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Top1. Introduction
The low mathematics achievement of Filipino students was notable during the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Filipino students attained an average of 353 points in Mathematical Literacy; this is pretty lower than the OECD average (489 points) and is labelled as beneath Level 1 proficiency (OECD, 2019).
The Philippine government exerted more effort in improving the education system, specially the primary and secondary level. The Department of Education which is mandated to evaluate and improve the education system, elevate its standards in terms of teacher and system evaluation. More students and teachers progress reports were implemented. “Sulong Edukalidad” was also introduced by DepEd towards an aggressive reform to globalize the quality of basic education system of the Philippines. The focus of this reform is to improve facilities and equipment, investing and giving full support to teachers for their in-service professional development and provide the proper incentives for their professional progress.
The conventional way of teaching is widely used in schools, wherein teachers and books are the sole source of information and ideas. Traditional methods make students as passive learner. They are like empty can wait for a load.
On the other hand, studies from few decades back show that cooperative learning had a direct contribution to the successful learning outcome (Gamit, Antolin, & Gabriel, 2017). It is therefore better to evaluate some existing cooperative learning technique that may adopt in the teaching and learning process. One of this strategy or technique is the Team-Games-Tournament strategy. Teams-Games-Tournament is a cooperative learning models developed by Slavin (2014). According to Soetjipto (2013), in team game tournament the teachers divide students into groups of 4-5 heterogeneous students. Students are grouped according to the respective ability level and they occupy the tournament table guided judges and auxiliary judges to carry out the tournament and scoring. The present research also adapted this model. According to the research findings of Setyawan, Budiyono, and Slamet (2017), it could be concluded that student’s mathematics achievement which were taught by using MMP is as good as student’s mathematics achievement which were taught by using TGT in straight-line equation material. Salam, Hossain, and Rahman (2015), also conducted a study that deals with T-G-T in some schools in Bangladesh. After three-weeks of intervention, it had been found out that TGT experimental group students had achieved a significant learning outcome than lecture based control group students. Attitude towards mathematics were differed to a certain positive extent on TGT experimental group.
Teams-Games-Tournament is basically from foreign studies, which is far different in the educational climate here in the Philippines. Hence, this study focuses on the adoption and evaluation of Teams-Games-Tournament strategy, incorporated with some Filipino Games.
Moreover, according to Rabago-Mingoal, Estacio and Perlas (2014), Filipino Games are effective in promoting peer interaction among children. In addition, classroom games involving math provide students with a fun way to practice these skills that can become quite repetitive. They also provide students with the opportunity to work together (another essential skill) as well as keep students motivated and engaged (Cox, 2018).
Based on these findings, the researcher assessed the effectiveness of Teams-Games-Tournament and determined that this strategy has a potential to motivate and engage Filipino students in learning Mathematics. Hence I hypothesized that: