant of Mathematics because the world is highly mathematical (Betz as cited by Salazar, 2001). Hence, effective Mathematics instruction has become the absolute necessity in all levels of education. Despite explaining the importance of Mathematics, the students of today still have that negative attitudes toward the subject (Salazar, 2001). Most students think Mathematics is a boring subject, and it is difficult to memorize and understand formulas (Scarpello, 2007). Some students who cannot appreciate the importance of Mathematics even say that learning the four fundamental operations is enough, the use of graphs and formulas have no relevance to their daily living, so there is no need for further knowing the subject (Suinn, 1998). In an international scene, particularly in America, a study was conducted by Gallup (2005) for determining the most difficult subject for American teenagers, surprisingly, Mathematics topped the list. About 29% named Mathematics generally, 6% specifically mentioned Algebra, and 2% named Geometry. Furthermore, according to the National Research Council, 75% of Americans stop studying Mathematics before they have completed the educational requirements for their career or job. With the basis from the statistics above, it is so unexpected fact that most Americans specifically teenagers find Mathematics difficult, considering that America belongs to the first class countries, a highly mathematical society because of its advanced technology. In the Philippines, a High School Readiness Test was administered to all Grade 6 graduates in public elementary schools in May, 2004 showed very low scores in Mathematics test. In the National Secondary Achievement Test (NSAT) given in year 2010, students got correct answers to less than 50% of the questions in Mathematics. Based on the Trends International Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS), the Philippines was evaluated for the 8th Gradient in 1999. It was reported that out of the 34 participating nations, the Philippines was third from the bottom of the participating countries. The Philippines got 345 points as compared to Singapore having 604 points for Mathematics. The two lower countries were Morocco (337) and South Africa (275). Thus, we can infer that many Filipino students are having difficulties in subject Mathematics. In Tagum City, particularly at Tagum City National High school (TCNHS) a percentage of 19.63% of the students who took National Achievement Test (NAT) 2004 in Mathematics passed. Six years later, a percentage of 21.43% of the students who took NAT (2010) in the same subject passed. From the statis ...

1. 10
Action Research Project Proposal
Project Title
Your Name
Date
Points Allocated:
Computer-Based Instruction (CBI) as a Way of Reducing
Mathematics Anxiety
INTRODUCTION Comment by shravan uttakalla: this section
can be much shorter than this.
Mathematics plays a vital role in people’s daily lives. The
citizen of the modern world
could not afford to be ignorant of Mathematics because the
world is highly mathematical (Betz as cited by Salazar, 2001).
Hence, effective Mathematics instruction has become the
absolute necessity in all levels of education. Despite explaining
the importance of Mathematics, the students of today still have
that negative attitudes toward the subject (Salazar, 2001). Most
students think Mathematics is a boring subject, and it is
difficult to memorize and understand formulas (Scarpello,
2007). Some students who cannot appreciate the importance of
Mathematics even say that learning the four fundamental
operations is enough, the use of graphs and formulas have no
relevance to their daily living, so there is no need for further
knowing the subject (Suinn, 1998).
In an international scene, particularly in America, a study was
conducted by Gallup (2005) for determining the most difficult
subject for American teenagers, surprisingly, Mathematics
topped the list. About 29% named Mathematics generally, 6%
specifically mentioned Algebra, and 2% named Geometry.

2. Furthermore, according to the National Research Council, 75%
of Americans stop studying Mathematics before they have
completed the educational requirements for their career or job.
With the basis from the statistics above, it is so unexpected fact
that most Americans specifically teenagers find Mathematics
difficult, considering that America belongs to the first class
countries, a highly mathematical society because of its
advanced technology. In the Philippines, a High School
Readiness Test was administered to all Grade 6 graduates in
public elementary schools in May, 2004 showed very low scores
in Mathematics test. In the National Secondary Achievement
Test (NSAT) given in year 2010, students got correct answers to
less than 50% of the questions in Mathematics. Based on the
Trends International Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS),
the Philippines was evaluated for the 8th Gradient in 1999. It
was reported that out of the 34 participating nations, the
Philippines was third from the bottom of the participating
countries. The Philippines got 345 points as compared to
Singapore having 604 points for Mathematics. The two lower
countries were Morocco (337) and South Africa (275). Thus, we
can infer that many Filipino students are having difficulties in
subject Mathematics.
In Tagum City, particularly at Tagum City National High school
(TCNHS) a percentage of 19.63% of the students who took
National Achievement Test (NAT) 2004 in Mathematics passed.
Six years later, a percentage of 21.43% of the students who took
NAT (2010) in the same subject passed. From the statistics
above, there is only about 2% increased for six years interval.
The results were very surprising, noting that TCNHS is a
research-oriented public school. The low performance in
Mathematics at all levels is closely related to or a product of
Mathematics anxiety. Attitudes toward mathematics include
student ideas relevant to their interests, their perceptions of the
usefulness of mathematics, or their intrinsic interests in the
logic or challenge of mathematics (Richardson, 1980). Because
of its wide influence, math anxiety is limiting and negatively

3. influences students’ future career choices, particularly in
science, technology, engineering, and math majors (STEM)
(Scarpello, 2007).
Many researchers, like, Tobias (1978), Williams (1988),
Hembree (1990), Cemen (1987), Godbey (1997), Richardson
and Suinn (1972), and Tapia and Moldavan (2007) contributed
to either the definition or measurement instruments for
mathematics anxiety. Several classroom strategies such as
incorporating games and using relaxed settings to reduce
mathematics anxiety have been suggested (Hatch, 1998).
However, little has been done in the area of long-term coping
strategies. Teachers are encouraged to use several strategies,
but students are at a loss for what to do when faced with
mathematics anxiety independently. The focus of this study is to
determine if the implementation of computer-based instruction
in the classroom is a long term strategy that can effectively
reduce mathematics anxiety to the students.
Locale of the Study
The setting of the study is at Tagum City National High School
(TCNHS). It is situated at Mangga District, Visayan Village,
Tagum City. It is the biggest of the five main public high
schools in Tagum City, under the jurisdiction of the DepEd
Division of Tagum City. Founded on February 14, 1967, the
institution started from a Barrio Charter to host secondary
education for students to a highly-respected educational
institution catering students from Tagum City and the province
of Davao del Norte. As of 2010, there are about 5026 enrolled
students and 125 teaching faculties. The school uses two
curricula, the RBEC (Revised Basic Education Curriculum for
regular students) and the SSC (Special Science Curriculum for
the advanced students), both using the zero-based grading
system for each quarter. On June 2010, the school shifted
academic focus to the newly-implemented 2010 Secondary
Education Curriculum (2010 SEC), though the said program was
implemented on SY 2011-2012.
Purpose of the Study

4. The main purpose of this research proposal is to determine the
effectiveness of computer-based instruction in reducing
mathematics anxiety of the students in Tagum City National
High School. Along with the intervention planned, this research
proposal will also examine the possible causes of mathematics
anxiety. However, for its actualization, the following questions
were proposed.
1. What are the possible instruments in measuring the levels of
mathematics anxiety?
2. What is the level of mathematics anxiety of the students?
3. Is there a significant difference between the levels of
mathematics anxiety when the students are grouped by gender
or by year level or by curriculum?
4. What are the possible causes of mathematics anxiety?
5. How effective is the computer-based instruction in reducing
math anxiety?
Significance of the Study Comment by shravan uttakalla: this
section can be longer than this. This is the place where you
identify gaps you will fill in througth this study.
This action research proposal is highly significant because no
study particularly in the effectiveness of computer technology
in alleviating the mathematics anxiety of the students of Tagum
City National High School in both curriculums has ever been
conducted since the school became a research-oriented public
school. This will also support teachers, parents, and students by
increasing their knowledge of math anxiety and integrating
computer technology in teaching that can both avoid and
alleviate it. Thus, in general, this action research proposal will
contribute to the maximum development of our society and in
our present educational status.
Review of Related Literature Comment by shravan uttakalla: I
am not expecting a lengthy literature review. Just cover the key
concepts and research related to your topic.
The literature review covers the overview of math anxiety as
well as the impact of technology in teaching mathematics and
recent research on computer-based instruction. This relates to

5. the purpose of the research proposal which will support
teachers, parents, and students by increasing their knowledge of
math anxiety and integrating computer technology in teaching
that can both avoid and alleviate it.
Overview of Math Anxiety
Tobias (1978) defines mathematics anxiety as feelings of
tension and anxiety that interfere with the manipulation of
numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide
variety of ordinary life and academic situations. It occurs at
different ages in different people for different reasons. It can
also generate pressure to drive people to think or react in an
unreasonable way or cause avoidance of math classes until the
last minute.
Math anxiety is quite varied, in both its symptoms and some of
its hypothesized causes. Often the symptoms when encountering
math are physiological, such as sweaty palms, nausea, heart
palpitations, a hot tingling feeling, stomach aches or stomach
cramps, and/or tightening muscles (Perry, 2004). Sometimes the
symptoms are more psychological, such as paralysis of thought,
extreme nervousness, an inability to hear the teacher, a
tendency to become upset by noises, an inability to concentrate
or loss of concentration, attention to or even preoccupation with
intrusive thoughts and worry, negative self-talk, and/or a
general sense of uneasiness (Ashcraft & Kirk, 2001).
Suggested strategies in reducing math anxiety. Math anxiety is a
serious obstacle for many children across all grade levels.
Math-anxious students learn lesser math than their low-anxious
peers because they take fewer math classes and get poorer
grades in the math classes they do take. Math anxiety has been
studied for many years but has recently received renewed
attention. Researchers believe that implementation of strategies
to prevent or reduce math anxiety will improve math
achievement for many students (Geist, 2010). Geist (2010)
indicates that relating math to real life such as counting change
and going grocery shopping can help in reducing math anxiety
to the students. Furthermore, Sun & Pyzdrowski (2009) suggest

6. that teachers must incorporate games and activities into math
lessons so that students can experience math in a hands-on
fashion. Using also manipulative to represent abstract ideas
allows young learners to more easily understand the concepts
they represent. In addition, students enjoy the change from
lectures and books to hands-on learning (Plaisance, 2009).
Recent research also shows that technology such as computers
and internet is a helpful tool in reducing math anxiety (Hellum,
2010).
Technology
In parallel with the technological advances; technological
devices, particularly computers began to be used in educational
environments to develop audiovisual materials such as
animation and simulation, which resulted in the development of
the computer-based instruction techniques. CBI is the use of
computers in the teaching and learning activities (Brophy,
1999). CBI is more effective on less successful children. The
reason for this is that the computer-based instruction enables
the children to progress at their own pace and provides them
with appropriate alternative ways of learning by individualizing
the learning process (Senemoglu, 2003).
Methodology Comment by shravan uttakalla: what is presented
here is one example. You don't have to follow the same. But it
gives you a good idea about how to propose research methods.
A quantitative approach will be followed. Quantitative research
is a formal, objective, systematic process to describe and test
relationships and examine cause and effect interactions among
variables (Grove, 1993). The researcher chooses quantitative
approach because it quantifies the data so that it can be treated
statistically. Furthermore, Delan (2009) states that quantitative
research is a better method than qualitative research because it
is more simplified and numerical results can be easier to
understand.
A descriptive survey design will be also used in this study. A
survey is used to collect original data for describing a
population too large to observe directly (Mouton, 1996). A

7. survey obtains information from a sample of people by means of
self-report, that is, the people respond to a series of questions
posed by the investigator (Hungler, 1993). In this study the
information will be collected through self-administered
questionnaires and will be distributed personally to the subjects
by the researcher. A descriptive survey has been selected
because it provides an accurate portrayal or account of the
characteristics, for example behavior, opinions, abilities,
beliefs, and knowledge of a particular individual, situation or
group. This design has been chosen to meet the objectives of the
study, namely to design an instrument in measuring the level of
anxiety.
On the other hand, the researcher will administer a set of test
questionnaires for the students before and after the
implementation of the intervention program on the evaluation of
its effectiveness. The questionnaires will be utilized by two
groups: the control group (without intervention) and the
experimental group (with intervention). The results will be
collected and treated using appropriate statistical tools.
Population and sample
The respondents of this study will be taken from Tagum City
National High School (TCNHS). Currently, TCNHS has 5026
enrolled students and 125 teaching faculties. The sample of this
study will only consist of 368 students. The number of sample
is determined by using Slovin’s formula with 95% confidence.
Slovin’s formula is used to get an appropriate number of
samples taken from the population especially when the
population is too large to study (Stephens, 1994). The
researcher will make use of stratified sampling to select 368
students. Stratified sampling is constructed by classifying the
population in sub-populations or strata, base on some well-
known characteristics of the population (Retrieved from
http://www.statistics.com). The researcher chooses stratified
sampling because it can provide greater precision than a simple
random sample of the same size (Ashley, 2002). The researcher
will get 184 students from Revised Basic Education Curriculum

8. (RBEC) and another 184 students from Special Science
Curriculum (SSC). Out from 184 students in each curriculum,
46 students will be selected randomly from every year level.
The researcher will divide the selected students per year level
by two representing for the experimental and control group
respectively, so that for each group there will be 23 students
evenly distributed comprising both male and female students.
Each group will be administered by identified mathematics
teacher for the duration of the intervention program. The
selected mathematics teachers will be chosen by the principal of
the school.
Research Instrument
The research instrument will be used for this study in
determining the level of mathematics anxiety of the students is
a questionnaire consisting of four sections. In section A, the
participants will be required to complete their personal profiles
that include their name, age and other necessary data. In section
B and C, a 5-point Likert scale will be used to assess the
participants’ degree of agreement with teaching activities that
cause mathematics anxiety and learning activities that reduce
mathematics anxiety. In section D, the items will be adapted
from the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS).
Richardson and Suinn introduced the MARS and has been a
major scale used for research and clinical studies since 1972
(Winston, 2003). Elevated scores on the MARS test translate to
high mathematics anxiety (Richardson, 1972). The 15 items in
this section will be composed of items on mathematics related
tasks and students will be required to rate their levels of fear
and awareness with the tasks. The participants will be rated
their levels of anxiety accordingly using the dimensions of “not
at all”, “a little”, “a fair amount”, “much”, or “very much”.
Students will be expected to complete the questionnaires in 30
minutes.
On the other hand, the pre-test and post-test that will be
administered to the students at the beginning and the end of the
intervention program are the same type of researcher- made

9. questionnaire. It is a one-hour 60-item multiple-choice type of
test that comprises basic and practical mathematics. The test
will include the following topics: business mathematics, number
operations (integers and fractions), algebra operations, and
plane and solid geometry.
Administrative Procedure
Firstly, the researcher will obtain approval from the faculty to
administer the questionnaires to the identified students. Then
with the permission of the lecturer, the researcher will enter the
class and administer the questionnaires to the students. The
researcher will explain the purposes of the study and ensure the
confidentiality of the responses. Then the researcher will
conduct a briefing to the students on how to answer the
questionnaires and assist them if they have problems in
understanding the questions. Discussions between students will
be discouraged. Students will be expected to complete the
questionnaires in 30 minutes. In the intervention part, the
researcher will seek an approval first from the principal to
conduct a 3-day seminar for the selected teachers and will ask
permission to conduct an experimental instruction to the
identified students for two grading periods. The seminar will
tackle the issues concerning Information and Technology (IT)
Advancement on Education and Computer-Based Instruction.
The researcher will invite IT experts and some experienced
educators to train the chosen teachers. The researcher will also
help facilitate the seminar by explaining to the teachers the
importance and the purposes of the study. The researcher will
send a letter to the Local Government Units (LGU) and Local
Government Officials (LGO) to ask for assistance in providing
the necessary equipments and materials (lcd projectors,
laptops).
After the seminar, the pre-test questionnaires will be
administered by the teacher to the students. The students will
answer the questionnaire in one hour and strict test rules will be
followed by them. The answers to the test will be encoded ready
for data processing; the Microsoft Excel will be used. The

10. scores will be gathered and recorded for data analysis.
The selected students will be divided into two: experimental
group (with intervention) and control group (without
intervention). The experimental group will experience CBI and
full utilization of computers in every math discussion but prior
to that the teacher will discuss first the basic computer
operations to the students for 3 days. The teachers for this
group will be required to incorporate educational computer
games, PowerPoint presentations and drills to teaching
mathematics. On the other group, the student will experience a
traditional classroom setting. The teachers for this group will be
allowed to use any teaching methods and strategies but with the
absence of IT support. The whole duration for this setting is 2
grading period or roughly equivalent to five months.
After five months, the teacher will administer to the students of
both groups a post-test; the same test given in the pre-test. The
result of this test will be gathered and compared to the pre-test
and will be correlated to the result of the survey-questionnaire
took by the students. All the data collected will be treated
statistically and will be reported to the faculty the result of the
study as soon as data analysis will be accomplished. After that,
the classes will be resuming back to its original and normal
setting.
References
Develop a 8 page proposal for an action research project you
will conduct with a reallife/hypothesized organization of your
choice (your client). In your proposal, identify one critical issue
that is of the concern of your client. Describe the significance
of the identified issue; and design an action research project
you and your client will engage in co-addressing the issue. Be

11. specific about the research methods and processes to be
followed (i.e., what sample you will recruit and how you will
collect data). You are encouraged to cite literature to support
your methodological choices, but citations are not required. For
more expectations on this assignment, please contact your
instructor.