A Comparative Analysis on the Mathematical Achievement

of STEM and ABM students of Manila Tytana College S.Y.

2016-2017
Mary Antoinette N. Bien
Thesally T. Dalisay
Sharmaine Joy M. Fajardo
Marlyn P. Manuel
Aubrey B. Tangonan
Researchers

Abstract—This paper contains the results and According to a statistics, 90,697 Grade 11
some recommendations of the researchers The main students enrolled under the Academic track,
purpose of this study was to describe and compare wherein ABM and STEM took the highest
the Mathematics Achievement of Grade 11 enrollees.[1]“STEM is the perfect track to choose if
Students from STEM Strand to the students from you are planning to study Pure and Applied
ABM Strand, both enrolled during the school year Sciences, Engineering and Mathematics in college.
2016-2017, in Manila Tytanna Colleges. Since it isThe ABM Track is for those who plan on taking up
expected that students from STEM Strand have Economics, Business Administration, Accountancy
higher Mathematics Achievement, this paper and Marketing in college.”[2]Taken into
intends to show that the latter statement applies in
consideration the curriculum from the Department
the said school. It made use of Descriptive of Education (DepEd), these two tracks have the
Research Method. The data analysis however yields most number of Mathematics subject. STEM has 4
a conflicting result. Findings showed that there is
Mathematics subjects namely— (1) General
no significant difference between the Math Mathematics; (2) Statistics and Probability; (3) Pre-
Achievement of Grade 11 students from ABM and Calculus and (4) Basic Calculus. ABM has three
STEM Strands in Manila Tytana Colleges. Mathematics related subjects namely— (1) General
Mathematics; (2) Statistics and Probability and (3)
Index Terms—Math Achievement, ABM Strand, Business Mathematics. With these subjects,
STEM Strand students are expected to be well-performing in
I. Introduction Mathematics to meet learning competencies and
curriculum standards.
Senior High School (SHS) was introduced
into implementation in school year 2016-2017 and Also, in one of the memorandum disclosed
offered four tracks namely— Academic Track, by the Department of Education it is said that,
Technical Vocational Track, Sports Track and Arts “There will be a required cut-off score for students
and Design Track. Under the Academic Track lie who wish to enroll in the Science, Technology,
other strands such as Accountancy and Business Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) strand.” On
Management (ABM), General Academic Strand the other hand, “There will be no prescribed cut-off
(GAS), Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMMS) scores in any subtest for those who desire to enter
and Science, Technology and Mathematics (STEM). into the Humanities and Social Science (HUMSS)
Strand, the Accountancy, Business and
Management (ABM) Strand, and the Technical-
Vocational and Livelihood (TVL) Track.”STEM
students are presumed to be more literate in
science, and therefore, capable of tackling more
advanced science subject (Cruz, 2014).
Looking deeper on the statement, it shows
that the DepEd presumes that STEM Strand
students will perform better in Mathematics than
those students who are enrolled on the other tracks.
In addition to this, the usual factors measured in
mathematical are mathematical concepts, problem-
solving and computation. Mathematical concepts
assesses Numeration, Geometry and Measurement,
including number beyond thousands, decimal and
fractions, shapes, money, time and customary and
metric measurement. In problem solving, it
assesses response to orally presented verbal
problems, some items require solutions of problem
and choice of correct answer, and some requires the
choice of correct number sentence. In computation,
it requires the fundamental operations with whole
numbers, decimals and fractions (Anastasia, 1997).
With this, the researchers focused the study
on comparing the mathematical achievement of
STEM and ABM students using their semestral
grade in General Mathematics to come up with
results that determine if there is a difference
between the mathematical achievement of ABM
and STEM students of Manila Tytanna Colleges
during the 1st semester S.Y. 2016-2017.
II. Statement of the Problem
The main purpose of this study was to
describe and compare the Mathematics
Achievement of Grade 11 Students from STEM
Strand to the students from ABM Strand, both
enrolled during the school year 2016-2017, in Mathematics Achievement and STEM Strand
Manila Tytanna Colleges. Specifically, it sought to
answer the question, “Is there a significant
difference between the Mathematical Achievement
of STEM and ABM students enrolled during the
First Semester of School Year 2016-2017 in Manila
Tytana Colleges?”
III. Review of Literature
This part contains some related and
relevant literature both from Foreign and Local
Authors that are reviewed by the researchers for
theories and concepts of this study. It includes the
definition of Math Achievement, as well as the
presentation of some research findings indicating
that students from STEM have higher Math
Achievement.
Mathematics Achievement
Mathematics Achievement extends beyond
the acquisition of concepts and related skills, to
include individual’s attitudes and motivation in
any mathematical situations. (Dossey, 1997)
In Mathematics achievement, the usual
factors measured are Mathematical concepts,
problem-solving and computation.
Mathematical concepts assesses Numeration,
Geometry and Measurement, including number
beyond thousands, decimal and fractions,
shapes, money, time and customary and metric
measurement. In problem solving, it assesses
response to orally presented verbal problems,
some items require solutions of problem and
choice of correct answer, and some requires the
choice of correct number sentence. In
computation, it requires the fundamental
operations with whole numbers, decimals and
fractions (Anastasia, 1997).
Various studied have showed the
association of Math Achievement of students and This method enables the researchers to interpret the
their strand. For instance, in a study conducted by mathematical achievement of the students in
Wang (2012), results suggest that high school math relation to their strand choice.
achievement, along with other factors, affect
students’ intent to major in STEM fields, which in The participants of the study are 60Grade
turn influences entrance into STEM majors. Thus, 11Senior High School students of Manila Tytana
with this, the researchers believe that students in Colleges (MTC) enrolled during the first semester
STEM initially have higher Math Achievement. S.Y. 2016-2017. Thirty (30) randomly selected
students from Science, Technology, Engineering
In fact, this is supported by one study. The and Mathematics (STEM) Strand and Thirty (30)
findings revealed that even students both in Non- randomly selected students from Accountancy,
STEM and STEM fields believe that STEM Business and Management (ABM) Strand are
Students will not yield the same scores in STEM chosen regardless of age and sex.
Subjects, such as Math and Science, as the students
in other field taking the same subjects. (Chen, Procedure
2013)
The researchers asked the consent of the
In addition to that, if one does not have the students to have a copy of their semestral grade in
minimum required Math Achievement, most likely, General Mathematics during the first semester.
the student would leave the STEM field. These grades are compiled and grouped according
Researchers have highlighted theoretical reasons to strand.
that students persist or leave a STEM field of study,
Statistical Treatment
such as early exposure to and proficiency in math
and science (Adelman 1998, 1999, 2006; Anderson
To analyze and interpret the results of the data, the
& Kim, 2006; Hagedorn & DuBray, 2010); high
following statistical treatments were used:
school curriculum (Elliott, Strenta, Adair, Matier,
& Scott, 1996); advanced courses in math and
science (Ellington, 2006) 1. Median. This computation was used to
locate the middlemost grade of the
IV. Methodology participants (both STEM and ABM).
2. Mann- Whitney U Test. This is used to
This study made use of descriptive research compare the differences between the
method which is designed for the researchers to grades of the STEM strand students and
gather data about the mathematical achievement of ABM strand students.
ABM and STEM students of MTC.

V. Results and Discussion

The researchers wanted to know if there is a difference between the mathematical

achievement of the students from ABM and STEM. To test the data given, they used Mann-
Whitney U test. Using the statistical software SPSS, the researchers obtained the following
results at , confidence level of 95%, two-tailed test:
 Descriptive Statistics
Percentiles
N Mean Std. Deviation Minimum Maximum 25th 50th (Median) 75th
Grade 60 83.78 4.203 74 93 81.00 83.00 86.75
Strand 60 1.50 .504 1 2 1.00 1.50 2.00
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics

Ranks
Strand N Mean Rank
Grade ABM 30 30.55 913.50
STEM 30 30.45 916.50
Total 60

Table 2. Ranks

a
Test Statistics

Grade
Mann-Whitney U 448.500
Wilcoxon W 913.500
Z -.022
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .982
a. Grouping Variable: Strand
Table 3. Results

This study aimed to determine if there is a difference between the mathematical

achievement of ABM and STEM students of Manila Tytana Colleges.

The research was confined to 60Grade 11 Senior High School students of Manila Tytana
Colleges S.Y. 2016-2017. This study used descriptive method of research to interpret the
mathematical achievement of the students. Statistical analysis was administered by using SPSS
to obtain median and U value.

This study seeks to answer the question, “Is there a difference between the mathematical
achievement of ABM and STEM students of Manila Tytanna Colleges S.Y. 2016-2017?”

In line with data analysed by the researchers, the following are the results:

1. Using SPSS, the median obtained is 83.00 and the Uobt is 448.500.
2. In reference with the table of critical values of U, Ucrit is 317.[3]
 3. Ucrit≤ Uobt, accept null hypothesis.

This study concludes the ABM and STEM students do not differ significantly in terms of their
mathematical achievement.

References:

[1]
http://www.deped.gov.ph/regions/region-iii/regional-press-releases/cl-shs-enrollment-reaches-144044-surpasses-
projected
[2]
http://www.danielgubalane.com/2016/01/k-to-12-senior-high-tracks-strands.html
[3]
Billiet, Paul © 2003. The Open Door Website

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