ABSTRACT

RESEARCH SUGGESTED THAT STUDENTS STRUGGLE BECAUSE OF LACKING UNDERSTANDING OF BASIC CONCEPTS, FORMULAS, AND PROCEDURES IN ALGEBRA, LEADING TO INEFFICIENCY IN LOGICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS. (JULIUS ET AL., 2018; JUPRI ET AL., 2021). SCHEMABASED INSTRUCTION (SBI) AIMS TO ENHANCE LEARNING AND PROBLEM-SOLVING BY ACTIVATING AND BUILDING UPON STUDENTS' PRIOR KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURES, KNOWN AS SCHEMAS (POWELL ET AL., 2008). THE COMMON SCHEMAS INCLUDE THE TOTAL, DIFFERENCE, CHANGE, EQUAL GROUPS, COMPARISON, RATIOS/PROPORTIONS (HUGHES & CUEVAS, 2020). SBI HAS BEEN FOUND TO BE EFFECTIVE, PARTICULARLY FOR STUDENTS WHO STRUGGLE WITH MATHEMATICS WORD PROBLEMS (MARSHALL, 2012; HUGHES & CUEVAS, 2020). RESEARCH RELATED TO SBI HAS NOT YET BEEN CONDUCTED IN MACAU REGION. AN EARLY PRE-TEST WAS ADMINISTERED BY THE RESEARCHER, THIRTY-ONE STUDENTS WERE ASKED TO SOLVE 10 QUESTIONS ABOUT PERCENTAGES. THE RESULTS SHOWED THAT SOME STUDENTS LACKED THE FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE NEEDED TO INVESTIGATE AND EXPLORE THE ABSTRACT IDEAS, PATTERNS, AND RELATIONSHIPS IN PERCENTAGES PROBLEMS. A DAILY SCHEMA-BASED INSTRUCTION (SBI) AS A PART OF AN EXPERIMENTAL INTERVENTION STUDY WAS IMPLEMENTED, PRE-TEST AND POST-TESTS WERE ADMINISTERED TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT OF SBI ON STUDENTS' MATHEMATICAL PROCEDURAL FLUENCY SKILLS. THIRTY-ONE STUDENTS FROM THE RESEARCHER’S CLASS WERE INVITED TO ENGAGED IN 40 MINUTES OF DAILY SBI LESSONS FOR TWO WEEKS, 12 LESSONS IN TOTAL. DURING EACH OF THE TWELVE 40-MINUTE SESSION, STUDENTS PRACTICED SCHEMAS TO DEVELOP PROCEDURAL FLUENCY COMPETENCIES, SUCH AS SOLID NUMBER SENSE AND ARITHMETIC OPERATIONS, TO SOLVE PERCENTAGES PROBLEMS. WITHIN-GROUP DESCRIPTIVE AND INFERENTIAL STATISTICS WERE ADOPTED. THE RESULTS INDICATED THAT AFTER SBI, STUDENTS CAN SOLVE MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS WITH GREATER PROCEDURAL FLUENCY. THIS RESEARCH SHARES IMPLICATIONS AND PROVIDES SUGGESTIONS REGARDING SBI AND PROCEDURAL FLUENCY