Project EnRICH (Enhancement, Reinforcement, integration, Concept Mapping and Habitual Exposure): An innovative Strategic intervention in Building Science Vocabulary of Grade 9 Students

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

This study focuses on the effect of Project EnRICH, an innovative and comprehensive strategic intervention in building science vocabulary of Grade 9 students. Through different Enhancement and Reinforcement approach such as Integration of games and fun filled activities in the lesson, students can develop context-based content knowledge along with language development. Along with this, Concept mapping was also incorporated so that students will be the one responsible to generalize or summarize their learnings by utilizing the terminologies tackled during the discussion. Habitual exposures through listening, speaking, reading and writing of these words was used to increase vocabulary retention and comprehension of the students.

METHODS

This study used the Vocabulary Knowledge Rating Scale and a twenty-five (25) item multiple choice teacher-made test that covers the lesson on Volcanoes. A pretest and posttest design method were also utilized. The respondents of the study were one hundred eighty (180) students of Grade 9 at Ternate National High School.

RESULTS

Results revealed the following: (1) In terms of the result of the Vocabulary Knowledge Rating Scale, the mean result increased from 1 (I have never seen or heard this word before.) to 4 which is interpreted as "I can comprehensively explain this word." (2) The mean score of the posttest in the science vocabulary assessment increased by 10.9 after the intervention. It is concluded that the interactive games caused a significant increase in the performance of the respondents (3) The standard deviation decreased by 0.76 which means that most of the numbers are very close to the average. (4) Lastly, the result of the Z-test revealed that the null hypothesis is rejected. Therefore, there is a significant effect in the student's science vocabulary after the Project EnRICH.

DISCUSSIONS

Based on the outcome of the research, the researcher recommended that Project EnRICH is an effective innovative strategic intervention in building science vocabulary and can be incorporated in the lesson as part of the quarterly familiarization and reinforcement of Science Terminologies for each grading period. This could increase motivation, retention and comprehension of vocabulary and lead to deeper understanding of science concepts.