Cognitive Strategies and Students' Outcomes-Based Performance in Learning Grade 9 Biology

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Quality education has always been strongly viewed as a pillar of national development and a primary avenue for social and economic mobility. It is a great challenge for educators to make a difference in contributing to the elevation of scientific literacy in our country through an assertion of quality instructions. Intensifying science teaching at Luyos NHS through the use of different strategies in basic education answers the great need for the improvement of student's daily life learnings. The researcher chose to work on various cognitive strategies to promote student-centered learning outcomes.

METHODS

An experimental type of research was used. The pretest-posttest design focused on three cognitive strategies, namely: mind mapping, text structures, and reflective questioning. Each strategy had groups matched and the results of the pretest and posttest were compared to determine the cognitive thinking skills of the learners from the listed categories of learning outcomes. The scores of each dependent samples were subjected to statistical treatment. Differences between the groups of cognitive strategies were also tested.

RESULTS

Many students from each group of assigned cognitive strategies showed great improvement on their pretest scores to their posttest scores in terms of analyzing, evaluating, and creating.The mean gain scores of the students exposed to text structures and mind mapping greatly improved as the groups underwent reflective questioning. There is no significant difference in the pretest scores of the students in terms of analyzing, evaluating, and creating; the post-test scores were analyzed and evaluated using Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. Differences were observed to create the level of the post-test scores, pretest-posttest scores, and mean gain scores of the three cognitive strategies.

DISCUSSIONS

The results of the study showed that there was a need to use varied student-centered teaching strategies such as mind mapping, text structures, and reflective questioning. Study on the correlation of other factors such as metacognitive or affective domain to academic performance may be developed. Development of the standardized rubrics per specific cognitive strategy may be utilized since this made use of a researcher-made rubrics. This study was conducted for one quarter only. A longer period of time in terms of implementation may also be regarded. Parallel studies may use cooperative learning to determine the academic performance of the students using varied cognitive strategies since this study was focused only on the individual performance of the students.