World Education Connect Multidisciplinary e-Publication, Vol. VI, Issue II (February 2026), pp.219-230
ROSALIE A. GALLARES, LPT
Aguilar – Salgarino National High School
Abstract
This paper investigated the perceptions of the junior high school learners in Aguilar Salgarino National High School towards the application of Polaya Problem-Solving Approach in their math lessons. There are 36 students who participated in the study with a fairly even balance between male (56% and female (44%). The vast majority of the students (69) represented in mathematics were found at the level of Developing, which requires more successful teaching strategies aimed at assisting the student in the enhancement of their skills. On the whole, students believed that Polya method was applied to them in classes (mean score = 2.79), but at times teacher modeling was not always perfect, especially in the process of fully demonstrating all the four steps of the method. Nevertheless, the strategy continued to be effective in enhancing problem-solving skills among the students (mean score = 3.43) particularly with regard to comprehending the problem and plotting their solutions. Interestingly, there was a sharp difference in the perception depending on the gender (p =.001), but no significant differences were observed between grade level performance or mathematics performance. Those findings imply that there is a need to introduce more stable teacher modeling especially during the look back stage. The research also focuses on the need to use the Polya methodology at various grades. Such recommendations as developing instruction to meet the difference between genders and performing additional research to determine the long-term implications of Polya approach on student performance are offered.
Keywords: Problem-solving Approach of Polya, teaching mathematics, junior high school, problem-solving skills
https://doi.org/10.65494/pinagpalapublishing.148
