KNOWS STRATEGY AND PRACTICE DRILLS: AN INTERVENTION IN IMPROVING SKILLS ON SOLVING WORK-RELATED PROBLEMS INVOLVING FRACTIONS

This study examined the effectiveness of the KNOWS Strategy and Practice Drills as an intervention in improving skills in solving work-related problems involving fractions. The intervention was designed to address students’ persistent difficulties with fraction-based word problems through a structured, mnemonic-based approach. Utilizing a one-group pretest-posttest pre-experimental design, the study was conducted with 33 purposively selected Grade 8 students at Kapalong National High School. Quantitative data were gathered using a 10-item test administered before and after the intervention, and qualitative data were obtained through in-depth interviews. . Findings revealed a substantial difference in the scores before and after the intervention. The mean pretest score was 9.64% (poor), while the mean post-test score was 66.06% (satisfactory). The paired t-test results indicated a significant improvement in students' scores from the pretest to the post-test, with t (32) = 20.1, p < .001, with a standardized effect size of Cohen’s d= 3.50. Thematic analysis of student feedback identified five (5) core benefits: 1) enhancing mental clarity; 2) developing analytical confidence; 3) simplifying word problems enhances comprehension; 4) seeing KNOWS as an effective strategy for structured problem solving; and 5) enhancing analytical problem-solving skills. The findings confirm that the KNOWS Strategy and Practice Drills significantly improved both the performance and confidence of students in solving fraction-related problems, demonstrating its potential as an effective instructional approach in mathematics education. Keywords: KNOWS Strategy, Intervention, Pre-experimental Design, Fractions, Philippines