Calculate using actual pre/post test scores: | | | Student # | PRE score | | POST score | | Gain | 1 | 75 | 75.00 | 95 | 95.00 | 0.80 | 2 | 80 | 80.00 | 99 | 99.00 | 0.95 | 3 | 99 | 99.00 | 99 | 99.00 | - | 4 | 85 | 85.00 | 90 | 90.00 | 0.33 | 5 | 70 | 70.00 | 85 | 85.00 | 0.50 | 6 | 60 | 60.00 | 75 | 75.00 | 0.38 | 7 | 75 | 75.00 | 80 | 80.00 | 0.20 | 8 | 50 | 50.00 | 90 | 90.00 | 0.80 | 9 | 60 | 60.00 | 65 | 65.00 | 0.13 | 10 | 80 | 80.00 | 85 | 85.00 | 0.25 | 11 | 75 | 75.00 | 99 | 99.00 | 0.96 | 12 | 80 | 80.00 | 90 | 90.00 | 0.50 | 13 | 99 | 99.00 | 99 | 99.00 | - | 14 | 80 | 80.00 | 83 | 83.00 | 0.15 | 15 | 71 | 71.00 | 86 | 86.00 | 0.52 | 16 | 75 | 75.00 | 79 | 79.00 | 0.16 | 17 | 58 | 58.00 | 70 | 70.00 | 0.29 | 18 | 52 | 52.00 | 75 | 75.00 | 0.48 | 19 | 70 | 70.00 | 72 | 72.00 | 0.07 | 20 | 91 | 91.00 | 99 | 99.00 | 0.89 | | | | | Gain: | 41.70506 | Calculate using pre/posttest percentages: | Student # | Pretest % | Post Test % | Gain | 1 | 75 | 95 | 0.80 | 2 | 80 | 99 | 0.95 | 3 | 99 | 99 | 0.00 | 4 | 85 | 90 | 0.33 | 5 | 70 | 85 | 0.50 | 6 | 60 | 75 | 0.38 | 7 | 75 | 80 | 0.20 | 8 | 50 | 90 | 0.80 | 9 | 60 | 65 | 0.13 | 10 | 80 | 85 | 0.25 | 11 | 75 | 99 | 0.96 | 12 | 80 | 90 | 0.50 | 13 | 99 | 99 | 0.00 | 14 | 80 | 83 | 0.15 | 15 | 71 | 86 | 0.52 | 16 | 75 | 79 | 0.16 | 17 | 58 | 70 | 0.29 | 18 | 52 | 75 | 0.48 | 19 | 70 | 72 | 0.07 | 20 | 91 | 99 | 0.89 | | | GAIN: | 41.70506 |

The pre-test and posttest has given the researcher extensive data. This data proved to the researcher that the idea of teaching how to solve multi-step equations a different way works. The gain or at least the same score of all the students proved that this new way of teaching worked in this sample. The researcher would know that using this way of teaching this concept would work in the future for the researcher’s classroom. The researcher believes that if other classes were taught the same teaching method and the same pre-test and posttest and the data triangulated, the gain score would be very similar to the gain of the researcher’s students. The research questions that the researcher created have been answered during this research. The researcher wanted to know if wanted to know if using the “balance scale” method would increase the ability of the students to solve multi-step equations, if hands on activities would help the students, and if the interventions would increase the desire of the students to learn this concept. All of these questions were answered positively in this research. Students’ scores increased from the pre-test to the posttest; they used the hands on activities to learn the concept, and they came to class excited to do more problems of this kind. The research proves that all of the research questions have been answered in a positive way. There were only two students who did not improve their scores. The researcher thinks the reason might be is those two students did not take this concept very serious, and they both missed some instructional time. If the students had been in class during all instructional time, they would receive the information to increase their scores on the posttest. Overall, the researcher did not see any flaws in this research and the researcher would ascertain from that data that this method could be used in future classes to help students to attain the knowledge needed to understand this concept.