Contextual Teaching and Learning Approach in Mathematics for Stem Students on Blended Learning Modality

The sudden shift to online and blended learning during the COVID-19 pandemic posed serious challenges for students, particularly in Mathematics—a subject that many already struggle with. Although several strategies have been introduced to improve performance, there’s still limited research on how well the Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) approach works in blended settings. This study focused how CTL affects students’ achievement in Basic Calculus among Grade 11 STEM students. A quasi-experimental design was used, involving 71 students from a private school in Cebu City. They were divided into two groups: 37 students were taught using conventional methods, while 34 received instruction through the CTL approach. After the intervention, a focus group discussion with the experimental group provided insights based on their experiences. Results showed that students taught with CTL had a much higher mean gain (10.176) compared to the control group (1.891), with a significant difference of 8.28 (p = 0.011). Despite this success, some challenges were noted—mainly poor internet access, which affected the delivery. To help address this, the researcher proposed an instructional design to support CTL in Mathematics classes. Overall, the findings suggest that CTL can be a helpful strategy for improving learning outcomes in STEM, especially in blended learning environments.