Abstract
This quasi-experimental study aimed at determining whether or not Trending Motivational Activities had an effect on the mathematics performance of the students. Fifty-three Grade 7 students from each of two intact sections of Sara National High School were matched based on their pretest results. One group was exposed to Trending Motivational Activities while the other group was exposed to traditional motivational activities. The assignment of the groups to trending or traditional motivational activities was made through toss coin. The intervention period lasted for eight (8) weeks. An observation-checklist was provided to the teacher- observers as guide in assessing students’ reactions or performance during the conduct of classes. The sources of data were the 30- item multiple choice researcher- made pretest and posttest. The topics included were: Basic Concepts and Terms in Geometry, Angle, Basic Constructions, Polygons, Triangles, Quadrilaterals, and Circles. After the intervention, the students were asked about their reaction to the given motivational activities. Mean and standard deviation were used for descriptive data analysis, and t-test for independent samples at 0.05 alpha were used for inferential analysis. The results revealed that the levels of mathematics performance of the Grade 7 students before exposure to Trending Motivational Activities and Traditional Activities were “low”. After the intervention, the students exposed to Trending Motivational Activities improved from “low” to “high”; likewise, the students exposed to Traditional Motivational Activities. The students’ mathematics performance in the two groups was comparable prior to the intervention. There was no significant difference in their pretest score. After exposure to different motivational activities, both groups showed a significant difference in their performance. Nevertheless, there was no significant difference in the mean gain scores of the students in the two groups; students exposed to Trending Motivational Activities became more active and participative, and maintained their enthusiasm and interest in mathematics throughout the conduct of the study.
