Attitudes and Performance towards Inquiry –Based Approach and Visual –Spatial Based Instruction Of Grade 6 Pupils of San Pablo Elementary School

Abstract

Introduction

Philippine Science education advocates the implementation of the inquiry-based approach. However, it has limitations such as student's lack of investigation techniques and background knowledge, and inability to manage extended activities. The implementation of the visual-spatial based instruction allows teachers to create a variance in the type of lessons taught while maintaining the importance of the content which made learners more engaged while they were learning. Both of these instructional strategies are proven to be effective, however, inadequate studies have been published to test the effects of combined inquiry-based approach and visual-spatial based instruction. With this background in mind, the researchers aimed to assess pupils' performance and attitudes toward inquiry-based approach and visual-spatial based instruction.

Methods

A quasi-experimental design was utilized to gather data from 39 pupil-participants who were divided for the three teaching strategies: inquiry-based approach; visual-spatial based instruction; and combined inquiry-based approach and visual-spatial based instruction taught by the same teacher. The researcher administered the multiple intelligence survey, visual-spatial identifier, pre-test, post-test to measure the pupils' performance on the three strategies and a questionnaire to gather pupils' attitudes toward Science. The pre-test and post-test scores were analyzed using t-test and ANOVA.

Results

The findings of the study revealed that most learners have bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, visual-spatial intelligence, and interpersonal intelligence, while the visual-spatial learners were classified into different categories. The least-learned competency from the first quarter of Science 6 was enumerating the techniques in separating mixtures. The three groups of pupil-participants have the same level of conceptual understanding before the treatment, while the combined inquiry-based approach and visual-spatial based instruction group attained higher test-scores in the post-test prompting the greatest improvement in the pupils' performance. Pupil-participants also showed positive attitudes toward Science.

Discussions

All three teaching strategies enhanced the pupils' performance after the treatment based on the results of the pre-test and post-scores of each group, while the combined inquiry-based approach and visual-spatial based instruction exhibited the best result in the pupil's performance regardless of intelligence.