Use of information and Communication Technology Support Materials in Teaching Science Six in Tayabas West Central School III

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

For the past few years, performance for the quarterly examination is one of the crucial issues that I always encounter. Mean percentage score (MPS) in different subject areas are very low especially in Science even if I am doing my part as a teacher. I used different strategies which I thought can help improve their performance, but they still cannot reach the national standard of 75%. Maybe there are lots of factors that can hinder the performance of my learners. This is why I came up to think that using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) support materials can help address my student’s learning problems.

METHODS

This action research utilized the experimental design to determine the significance of using ICT support materials and its possible effects to the mean gain scores on achievement of pupils on two weeks’ lesson in Science. Two groups were taught the same lessons. The control group was taught using the traditional teaching technique while the experimental group was taught using ICT support materials with same set of activities and same set of evaluation and teaching methods. Both groups were given pretest and the posttest, and the results were compared to determine whether using ICT support materials are effective or not.

RESULTS

The mean pre-test scores of both control (3.0) and the experimental (3.09) groups do not significantly differ based on the t-coefficient result of 1.0001 which is lesser than the tabular of 1.9845 at 98 degrees of freedom. The mean scores post-test of the control (5.59) and the experimental (6.27) do not significantly differ which favor the use of ICT from the t-ratio of 0.1946 is lesser than the tabular value of 1.9845 at 0.05 level of significance using 98 degrees of freedom. There is no significant difference between the control group's pretest and posttest scores based on the computed t coefficient of 0.987 which is lesser than the tabular value of 1.9850 using 96 degrees of freedom but significant difference exists for the experimental group as signified by the t-computed value of 2.0006 is greater than the tabular value of 1.9840 using 98 degrees of freedom.

DISCUSSIONS

The results determined that the Use of Information and Communication Technology Support Materials is effective in teaching science considering the higher scores of the experimental group compared to the control group. It improved the learners’ performance on the formative assessment. Teachers should be given in-service trainings on using ICT support materials for them to gain more knowledge and clear understanding of the different applications. Another research is recommended for the enhancement of this study.