DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page i

PROJECT ML: Improving Multiplication Skills of Grade 5 Learners

An Action Research

Bamav Reno M. Abaday

Teacher I
Tugasnon Elementary School
Alubijid East District

Jackie Anne U. Antig

Teacher I
Tugasnon Elementary School
Alubijid East District
Abstract
DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page ii

Numeracy and literacy continue to be critical domains of learning that are

required for academic success, provide a bridge to further study and work, and
ensure children are well prepared for future economic and social prosperity. It is
difficult to promote numeracy in all schools. It is a critical task for those in school
leadership, such as principals and curriculum leaders, to develop school policies,
allocate resources, and support teachers. Of course, improving numeracy outcomes
is a key responsibility of teachers. School Councils, too, play an important role in
assisting in the development of appropriate policies and ensuring that achieving high
numeracy standards is integrated into the school's cycle of goal setting, planning for
school improvement, and cycle review of performance in these areas. Numeracy is
the ability to bridge the gap between mathematics learned in school and the
numerous contexts in which it is required in daily life.
Several important things must happen at school to help students bridge the
gap. First and foremost, students must be given opportunities to practice and apply
the mathematics they have learned in order to become numerate. This should
happen not only in the mathematics classroom, but also in other subjects. What is
taught in school most likely has a greater impact on the development of numeracy
than it does on literacy.
This study focuses on the use of PROJECT ML (Multiplication Level-up)
which includes a series of activities that would help the learners improve their
multiplication skills. These activities include Memorization, Games, Series of
discussions and Drills that would help the learners become multiplication
enthusiasts.

Keywords: numeracy, multiplication, economic, academic, performance

DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page iii

III. Acknowledgment

We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to several people

who helped us throughout our research study. It is now our turn to express our
heartfelt gratitude to the following individual for their unending support and
assistance during this difficult time.
First and foremost, we are grateful to God because he is the primary reason
we were able to complete this action research. He gave us the confidence and
wisdom to conduct this action research.
We would like to thank our public school district supervisor, Ma'am Imelda P.
Galarrita, and our school principal, Sir Rudy S. Cairel, for encouraging us to conduct
this action research and helping us by giving their wisdoms and advices that would
truly help us finish this study.
We'd also like to express our appreciation to our colleagues, who provided
insight and expertise that greatly aided our research.
Nobody has been more important to us in our pursuit of this action research
than our family members. Lastly, we would like to express our gratitude to our loving
and supportive parents, who are an endless source of inspiration.
DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page iv

Table of Contents

Page

Cover Page

Title Page i

Abstract ii

Acknowledgment iii

Context and Rationale iv

Innovation, Intervention, and Strategy v

Action Research Questions vi

Action Research Methods vii

a. Participants and/or other Sources of Data and Information

b. Data Gathering Methods

Discussion of Results and Reflection viii

Action Plan ix

References x

Financial Report xi

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

A. Test Questionnaires
B. Curriculum Vitae
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IV. Context and Rationale

Every citizen of a modern society should develop the mental habit of

using mathematics to make decisions about their personal lives, their careers, and

their finances. The ability to grasp science, engineering, technology, and economics

is made possible by mathematics, which is essential to a country's success.

Multiplication is one of the basic operations in mathematics. Teaching multiplication

requires mathematics teachers to understand how multiplication works before they

can identify appropriate learning opportunities for students (Whitacre & Nickerson,

2016). Thus, it is very crucial that the learners must know how multiply before he

can proceed to other lessons like finding the Greatest Common Factor, finding the

Least Common Multiple, and Probabilities, etc. Multiplication is also the bridge to

learning another one of the basic operations in mathematics which is the Division.

Learning gaps for students around the country are a major result of the

pandemic that Covid-19 has brought to. During the in-person classes, all teachers

noticed this and found it challenging to address. One problem encountered by the

teachers in mathematics specifically in Tugasnon Elementary School was the

inability of the Grade 5 learners to multiply numbers involving 3-digit or 4-digit

multiplicand by a 1-digit or 2-digit multiplier. They have difficulty in multiplying in

results they also have difficulty in dividing.

Based on the information given to us by the Grade 5 Persistence adviser of

Tugasnon Elementary School; it turns out that out of thirty-eight (38) learners of the
DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page vi

said grade levels, there were thirty-two (32) or 84% of them were having difficulty in

multiplication. These thirty-two (32) learners were having difficulty in multiplication

which in turn made them lagged behind compared to their classmates. These data

indicated alarming state of reading abilities of most of the learners since they are

already in their intermediate year level. Nevertheless, if the problem will not be

addressed immediately, the problem would affect learners’ achievement in

Mathematics and it will make them hate Mathematics. Thus, the objective of this

study is to come up with a new strategy or techniques in which could help these

learners.

According to Fababaer (2019) to produce 21st Century Learner has been the

goal of the Department of Education for all Filipino students, but this yet far from

reality for most of our students, especially in public schools. Our nation's poor

performance in the most recent study and our children' dropping math scores on the

Periodical Test are indications of where our pupils are right now. Additionally, it was

quite concerning that there were more and more non-numerate pupils enrolling in

Grade 7. Therefore, it is crucial for us elementary school teachers working with

students in Grades 4-6 to instruct and encourage the development of their

mathematics skills.

Findings of Larsson, Pettesson and Andrews (2017) revealed that the way

teacher taught multiplication as repeated addition was problematic, especially

encountered with multiplication of multi-digits and decimals.

DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page vii

Teaching multiplication requires mathematics teachers to understand how

multiplication works before they can identify appropriate learning opportunities for

students (Whitacre & Nickerson, 2016).

Due to the arising problems and because of above mentioned reasons, the

proponent conducted this action research study entitled “PROJECT ML:

IMPROVING MULTIPLICATION SKILLS OF GRADE 5 LEARNERS”

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V. Innovation, Intervention, and Strategy

According to Singh (2016), the rapid changes in our world require pupils to be

flexible, to take the initiative and lead when necessary, and to produce something

new and useful. With that, the researchers made use of strategies that might help

improve the multiplication skills of the learners; strategies that are not traditional and

is enjoyable. The researcher wants to find a solution, an intervention to the emerging

problem on the alarming number of learners who have difficulty in multiplying

numbers involving 3-digit or 4-digit multiplicand by a 1-digit or 2-digit multiplier. This

study is PROJECT ML (Multiplication Level-up). This intervention that made by

researchers involves Memorization, Games and Drills. The researchers discussed

first to the respondents how multiplication works by using charts, audio-visual

materials, and ICT so that the learners can visualize how multiplication is works and

used. Then it would be followed by letting the learners memorize the multiplication

table from 1-10. The learners are then given by a different type of Games that is

suitable for multiplication. Example game that was used was a game called

“Cabbage Relay”. There were multiplication sentences written on the cabbage

leaves. The researcher/teacher uses music while the learners relaying the cabbage.

When the music stop, whoever learner holds the cabbage, he or she will peel one

and answer the multiplication sentence written on it. Another game that the

researcher used was, “Flashcards Race”. The teacher/researcher picked two (2)
DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page ix

learners to compete with each other. When the teacher/researcher flashes the

flashcards that has multiplication sentence written on it, the learner must state the

right answer. The learner who got the answer correctly and answers first wins and

he or she may make one step forward. The learner that reaches the front row first

wins.

After the playing the games for 1 week, the teacher/researcher then teaches

the steps in multiplying numbers involving 3-digit or 4-digit multiplicand by a 1-digit

or 2-digit multiplier. They are also given instructions on solving routine and non-

routine problems involving multiplication. Lastly, they are being monitored by the

researchers and was given more exercises and drills to develop their mastery. That

was become the habit of these respondents for one (1) month.
DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page x

VI. Action Research Questions

The purpose of this study was to reduce the number of learners who have

difficulty in multiplying numbers involving 3-digit or 4-digit multiplicand by a 1-digit or

2-digit multiplier and to determine the effectiveness of memorization, games, and

drills on the multiplication skill of Grade 5 learners in the school year 2022-2023.

The researchers come up questions sought to answer the following

questions, mainly:

1. What is the performance of Grade 5 learners in multiplication based on their

pretest result?

2. What is the performance of Grade 5 learners in multiplication based on their

post-test result?

3. How effective is the PROJECT ML in improving the multiplication skill of the

Grade 5 pupils in multiplying numbers involving 3-digit or 4-digit multiplicand

by a 1-digit or 2-digit multiplier?

DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page xi

VII. Action Research Methods

a. Participants and/or other Sources of Data and Information

The respondents of the study were the 38 Grade 5 – Persistence learners of

Tugasnon Elementary School for School Year 2022-2023. These learners have

difficulty in multiplying numbers involving 3-digit or 4-digit multiplicand by a 1-digit or

2-digit multiplier. Thus, they were introduced to different activities that were used in

part of PROJECT ML (Multiplication Level-up) to help them improve their

multiplication skill. Most of these learners belong to lower class families.

b. Data Gathering Methods

Purposive or take all sampling method was used to identify the respondents

with the help of the class adviser. After each participant has been identified, a pre-

test has been conducted. The researcher uses teacher made test and it is clustered

into three (3) parts. Part I is multiplying single digit numbers, Part II is multiplying

numbers involving 3-digit or 4-digit multiplicand by a 1-digit or 2-digit multiplier, and

Part III is multiplying numbers using word problems.

DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page xii

VIII. Discussion of Results and Reflection

Part I of the Pretest. Multiplying single digit numbers.

Pretest Part I: Multiplying single digit numbers.

15
16
14 12
Number of Learners

12
10
8
5
6
3
4 2
1
2
0
Scores 0-1 Scores 2-3 Scores 4-5 Scores 6-7 Scores 8-9 Scores 10

Scores

Part II of the Pretest. Multiplying numbers involving 3-digit or 4-digit

multiplicand by a 1-digit or 2-digit multiplier

DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page xiii

Pretest Part II: Multiplying numbers involving 3-

digit or 4-digit multiplicand by a 1-digit or 2-digit
multiplier
25
25
Number of Learners

20

15

10 6
4
5 1 1 0
0
Scores 0-1 Scores 2-3 Scores 4-5 Scores 6-7 Scores 8-9 Scores 10

Scores

Part III of the Pretest. Multiplying numbers using word problems.

Pretest Part III: Multiplying numbers using word

problems.
19
20
18
16
Number of Learners

14
12 10
10
8
6
3 3
4 2
1
2
0
Scores 0-3 Scores 4-7 Scores 8-11 Scores 12-15 Scores 16-19 Scores 20

Scores

After conducting the pretest, the researchers conduct and implement the

PROJECT ML (Multiplication Level-up) intervention to improve the learners’

DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page xiv

multiplication skill. Then the post-test was administered to measure if the learners

got a higher score compared to the pretest.

Part I of the Post-test. Multiplying single digit numbers.

Post-test Part I: Multiplying single digit numbers.

14
14 12
12
Number of Learners

10 8
8

6
3
4
1
2 0
0
Scores 0-1 Scores 2-3 Scores 4-5 Scores 6-7 Scores 8-9 Scores 10

Scores

Part II of the Post-test. Multiplying numbers involving 3-digit or 4-digit

multiplicand by a 1-digit or 2-digit multiplier

DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page xv

Post-test Part II: Multiplying numbers involving 3-

digit or 4-digit multiplicand by a 1-digit or 2-digit
multiplier
18
18
16
Number of Learners

14
12
10 7
8 5
4 4
6
4
0
2
0
Scores 0-1 Scores 2-3 Scores 4-5 Scores 6-7 Scores 8-9 Scores 10

Scores

Part III of the Post-test. Multiplying numbers using word problems.

Post-test Part III: Multiplying numbers using word

problems.
12
12

10 9
8
Number of Learners

7
8

4
2
2
0
0
Scores 0-3 Scores 4-7 Scores 8-11 Scores 12-15 Scores 16-19 Scores 20

Scores
DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page xvi

The pretest results shows that the learners have difficulty in multiplying numbers.

The researcher/teacher conducted the proposed innovation program for 1 month.

After 1 month, the researcher/teacher conducted a post-test to measure if there are

improvements in the scores of the learners.

On part I of the pretest which involves multiplication of single digit numbers,

the learners got a low score in multiplying even though it is very easy. Out of 38

learners of Grade 5, 32 learners (84%) failed the test and only 6 learners (16%)

passed. If we compare it to the result of the post-test, out of 38 learners of Grade 5,

4 learners (11%) failed and 34 learners (89%) passed the test. We can clearly see

the huge improvement of their score therefore they have improved their performance

in multiplying single digit numbers.

DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page xvii

Pretest Part I: Multiplying Post-test Part I: Multiplying

single digit numbers. single digit numbers.
14
16 15
14
12
14 12
12
12
10
Number of Learners

Number of Learners
10 8
8
8
6
6 5

4 3
4 3
2
1 2 1
2
0
0 0
Scores Scores Scores Scores Scores Scores Scores Scores Scores Scores Scores Scores
0-1 2-3 4-5 6-7 8-9 10 0-1 2-3 4-5 6-7 8-9 10

Scores Scores

On part II of the pretest which involves multiplying numbers involving 3-digit or

4-digit multiplicand by a 1-digit or 2-digit multiplier, out of 38 learners of Grade 5, 35

(92%) of them failed the test and only 3 (8%) of them passed the test. If we compare

it to the result of the post-test, out of 38 learners of Grade 5, 26 (68%) of them failed

and 12 (32%) of them passed the test. We can conclude that there was a slight

improvement of their scores.

DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page xviii

Pretest Part II: Multiply- Post-test Part II: Multiply-

ing numbers involving 3- ing numbers involving 3-
digit or 4-digit multipli- digit or 4-digit multipli-
cand by a 1-digit or 2- cand by a 1-digit or 2-
digit multiplier digit multiplier
25 18
25 18
16
20 14

Number of Learners
Number of Learners

12
15 10 7
8 5
10 6 4 4
4 6
5 4
1 1 0 0
2
0 0
1

7
7

10

10
0-

2-

4-

6-

8-

0-

2-

4-

6-

8-
es

es
s

es

es

es
re

re

re

re

re

re

re
or

or
or

or

or
o

o
Sc

Sc
Sc

Sc

Sc

Sc

Sc

Sc

Sc

Sc

Sc

Sc
Scores Scores

On part III of the pretest which involves multiplying numbers using word

problems, out of 38 learners of Grade 5, 32 (84%) of them failed and 6 (16%) of

them passed the test. If we compare it to the result of post-test, out of 38 leaners of

Grade 5, 19 (50%) of them failed and 19 (50%) of them passed the test. We can

conclude that there was an improvement of their scores.

DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page xix

Pretest Part III: Multiply- Post-test Part III: Mul-

ing numbers using word tiplying numbers us-
problems. ing word problems.
12
19
20 12
18 9
10
16 8
14 8 7

Number of Learners
Number of Learners

12 10
10 6
8
6 4
3 3 2
4 2
1 2
2 0
0 0

5
3

11

19
9

20

20
3

11

-1
-1

0-

4-
-1
0-

4-

8-

-
8-

s
12

16
12

16

s
s
s

re
re

re

re
re

re

s
s

re

o
re

s
s
s

o
o

re

re
re

re

Sc

Sc
o
o

Sc

Sc
Sc
Sc

o
o

Sc
Sc

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Sc
Sc
Sc

Scores Scores

If we summed up all parts of the test based on the result of pretest and post-

test, we can conclude that there was an improvement of their scores. Therefore,

PROJECT ML was effective in improving the multiplying skill of Grade 5 learners of

Tugasnon Elementary School.

As we reflect over our action research journey, we realized how important that

we have conducted and implemented an innovation to improved the multiplication

skill of Grade 5 learners. Now that majority of the Grade 5 learners improved their

multiplication skill, they can now proceed to other lessons with ease.

IX. Action Plan

DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page xx

The table below will reveal the action research work plan and timelines that is

necessary in accomplishing this research work.

ACTIVITIES TIME FRAME PERSONS INVOLVED

PRE-RESEARCH
ACTIVITIES
a) Administration of August 26, 2022 Researchers,
Pretest Respondents
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
a) Explains and October 3, 2022 Researchers, Respondents
discussed
multiplication
b) Memorization of October 4 2022 – Researchers, Respondents
multiplication table October 14, 2022
c) Games October 17, 2022 – Researchers, Respondents
October 21, 2022
d)Discussion of October 24, 2022 – Researchers,
multiplying numbers October 28, 2022 Respondents
involving 3-digit or 4-
digit multiplicand by
a 1-digit or 2-digit
multiplier
POST RESEARCH
ACTIVITIES
a) Conduct of Post-test November 3, 2022 Researchers, Respondents
b) Tabulation and November 4, 2022 Researchers
analysis of data
c) Interpretation of the November 5, 2022 Researchers
gathered data
d) Preparation of the November 6, 2022 Researchers
research paper onwards

X. References
DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page xxi

Fababaer, J. (2019). Effectiveness of 3 Minutes Daily Drill in Improving the

Multiplication Skills of Grade 7 Students. Ascendens Asia Journal of Multidisciplinary

Research Abstracts, 3(2D).

Whitacre, I., & Nickerson, S. D. (2016). Istigating teimprovement of prospective

elemeary teachers’ number sense in reasoning about fraction magnitude. Journal of

Mathematics Teacher Education, 19(10, 57-77. http;//do.org/10.1007/s10885-014-

9295-2.

Larsson, K., Petteron, K., & Andrews, P. (2017). tudents, conceptualisations of

multiplication as repeated adition or equal groups in relattion to multi-digit and

decimals numbers. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 48, 1-13.

https:/ / doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2017.07.003

Singh, J. D. (2016). Major Reforms in Contemporary Teacher Education. Scholarly

Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies, 3(17), 3926-3931. ISSN: 2348-3083

XI. Financial Report

DepEd Division of Misamis Oriental Page xxii

No
Quantity Unit Items/Particulars Unit Price Total
.

1 1 Ream Bondpaper 200.00 200.00

2 3 Pcs. Folder 8.00 24.00

3 4 Bottle Ink 120.00 440.00

4 Travel Allowance 500

T O T A L PhP 1164.00