Enhancing the Scientific Literacy of Grade 7 Biology Students

Abstract

Scientific literacy has been the goal of science education at the national and global scope. The study investigated the scientific literacy of grade 7 junior high school students along the five domains of framework set by the Department of Education. Specifically, it sought to answer the following sub-problems: (1) What lessons may be developed to enhance scientific literacy of students?; (2) What is the level of scientific literacy of the students in biology along: (a) Informed Decision Making; (b) Stewardship of Nature; (c) Effective Communication; (d) Innovative / Inventive Thinking; (e) Creative/ Critical Problem Solving; (3) What are the significant experiences of the students that they consider to contribute to scientific literacy?; (4) What is the effect of the developed lessons in improving the following: (a) Understanding of Scientific Concepts (b) Scientific Literacy (c) Values Development. The study employed a descriptive-developmental research design with the belief that using descriptive-developmental research measures will yield useful information about the outcomes, the additional collection of quantitative data will develop a more in depth understanding of the quantitative data obtained (Cresswell, 2008). Students understanding of science and scientific domains anchored to the thrust of Department of Education framework. The instrument also measured the attitude/ values developed towards the attainment of scientific literacy specifically in the area of science-biology. The study is quantitative in nature since the question posed was answered by numerical data. Specifically, this study utilized experimental design or pre-posttest design. In a pre-posttest design a pre-test was given to Grade 7 students of Universidad de Sta. Isabel Pili Campus. Then, after the pretest, an intervention method was conducted for them to have a grip on the topic to execute also through activities, performances after the teacher discussed the topics. Descriptive method was used to reveal how effective is the effect of the developed lessons in improving the following: (a) Understanding of Scientific Concepts; (b) Scientific Literacy; and (c) Values Development. Also the students literacy are developed and improved showed by mean gain of 14.98, therefore the design is aligned to K to 12 Curriculum. An average of 8.95 and transmuted grade of 89.50 in the overall scientific literacy domain were generated by the respondents.