Informatics Publishing Limited

Abstract

The study was focused on contextualization of selected topics in molecular biology especially the least learned competencies among the first year BSEd major in science students of an autonomous university. It aimed specifically to be a basis for module development used and guided by the contextualization approach. A descriptive research methodology with quantitative approach and partly guided by the Research and Development (R & D) design was used in this applied/experimental research. The researcher made a competency-based test according to the least learned competencies of the students and was checked and validated by the research validators and faculty members of the same university and from a Science High School. The data on the least mastered competency was gathered by the use of a multiple choice test. The test was used twice, first, as a pre-test, the researcher also used 10 students to test its validity, it was noted that these 10 students who were randomly selected did not partake in the actual pretest.  The respondents were composed of 21 students, all from the same university. The result of the pretest was used by the researcher as the basis to develop a module in which the selected topics in molecular biology has been contextualized. The same test but the questions were rearranged was used as a post-test, this was given to the students after the utilization of the developed module. In order to determine the significant difference before and after the utilization of the developed module, T-test using statistical software program version 24 was used. To test the perceived effectiveness of the module another set of questionnaire was also made. Findings revealed that there was a significant increase in the students’ performance in the test after using the module and performed the activities, result shows that the p value or significance value is less than .05 which is .000, the groups differ therefore the null hypothesis is rejected, with 19 degrees of freedom equally -9.60633 t-value which simply implies that the contextualization approach using different strategies is effective as shown in the pretest and post test results. When it comes to the effectiveness of contextualization of concepts as perceived by the student respondents, their understanding, engagement and satisfaction was measured. It could be deduced from the findings that in terms of engagement, the respondents gave a positive feedback on the activities presented in the instructional material developed with an overall weighted mean of 4.77. it was also evident that the students gained understanding of the concepts using the contextualized activities in the module with a weighted mean of 4.59. Although the students were satisfied with the contextualized activities it gained the lowest response among the three variables measured with a weighted mean of 4.53. The study recommends further research be conducted to strengthen its results because contextualization is an approach that is proven effective and backed –up by different researches so it would be beneficial to adapt the existing approaches to higher education and not just in the basic education sector.

Consider the varied learning styles and individual differences of the students since not all students enjoyed or participated in the activities presented in the instructional material developed. Recommend to future researchers to further develop the study by validating and eventually utilized the material in the institution.

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Science education in the Philippines has significantly change through time with the advent of the K to 12 program of the department of education in response to the ASEAN integration to meet the so called demands for “quality education and global competition.” In the light of the present curriculum, science is now characterized as decongested following the spiral progression approach. The major areas of science curriculum are earth and space science, living things and their environment, matter and forces, motion and energy which was previously known as, biology, chemistry and physics. The terms might have changed and methods and approach also have been upgraded or updated but one thing is certain, and that is “the importance of a hands-on activity” or the “laboratory activities” in teaching science. Lecture method is a time-tested approach in teaching various discipline such as science and math but lecture alone is no longer effective for learners of this generation. Teachers and educators are now engaging in various techniques and strategies in order for students to construct meaning in what they learn. Technology, not to mention plays a vital role in delivering quality instruction and information, internet are a great source of information, thus saving time and energy. This paper hoped to combine laboratory activities and technology to bring about meaningful learning among students. How exactly is this possible? The current global situation served as one of the driving mechanism of this research. Various sectors such as schools are discouraged to conduct face – to – face classes this year in order to avoid the spreading of COVID -19. Online classes can be considered as the “new normal” nowadays, there are advantages and disadvantages of having such, in addition as teachers and educators we are finding ways on how to deliver the best learning experience to our students. This paper sought the help of thirty-four (34) science teachers from public and private secondary and tertiary schools to evaluate the “level of acceptability of the proposed offline-based laboratory activities in cellular respiration.” There are forty-four (44) teacher evaluators in total but ten (10) of which were used for testing first the reliability of the instrument used in this paper. They have provided valuable suggestions to further improve the instrument that will be used to evaluate the software program. The reliability test showed that the Cronbach’s alpha is .823 greater than the acceptability value of .5, which means to say that, the instrument is a valid instrument to measure the level of acceptability of the proposed offline-based laboratory activities for cellular respiration. The research made use of a descriptive quantitative methods of research and a survey questionnaire was distributed via google forms.The thirty-four teachers were asked about the type of computer/units they use for lessons and instruction, this was done in order determine if the software program will work and function best at which type of unit and operating systems. Majority of the teachers were using laptop or notebook computers with 76.47% or 26 out of 34 respondents.

There are a number of reasons why people in general chose laptop over desktop computers; portability, ease of assembly, keyboard and monitor sizes, power usage, upgrading and repair, are some of the advantages of laptop over desktop computers [1]. With the vast information found on the web, it is not surprising that the respondents of this study rated themselves “excellent” in terms of the basic computer literacy skills which coincided with their answers pertaining to basic computer and webpage browsing skills with 3.80 mean interpreted as “with high mastery,” specifically highest on “creating ppt presentation and “least skill mastered” in creating a simple database using access” with only “moderate  mastery”, and a  mean of 2.85. It goes to show that a significant number of respondents might not yet be fully oriented or have mastered well the designing or creating their own software program or applications for classroom instruction or laboratory use just like what the researchers of this paper did. Moreover, this paper also revealed that majority of the respondents were mostly engaged in “World Wide Web” or internet surfing with a mean of 4.97. While “blogging” ranked last among the list of applications and or activities for instruction that were used by teachers with only 2.44 mean value, they only used or did blogging for about once or twice a month for instruction and lesson purposes. The paper also shows significant value in terms of the “Overall Level of Acceptability” of the Prototype Offline- Based Laboratory Activities and result of the evaluation revealed that the teacher respondents commended the software program given the remarks of “Highly Acceptable” with an overall weighted mean of 3.71, this includes the content quality, order of presentation of activities and usability/user – friendly nature of the prototype offline – based laboratory activities in cellular respiration when all the three criteria combined respectively. Although the level of acceptability of the prototype offline-based laboratory activity was highly commendable by the science teachers, there were still a number of significant recommendations and suggestions for the improvement of this software program. To mention a few, majority of the responses were on the technical quality and presentation of the software program including the size of the texts, transition of the windows, and the most important is the system requirements of the software program which is to be most compatible but not limited to the latest and widely used operating systems there in in most laptop and even desktop computer units. In addition, cellular respiration is just part of the many pre requisite knowledge in cell biology, therefore aside from including more personalized and customized examples of the different stages; glycolysis, kreb cycle and electron transport chain, the researchers also encouraged future researchers to create their own, identifying abstract concepts and topics in cell biology like, central dogma of molecular biology and even genetics.

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For many decades, scientists and philosophers strived hard to bring to the world the knowledge of things beyond earth and beyond our naked eyes – space science. How interesting it is to know that our planet is not alone in this “solar system” and earth is just one of many planets that revolve around the center of the solar system, our star, the sun. The moon as our planet’s natural satellite and constant companion even has its own characteristics and motion. Thanks to the great people behind all these discoveries, people have the sources of information based on scientific evidences and facts. The fascination that we have right now maybe comparable to that of the earlier generation or even more but with lack of sophisticated instruments and gadgets, one would wonder, how exactly people of the earlier times studied astronomy or the vast night sky just to bring about what we knew today? Superstitious beliefs are beliefs that is not based on human reason and is a non-scientific knowledge, but is connected with old ideas about magic, supernatural, etc. which was held true and acceptable by the earlier generation and was passed on through their ancestors. For instance, the belief that a full moon or Friday the 13th has some negative vibes or bad omen, an eclipse may signify an upcoming deluge and many other beliefs. Surprisingly, different countries and or region have different superstitious beliefs on astronomy or space science. For example, Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev did something odd before a space flight in Kazakhstan on June 6, 2018, the bus transporting the space crew to the launch would stop, and the male crewmembers will urinate on the back-right tire of their ride. Apparently, female crewmembers splash urine from a cup onto the [1]. Another example showing superstitious beliefs in space science was that of Indian origin, ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan with wife Padmini comes out of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala in Tirupati after offering prayers for the successful launch of PSLV-C25 India's maiden mission to the Mars [2]. Lastly, the early Filipinos used the stars to determine the best conditions for fishing and seafaring. In Tawi-Tawi, the Big Dipper was more than just a constellation resembling a fish trap. The Sama people turned to this to determine whether fishing will yield bountiful results. [3]. This paper sought to understand and explain the influences of superstitious beliefs to the teaching and learning of astronomy, and suggest the superstitious beliefs about astronomy that students and teachers know and in order to address the misconceptions and or alternative conceptions brought about by superstitious beliefs in astronomy. In order to gather significant data and information this paper applied the descriptive evaluative research design and quantitative approach to investigate on the superstitious beliefs’ influences on the teaching and learning astronomy.

A researcher-made questionnaire was designed and its reliability was tested using the Cronbach’s alpha. A total of 154 respondents, composed of 43 science teachers that were purposively chosen and 111 students from different schools that were randomly selected. The questionnaire has two (2) parts, the first part is a checklist survey table and second part were an open-ended question primarily for teacher’s suggestions or plan of instruction on how to address the misconceptions on astronomy brought by superstitious beliefs. This paper revealed that both the students and teachers were very much familiar with the different superstitious beliefs about space science with an overall percentage of 74.5. However only 25.5% of the total respondents when combined, were not familiar with the given phenomena on space science that are superstitious in nature. Based on the answers of the teachers, their concept of space science was more positively influenced with an overall weighted mean of 3.27 compared to its negative counterpart with only 3.01. Teachers strongly agreed to the fact that, “Learners, although brought with them some misconceptions due to the superstitious beliefs become more eager to know and prove their prior knowledge through research and teacher interaction. (e.g seek teacher’s guidance on addressing misconceptions).” Moreover, teachers strongly agree to the fact that, “Some stories that learners were told at an early age creates misconceptions about how the universe and earth formed. (e.g. bathala).” Concepts on bathala was taught in araling panlipunan and students used this learning as valuable in natural science even though it is not based on scientific evidence. In general, the teachers were positive that they can do something to address the misconceptions in space science brought about by superstitious beliefs and create an avenue for learners to explore, be creative and informative as well as give meaningful learning experiences that are factual and based on scientific evidence. Throughout the tedious research and gathering of information, the researchers were able to find out that there were a lot of superstitious beliefs about astronomy in the Philippines but only a few study and related researches were conducted. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to explore and expand the research local to the entire Philippines, documenting how these superstitious beliefs greatly affect not only our concept of space science but also our way of living; biology, chemistry, environmental science and other branches of natural science.

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