Research Teaching Practices in Special Science Class

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

The Philippine government has designed a new curriculum that is anchored to the needs of the 21st century, which includes teaching research. There is a strong need for teachers to develop the necessary skills to be able to teach the subject research. In the Philippines, there have been teachers who are assigned to teach the subject research in schools offering SSC. However, the problem is that there is no established curriculum on how to teach research to junior high school students. The study seeks to identify the common teaching practices in research among SSC students. This study would be beneficial to those schools, students, and teachers who are offering SSC.

METHODS

The study utilized a qualitative descriptive research design. The sampling technique used was non-probability sampling, specifically the purposive sampling technique. The participants needed in the study were selected according to the needs of the study, which were five research teachers teaching SSC students. The participants came from different schools which offer SSC in the Division of Cavite. Questionnaires and interviews were used as instruments in gathering information. Data were analyzed by organizing it into categories on the basis of themes, patterns, concepts or similar features.

RESULTS

The study presented the opinions of the five respondents interviewed about their views on teaching research in the special science class. It focused on the teaching practices employed in a science curriculum class, which involves the instructions, pedagogies, and assessments used by the research teacher in teaching the subject. It also focused on the teachers' attitudes and perceptions in teaching the subject. The teaching practices in research were dependent on the teaching experience and the length of their teaching experience in teaching the said subject.

DISCUSSIONS

The teaching practices in research were identified into three categories which include the instructions, pedagogies, and assessments. The common instructional materials used by the respondents in teaching research were PowerPoint presentations, activity sheets, and research papers done by their previous students. In terms of the pedagogies or strategies they used in teaching the subject, lecture method, collaborative strategies, activity-based strategies, and reading and going to the library (researching) were employed. The most common method of assessment used were rubrics, summative and formative assessments, outputs, and presentations.