A TEACHING RESOURCE PACKAGE FOR DEVELOPING
SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS IN THE
INTERMEDIATE GRADES
AN EXPANDED ABSTRACT
MARICEL P. CARIDAOAN
MASTER OF ARTS IN EDUCATION
(Science Education)
March 2007
A TEACHING RESOURCE PACKAGE FOR DEVELOPING
SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS IN THE
INTERMEDIATE GRADES1
M.P. CARIDAOAN2 and N.E. LORENZO3
This study developed and validated a teaching resource package (TRP) for developing the science process skills of the intermediate grades. The TRP contained lessons based on the Restructured Basic Education Curriculum (RBEC). Problem, hypothesis, materials, procedure, guide questions, generalization and assessment were contained in each lesson.
The study adapted the research and development methodology. A standardized process skill test was used as pretest to assess the extent to which the pupils have developed the basic and integrated science process skills prior to the study. Using the pretest results, a TRP was developed.
There were ten science teachers from the Division of Laoag City who content-validated the teaching resource package. Using a five-point scale checklist, the TRP was evaluated in terms of objectives, contents, activities, assessment and instructional characteristics.
The data gathered from the evaluation of the TRP and its effectiveness was analyzed using the weighted means for their validity and t-test for its effectiveness.
The validated TRP was tried out to 37 grade five pupils of Mariano Marcos State University-Laboratory Elementary School during the second and third grading periods of academic year 2006-2007. The experimental and control groups were matched in terms of their general average in grade four. The same standardized test was later given as a posttest to find out if there was a significant improvement in the science process skills of the pupils and whether there was a difference between the gains of both groups.
Results of the pretest showed that the pupils developed the science process skills at a low extent.
The results of the validation revealed that the materials met the basic requirements for developing instructional materials as manifested by the rating of very highly satisfactory. Hence, the TRP is valid in terms of objectives, contents, activities, assessment and instructional characteristics.
The results of the try-out showed a significant difference between the pretest and posttest mean scores of the two groups. The experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group in both basic and integrated science skills. This implies that the TRP was effective for developing the science process skills of the intermediate grades. However, there were some skills that are not significantly different in both group because it is not only the sole concern of science to develop such skills. It cuts across the other discipline like English and Filipino. This suggests, therefore that the TRP may still be improved to be able to develop further the skills of the concerned pupils.
It was then recommended that the teaching resource package be subjected for field-testing for further refinement, revision and completion to consider all lessons in the intermediate grades under the RBEC and reproduction of results for wider use of the pupils. Also, the problem and materials may be provided to the pupils for them to draw a procedure by themselves for hypothesis testing instead of just following the procedure stated in the activity sheet. Seminars and workshops should also be conducted to provide the teachers, especially those teaching science to equip them with the essential skills needed in the preparation and validation of the TRP and other similar instructional materials. Administrators should encourage every teacher to prepare and use teaching resource packages to develop the process skills of the pupils for better acquisition of concepts and principles in science; since it is not the sole responsibility of the science teacher to develop the skills but every teacher.
1 Master’s thesis submitted to the Graduate School, Mariano Marcos State University, Laoag City, March 2007
2 Faculty, Mariano Marcos State University-Laboratory Elementary School, Laoag City
3.College Secretary, Mariano Marcos State University, Graduate School, Laoag City
Background of the Study
Filipino learners are confronted with a myriad of information from many disciplines in and out of the classroom setting. With the advent of information technology, a vast amount of ideas reach the contemporary learners easily. This knowledge is important not only to keep pace with the fast changing world but also to alleviate difficulties of adjustment posed by fast changing society.
To cope with rapid social evolution, Filipino learners are in dire need of an educational system that will empower them for lifelong learning. Lifelong learning is the process of striving to meet the incessant challenges of the new world (RBEC Primer, 2002). However, this will not take place without first attaining functional literacy, one of the ends of the present curriculum, the Restructured Basic Education Curriculum (RBEC) of the Department of Education which emphasizes the development of basic scientific and numerical competency of the learners.
Studies and various educational assessments conducted in the past decades revealed the deteriorating quality of education of the Philippines. The 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) achievement test revealed the poor performance of Filipino learners. Out of 45 countries, the Philippines ranked 41st in science (Philippine Star, January 31, 2005). Likewise, the National Elementary Achievement Test conducted to sixth grade pupils showed a dismal performance of the Philippines in science which was from 54.12 % in 2005 to 46.77 % in 2006 (The Manila Times, October 2006). Moreover, the High School Readiness Test administered in May 2004 revealed that half of the estimated 1.4 million public elementary school graduates from all over the country equivalent to 700,000 failed to meet the cut-off score which was already lowered to 27 % (Philippine Star, June 17, 2004). The dismal scenario was further confirmed by another finding of the Department of Education that about 80% of the elementary school graduates flunked the Second High School Readiness Test given in August 2004 (PDI, September 14, 2004) which showed that most of the pupils in the sixth grade were not yet ready for the more complex learning tasks waiting for them in the high school level.
Furthermore, various studies which assessed pupils’ performance in the different learning areas, especially in science, revealed low proficiency. One reason for this, as cited by Ibe (1998), was the observation that teachers tell the pupils facts and principles instead of helping them get meanings themselves and facilitating the developmental use of science processes. She also noted that learners were not involved in the construction of learning. Similarly, Pascua (2003) inferred from the findings of his study that the desired goal of learning is not achieved because of the inability of the teachers to design and validate activities that enhance the development of science process skills.
The study of Roldan (1986), as cited by Pascua (2003), pointed out that the pupils’ learning abilities develop fast during the early grades and tend to plateau in the intermediate or approximately fourth grade level. Although this level is a bit higher than simple literacy, this is not yet functional literacy. The development of higher order thinking skills and integrated science process skills is seldom attained by Grade 5 pupils and there is a danger of reverting to illiteracy if the pupil drops out before the end of Grade 6. This alarming situation is prevalent in the educational system, signifying serious effects in society.
To help raise the quality of education, teaching-learning process should focus more on learning “how” rather than learning “what”. Science education, being one of the subjects that helps learners to keep pace with the rapidly changing world, should emphasize the development of the basic and integrated science process and skills. The teacher has the responsibility to provide learning situations that enhance the maximum acquisition of knowledge. Cruz (1976) explained that learning is more meaningful and permanent if the teacher gives such situations to the child who must be taught the process of acquiring learning rather than mere concepts.
It is, therefore the focus of this study to develop and validate a teaching resource package to develop the science process skills of the pupils based on a
survey of the extent to which the pupils have developed these skills.
Statement of the Problem
This study developed, validated and tried out a teaching resource package for developing the science process skills of the intermediate pupils of Mariano Marcos State University-Laboratory Elementary School (MMSU-LES).
Specifically, it answered the following questions:
1. To what extent have the pupils developed science process skills?
2. How content-valid is the teaching resource package in the development of the science process skills of the pupils in terms of:
a) objectives,
b) contents,
c) activities,
d) assessment, and;
e) instructional characteristics.
3. How effective is the teaching resource package for the development of the science process skills of the pupils?
Theoretical Framework
This research is anchored on Bruner’s theory of instruction (1966), Gagne’s Learning “how-to-learn skills” theory (1985) and Dewey’s “hands-on” learning (1971).
Jerome S. Bruner believes that the vital role of the teacher is to create situations in which the pupils can learn on their own, rather than being provided prepackaged information. They should be actively involved with concepts and principles. They should be encouraged to have concrete experiences and to conduct experiments themselves.
As stressed by Dewey, it is important to allow the child to attain experiential learning for the teacher’s primary task is to give him various experiences in order to learn. Activities must be provided to enhance the ability of the pupils to learn on their own. This will allow the pupil to gain mastery of the needed skills and concepts which are essential to future learning. It will motivate the pupil to organize his input, thereby making learning more relevant and meaningful. The teachers then must concretize learning for better assimilation and application of skills and concepts.
Likewise, there should be active involvement of the learners to develop their own learning capabilities as pointed out by Gagne (1985) in his learning “how-to-learn skills theory.” This concept emphasized that the teacher has the responsibility to devise activities relevant to the pupils. He must provide instructional materials, like teaching resource package, modules, workbooks and activities, to attain this objective and to meet the learner’s need. He should recognize the importance of learners’ entry capabilities in learning to suit any learning situation for them.
These theories provided the basis for this study since the activities which were developed were based on the initial assessment of the skills possessed by the pupils. These activities are intended to develop the science process skills of the pupils.
Conceptual Framework
Teaching should be adapted to the learners. The learners’ need should be the focus of instruction which should allow them to be actively involved in the educative process. Thus the teacher should be responsible for designing instruction that will best develop the skills of the pupils that will make concepts more relevant and permanent to them. Learners must be given an opportunity to learn on their own as emphasized by Gagne (1985) and Bruner (1966).
One way of allowing the learners to learn on their own is to creatively design and develop activities. Hence, this study focused on the development and validation of a teaching resource package containing activities based on the RBEC for developing the science process skills of the pupils.
The teaching resource package contains activities for the pupils and lesson guides for the teachers. Similar to the workbook developed and validated by Ancheta (2005), the pupils’ activities have the following components: problem, hypothesis, materials, procedure, guide questions, generalization and assessment. The teacher’s guide contains overview of the lesson, science process skills to be developed, concepts that can be taught through the activity, suggested teaching sequence and assessment.
The activities facilitate self-learning as they are given to the pupils in the course of the lesson in the form of activity sheets. As such, pupils are given opportunity to provide tentative answers to questions or to hypothesize; that they test their hypothesis by following the procedure until finally they arrive at a generalization. This would allow the learners to experience and find out for themselves if their answers to problems are correct or not. In this manner, their skills are developed as their involvement in the learning situation is maximized. There is a little supervision exercised by the teacher. With such classroom atmosphere, the pupils are given opportunities to discover and learn on their own. Hence allowing the pupils to develop the science process skills which the TRP aimed to provide.
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
This study focused on the development, validation and try out of a teaching resource package in the intermediate grades based on the Restructured Basic Education Curriculum. (RBEC) using research and development (R and D) methodology.
The research and development methodology is a process intended to develop and validate educational outputs so that these can be used and extended over a vast area. (Gallardo 2000).
The development, validation and try out of the teaching resource package followed three stages, namely: planning stage, development stage, and validation stage. The first stage involved a bibliographical survey and empirical survey on the science process skills of the pupils. The second was the development stage which included the writing activities. The third stage of the study was the content validation and preliminary revision of the activities try-out, content validation and final revision of the teaching resource package.
Locale of the Study
The study area was conducted at the Laboratory Elementary School of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU-LES) located in Laoag City. Two matched sections of grade five classes were involved in the study. One was the experimental class and the other, the control class.
Population and Sample
The subjects of this study were the grade five pupils of MMSU-LES for the school year 2006-2007. There were 23-paired pupils in all.
In order not to disturb the mental and environmental set of the pupils, the usual classroom setting was maintained. No regrouping of pupils was made. However, the pupils in both classes were matched based on their general average in grade four.
Instrumentation
Two different instruments were used in this study to gather data, namely:
the Perez test on process skills to test of the extent of the science process skills developed by the pupils and the checklist for the content-validation of the teaching resource package.
Perez test on process skills. This is a standardized test constructed by Carolina Perez (1980) which is a 50-item multiple-choice type test on process skills. It was used as pretest to determine the extent the pupils have developed the science process skills and as posttest to determine if the developed and validated activities enhanced the science process skills of the intermediate pupils.
Checklist for the validation of the teaching resource package. This is a 28- item scale which was used by the teacher-respondents in determining the content validity of the teaching resource package. Five items were on the objectives of the lesson, four on the content, eleven on the activities and eight on the instructional characteristics. The checklist that was used in this study with some modifications was patterned after the instrument used in the study of Gallardo (2000).
Responses to the content-validation items was indicated and interpreted
using the following five- point scale which was used by Ancheta (2005) in her research.
Data Gathering Procedure
A standardized process skill test was used as pretest to assess the extent to
which the pupils have developed the basic and integrated science process skills prior to the study. Using the pretest results, a teaching resource package was developed. It was content-validated by ten science teachers from the Division of Laoag City. Using a five-point scale checklist, the TRP was evaluated in terms of objectives, contents, activities, assessment and instructional characteristics. The validated TRP was tried out to 37 grade five pupils of Mariano Marcos State University-Laboratory Elementary School during the second and third grading periods of academic year 2006-2007. The experimental and control groups were matched in terms of their general average in grade four. The same standardized test was later given as a posttest to find out if there was a significant improvement in the science process skills of the pupils and whether there was a difference between the gains of both groups.
The data gathered from the evaluation of the TRP and its effectiveness was analyzed using the weighted means for their validity and t-test for its effectiveness.
The following are the stages followed by the researcher in the conduct of this study.
I. Planning Stage
Phase 1. Bibliographical survey. This phase involved a survey of possible literature on science process skills and prototype activities particularly on the guidelines on the format, technical details, management and techniques and modes of the presentation of such activities. A systematic planning on how to go about the development and validation of the teaching resource package followed. The researcher examined the concepts and skills included in the learning competencies for grade five based on the Restructured Basic Education Curriculum (RBEC).
Phase 2. Empirical survey. The researcher conducted a pretest using the Perez process skill test to determine the extent to which the grade five pupils have developed the science process skills. The results of the test were analyzed and interpreted by the researcher.
II. Development Stage
Phase 3. Writing the activities. Prototype activities were examined before developing the activities. The preliminary form included the following essential features: the specific objectives to be achieved by the pupils, a logical sequence of information for each topic, activities to enhance the development of basic and integrated science process skills and preparation of evaluative items based on the content of the lesson.
III. Validation Stage
Phase 4. Content validation of the activities. The set of developed activities was appraised as to content by the science teachers in the Division of Laoag City who are experts in their field with the use of an evaluation checklist.
Phase 5. Preliminary revision of the activities. The pooled assessment of the teacher evaluators and experts was the basis for the revision of the activities. Their suggestions were considered for the improvement of the activities.
Phase 6. Try-out of the activities. To find out the usefulness or effectiveness of the activities, these were tried out on one of the classes in grade five of MMSU-Laboratory Elementary School which served as the experimental class. Another class served as the control class. In order not to disturb the mental and environmental set up of the pupils the usual classroom setting was maintained however, subjects were matched on the basis of their average in grade four. Table 1 shows the result of the t-test of difference between the mean average of the experimental and control groups.
Table 1. t-test of difference between the mean general average of pupils in the experimental and control groups.
Mean General Mean t-value Prob.
Average Difference
Experimental Group 85.9217 0.261 0.646 0.525
Control Group 85.8957
Results reveal that the difference of 0.261 between the two means is not significant as indicated by the t-value of 0.646 which has a probability less than 0.01. Hence, it was concluded that there is no significant difference between the mean general average of the experimental and control groups. This implies that the two groups are equated in terms of ability, which in this case in the entry science process skills.
The following steps were followed by the researcher during the try-out phase: a) administering the lesson using the activities. The pupils were provided with the activities and experiences that made them enjoy learning. b) conducting the posttest. After exposing the pupils to the science process skills-enhanced activities, the posttest which is the same test used in the pretest, was administered to determine the gain made in the development of science process skills of the pupils.
Phase 7. Final revision of the activities. Revisions were made on the activities and the teacher’s guide on the basis of the result of the try-out of the teaching resource package. All corrections and reactions were incorporated in the final copy of the teaching science process skills enhanced-activities.
Statistical Treatment of Data
The following statistical tools were employed to analyze the data for this study:
The mean was used to determine the entry science process skills of the pupils. Individual scores of pupils were converted to percent scores in each science process skill.
Weighted mean was computed to determine the validity of the teaching resource package.
The t- tests for correlated samples were displayed to determine if there is a significant gain in the posttest scores of the pupils to find the effectiveness of the teaching resource package.
SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS IN THE
INTERMEDIATE GRADES
AN EXPANDED ABSTRACT
MARICEL P. CARIDAOAN
MASTER OF ARTS IN EDUCATION
(Science Education)
March 2007
A TEACHING RESOURCE PACKAGE FOR DEVELOPING
SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS IN THE
INTERMEDIATE GRADES1
M.P. CARIDAOAN2 and N.E. LORENZO3
This study developed and validated a teaching resource package (TRP) for developing the science process skills of the intermediate grades. The TRP contained lessons based on the Restructured Basic Education Curriculum (RBEC). Problem, hypothesis, materials, procedure, guide questions, generalization and assessment were contained in each lesson.
The study adapted the research and development methodology. A standardized process skill test was used as pretest to assess the extent to which the pupils have developed the basic and integrated science process skills prior to the study. Using the pretest results, a TRP was developed.
There were ten science teachers from the Division of Laoag City who content-validated the teaching resource package. Using a five-point scale checklist, the TRP was evaluated in terms of objectives, contents, activities, assessment and instructional characteristics.
The data gathered from the evaluation of the TRP and its effectiveness was analyzed using the weighted means for their validity and t-test for its effectiveness.
The validated TRP was tried out to 37 grade five pupils of Mariano Marcos State University-Laboratory Elementary School during the second and third grading periods of academic year 2006-2007. The experimental and control groups were matched in terms of their general average in grade four. The same standardized test was later given as a posttest to find out if there was a significant improvement in the science process skills of the pupils and whether there was a difference between the gains of both groups.
Results of the pretest showed that the pupils developed the science process skills at a low extent.
The results of the validation revealed that the materials met the basic requirements for developing instructional materials as manifested by the rating of very highly satisfactory. Hence, the TRP is valid in terms of objectives, contents, activities, assessment and instructional characteristics.
The results of the try-out showed a significant difference between the pretest and posttest mean scores of the two groups. The experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group in both basic and integrated science skills. This implies that the TRP was effective for developing the science process skills of the intermediate grades. However, there were some skills that are not significantly different in both group because it is not only the sole concern of science to develop such skills. It cuts across the other discipline like English and Filipino. This suggests, therefore that the TRP may still be improved to be able to develop further the skills of the concerned pupils.
It was then recommended that the teaching resource package be subjected for field-testing for further refinement, revision and completion to consider all lessons in the intermediate grades under the RBEC and reproduction of results for wider use of the pupils. Also, the problem and materials may be provided to the pupils for them to draw a procedure by themselves for hypothesis testing instead of just following the procedure stated in the activity sheet. Seminars and workshops should also be conducted to provide the teachers, especially those teaching science to equip them with the essential skills needed in the preparation and validation of the TRP and other similar instructional materials. Administrators should encourage every teacher to prepare and use teaching resource packages to develop the process skills of the pupils for better acquisition of concepts and principles in science; since it is not the sole responsibility of the science teacher to develop the skills but every teacher.
1 Master’s thesis submitted to the Graduate School, Mariano Marcos State University, Laoag City, March 2007
2 Faculty, Mariano Marcos State University-Laboratory Elementary School, Laoag City
3.College Secretary, Mariano Marcos State University, Graduate School, Laoag City
Background of the Study
Filipino learners are confronted with a myriad of information from many disciplines in and out of the classroom setting. With the advent of information technology, a vast amount of ideas reach the contemporary learners easily. This knowledge is important not only to keep pace with the fast changing world but also to alleviate difficulties of adjustment posed by fast changing society.
To cope with rapid social evolution, Filipino learners are in dire need of an educational system that will empower them for lifelong learning. Lifelong learning is the process of striving to meet the incessant challenges of the new world (RBEC Primer, 2002). However, this will not take place without first attaining functional literacy, one of the ends of the present curriculum, the Restructured Basic Education Curriculum (RBEC) of the Department of Education which emphasizes the development of basic scientific and numerical competency of the learners.
Studies and various educational assessments conducted in the past decades revealed the deteriorating quality of education of the Philippines. The 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) achievement test revealed the poor performance of Filipino learners. Out of 45 countries, the Philippines ranked 41st in science (Philippine Star, January 31, 2005). Likewise, the National Elementary Achievement Test conducted to sixth grade pupils showed a dismal performance of the Philippines in science which was from 54.12 % in 2005 to 46.77 % in 2006 (The Manila Times, October 2006). Moreover, the High School Readiness Test administered in May 2004 revealed that half of the estimated 1.4 million public elementary school graduates from all over the country equivalent to 700,000 failed to meet the cut-off score which was already lowered to 27 % (Philippine Star, June 17, 2004). The dismal scenario was further confirmed by another finding of the Department of Education that about 80% of the elementary school graduates flunked the Second High School Readiness Test given in August 2004 (PDI, September 14, 2004) which showed that most of the pupils in the sixth grade were not yet ready for the more complex learning tasks waiting for them in the high school level.
Furthermore, various studies which assessed pupils’ performance in the different learning areas, especially in science, revealed low proficiency. One reason for this, as cited by Ibe (1998), was the observation that teachers tell the pupils facts and principles instead of helping them get meanings themselves and facilitating the developmental use of science processes. She also noted that learners were not involved in the construction of learning. Similarly, Pascua (2003) inferred from the findings of his study that the desired goal of learning is not achieved because of the inability of the teachers to design and validate activities that enhance the development of science process skills.
The study of Roldan (1986), as cited by Pascua (2003), pointed out that the pupils’ learning abilities develop fast during the early grades and tend to plateau in the intermediate or approximately fourth grade level. Although this level is a bit higher than simple literacy, this is not yet functional literacy. The development of higher order thinking skills and integrated science process skills is seldom attained by Grade 5 pupils and there is a danger of reverting to illiteracy if the pupil drops out before the end of Grade 6. This alarming situation is prevalent in the educational system, signifying serious effects in society.
To help raise the quality of education, teaching-learning process should focus more on learning “how” rather than learning “what”. Science education, being one of the subjects that helps learners to keep pace with the rapidly changing world, should emphasize the development of the basic and integrated science process and skills. The teacher has the responsibility to provide learning situations that enhance the maximum acquisition of knowledge. Cruz (1976) explained that learning is more meaningful and permanent if the teacher gives such situations to the child who must be taught the process of acquiring learning rather than mere concepts.
It is, therefore the focus of this study to develop and validate a teaching resource package to develop the science process skills of the pupils based on a
survey of the extent to which the pupils have developed these skills.
Statement of the Problem
This study developed, validated and tried out a teaching resource package for developing the science process skills of the intermediate pupils of Mariano Marcos State University-Laboratory Elementary School (MMSU-LES).
Specifically, it answered the following questions:
1. To what extent have the pupils developed science process skills?
2. How content-valid is the teaching resource package in the development of the science process skills of the pupils in terms of:
a) objectives,
b) contents,
c) activities,
d) assessment, and;
e) instructional characteristics.
3. How effective is the teaching resource package for the development of the science process skills of the pupils?
Theoretical Framework
This research is anchored on Bruner’s theory of instruction (1966), Gagne’s Learning “how-to-learn skills” theory (1985) and Dewey’s “hands-on” learning (1971).
Jerome S. Bruner believes that the vital role of the teacher is to create situations in which the pupils can learn on their own, rather than being provided prepackaged information. They should be actively involved with concepts and principles. They should be encouraged to have concrete experiences and to conduct experiments themselves.
As stressed by Dewey, it is important to allow the child to attain experiential learning for the teacher’s primary task is to give him various experiences in order to learn. Activities must be provided to enhance the ability of the pupils to learn on their own. This will allow the pupil to gain mastery of the needed skills and concepts which are essential to future learning. It will motivate the pupil to organize his input, thereby making learning more relevant and meaningful. The teachers then must concretize learning for better assimilation and application of skills and concepts.
Likewise, there should be active involvement of the learners to develop their own learning capabilities as pointed out by Gagne (1985) in his learning “how-to-learn skills theory.” This concept emphasized that the teacher has the responsibility to devise activities relevant to the pupils. He must provide instructional materials, like teaching resource package, modules, workbooks and activities, to attain this objective and to meet the learner’s need. He should recognize the importance of learners’ entry capabilities in learning to suit any learning situation for them.
These theories provided the basis for this study since the activities which were developed were based on the initial assessment of the skills possessed by the pupils. These activities are intended to develop the science process skills of the pupils.
Conceptual Framework
Teaching should be adapted to the learners. The learners’ need should be the focus of instruction which should allow them to be actively involved in the educative process. Thus the teacher should be responsible for designing instruction that will best develop the skills of the pupils that will make concepts more relevant and permanent to them. Learners must be given an opportunity to learn on their own as emphasized by Gagne (1985) and Bruner (1966).
One way of allowing the learners to learn on their own is to creatively design and develop activities. Hence, this study focused on the development and validation of a teaching resource package containing activities based on the RBEC for developing the science process skills of the pupils.
The teaching resource package contains activities for the pupils and lesson guides for the teachers. Similar to the workbook developed and validated by Ancheta (2005), the pupils’ activities have the following components: problem, hypothesis, materials, procedure, guide questions, generalization and assessment. The teacher’s guide contains overview of the lesson, science process skills to be developed, concepts that can be taught through the activity, suggested teaching sequence and assessment.
The activities facilitate self-learning as they are given to the pupils in the course of the lesson in the form of activity sheets. As such, pupils are given opportunity to provide tentative answers to questions or to hypothesize; that they test their hypothesis by following the procedure until finally they arrive at a generalization. This would allow the learners to experience and find out for themselves if their answers to problems are correct or not. In this manner, their skills are developed as their involvement in the learning situation is maximized. There is a little supervision exercised by the teacher. With such classroom atmosphere, the pupils are given opportunities to discover and learn on their own. Hence allowing the pupils to develop the science process skills which the TRP aimed to provide.
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
This study focused on the development, validation and try out of a teaching resource package in the intermediate grades based on the Restructured Basic Education Curriculum. (RBEC) using research and development (R and D) methodology.
The research and development methodology is a process intended to develop and validate educational outputs so that these can be used and extended over a vast area. (Gallardo 2000).
The development, validation and try out of the teaching resource package followed three stages, namely: planning stage, development stage, and validation stage. The first stage involved a bibliographical survey and empirical survey on the science process skills of the pupils. The second was the development stage which included the writing activities. The third stage of the study was the content validation and preliminary revision of the activities try-out, content validation and final revision of the teaching resource package.
Locale of the Study
The study area was conducted at the Laboratory Elementary School of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU-LES) located in Laoag City. Two matched sections of grade five classes were involved in the study. One was the experimental class and the other, the control class.
Population and Sample
The subjects of this study were the grade five pupils of MMSU-LES for the school year 2006-2007. There were 23-paired pupils in all.
In order not to disturb the mental and environmental set of the pupils, the usual classroom setting was maintained. No regrouping of pupils was made. However, the pupils in both classes were matched based on their general average in grade four.
Instrumentation
Two different instruments were used in this study to gather data, namely:
the Perez test on process skills to test of the extent of the science process skills developed by the pupils and the checklist for the content-validation of the teaching resource package.
Perez test on process skills. This is a standardized test constructed by Carolina Perez (1980) which is a 50-item multiple-choice type test on process skills. It was used as pretest to determine the extent the pupils have developed the science process skills and as posttest to determine if the developed and validated activities enhanced the science process skills of the intermediate pupils.
Checklist for the validation of the teaching resource package. This is a 28- item scale which was used by the teacher-respondents in determining the content validity of the teaching resource package. Five items were on the objectives of the lesson, four on the content, eleven on the activities and eight on the instructional characteristics. The checklist that was used in this study with some modifications was patterned after the instrument used in the study of Gallardo (2000).
Responses to the content-validation items was indicated and interpreted
using the following five- point scale which was used by Ancheta (2005) in her research.
Data Gathering Procedure
A standardized process skill test was used as pretest to assess the extent to
which the pupils have developed the basic and integrated science process skills prior to the study. Using the pretest results, a teaching resource package was developed. It was content-validated by ten science teachers from the Division of Laoag City. Using a five-point scale checklist, the TRP was evaluated in terms of objectives, contents, activities, assessment and instructional characteristics. The validated TRP was tried out to 37 grade five pupils of Mariano Marcos State University-Laboratory Elementary School during the second and third grading periods of academic year 2006-2007. The experimental and control groups were matched in terms of their general average in grade four. The same standardized test was later given as a posttest to find out if there was a significant improvement in the science process skills of the pupils and whether there was a difference between the gains of both groups.
The data gathered from the evaluation of the TRP and its effectiveness was analyzed using the weighted means for their validity and t-test for its effectiveness.
The following are the stages followed by the researcher in the conduct of this study.
I. Planning Stage
Phase 1. Bibliographical survey. This phase involved a survey of possible literature on science process skills and prototype activities particularly on the guidelines on the format, technical details, management and techniques and modes of the presentation of such activities. A systematic planning on how to go about the development and validation of the teaching resource package followed. The researcher examined the concepts and skills included in the learning competencies for grade five based on the Restructured Basic Education Curriculum (RBEC).
Phase 2. Empirical survey. The researcher conducted a pretest using the Perez process skill test to determine the extent to which the grade five pupils have developed the science process skills. The results of the test were analyzed and interpreted by the researcher.
II. Development Stage
Phase 3. Writing the activities. Prototype activities were examined before developing the activities. The preliminary form included the following essential features: the specific objectives to be achieved by the pupils, a logical sequence of information for each topic, activities to enhance the development of basic and integrated science process skills and preparation of evaluative items based on the content of the lesson.
III. Validation Stage
Phase 4. Content validation of the activities. The set of developed activities was appraised as to content by the science teachers in the Division of Laoag City who are experts in their field with the use of an evaluation checklist.
Phase 5. Preliminary revision of the activities. The pooled assessment of the teacher evaluators and experts was the basis for the revision of the activities. Their suggestions were considered for the improvement of the activities.
Phase 6. Try-out of the activities. To find out the usefulness or effectiveness of the activities, these were tried out on one of the classes in grade five of MMSU-Laboratory Elementary School which served as the experimental class. Another class served as the control class. In order not to disturb the mental and environmental set up of the pupils the usual classroom setting was maintained however, subjects were matched on the basis of their average in grade four. Table 1 shows the result of the t-test of difference between the mean average of the experimental and control groups.
Table 1. t-test of difference between the mean general average of pupils in the experimental and control groups.
Mean General Mean t-value Prob.
Average Difference
Experimental Group 85.9217 0.261 0.646 0.525
Control Group 85.8957
Results reveal that the difference of 0.261 between the two means is not significant as indicated by the t-value of 0.646 which has a probability less than 0.01. Hence, it was concluded that there is no significant difference between the mean general average of the experimental and control groups. This implies that the two groups are equated in terms of ability, which in this case in the entry science process skills.
The following steps were followed by the researcher during the try-out phase: a) administering the lesson using the activities. The pupils were provided with the activities and experiences that made them enjoy learning. b) conducting the posttest. After exposing the pupils to the science process skills-enhanced activities, the posttest which is the same test used in the pretest, was administered to determine the gain made in the development of science process skills of the pupils.
Phase 7. Final revision of the activities. Revisions were made on the activities and the teacher’s guide on the basis of the result of the try-out of the teaching resource package. All corrections and reactions were incorporated in the final copy of the teaching science process skills enhanced-activities.
Statistical Treatment of Data
The following statistical tools were employed to analyze the data for this study:
The mean was used to determine the entry science process skills of the pupils. Individual scores of pupils were converted to percent scores in each science process skill.
Weighted mean was computed to determine the validity of the teaching resource package.
The t- tests for correlated samples were displayed to determine if there is a significant gain in the posttest scores of the pupils to find the effectiveness of the teaching resource package.
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
This study focused on the development, validation and try out of a teaching resource package in the intermediate grades based on the Restructured Basic Education Curriculum. (RBEC) using research and development (R and D) methodology.
The research and development methodology is a process intended to
develop and validate educational outputs so that these can be used and extended over a vast area. (Gallardo 2000).
The development, validation and try out of the teaching resource package followed three stages, namely: planning stage, development stage, and validation stage. The first stage involved a bibliographical survey and empirical survey on the science process skills of the pupils. The second was the development stage which included the writing activities. The third stage of the study was the content validation and preliminary revision of the activities try-out, content validation and final revision of the teaching resource package.
Locale of the Study
The study area was conducted at the Laboratory Elementary School of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU-LES) located in Laoag City. Two matched sections of grade five classes were involved in the study. One was the experimental class and the other, the control class.
Population and Sample
The subjects of this study were the grade five pupils of MMSU-LES for the school year 2006-2007. There were 23 paired pupils in all.
In order not to disturb the mental and environmental set of the pupils, the usual classroom setting was maintained. No regrouping of pupils was made. However, the pupils in both classes were matched based on their general average in grade four.
Instrumentation
Two different instruments were used in this study to gather data, namely: the Perez test on process skills to test of the extent of the science process skills developed by the pupils and the checklist for the content-validation of the teaching resource package.
Perez test on process skills. This is a standardized test constructed by Carolina Perez (1980) which is a 50-item multiple-choice type test on process skills. It was used as pretest to determine the extent the pupils have developed the science process skills and as posttest to determine if the developed and validated activities enhanced the science process skills of the intermediate pupils.
Checklist for the validation of the teaching resource package. This is a 28- item scale which was used by the teacher-respondents in determining the content validity of the teaching resource package. Five items were on the objectives of the lesson, four on the content, eleven on the activities and eight on the instructional characteristics. The checklist that was used in this study with some modifications was patterned after the instrument used in the study of Gallardo (2000). Responses to the content-validation items was indicated and interpreted using the five- point scale.
Research Design
This study focused on the development, validation and try out of a teaching resource package in the intermediate grades based on the Restructured Basic Education Curriculum. (RBEC) using research and development (R and D) methodology.
The research and development methodology is a process intended to
develop and validate educational outputs so that these can be used and extended over a vast area. (Gallardo 2000).
The development, validation and try out of the teaching resource package followed three stages, namely: planning stage, development stage, and validation stage. The first stage involved a bibliographical survey and empirical survey on the science process skills of the pupils. The second was the development stage which included the writing activities. The third stage of the study was the content validation and preliminary revision of the activities try-out, content validation and final revision of the teaching resource package.
Locale of the Study
The study area was conducted at the Laboratory Elementary School of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU-LES) located in Laoag City. Two matched sections of grade five classes were involved in the study. One was the experimental class and the other, the control class.
Population and Sample
The subjects of this study were the grade five pupils of MMSU-LES for the school year 2006-2007. There were 23 paired pupils in all.
In order not to disturb the mental and environmental set of the pupils, the usual classroom setting was maintained. No regrouping of pupils was made. However, the pupils in both classes were matched based on their general average in grade four.
Instrumentation
Two different instruments were used in this study to gather data, namely: the Perez test on process skills to test of the extent of the science process skills developed by the pupils and the checklist for the content-validation of the teaching resource package.
Perez test on process skills. This is a standardized test constructed by Carolina Perez (1980) which is a 50-item multiple-choice type test on process skills. It was used as pretest to determine the extent the pupils have developed the science process skills and as posttest to determine if the developed and validated activities enhanced the science process skills of the intermediate pupils.
Checklist for the validation of the teaching resource package. This is a 28- item scale which was used by the teacher-respondents in determining the content validity of the teaching resource package. Five items were on the objectives of the lesson, four on the content, eleven on the activities and eight on the instructional characteristics. The checklist that was used in this study with some modifications was patterned after the instrument used in the study of Gallardo (2000). Responses to the content-validation items was indicated and interpreted using the five- point scale.
Data Gathering Procedure
A standardized process skill test was used as pretest to assess the extent to which the pupils have developed the basic and integrated science process skills prior to the study. Using the pretest results, a teaching resource package was developed. It was content-validated by ten science teachers from the Division of Laoag City. Using a five-point scale checklist, the TRP was evaluated in terms of objectives, contents, activities, assessment and instructional characteristics. The validated TRP was tried out to 37 grade five pupils of Mariano Marcos State University-Laboratory Elementary School during the second and third grading periods of academic year 2006-2007. The experimental and control groups were matched in terms of their general average in grade four. The same standardized test was later given as a posttest to find out if there was a significant improvement in the science process skills of the pupils and whether there was a difference between the gains of both groups.
The data gathered from the evaluation of the TRP and its effectiveness was analyzed using the weighted means for their validity and t-test for its effectiveness.
The following are the stages followed by the researcher in the conduct of this study.
I. Planning Stage
Phase 1. Bibliographical survey. This phase involved a survey of possible literature on science process skills and prototype activities particularly on the guidelines on the format, technical details, management and techniques and modes of the presentation of such activities. A systematic planning on how to go about the development and validation of the teaching resource package followed. The researcher examined the concepts and skills included in the learning competencies for grade five based on the Restructured Basic Education Curriculum (RBEC).
Phase 2. Empirical survey. The researcher conducted a pretest using the Perez process skill test to determine the extent to which the grade five pupils have developed the science process skills. The results of the test were analyzed and interpreted by the researcher.
II. Development Stage
Phase 3. Writing the activities. Prototype activities were examined before developing the activities. The preliminary form included the following essential features: the specific objectives to be achieved by the pupils, a logical sequence of information for each topic, activities to enhance the development of basic and integrated science process skills and preparation of evaluative items based on the content of the lesson.
III. Validation Stage
Phase 4. Content validation of the activities. The set of developed activities was appraised as to content by the science teachers in the Division of Laoag City who are experts in their field with the use of an evaluation checklist.
Phase 5. Preliminary revision of the activities. The pooled assessment of the teacher evaluators and experts was the basis for the revision of the activities. Their sPuggestions were considered for the improvement of the activities
Phase 6. Try-out of the activities. To find out the usefulness or effectiveness of the activities, these were tried out on one of the classes in grade five of MMSU-Laboratory Elementary School which served as the experimental class. Another class served as the control class. In order not to disturb the mental and environmental set up of the pupils the usual classroom setting was maintained however, subjects were matched on the basis of their average in grade four. Table 1 shows the result of the t-test of difference between the mean average of the experimental and control groups.
Table 1. t-test of difference between the mean general average of pupils in the experimental and control groups.
Mean General Mean t-value Prob.
Average Difference
Experimental Group 85.9217 0.261 0.646 0.525
Control Group 85.8957
Results reveal that the difference of 0.261 between the two means is not significant as indicated by the t-value of 0.646 which has a probability less than 0.01. Hence, it was concluded that there is no significant difference between the mean general average of the experimental and control groups. This implies that the two groups are equated in terms of ability, which in this case in the entry science process skills.
The following steps were followed by the researcher during the try-out phase: a) administering the lesson using the activities. The pupils were provided with the activities and experiences that made them enjoy learning. b) conducting the posttest. After exposing the pupils to the science process skills-enhanced activities, the posttest which is the same test used in the pretest, was administered to determine the gain made in the development of science process skills of the pupils.
Phase 7. Final revision of the activities. Revisions were made on the activities and the teacher’s guide on the basis of the result of the try-out of the teaching resource package. All corrections and reactions were incorporated in the final copy of the teaching science process skills enhanced-activities. The methodological paradigm of the study is shown in Figure I:
PLANNING STAGE
Bibliographical
Survey
Empirical
Survey
DEVELOPMENT STAGE
Writing the Activities
Content Validation of the Activities
Preliminary Revision of the Activities
Writing the Activities
Content Validation of the Activities
Preliminary Revision of the Activities
VALIDATION STAGE
Try-out of the Activities
Final Revision
Figure 1. Flowchart on the Steps of the Research.
Statistical Treatment of Data
The following statistical tools were employed to analyze the data for this study:
The mean was used to determine the entry science process skills of the pupils. Individual scores of pupils were converted to percent scores in each science process skill. The following range interval of mean scores was used in interpreting the percent scores of pupils:
Range of the Mean Scores Descriptive Interpretation
80.00 - 100.00 Very High
60.00 - 79.99 High
40.00 - 59.99 Average
20.00 - 39.99 Low
0.00 - 19.99 Very Low
Weighted mean was computed to determine the validity of the teaching resource package. The following range interval of point scores was used in interpreting the percent scores of pupils:
Weighted Scale Range Interval Descriptive Interpretation
5 4.51 – 5.00 Very highly satisfactory
4 3.51 – 4.50 Very satisfactory
3 2.51 – 3.50 Satisfactory
2 1.51 – 2.50 Moderately satisfactory
1 1.00 – 1.50 Needs improvement
The t- tests for correlated samples were displayed to determine if there is a significant gain in the posttest scores of the pupils to find the effectiveness of the teaching resource package.
FINDINGS
Entry Science Process Skills of Pupils
The entry science process skills of pupils were determined using a standardized test. The percent mean scores of pupils and the descriptive interpretation of their performance in the basic and integrated science process skills are presented in Table 2.
The entry science process skills of pupils both in the experimental and control groups on the basic process skills of observing, classifying, measuring, inferring, using space/time relation, using number and communicating is average while the skill of predicting is low. Likewise, the pupils have developed the integrated process skill of defining operationally to an average level. The entry science process skills of pupils in interpreting data is low while it is very low on the integrated skills of formulating hypothesis, controlling variables and experimenting.
Table 2. Entry science process skills of pupils.
Experimental Group Control Group
Science Process Skills Mean Descriptive Mean Descriptive Score Interpretation Score Interpretation
A. Basic Process Skills
Observing 46.09 Average 47.83 Average
Classifying 40.43 Average 46.96 Average
Measuring 50.00 Average 52.17
Average
Inferring
45.65
Average
45.65
Average
Predicting
20.65
Low
16.30
Low
Using Space/Time Relation
49.30
Average
48.52
Average
Using Numbers
45.22
Average
42.61
Average
Communicating
47.83
Average
58.70
Average
B. Integrated Process Skills
Defining Operationally
52.17
Average
52.17
Average
Formulating Hypothesis
13.04
Very Low
16.30
Very Low
Interpreting Data
23.96
Low
26.70
Low
Controlling Variables
10.43
Very Low
11.30
Very Low
Experimenting
10.87
Very Low
10.87
Very Low
Overall Mean Scores 35.05 Low 36.62 Low
Legend: Range of the Mean Scores Descriptive Interpretation
80.0 - 100.00 Very High
60.00 - 99.99 High
40.00 - 59.99 Average
20.00 - 39.99 Low
0.00 - 19.99 Very Low
These findings concur with the study of Pascua (2003) who found out that the pupils have demonstrated an average or moderately satisfactory level of performance in the science process skills. The overall percent mean scores of 35.05 for the experimental group and 36.62 for the control groups are interpreted as low. It implies that the pupils have low mastery of the basic process skills; consequently, they also have low proficiency in the integrated process skill.
Validity of the Teaching Resource Package
The teaching resource package contained activities for the pupils and lesson guides for the teachers. Similar to the workbook developed and validated by Ancheta (2005), the pupils’ activities have the following components, namely: problem, hypothesis, materials, procedure, guide questions, generalization and assessment. The teacher’s guide contains the overview, science process skills to be developed, concepts that can be taught through the activity, suggested teaching sequence and assessment of the lesson. To determine the content validity of the teaching resource package in terms of objectives, content, activities, instructional characteristics and assessment, ten experts from the Division of Laoag City evaluated the materials along the five aspects. The results of the evaluation made by the experts on the materials are presented in Table 3.
Objectives. It can be noted from Table 3 that the experts responded positively to all the items regarding the objectives of the workbook.
The weighted means which range from 4.60 to 5.00 show that the objectives of the teaching resource package are very highly satisfactory. The composite mean of 4.74 indicates that on the whole, the objectives are valid since they were rated as attainable, specific, measurable and clearly stated.
Table 3. Results of the content validation of the teaching resource package by experts as to objectives, content, activities, assessment and instructional characteristics.
Criteria Weighted Mean Descriptive Interpretation
A. Objectives
The objectives are
1. attainable. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
2. measurable. 4.60 Very Highly Satisfactory
3. observable. 4.60 Very Highly Satisfactory
4. specific. 4.80 Very Highly Satisfactory
5. testable. 4.70 Very Highly Satisfactory
Composite Mean 4.70 Very Highly Satisfactory
B. Content
The teaching resource package
1. develops concepts relevant to the
objectives of the subject. 4.80 Very Highly Satisfactory
2. provides accurate, up-to-date and
relevant information. 4.80 Very Highly Satisfactory
3. focuses on specific skills and
concepts. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
4. uses title that are appropriate to
the content. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
Composite Mean 4.85 Very Highly Satisfactory
C. Activities
The activities
1. are varied and challenging. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
2. are interesting and enjoyable. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
3. provide opportunities for the
pupils to be actively involved. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
4. is well organized and properly
sequenced. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
5. provide adequate examples and
exercises to facilitate mastery of
content and skills. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
6. provide the pupils a “hands-on”
experience. 4.80 Very Highly Satisfactory
7. encourage pupils to be creative 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
8. develop and promote critical
thinking skills. 4.60 Very Highly Satisfactory
9. employ various teaching strategies. 4.60 Very Highly Satisfactory
10. can be done within a specific time
frame. 4.60 Very Highly Satisfactory
11. sustain the attention and interest of
the pupils. 4.70 Very Highly Satisfactory
Table 3. (Continued)
Criteria Weighted Mean Descriptive Interpretation
Composite Mean 4. 83 Very Highly Satisfactory
D. Assessment
The evaluative materials
1. related to the concepts, topics and
activities. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
2. measure mastery of the lesson. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
3. develop critical thinking. 4.80 Very Highly Satisfactory
4. help the teachers assess whether
he/she has taught effectively or not. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
Composite Mean 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
E. Instructional characteristics
The teaching resource package
1. uses clear and easy to understand
words, phrase and sentences. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
2. contains instruction that are
clearly and easily understood
by the pupils. 4.80 Very Highly Satisfactory
3. makes use of sentences that are
appropriate in length. 4.70 Very Highly Satisfactory
4. uses logically arranged directions. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
5. make use of format pupils and
teachers can easily follow. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
6. makes use of appropriate
situations. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
7. encourages the use of low-cost
materials. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
8. uses words which are within the
vocabulary of the pupils. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
Composite Mean 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
Overall Mean 4.84 Very Highly Satisfactory
Legend: Range of Weighted Mean Descriptive Rating
4.51 - 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
3.51 - 4.50 Very Satisfactory
2.50 - 3.50 Satisfactory
1.51 - 2.50 Moderately Satisfactory
1.00 - 1.50 Needs Improvement
Hence, the teaching resource package is valid in terms of objectives. This is supported by the comments of experts 2 and 6, who remarked:
“The objectives are well planned. They are clear and stated in a manner to elicit pupils’ reactions to situations similar to day-to-day experiences.”
Expert 2
“The objectives are attainable and specific.”
Expert 6
Contents. The experts favorably rated the contents of the TRP as shown by the composite mean of 4.85 is interpreted as very highly satisfactory. This means that the skills to be developed, as well as the concepts to be learned, are relevant, organized, and systematic and are suited to the level of the largest population. Thus, the teaching resource package is valid in terms of content. One of the experts commented that the content of the TRP “is suited to the needs and different abilities of the pupils and they are within the scope of the requirements of the course of study.”
Activities. Table 3 also shows that the activities included in the TRP are very satisfactory as shown by the weighted means which range from 4.60 to 5.00 and a composite mean of 4.83. This indicates that the activities are relevant and appropriate for the objectives and contents of the teaching resource package; hence, the activities are valid. This was supported by the following comments of some experts:
“The activities are well planned. They encourage total involvement of the pupils.”
Expert 2
“The activities provide the pupils with hands-on experiences that suit to their level of thinking and skills.”
Expert 4
“Activities are creatively done. They also develop the process skills of the learners.”
Expert 6
Assessment. The assessment part of the teaching resource package obtained weighted means which range from 4.80 to 5.00 and composite mean of 4.90 which are interpreted as very highly satisfactory. These ratings show that the assessment activities are relevant to the objectives, particularly to the development of critical thinking. As the respondents commented:
“The assessment activities are interesting and enjoyable.”
Expert 5
“The assessment part is relevant to the objectives and contents of the teaching resource package.”
Expert 10
Instructional characteristics. The teaching resource package was evaluated in terms of its instructional characteristics. The weighted means which range from 4.70 to 5.00 and the composite mean of 4.90 are interpreted as very highly satisfactory. It shows that the teaching resource package utilizes a format that is easy to follow and language that is clear and easy to understand. Thus, the TRP is valid in terms of instructional characteristics. These findings were supported by the remarks of the expert:
“The teaching resource package facilitates learning process.”
Expert 3
“The teaching resource package provides suitable learning tasks which are focused on the learners. It also gives the pupils hands-on experiences which develop their skills.”
Expert 7
Effectiveness of the Teaching Resource Package
To determine the effectiveness of the TRP, the pretest and posttest mean scores of each of the experimental and control classes were described and statistically compared.
Table 4 discloses the differences between the percent mean scores of the pupils in the experimental and control groups of each of the basic and integrated science process skills.
Results of the t-tests reveal that only the integrated science process skill of formulating hypothesis is significantly different as evidenced by the t-values with probabilities greater than 0.01. This implies that, it can still be inferred that the pupils in both groups have more or less the same entry knowledge about the process skills presented as shown by their overall percent mean scores which is not significantly different.
Table 4. Results of the t-test of difference between the pretest mean scores of the experimental and control groups.
Science Process Pretest Mean Score Difference t- value Prob.
Skills Experimental Control
A. Basic Process Skills
Observing
Average
Average
1.74
0.810
0.426
Classifying
Average
Average
6.53
1.648
0.114
Measuring
Average
Average
2.17
0.295
0.770
Inferring
Average
Average
0.00
0.000
1.000
Predicting
Low
Very Low
4.35
1.000
0.328
Using Space/Time Relation
Average
Average
0.78
0.202
0.842
Using Numbers
Average
Average
3.06
0.826
0.418
Communicating
Average
Average
10.87
1.226
0.233
B. Integrated Process Skills
Defining Operationally
Average
Average
0.00
0.000
1.000
Formulating Hypothesis
Very Low
Very Low
3.26
5.624**
0.000
Interpreting Data
Low
Low
2.74
1.045
0.307
Controlling Variables
Very Low
Very Low
0.87
0.327
0.747
Experimenting
Very Low
Very Low
0.00
0.000
1.000
Overall Mean Score Low Low 1.57 1.120 0.275
** - Significant at the 0.01 probability level
Table 5 shows the results of the t-test of difference between the posttest and pretest mean scores of the experimental groups.
It can be gleaned from Table 5 that the mean scores of the pupils in the experimental group in the basic and integrated process skills are very much higher than their pretest mean scores as indicated by their respective t-values ranging from 2.472 to 15.461 of the mean differences with probabilities less than 0.01. The t-value of the percent mean difference (26.66) of the overall mean pretest and posttest scores is significant. This means that by using the teaching resource
Table 5. Results of the t-test of difference between the posttest and pretest mean scores of the experimental group.
Science Process Mean Score Mean Score t- value Prob.
Skills Posttest Pretest Difference
A. Basic Process Skills
Observing
High
Average
15.65
7.240**
0.000
Classifying
High
Average
21.31
11.759**
0.000
Measuring
High
Average
15.22
3.102**
0.005
Inferring
High
Average
17.39
3.425**
0.002
Predicting
High
Low
40.22
15.461**
0.000
Using Space/Time Relation
High
Average
12.96
5.565**
0.000
Using Numbers
Average
Average
13.48
6.916**
0.000
Communicating
High
Average
17.39
3.425**
0.002
B. Integrated Process Skills
Defining Operationally
High
Average
10.87
2.472*
0.022
Formulating Hypothesis
Average
Very Low
33.70
11.285**
0.000
Interpreting Data
High
Low
36.21
12.485**
0.000
Controlling Variables
Average
Very Low
47.05
11.613**
0.000
Experimenting
High
Very Low
52.17
13.651**
0.000
Overall Mean Scores High Low 26.66 22.153** 0.000
** - Significant at the 0.01 probability level
* - Significant at the 0.05 probability level
package (TRP) as an instructional material, the pupils were able to develop to a greater extent the science process skills.
The results of the t-test of difference between the posttest and pretest mean scores of the pupils in the control group in the basic and integrated science process skills are shown in Table 6.
Results reveal that the mean scores of pupils along the basic process skills of observing, measuring and inferring are not significantly different while the mean scores in the basic skills of classifying, predicting, using space/time relation, using numbers and communicating are significantly different. It also shows that the integrated skills of formulating hypothesis, interpreting data, controlling variables and experimenting are significantly different while the mean scores in the skill of defining operationally is not significantly different. The t-value (7.940) of the difference (12.73) of overall mean score of the posttest and pretest scores of the control group is also significant.
Table 6. Results of the t-test of difference between the posttest and pretest mean scores of the control group.
Science Process Mean Score Mean t- value Prob. Skills Posttest Pretest Difference
A. Basic Process Skills
Observing
Average
Average
4.34
2.011
0.057
Classifying
Average
Average
3.47
2.152*
0.043
Measuring
Average
Average
2.18
0.569
0.575
Inferring
Average
Average
6.52
1.817
0.083
Predicting
Average
Very Low
33.70
6.038**
0.000
Using Space/Time Relation
Average
Average
6.65
3.761**
0.001
Using Numbers
Average
Average
6.96
3.425**
0.002
Communicating
Average
Average
0.00
0.000
1.000
B. Integrated Process Skills
Defining Operationally
Average
Average
4.35
1.447
0.162
Formulating Hypothesis
Low
Very Low
21.74
7.609**
0.000
Interpreting Data
Average
Low
21.17
9.668**
0.000
Controlling Variables
Low
Very Low
26.09
7.609**
0.000
Experimenting
Low
Very Low
28.26
5.348**
0.000
Overall Mean Score Average Low 12.73 7.940** 0.000
** - Significant at the 0.01 probability level
* - Significant at the 0.05 probability level
This finding implies that the basic process skills were also developed by the pupils in the control group but to a low extent. The development of other skills was significant since the pupils were also given learning activities to develop these skills through the use of charts, pictures and other instructional materials such as pictures of animals, real plants or seeing the plants in their natural environment traditionally used in the classroom. These improvements however, are mere outcome of the learning experiences provided by the teacher. Table 7 shows difference in the posttest means scores of the experimental and control groups.
Table 7. Results of the t-test of difference between the posttest percent mean scores of the experimental and control groups
Science Process % Mean Posttest Score % Mean t- value Prob.
Skills Experimental Control Difference
A. Basic Process Skills
Observing
High
Average
9.57
3.140**
0.005
Classifying
High
Average
11.31
3.441**
0.002
Measuring
High
Average
10.87
1.417
0.171
Inferring
High
Average
10.87
1.553
0.135
Predicting
High
Average
10.87
1.311
0.203
Using Space/Time Relation
High
Average
7.09
1.698
0.104
Using Numbers
Average
9.13
2.910**
0.008
Communicating
High
Average
6.52
0.901
0.377
B. Integrated Process Skills
Defining Operationally
High
Average
6.52
1.000
0.328
Formulating Hypothesis
Average
Low
8.70
2.152*
0.043
Interpreting Data
High
Average
12.30
3.101**
0.005
Controlling Variables
Average
Low
20.09
4.630**
0.000
Experimenting
High
Low
23.91
3.867**
0.001
Overall Percent Mean Score High Average !1.40 7.201** 0.000
** - Significant at the 0.01 probability level
* - Significant at the 0.05 probability level
It can be gleaned from Table 7 that the difference in the posttest percent mean scores of the two groups in the basic skills of observing, classifying and using numbers are significant at the 0.01 probability level but not significantly different along the skills of measuring, inferring, predicting, using space/time relation and communicating. It implies that the pupils have developed the basic skills of observing, classifying and using numbers. It is along these skills that they were given adequate activities.
Results of the t-test also reveal that the posttest percent mean scores of the two groups in the integrated skills of defining operationally are not significantly different while the integrated skills of formulating hypothesis, interpreting data, controlling variables and experimenting are significantly different. This means that pupils in both groups are hard up in making operational definitions. This result is attributed to the fact that they tend to give conceptual definitions based on what they read in the textbooks which they usually do. This implies that communication skills help in the development of other skills like operationalizing definitions. This further implies that the development of some process skills is not only the concern of science but also in other subjects like English and Filipino. This suggests, therefore that the TRP may still be improved to be able to develop further the skills of the concerned pupils. Nevertheless, the result of the study still conforms with those of Martinez (1990), Pacis (1995) and Pichay (2001) that learners have low performance in the basic and integrated process skills. Hence, the need to develop these skills using the teaching resource package.
However, the development of the other four integrated skills in the experimental class was significant. This shows that the TRP is effective in developing these skills. The t-value of the difference (11.40) of the overall mean scores in the posttest which is 7.201 between the two groups is significant at 0.01 level of probability. This means that the pupils in the experimental group have higher posttest percent mean scores than the control group. It shows that the TRP is an effective instructional material. In other words, pupils developed the basic and integrated process skills to a greater extent than the control group by using the teaching resource package.
The general findings confirm the conclusions of Guarino (2003), Gallardo (2000), Paguyo (1995), Mina (1995), Quirino (1995), Ancheta (1997) and Ancheta (2005) that using an instructional material develop skills and concepts among learners. This is further strengthened by the study of Quintana (1979) who developed and validated learning activities. The result of his study pointed out that learning is more meaningful and the development of skills is more effective with the provisions of instructional materials like the teaching resource package. These studies revealed that instructional materials developed and validated based on the abilities of the learners help improve their process skills.
This research therefore, supports the conclusion that a teaching source package is effective in developing the basic and integrated science process skills of the intermediate pupils.
Conclusion
Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn:
A validated teaching resource package is effective for developing the basic and integrated process skills of the intermediate grades as shown by the significant difference of the pretest and posttest mean scores of the experimental and the control groups. In other words, pupils found to have low entry level in process skills developed their basic and integrated process skills by using the teaching resource package. However, there were some skills like communicating and defining operationally that are not significantly different in both group because it is not only the sole concern of science to develop such skills. It cuts across the other discipline like English and Filipino. This suggests, therefore that the TRP may still be improved to be able to develop further the skills of the concerned pupils.
The result of this study affirmed the theories of Bruner, Gagne and Dewey that learners should be provided with activities to enhance their ability to learn on their own. These instructional materials promote hands-on learning which is very significant in the development of the basic and integrated science process skills of the pupils. With the use of activities, pupils are given opportunities to be actively involved in the learning process which develops their skills.
Recommendations
In the light of the findings and conclusions, the following recommendations are offered:
The teaching resource package is recommended for field-testing for further refinement, revision and completion to consider all lessons in the intermediate grades under the RBEC. Also, the problem and materials may be provided to the pupils for them to draw a procedure by themselves for hypothesis testing instead of just following the procedure stated in the activity sheet. Seminars and workshops should also be conducted to provide the teachers, especially those teaching science to equip them with the essential skills needed in the preparation and validation of the TRP and other similar instructional materials.
Administrators should encourage every teacher to prepare and use teaching resource packages to develop the process skills of the pupils for better acquisition of concepts and principles in science; since it is not the sole responsibility of the science teacher to develop the skills but every teacher.
LITERATURE CITED
Ancheta, G.V. (1997) Construction and validation of a workbook in general chemistry II. Unpublished master’s thesis, Mariano Marcos State University, Laoag City.
Ancheta, M.U. (2005) Curriculum-based workbook and teacher’s guide in science and technology I. Unpublished master’s thesis. Mariano Marcos Sate University. Laoag City
Cain S.E. (1990). Sciencing: an involvement approach to elementary science methods. Mervill Publishing Company, New York.
Carin, et. al. (1975.) Teaching science through discovery. Charles E. Mervill Publishing Company. Columbus, Ohio.
De Leon S. (1989). Fundamentals of statistics. National Bookstore, Manila
Gabriel. M.M. (2001). Teaching resource package integrating mathematical concepts and skills with direct current circuit. Unpublished master’s thesis, Mariano Marcos State University, Laoag City
Galindo, J. M. (1988) Relative effectiveness of instructional games in the development of science concepts, processes and attitudes. Unpublished master’s thesis. Mariano Marcos State University, Laoag City.
Guarino, M. A. (2002). Development and validation of a teaching resource package o selected topics in general chemistry. Unpublished master’s thesis. Mariano Marcos State University, Laoag City
Luis, E. B. (1995) Development and validation of workbook in geography for grade IV. Unpublished master’s thesis, Mariano Marcos State University, Laoag City.
Kuslan and Stone (1989). Teaching children science: an inquiry approach. Wadsworth Publishing Company Incorporated, Belmont, California.
Paguyo, C.G. (1995). Design and validation of a resourcebook for the teaching of asian civilization. Unpublished master’s thesis. Mariano Marcos State University, Laoag City.
Neat Result. Philippine Star. January 31, 2005
Pasis, C.Y. (1995). Correlates of integrated science process skills of the engineering freshmen of Mariano Marcos State University. Unpublished master’s thesis, Mariano Marcos State University, Laoag City
Pascua, U. C. (2003). Teachers summative tests and pupils cognitive and process skills development. Unpublished master’s thesis. Mariano Marcos State University, Laoag City.
Pichay, M.M. (2001). Methods and techniques of high school chemistry teachers in developing science process. Unpublished master’s thesis, Mariano marcos State University, Laoag City.
80% of High School Freshmen Flunk Test. Philippine Daily Inquirer August 14, 2004.
Primer on the basic education curriculum. Philippine elementary learning continuum. 2002
Quirino, A.R. (1995). Development and validation of learning activity package on map and globe skills for high school students. Unpublished master’s thesis. Mariano Marcos State University, Laoag City.
Quitola, J.S. (1989). Relationship of science interest to the development of science processes and achievement pattern. Unpublished master’s thesis. Mariano Marcos State University, Laoag City.
Religiosa. T.F. (1995). Science and progress; sourcebook for science teachers. Phoenix Publishing House, Quezon City.
Science Education in the Philippines: Challenges for development (A Technical Paper). 1998
Students flunk key tests; public elementary, high-school youths get dismal scores in national exam. The Manila Times. October 13, 2006
Victor, Edward (1989). Science for the elementary school. McMillan Publishing Company. New York
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
DR. NATIVIDAD E. LORENZO is the college secretary and concurrently the program adviser of the MAEd science education students of the MMSU-Graduate School. She also teaches educational research in the undergraduate level and science courses in the graduate level.
She was hailed The Most Outstanding Teacher by the Metrobank Foundation and the MMSU during its foundation anniversary. She has been a faculty member of the MMSU-Laboratory Elementary School at the same time the BSE Student Teaching supervisor at the MMSU-College of teacher Education.
To date, she incessantly trains science and non-science teachers for teaching competency and research.
MARICEL P. CARIDAOAN has been a faculty member of MMSU-Laboratory Elementary School since 2002. She completed her elementary education at Union Elementary School (First Honors) in 1994, her secondary education at Claveria School of Arts and Trades (Valedictorian) in 1998 and her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with specialization in science at MMSU-College of Education (Magna Cum Laude) in 2002. With her great enthusiasm in the quest for knowledge and professional development, she pursued Master of Arts in Education, Major in Science Education at the MMSU-Graduate School.
She has been a coach and adviser of a number of science quizzers, sci-dama players and science investigatory project presentors who won in the division, regional and national competitions.
Currently, she is the main adviser of the Science Club of MMSU-LES and the Peace Officer of the Region I Organization of Science Club Advisers.
Try-out of the Activities
Final Revision
Figure 1. Flowchart on the Steps of the Research.
Statistical Treatment of Data
The following statistical tools were employed to analyze the data for this study:
The mean was used to determine the entry science process skills of the pupils. Individual scores of pupils were converted to percent scores in each science process skill. The following range interval of mean scores was used in interpreting the percent scores of pupils:
Range of the Mean Scores Descriptive Interpretation
80.00 - 100.00 Very High
60.00 - 79.99 High
40.00 - 59.99 Average
20.00 - 39.99 Low
0.00 - 19.99 Very Low
Weighted mean was computed to determine the validity of the teaching resource package. The following range interval of point scores was used in interpreting the percent scores of pupils:
Weighted Scale Range Interval Descriptive Interpretation
5 4.51 – 5.00 Very highly satisfactory
4 3.51 – 4.50 Very satisfactory
3 2.51 – 3.50 Satisfactory
2 1.51 – 2.50 Moderately satisfactory
1 1.00 – 1.50 Needs improvement
The t- tests for correlated samples were displayed to determine if there is a significant gain in the posttest scores of the pupils to find the effectiveness of the teaching resource package.
FINDINGS
Entry Science Process Skills of Pupils
The entry science process skills of pupils were determined using a standardized test. The percent mean scores of pupils and the descriptive interpretation of their performance in the basic and integrated science process skills are presented in Table 2.
The entry science process skills of pupils both in the experimental and control groups on the basic process skills of observing, classifying, measuring, inferring, using space/time relation, using number and communicating is average while the skill of predicting is low. Likewise, the pupils have developed the integrated process skill of defining operationally to an average level. The entry science process skills of pupils in interpreting data is low while it is very low on the integrated skills of formulating hypothesis, controlling variables and experimenting.
Table 2. Entry science process skills of pupils.
Experimental Group Control Group
Science Process Skills Mean Descriptive Mean Descriptive Score Interpretation Score Interpretation
A. Basic Process Skills
Observing 46.09 Average 47.83 Average
Classifying 40.43 Average 46.96 Average
Measuring 50.00 Average 52.17
Average
Inferring
45.65
Average
45.65
Average
Predicting
20.65
Low
16.30
Low
Using Space/Time Relation
49.30
Average
48.52
Average
Using Numbers
45.22
Average
42.61
Average
Communicating
47.83
Average
58.70
Average
B. Integrated Process Skills
Defining Operationally
52.17
Average
52.17
Average
Formulating Hypothesis
13.04
Very Low
16.30
Very Low
Interpreting Data
23.96
Low
26.70
Low
Controlling Variables
10.43
Very Low
11.30
Very Low
Experimenting
10.87
Very Low
10.87
Very Low
Overall Mean Scores 35.05 Low 36.62 Low
Legend: Range of the Mean Scores Descriptive Interpretation
80.0 - 100.00 Very High
60.00 - 99.99 High
40.00 - 59.99 Average
20.00 - 39.99 Low
0.00 - 19.99 Very Low
These findings concur with the study of Pascua (2003) who found out that the pupils have demonstrated an average or moderately satisfactory level of performance in the science process skills. The overall percent mean scores of 35.05 for the experimental group and 36.62 for the control groups are interpreted as low. It implies that the pupils have low mastery of the basic process skills; consequently, they also have low proficiency in the integrated process skill.
Validity of the Teaching Resource Package
The teaching resource package contained activities for the pupils and lesson guides for the teachers. Similar to the workbook developed and validated by Ancheta (2005), the pupils’ activities have the following components, namely: problem, hypothesis, materials, procedure, guide questions, generalization and assessment. The teacher’s guide contains the overview, science process skills to be developed, concepts that can be taught through the activity, suggested teaching sequence and assessment of the lesson. To determine the content validity of the teaching resource package in terms of objectives, content, activities, instructional characteristics and assessment, ten experts from the Division of Laoag City evaluated the materials along the five aspects. The results of the evaluation made by the experts on the materials are presented in Table 3.
Objectives. It can be noted from Table 3 that the experts responded positively to all the items regarding the objectives of the workbook.
The weighted means which range from 4.60 to 5.00 show that the objectives of the teaching resource package are very highly satisfactory. The composite mean of 4.74 indicates that on the whole, the objectives are valid since they were rated as attainable, specific, measurable and clearly stated.
Table 3. Results of the content validation of the teaching resource package by experts as to objectives, content, activities, assessment and instructional characteristics.
Criteria Weighted Mean Descriptive Interpretation
A. Objectives
The objectives are
1. attainable. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
2. measurable. 4.60 Very Highly Satisfactory
3. observable. 4.60 Very Highly Satisfactory
4. specific. 4.80 Very Highly Satisfactory
5. testable. 4.70 Very Highly Satisfactory
Composite Mean 4.70 Very Highly Satisfactory
B. Content
The teaching resource package
1. develops concepts relevant to the
objectives of the subject. 4.80 Very Highly Satisfactory
2. provides accurate, up-to-date and
relevant information. 4.80 Very Highly Satisfactory
3. focuses on specific skills and
concepts. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
4. uses title that are appropriate to
the content. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
Composite Mean 4.85 Very Highly Satisfactory
C. Activities
The activities
1. are varied and challenging. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
2. are interesting and enjoyable. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
3. provide opportunities for the
pupils to be actively involved. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
4. is well organized and properly
sequenced. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
5. provide adequate examples and
exercises to facilitate mastery of
content and skills. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
6. provide the pupils a “hands-on”
experience. 4.80 Very Highly Satisfactory
7. encourage pupils to be creative 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
8. develop and promote critical
thinking skills. 4.60 Very Highly Satisfactory
9. employ various teaching strategies. 4.60 Very Highly Satisfactory
10. can be done within a specific time
frame. 4.60 Very Highly Satisfactory
11. sustain the attention and interest of
the pupils. 4.70 Very Highly Satisfactory
Table 3. (Continued)
Criteria Weighted Mean Descriptive Interpretation
Composite Mean 4. 83 Very Highly Satisfactory
D. Assessment
The evaluative materials
1. related to the concepts, topics and
activities. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
2. measure mastery of the lesson. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
3. develop critical thinking. 4.80 Very Highly Satisfactory
4. help the teachers assess whether
he/she has taught effectively or not. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
Composite Mean 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
E. Instructional characteristics
The teaching resource package
1. uses clear and easy to understand
words, phrase and sentences. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
2. contains instruction that are
clearly and easily understood
by the pupils. 4.80 Very Highly Satisfactory
3. makes use of sentences that are
appropriate in length. 4.70 Very Highly Satisfactory
4. uses logically arranged directions. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
5. make use of format pupils and
teachers can easily follow. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
6. makes use of appropriate
situations. 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
7. encourages the use of low-cost
materials. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
8. uses words which are within the
vocabulary of the pupils. 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
Composite Mean 4.90 Very Highly Satisfactory
Overall Mean 4.84 Very Highly Satisfactory
Legend: Range of Weighted Mean Descriptive Rating
4.51 - 5.00 Very Highly Satisfactory
3.51 - 4.50 Very Satisfactory
2.50 - 3.50 Satisfactory
1.51 - 2.50 Moderately Satisfactory
1.00 - 1.50 Needs Improvement
Hence, the teaching resource package is valid in terms of objectives. This is supported by the comments of experts 2 and 6, who remarked:
“The objectives are well planned. They are clear and stated in a manner to elicit pupils’ reactions to situations similar to day-to-day experiences.”
Expert 2
“The objectives are attainable and specific.”
Expert 6
Contents. The experts favorably rated the contents of the TRP as shown by the composite mean of 4.85 is interpreted as very highly satisfactory. This means that the skills to be developed, as well as the concepts to be learned, are relevant, organized, and systematic and are suited to the level of the largest population. Thus, the teaching resource package is valid in terms of content. One of the experts commented that the content of the TRP “is suited to the needs and different abilities of the pupils and they are within the scope of the requirements of the course of study.”
Activities. Table 3 also shows that the activities included in the TRP are very satisfactory as shown by the weighted means which range from 4.60 to 5.00 and a composite mean of 4.83. This indicates that the activities are relevant and appropriate for the objectives and contents of the teaching resource package; hence, the activities are valid. This was supported by the following comments of some experts:
“The activities are well planned. They encourage total involvement of the pupils.”
Expert 2
“The activities provide the pupils with hands-on experiences that suit to their level of thinking and skills.”
Expert 4
“Activities are creatively done. They also develop the process skills of the learners.”
Expert 6
Assessment. The assessment part of the teaching resource package obtained weighted means which range from 4.80 to 5.00 and composite mean of 4.90 which are interpreted as very highly satisfactory. These ratings show that the assessment activities are relevant to the objectives, particularly to the development of critical thinking. As the respondents commented:
“The assessment activities are interesting and enjoyable.”
Expert 5
“The assessment part is relevant to the objectives and contents of the teaching resource package.”
Expert 10
Instructional characteristics. The teaching resource package was evaluated in terms of its instructional characteristics. The weighted means which range from 4.70 to 5.00 and the composite mean of 4.90 are interpreted as very highly satisfactory. It shows that the teaching resource package utilizes a format that is easy to follow and language that is clear and easy to understand. Thus, the TRP is valid in terms of instructional characteristics. These findings were supported by the remarks of the expert:
“The teaching resource package facilitates learning process.”
Expert 3
“The teaching resource package provides suitable learning tasks which are focused on the learners. It also gives the pupils hands-on experiences which develop their skills.”
Expert 7
Effectiveness of the Teaching Resource Package
To determine the effectiveness of the TRP, the pretest and posttest mean scores of each of the experimental and control classes were described and statistically compared.
Table 4 discloses the differences between the percent mean scores of the pupils in the experimental and control groups of each of the basic and integrated science process skills.
Results of the t-tests reveal that only the integrated science process skill of formulating hypothesis is significantly different as evidenced by the t-values with probabilities greater than 0.01. This implies that, it can still be inferred that the pupils in both groups have more or less the same entry knowledge about the process skills presented as shown by their overall percent mean scores which is not significantly different.
Table 4. Results of the t-test of difference between the pretest mean scores of the experimental and control groups.
Science Process Pretest Mean Score Difference t- value Prob.
Skills Experimental Control
A. Basic Process Skills
Observing
Average
Average
1.74
0.810
0.426
Classifying
Average
Average
6.53
1.648
0.114
Measuring
Average
Average
2.17
0.295
0.770
Inferring
Average
Average
0.00
0.000
1.000
Predicting
Low
Very Low
4.35
1.000
0.328
Using Space/Time Relation
Average
Average
0.78
0.202
0.842
Using Numbers
Average
Average
3.06
0.826
0.418
Communicating
Average
Average
10.87
1.226
0.233
B. Integrated Process Skills
Defining Operationally
Average
Average
0.00
0.000
1.000
Formulating Hypothesis
Very Low
Very Low
3.26
5.624**
0.000
Interpreting Data
Low
Low
2.74
1.045
0.307
Controlling Variables
Very Low
Very Low
0.87
0.327
0.747
Experimenting
Very Low
Very Low
0.00
0.000
1.000
Overall Mean Score Low Low 1.57 1.120 0.275
** - Significant at the 0.01 probability level
Table 5 shows the results of the t-test of difference between the posttest and pretest mean scores of the experimental groups.
It can be gleaned from Table 5 that the mean scores of the pupils in the experimental group in the basic and integrated process skills are very much higher than their pretest mean scores as indicated by their respective t-values ranging from 2.472 to 15.461 of the mean differences with probabilities less than 0.01. The t-value of the percent mean difference (26.66) of the overall mean pretest and posttest scores is significant. This means that by using the teaching resource
Table 5. Results of the t-test of difference between the posttest and pretest mean scores of the experimental group.
Science Process Mean Score Mean Score t- value Prob.
Skills Posttest Pretest Difference
A. Basic Process Skills
Observing
High
Average
15.65
7.240**
0.000
Classifying
High
Average
21.31
11.759**
0.000
Measuring
High
Average
15.22
3.102**
0.005
Inferring
High
Average
17.39
3.425**
0.002
Predicting
High
Low
40.22
15.461**
0.000
Using Space/Time Relation
High
Average
12.96
5.565**
0.000
Using Numbers
Average
Average
13.48
6.916**
0.000
Communicating
High
Average
17.39
3.425**
0.002
B. Integrated Process Skills
Defining Operationally
High
Average
10.87
2.472*
0.022
Formulating Hypothesis
Average
Very Low
33.70
11.285**
0.000
Interpreting Data
High
Low
36.21
12.485**
0.000
Controlling Variables
Average
Very Low
47.05
11.613**
0.000
Experimenting
High
Very Low
52.17
13.651**
0.000
Overall Mean Scores High Low 26.66 22.153** 0.000
** - Significant at the 0.01 probability level
* - Significant at the 0.05 probability level
package (TRP) as an instructional material, the pupils were able to develop to a greater extent the science process skills.
The results of the t-test of difference between the posttest and pretest mean scores of the pupils in the control group in the basic and integrated science process skills are shown in Table 6.
Results reveal that the mean scores of pupils along the basic process skills of observing, measuring and inferring are not significantly different while the mean scores in the basic skills of classifying, predicting, using space/time relation, using numbers and communicating are significantly different. It also shows that the integrated skills of formulating hypothesis, interpreting data, controlling variables and experimenting are significantly different while the mean scores in the skill of defining operationally is not significantly different. The t-value (7.940) of the difference (12.73) of overall mean score of the posttest and pretest scores of the control group is also significant.
Table 6. Results of the t-test of difference between the posttest and pretest mean scores of the control group.
Science Process Mean Score Mean t- value Prob. Skills Posttest Pretest Difference
A. Basic Process Skills
Observing
Average
Average
4.34
2.011
0.057
Classifying
Average
Average
3.47
2.152*
0.043
Measuring
Average
Average
2.18
0.569
0.575
Inferring
Average
Average
6.52
1.817
0.083
Predicting
Average
Very Low
33.70
6.038**
0.000
Using Space/Time Relation
Average
Average
6.65
3.761**
0.001
Using Numbers
Average
Average
6.96
3.425**
0.002
Communicating
Average
Average
0.00
0.000
1.000
B. Integrated Process Skills
Defining Operationally
Average
Average
4.35
1.447
0.162
Formulating Hypothesis
Low
Very Low
21.74
7.609**
0.000
Interpreting Data
Average
Low
21.17
9.668**
0.000
Controlling Variables
Low
Very Low
26.09
7.609**
0.000
Experimenting
Low
Very Low
28.26
5.348**
0.000
Overall Mean Score Average Low 12.73 7.940** 0.000
** - Significant at the 0.01 probability level
* - Significant at the 0.05 probability level
This finding implies that the basic process skills were also developed by the pupils in the control group but to a low extent. The development of other skills was significant since the pupils were also given learning activities to develop these skills through the use of charts, pictures and other instructional materials such as pictures of animals, real plants or seeing the plants in their natural environment traditionally used in the classroom. These improvements however, are mere outcome of the learning experiences provided by the teacher. Table 7 shows difference in the posttest means scores of the experimental and control groups.
Table 7. Results of the t-test of difference between the posttest percent mean scores of the experimental and control groups
Science Process % Mean Posttest Score % Mean t- value Prob.
Skills Experimental Control Difference
A. Basic Process Skills
Observing
High
Average
9.57
3.140**
0.005
Classifying
High
Average
11.31
3.441**
0.002
Measuring
High
Average
10.87
1.417
0.171
Inferring
High
Average
10.87
1.553
0.135
Predicting
High
Average
10.87
1.311
0.203
Using Space/Time Relation
High
Average
7.09
1.698
0.104
Using Numbers
Average
9.13
2.910**
0.008
Communicating
High
Average
6.52
0.901
0.377
B. Integrated Process Skills
Defining Operationally
High
Average
6.52
1.000
0.328
Formulating Hypothesis
Average
Low
8.70
2.152*
0.043
Interpreting Data
High
Average
12.30
3.101**
0.005
Controlling Variables
Average
Low
20.09
4.630**
0.000
Experimenting
High
Low
23.91
3.867**
0.001
Overall Percent Mean Score High Average !1.40 7.201** 0.000
** - Significant at the 0.01 probability level
* - Significant at the 0.05 probability level
It can be gleaned from Table 7 that the difference in the posttest percent mean scores of the two groups in the basic skills of observing, classifying and using numbers are significant at the 0.01 probability level but not significantly different along the skills of measuring, inferring, predicting, using space/time relation and communicating. It implies that the pupils have developed the basic skills of observing, classifying and using numbers. It is along these skills that they were given adequate activities.
Results of the t-test also reveal that the posttest percent mean scores of the two groups in the integrated skills of defining operationally are not significantly different while the integrated skills of formulating hypothesis, interpreting data, controlling variables and experimenting are significantly different. This means that pupils in both groups are hard up in making operational definitions. This result is attributed to the fact that they tend to give conceptual definitions based on what they read in the textbooks which they usually do. This implies that communication skills help in the development of other skills like operationalizing definitions. This further implies that the development of some process skills is not only the concern of science but also in other subjects like English and Filipino. This suggests, therefore that the TRP may still be improved to be able to develop further the skills of the concerned pupils. Nevertheless, the result of the study still conforms with those of Martinez (1990), Pacis (1995) and Pichay (2001) that learners have low performance in the basic and integrated process skills. Hence, the need to develop these skills using the teaching resource package.
However, the development of the other four integrated skills in the experimental class was significant. This shows that the TRP is effective in developing these skills. The t-value of the difference (11.40) of the overall mean scores in the posttest which is 7.201 between the two groups is significant at 0.01 level of probability. This means that the pupils in the experimental group have higher posttest percent mean scores than the control group. It shows that the TRP is an effective instructional material. In other words, pupils developed the basic and integrated process skills to a greater extent than the control group by using the teaching resource package.
The general findings confirm the conclusions of Guarino (2003), Gallardo (2000), Paguyo (1995), Mina (1995), Quirino (1995), Ancheta (1997) and Ancheta (2005) that using an instructional material develop skills and concepts among learners. This is further strengthened by the study of Quintana (1979) who developed and validated learning activities. The result of his study pointed out that learning is more meaningful and the development of skills is more effective with the provisions of instructional materials like the teaching resource package. These studies revealed that instructional materials developed and validated based on the abilities of the learners help improve their process skills.
This research therefore, supports the conclusion that a teaching source package is effective in developing the basic and integrated science process skills of the intermediate pupils.
Conclusion
Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn:
A validated teaching resource package is effective for developing the basic and integrated process skills of the intermediate grades as shown by the significant difference of the pretest and posttest mean scores of the experimental and the control groups. In other words, pupils found to have low entry level in process skills developed their basic and integrated process skills by using the teaching resource package. However, there were some skills like communicating and defining operationally that are not significantly different in both group because it is not only the sole concern of science to develop such skills. It cuts across the other discipline like English and Filipino. This suggests, therefore that the TRP may still be improved to be able to develop further the skills of the concerned pupils.
The result of this study affirmed the theories of Bruner, Gagne and Dewey that learners should be provided with activities to enhance their ability to learn on their own. These instructional materials promote hands-on learning which is very significant in the development of the basic and integrated science process skills of the pupils. With the use of activities, pupils are given opportunities to be actively involved in the learning process which develops their skills.
Recommendations
In the light of the findings and conclusions, the following recommendations are offered:
The teaching resource package is recommended for field-testing for further refinement, revision and completion to consider all lessons in the intermediate grades under the RBEC. Also, the problem and materials may be provided to the pupils for them to draw a procedure by themselves for hypothesis testing instead of just following the procedure stated in the activity sheet. Seminars and workshops should also be conducted to provide the teachers, especially those teaching science to equip them with the essential skills needed in the preparation and validation of the TRP and other similar instructional materials.
Administrators should encourage every teacher to prepare and use teaching resource packages to develop the process skills of the pupils for better acquisition of concepts and principles in science; since it is not the sole responsibility of the science teacher to develop the skills but every teacher.
LITERATURE CITED
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
DR. NATIVIDAD E. LORENZO is the college secretary and concurrently the program adviser of the MAEd science education students of the MMSU-Graduate School. She also teaches educational research in the undergraduate level and science courses in the graduate level.
She was hailed The Most Outstanding Teacher by the Metrobank Foundation and the MMSU during its foundation anniversary. She has been a faculty member of the MMSU-Laboratory Elementary School at the same time the BSE Student Teaching supervisor at the MMSU-College of teacher Education.
To date, she incessantly trains science and non-science teachers for teaching competency and research.
MARICEL P. CARIDAOAN has been a faculty member of MMSU-Laboratory Elementary School since 2002. She completed her elementary education at Union Elementary School (First Honors) in 1994, her secondary education at Claveria School of Arts and Trades (Valedictorian) in 1998 and her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with specialization in science at MMSU-College of Education (Magna Cum Laude) in 2002. With her great enthusiasm in the quest for knowledge and professional development, she pursued Master of Arts in Education, Major in Science Education at the MMSU-Graduate School.
She has been a coach and adviser of a number of science quizzers, sci-dama players and science investigatory project presentors who won in the division, regional and national competitions.
Currently, she is the main adviser of the Science Club of MMSU-LES and the Peace Officer of the Region I Organization of Science Club Advisers.
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