ENHANCING HIGHER-ORDER THINKING SKILLS AND RETENTION OF MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS USING THINK-PAIR-SHARE TEACHING STRATEGY

Abstract

Mathematics is a discipline intertwined with society, thatr is being used on daily lives, and thus, requires careful handling by the teachers in the school. The study examined how upper-basic students can be enhanced in higher-order thinking skills and retention rates with the use of think-pair-share instructional method in learning mathematical concepts. It employed a 2x2x2x2 non-equivalent intact classes research design, involving a population of 33,320 students from Basic 7, 8, and 9, and targeted 16,365 students in Basic 9. Respondents were selected through multistage sampling (simple and purposive random sampling techniques). The control and experimental groups were taught using different modules, and performance was evaluated using pre-test (PREMPT) and post-test (POSTMPT) instruments, with reliability coefficients of 0.75 and 0.81 respectively. Four research objectives were raised, transformed into hypotheses and tested using ANCOVA. The showed that the teaching strategy applied enhanced higher-order thinking skills and retention rates. The finding also showed that no gender difference was observed in the two groups. The study concluded that this approach can improve critical thinking and retention skills in mathematics if properly handled. It was recommended among others that students should be encouraged in the use of collaborative the chique in solving mathematics problems.