Katha 2014: Science Track-Facilitating Change through Action Research

Minutes of the Workshop Transcribed. Speaker Dr. Maricar Prudente

KATHA 2014 Batch 2: Day 10

Science Track: Facilitating Change through Action Research

Dr. Maricar Prudente

Science Education Department

De La Salle University-Manila

October 4, 2014

Minutes of the Workshop

1. Introduction. The speaker first introduced the importance of action research not just for the sake of doing it but for the sake of making a difference in their students’ learning. She also emphasized about facilitating change that leads to new knowledge, which will also eventually lead to change in teaching the course for the students. It is a research that attempts to embed action and change in the actual research process.

 

2. Action Research. Research generates knowledge to 1) build broader knowledge, which entails a basic or pure research 2) pave way for change through applied or evaluative research 3) action change within a system 4) emancipate through action and 5) expose and change the dominate system through critical or radical ethnography. The speaker also discussed about the credibility of one’s work of action research which should be change oriented. She further explained that action research paves way for change and is often linked to policy or program development, which includes studies that 1) investigate a problem situation 2) assess potential interventions and 3) evaluate change initiatives. Action research is not limited to teaching, rather to other professions because it is a practical approach that is of particular relevance. It covers a variety of strategies that is dedicated to integrated production of knowledge. It is also cyclical where the teacher should not stop in one action, but rather keep abreast of the changes in the environment and with the influx of new information for learning. Action research should be the essential tool for basic education, the speaker added. She also said that action research is to improve a teacher’s practice of teaching and reflecting on their current methods. The teacher’s concern should be on teaching practices and the student’s learning processes. The ultimate goal for action research of the teacher is the student’s learning, where high scores in NAT, greater participation of students and mastery of the skills would eventually follow. This entails good teaching, the speaker emphasized. She said that the teachers themselves know best the nature of their students if they are effective and good teachers. This entails that the teachers would change their techniques and create new approaches that would engage their students to learning.

3. How does this qualify to Research. Action research requires the same rigor, systematic research process, and reflects a professional development. This also qualifies as a research because it is an act that would make the teachers understand their methods of teaching better. It is also the act of finding the teachers’ solution makes them understand their practice better. Practice in this case means the way the teachers teach and carry out their professional action. It is an avenue to the teachers’ reflection with their own practices and professional actions to improve student learning. The speaker then asked the teachers to reflect on their own teaching practices if they have improved on their professional actions and emphasized that it should be a way of looking at their role in the world that would drive them to do better in their profession.

4. Professional Knowledge Makers. The speaker also discussed that teachers, through action research enhance their professional development, where they understand their own practice, how to make them better, how to accommodate outside change in their practice and how to change the outside to make their practice better that would affect their students’ learning. It is about enacting a practice that the teacher should understand based on their students’ needs. She emphasized that the teacher should not follow the cookbook style of teaching lessons to students but rather catering to the students’ learning needs.

5. Action Research at Work. Action research involves four acts: 1) observe 2) reflect 3) plan and 4) act. It can also be worked out through the following process: 1) identifying a classroom problem 2) developing and implementing an action research plan by conducting a strategy to address the classroom problem 3) collecting and analyzing data and while conducting the strategy 4) using and sharing the results, where dissemination is an essential part of the research. The speaker gave a specific example of an action research plan about how a science teacher changes her strategy to engage her students more to ask questions and explore on the lesson in the classroom.

6. Limitations of Action Research. The speaker asked the teachers what may be the problems that would arise with the use of action research. One teacher raised that the consistency of the action research may be a problem but the speaker said constant examination of the strategy should be required. Another teacher raised the familiarity and the knowledge of action research. The problem is that superintendents don’t exactly know how to do action research and so do not encourage such action plan to their teachers. She emphasized that action research is classroom-based and encouraged the teachers to do action research and pointed out that the teachers often do not go out of their comfort zone of teaching and not changing their strategies in teaching to engage their students more. They should focus more on how to teach and how to make their students learn. A teacher shared his problem on discussing the most difficult topic in his subject and the speaker suggested a process of action research that would make the students more engaging on the topic. The teacher should conduct the action plan and document it so that they can see the development of their action research.

7. Individual or Collaborative Work. Use of different strategies through individual or collaborative works may be used, more on collaborative strategies, the speaker emphasized, so that there would be sharing of results and discussions to formulate conclusions based on their data. Collaborative work also leads to the teachers’ reflection and comparison of their own work with other teachers’ works. Factors that may help collaboration include the teachers’ professional desire to improve on their teaching strategies instead of competing with other teachers. However time management may also be a problem but this may be given a solution if the teachers know what to do, the speaker added.

8. Methods in Action Research. There is a need to employ triangulation in action research, which includes 1) observation of interactions of the students’ work in the classroom 2) analysis of children’s work and 3) interview with the children. The question now is how to employ these action plan, where considerations include questions such as 1) does the method give a form of data which relates to my question? 2) is it feasible in the available time? 3) have the teacher made himself aware of its strengths and limitations of the methodology? 4) will it be an acceptable method for the other people involved? and 5) will it disrupt normal routines?

Barret and Whitehead (1985) proposed six questions on the methods of action research, which includes 1) what is the teacher’s concern? 2) why is he concerned? 3) what does he think he could do about it? 4) what kind of evidence could he collect to help him make some judgment about what is happening? 5) how does he collect such evidence? and 6) how would he check that his judgment about what has happened is reasonable, fair and accurate?

 

9. Beginning of Action Research Process. The speaker gave the teachers an activity about investigating and identifying classroom concerns, their method of collecting information and sources of data and how to focus their instruction method in teaching. The speaker emphasized that the teacher should focus only a classroom problem and should be feasible and should not disrupt normal routines. The speaker called on three volunteers to discuss their answers and their co-participants and the speaker commented on their works. One teacher shared that one of his classroom concerns is how to motivate his students to ask questions. The speaker said that the teacher’s problem is on student inquiry and suggested action plan solutions for his dilemma. Another shared the low and passive participation of the students in his class. Effective strategies that should be employed include identifying indicators on how students participate in class, the speaker suggested. Finally another teacher shared a similar concern on the active participation of her students in the classroom. The speaker suggested classroom observation and making a checklist, a corresponding tool for evaluating strategies on how to make the students more active in participating in class.

10. Identifying the Classroom Problem. The teachers must first observe their class and identify their problem statement. The speaker then gave a second activity on identifying classroom problem by specifically describing who is affected, supported causes of the problem, the goal for improvement and what might be done about the problem.

Katha 2014: Part 2 Course Assessment and Student Learning Outcomes

Minutes of the Workshop Transcribed. Speaker Dr. Maricar Prudente.

KATHA 2014 Batch 2: Day 9

Science Track: Course Assessment and Student Learning Outcomes Part 2

Dr. Maricar Prudente

Science Education Department

De La Salle University-Manila

September 27, 2014

Minutes of the Workshop

5. Characteristics of an Exemplary Assessment Task. 1) Valid, which yields useful information to guide learning 2) Coherent, which should be structured so that activities lead to desired performance product 3) Authentic, which addresses ill-defined problems that are emerging 4) Rigorous, which requires the use of declarative, procedural and metacognitive knowledge 5) Engaging, which provokes student interest and persistence 6) Challenging, which provokes and evaluates student learning 7) Respectful, which allows students to reveal their uniqueness as learners and 8) Responsive, which provides feedback to students leading to improvement. The speaker also shared most of her experiences in teaching students using the simple context in their classroom, like introducing problems on pimples and oral bacteria that the students are able to relate to. One teacher raised the issue of using technology for more exposure to the students. The speaker agreed with utilizing technology as much as possible for them to be more engaged and interested in the lesson. She introduced internet learning and gave samples of online modules. She also emphasized that the lessons to be taught should be challenging to the students and not easy to accomplish. Asking the students on the project they could come up with may also help in improving the lesson at hand, the speaker added. She again emphasized the issue of finances when applying these methods.

Teaching in the context of assessment depends on providing effective feedback to students, encouraging students’ active involvement in their own learning, adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessment, recognizing the profound influence of assessment on students’ motivation and engagement and ensuring that students assess themselves and understand how to improve. One thing that the teacher must be in the classroom is unpredictable, the speaker emphasized, so that the students will be engaged and interested in class. The teacher should also be techy in their own way to be able to enter their world which already started in the technology era. The speaker also shared her techniques in manipulating the students’ addiction in technology by utilizing it in her topics and lessons in Science. The speaker also suggested the use of a progress chart with regards to the quizzes of her students to see their learning development in class. As teachers, they have to be open to their students, the speaker added, by giving them the element of choice to make them feel responsible and empowered.

6. Implications for Learner-Centered Assessment. The students 1) are clarified in the learning outcomes at the course planning stage 2) are shared with the learning goals throughout the semester 3) ask appropriate and effective questions 4) focus oral and written feedback n the learning outcomes of lessons and tasks. The teachers on the other hand 1) encourage students’ self-assessment against the learning outcomes and 2) organize individual student target setting that builds on previous achievement. The speaker emphasized that the teachers should enter the students’ world of digital age so that there is more productive learning in the classroom.

7. Rubrics. The speaker said that there should be a question and an action in rubrics. There should be a criteria or essential elements in the rubrics, with a clear description of performance at each achievement level. There are also task-related rubrics for specific assessments by indentifying the skills and abilities needed in the context of the lesson. The teachers may also add the teamwork rubric, with expectations from group members and their level participation. She presented a sample teamwork rubric for the teachers, where it involves creativity, cooperativeness and skillfulness. This entails a more objective process of making a rubric for the students. This must be continuous and ongoing as a feedback to the students that should be focused on quality feedback. She paralleled the use of feedback in a classroom with a panel of judges, who first comment and provide suggestions to the students for them to be guided in their activity. Feedback should be 1) specific 2) descriptive 3) be offered ASAP after the event 4) offer alternative or ask the learner to do so 5) Encourage and plan for opportunities for the feedback and 6) involve the learner wherever possible to improve the chance of feedback being understood and acted upon.

The teachers should also encourage students for self-assessment to create a supportive environment where students are willing to share and discuss on their work in pairs, groups and with the whole class. The speaker shared some of the online resources for assessment as a final note.

8. Workshop 1. The speaker grouped the teacher-participants and asked them to construct conceptual test items. The teachers presented their questions and the speaker and other teachers critiqued and commented on their work.

9. Vee Map. This provides the students with questions to help them with assessment, which includes skills that should be developed such as planning, conducting and reporting. This is also to give students a focused question. Concepts are related to each other through a concept map, while finding out more questions lead to state claims. This shows the template to the rubric to evaluate components and a chart to map out results and feedback.

10. Dynamic Assessment. This is driven by self-assessment which is trust-worthy. The speaker also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of dynamic assessment. The speaker also shared some of the complaints of the students with regards to this type of assessment: 1) the test did not assess what they learned 2) students have difficulty recognizing which strategies to use 3) tests are beyond their level 4) there is no way of assessing learning processes and 5) passed the test but did not understand. However she said that the teachers should always challenge the students when it comes to exams.

11. Static Assessment. There are three types of questions for this type of assessment: 1) recall 2) algorithmic 3) higher order, where it includes conceptual questions, translation of the information, interpretation of info, extrapolation and evaluation 4) misconception, i.e. identifying a common misconception and generating a question based on it.

12. Authentic Assessment. This involves direct evidence on the performance of the students through their tests. This is also about how students monitor their understanding in the classroom. The speaker suggested a progress chart. This also entails a meaningful learning in the classroom, where the students do science experiments, conduct social science research, write stories and reports and read and write literature. The teachers on the other hand first determine and measure the students’ ability to apply the knowledge. Between traditional and authentic assessment, teachers can use both. Rubric making is still required. Such tasks may include performance assessment tasks and portfolio. Advantages of this assessment include the promotion of creativity, encouragement of collaboration and emphasis of integrated learning. However this is not applied in real time teaching nowadays the speaker said. The students should also have a self-assessment to evaluate their own participation. Disadvantages on the other hand include time-intensive process.

13. Metacognition. Students both have declarative, procedural and conditional knowledge which comprises of metacognition. The speaker asked the participants about the relationship of these three concepts, which includes authentic assessment, constructive feedback and self-regulated learning. One of the participants said that this will give them more idea on how to address the problems they encounter with their students with regards to self-regulated learning. Another said that the teachers can diversify on the students’ knowledge and explore their inclinations to produce self-regulated learners. The speaker then asked the participants to use the three concept in a single sentence. One said that authentic assessment opens the students to a world of new concepts, constructive feedback for students to realize their strengths and self-regulated learning for students to give them the drive and the motivation to a certain topic or lesson. Another said authentic assessment gives the students the opportunity to learn more and with teachers to have constructive feedback for the students to appreciate the lessons better and become self-regulated learners. The speaker asked more participants to make their own summarized statements about the three concepts. She then asked about the constructive feedback which would come from the teachers while the self-regulated learning comes from the students. She said that authentic assessment give evidence to how students learn in which the teachers will provide constructive feedback to make students self-regulated learner.

14. Workshop 2. The speaker asked the teachers to make a performance task and an authentic assessment based on the questions they made from the previous workshop. They also have to articulate the idea using a rubric. Each group presented their performance task and the speaker commented on their work.

Katha 2014: Course Assessment and Student Learning Outcomes

Minutes of the Workshop Transcribed. Speaker Dr. Maricar Prudente.

KATHA 2014 Batch 2: Day 9

Science Track: Course Assessment and Student Learning Outcomes

Dr. Maricar Prudente

Science Education Department

De La Salle University-Manila

September 27, 2014

Minutes of the Workshop

1. Introduction. The speaker introduced the topic as an integrated course, and aimed to define the relationship between course objectives and assessment of student learning. She provided an overview of the session, starting with course assessment, intended learning outcome and achievement outcomes. She emphasized the need for the students to think critically and the use of proper rubrics in a classroom setting which can be developed by the teachers along with the students. She also aimed for the teachers to create a workshop on performance task and classroom assessment techniques.

2. Overview of Assessment. The speaker first discussed the origin of the word “assess” and how it should be taken to the student. She said it is something we do to and for the students. Assessment should be looked as an art and not just a result of the students’ output, which would not help the student realize how much time he has to take to fully comprehend and understand the lesson. It is an art and a science of knowing how much has the student learned. It also provide evidence of the skills developed by the students, which is not measured only by pen and paper in a card of their grades. She asked the participants the need to know the science teachers how far has the students learned and discovered their potentials in their learning skills. One teacher said so that they will know when to proceed with the next lesson. The speaker also said that such practice should be proactive, not just active. The process of assessment ends when the students have improved their critical thinking skills through the output of their tests. The speaker aimed to redefine the meaning of assessment to the teacher-participants.

3. Course Assessment. The speaker asked the teachers what guides them in determining whether their students have learned their lessons. One teacher said by the results of their exams. Another said by the quizzes every after the lesson, when the students are able to restate the topic of the lesson on their own. She further asked what is their basis of their evaluation of the students’ learning, which is rooted in the objectives of the teachers, not just by giving tests. The course objectives must guide the teachers because it is an integral part of the lesson plan. They should ask how the student will gain maximum outcome and learning in the one hour of the Science topic. The teacher must work backwards starting from the learning assessment technique that shall measure the skills the students must gain at the end of the lesson. The course objectives tell the teachers the learning outcomes of the students which should be actionable, the speaker emphasized. Learning outcomes or outcomes actually means what the students need to learn, know and discover in their skills. The achievement outcome of mastery of the students should be above 60%, which also applies in all subjects, according to the speaker. The success of the learning outcomes is reflected in the skills developed by the students and achieves the standard of the tasks of the course.

3.1. Elements of Learning Outcomes. The teachers should first formulate students of intended outcomes, then develop or select assessment measures through direct assessments of student learning such as projects and exhibitions. These activities yield a comprehensive information that needs to be analyzed and evaluated by the teachers with the students as their measure of their performance and knowledge acquired and skills mastered. Another is to create experiences leading to outcomes, such as service learning, field work and internship. This is where we give feed back to the students for them to realize their potentials.

3.2. Classroom Assessment Techniques. This is a systematic collection and analysis of information which includes analysis of the information to improve educational practices. It is also a method for understanding student learning. It is also based on the belief that the teacher knows more about the students and how they learn, they can better plan the learning activities and structure their teaching. The speaker emphasized that the teachers should not look at the scores, but on how they answered the question. This will give light to the knowledge skills of the students and how they learn. Benefits of proper learning assessment include an ongoing communication process between the teacher and the students, clarification of the teaching goals and what the teachers want the students to learn, credible evidence regarding whether or not learning objectives have been achieved, specific feedback on what is working and what is not and finally increased understanding about student learning in the classroom. The speaker shared that she felt bad every time the students could not answer the quizzes because of the wrong way of teaching. She said she used to treat students who succeeded in learning the topic of the lesson for the day. She pointed out that most teachers seem to consider that assessment is a punishment and a benchmarking of the students’ incapacity of their knowledge skills. The role of assessment should be on focusing on the students’ improvement of their knowledge so that they become self-regulated learners. The feedback should not be about complaining to the faculty about their students’ incapacity to analyze and synthesize but about talking about it to their students and evaluating them personally. One teacher complained how her students could not learn simple topics despite their grade level. The speaker suggested peer teaching and heterogeneous groupings and lesson bodies in class. She said that the more intelligent students are also willing to share their knowledge to their fellow classmates and the teachers should market on such practice. The speaker shared that cognitive psychologists said that mastery takes a long time to develop and that the teachers should maximize their time in making the learning process of the students productive and worthwhile.

One teacher raised the issue of the lack of time for teaching more topics to students, where one concept may require more than a day for mastery. The speaker said that the teachers first have to find out what their students know and give them the extra work that they can bring home to study. They could also remediation. But the teacher shared the sad reality of students not doing the extra work home because they have other problems at home that they bring to school.

The speaker shared the life of the students in Leyte where the group of teachers really teach their students and they have the highest scores in NAT. She said she would like to believe that the teachers in the urban areas can do the same. The teachers should motivate them to learn. They should also invite scientists, mathematicians and not artists to school for the students to learn more outside the classroom and from other more intelligent people. For the economy to grow, science education should be developed, studies have shown according to the speaker. This has been proven by Singapore, where connections of learning science and math and other subjects in the proper way are the key to success. The teachers should encourage the students not to look and be absorbed by their problems and develop an intimate relationship with them to make them understand about the lessons and about life better. She said that teaching and mastery of Science is already rescued by the K to 12 program in a spiral and integrated mode of teaching.

The speaker emphasized on heightening the interest of the students in learning science and providing constructive criticisms to guide them to the right path of learning the subject. She also shared her experience with her granddaughter on how she teaches her to understand the topics better and guiding her instead of feeding her the answers to the problems at hand. This entails student appreciation, the speaker added. The speaker also suggested that the teachers should put their shoes in the students and research has shown that with positive emotions towards the students in a classroom setting lead them to do more work.

3.3. Samples of Classroom Assessment Techniques. 1) One minute paper. This provides a quick and simple way to collect written feedback on student learning, with questions like what is the most interesting topic they learned during class on that time. It is important for the teachers to read the assessments of the students and share it to the students to help them and evaluate whether they learned or not. Stop complaining, do the work, the speaker emphasized to the teachers. 2) Muddiest Point. The teacher may ask the student what was the most difficult topic for him. 3) One sentence summary. This challenges the student to answer the questions “Who does what to whom...” This will encourage the students to appreciate the lesson and teacher better, the speaker added. A teacher raised the issue of students cheating in the classroom. The speaker said that if the teacher have good classroom management skills there would be minimal cheating in class and the students are more motivated to learn in class. She suggested “learning contract for the year” for the students, like not being absent for the year that the student should not break. She emphasized the use of positive climate for the students and consistency so that they will appreciate the subject better.

The speaker shared some websites about classroom assessment techniques. She also clarified the use of one sentence summary techniques and it is important for the teacher to let the student understand that the activity is not to be graded but to have a worthwhile evaluation of what they have learned during the day.

4. Learning Assessment. The point of assessment is to find out if the students think critically and solve problems properly. The teachers should ask themselves on how students develop critical skills and solve problems. She said that the teachers should contextualize the concept and apply them in the students’ lives. In a class of 45 are 45 different concepts and different contexts, and it is the job of the teachers to get in to them. There are conditions: 1) the teacher should convince that their prior concept is wrong by giving them problems to solve which are contextualized and relevant to their lives to achieve a cognitive equilibrium in their brains. 2) the teacher should avoid short term memory by giving meaning to the topics of the lesson using their own contextualized environment. This is the reason why most students don’t remember most of the scientific lessons because they are not used in real life and contextualized in their own lives.

4.1. Essential Components of Critical Thinking. The speaker said there are three types of knowledge: 1) declarative knowledge, which is knowing the facts and concepts 2) procedural knowledge, which is knowing how to reason, inquire and present knowledge and 3) metacognition, which are cognitive control strategies such as setting goals and assessing the fruitfulness of a line of inquiry. Metacognition is the most important skill the students should learn that would make them learn by their own will. Motivation should be intrinsic, the speaker emphasized. There should be an internal drive on the part of the student for them to learn better. She shared again her experience in teaching her nephews and nieces about making them more motivated in studying. It is also important to make stories out of the lessons especially in science because it is always effective for the students.

4.2. Standardized Tests and Alternative Assessments. The summative standardized tests in pen and paper, the speaker said, does not really capture the learning assessment for the students. She said the students tend to have the attitude that the students study not because they want to learn but because there is a test. This goes the same with the achievement tests where even cheating is tolerated. One teacher raised the issue that indeed it is a pen and paper evaluation but the speaker said that if the tests were concept tests it would be good for the students. The speaker also said that formative assessment is more appropriate for student evaluation, where it is carried out frequently and is planned at the same time as teaching. It also provides interactive and timely feedback and response, which leads to students recognizing the learning gap and closing it. It also includes self-monitoring and fosters life-long learning. Formative assessment entails success for student evaluation with appropriate guidance. Their achievement also reflects the learner’s perceptions and beliefs about their capacity to learn. The speaker shared that their individual works are not graded but their portfolio reflecting on how much they have learned during the semester.

4.3. Samples of Formative Assessment. This includes paper, written composition, projects, experiment, development of a product, performance and community-based experience and exhibition and portfolio. This entails consideration of a costly effect of this type of learning, but there can be solutions for this, like making a one summative portfolio for the students to make at the end of the semester, where there is evidence of learning. When developing an effective assessment task, the three types of knowledge should be involved—declarative, procedural and metacognitive knowledge. The teachers should also ask  questions like what real life settings do they use the knowledge taught in school, which task best exemplifies the characteristics of an exemplary assessment task and what criteria should the students and the teachers use in shaping and critiquing student work. The speaker shared her techniques of contextualizing the topics the students need for them to appreciate the lesson better. The dominating culture of the classroom should be followed so that the students will better appreciate the lesson and the learning environment better.

Katha 2014: Science and Critical Thinking in MTBMLE

Minutes of the Workshop transcribed. Speaker Dr. Fransisco Datar

KATHA 2014 Part 2: Day 6

Science Track: Science and Critical Thinking in MTBMLE

Dr. Fransisco Datar

Full  Professor

University of the Philippines Diliman

August 30, 2014

Minutes of the Workshop

1. Introduction. The speaker emphasized that the lecture would be about teaching science through critical thinking, how science is made. He first introduced the origin of science and proceeded with the concept of scientific method, in which it can be used in everyday life, especially in teaching. Scientific method should be simple, can be tested to answer one’s question. One must have a question at hand that should yield ample information so that conclusions can be made.

2. The light bulb. The speaker went on with a simple story with a light bulb and related it with scientific method, where it starts with an observation and will be considered as a problem. One must then hypothesize about the problem, possible reasons and explanations to the problem at hand. Hypothesis serves as a temporary explanation to the problem. The speaker collected different hypotheses from the teacher-participants. He also said that such hypotheses are arranged in order, then proceed with ways on how to test them and finally reject or accept your guess. Theory is defined as a tested explanation of facts compared to hypothesis which still needs to be tested.  Accepted hypothesis is when one has confirmed the problem after testing it in different ways. One should also be careful in interpreting data at hand. The speaker went on with the participation of the teachers with scientific thinking and hypothesis making by conducting different tests on the problem. He summed up the use of scientific method which is used in everyday life. Analysis, interpretation and conclusion should be “based only on the data that you have collected.”

3. Scientific Methodology. This method is a cycle of observation of facts and events and phenomena, problem identification, hypothesis making, test and data gathering, interpretation of data and finally conclusion. Using shortcuts, according to the speaker leads to bad conclusions and more often than not miscommunication.  Data should be sufficient enough to make a good conclusion. This is why sometimes problems are not solved properly because data is not sufficient, the testing of hypothesis is inappropriate and conclusions are wrong.

4. How do we do science?  “We employ logical and rational thought, that is, induction and reduction.” One must use induction to generalize. The speaker gave an example on how the thought is inductive on the health situation of a child. Deduction, on the other hand, you come from the generalization to the specifics. He gave an example on green-leaf plants that undergo photosynthesis and examples such as gumamela which also undergoes photosynthesis.

5. Scientific Reasoning. This should be testable, falsifiable, and repeatable. The problem is, people are often tied to religion, where “if they leave God out of the text, then it will be less religious and more scientific.” The speaker said that they are two very different things and should not be contested with each other. He gave an example on if the participants know their father, which may either be religious or scientific; that is, the mother only knows who one’s father is. Scientific method is applied with starting to ask questions. He also distinguishes between scientific method and faith. Scientific method starts with, for one, DNA testing, or resorting to faith. “Science deals not with the gods above but with the worlds below. It does not refute the gods; it merely ignores them in its explanations of the natural world.” One does not explain to the children that it is what it is, because it does not generate learning.

6. How do we test: creation of heaven and hell.  God’s will is completely different from scientific method. The question raised was was it God’s will for the participants to be in the conference? One participant said it is the principal’s will. One must come up with a hypothesis that his presence is God’s will. Answers were raised, but the point was about not being able to test the hypothesis because the law of scientific method is crashed in this type of situation. Such situation is mostly based on faith, the same way that people believe that they are created by God. This is the difference between science and faith that should not be contested with each other because neither should be questioned about a certain phenomenon that is exclusively copyrighted in one side. It is like playing patintero with the use of the rules of badminton. An issue was raised that faith may be based on making a problem that can be solved. But then it is still faith. These two issues should not be ever contested, the speaker emphasized. Another issue is raised on the religion in public schools. These are the limits of science, like the question on the existence of heaven, unless someone comes back from that place. There are questions on life and existence that science cannot answer because science has a specific scope only. An issue was raised on leaving such questions and issues in religion and values education, which is exactly the point raised by the speaker. Limitations change, and this should be accounted for in both science and faith. Data from the past may not be sufficient in the present. An example raised was the theory of evolution by Darwin. Evolution cannot occur when the same type of species co-exist with each other. The speaker said that science has a boundary, that’s why we interpret only based on the data at hand. When science cannot explain a phenomenon, faith comes in. Examples on debunked theories are the geocentric theory at the time Aristotle, measurements on every living being on earth, that the earth is round. An issue was raised on the measurements of Noah’s ark and Genesis that may be explained by science. But this is debunked by the speaker because a lot of problems are raised especially when religion and science are connected together. Most of the participants were not convinced that religion and science should be separated as subjects to point. Most of them were trying to convey that religion can also be science. But the speaker kept on emphasizing that religion should not be encircled with science because they are two very different things. Faith is necessary but it cannot be infused with science per se. “Any proposition that is stated as absolute or does not allow the possibility of falsification is not a scientific hypothesis and should be considered as such.  “When you start interpreting the bible literally, it becomes a problem especially when you use scientific method.” When it comes to science, all we can say is that this is the best explanation we can provide based only on the data on hand on that day. Exactly because science and faith are two very different games that’s why they cannot be interconnected with each other. Science has limits and boundaries, while in religion, faith is the base. More examples on trying to connect science with faith were provided by the speaker to enlighten the speakers on the difference between the two. As teachers of science, they have to clarify to themselves the difference between science and faith before they teach it. He also gave an anthropological example on the concept of making man and woman based on the bible and based on the Tagalog people in the baybayin system. It is about leaving creation to faith. “Science is self-correcting, because it also evolves.” Reading the bible should take into account the different cultures of the world, according to the speaker. “We never talked of absolute truth in science.”

7. Critical Thinking. “In science, we are not looking for the absolute truth.” In science, it is limited by the data one has in his hands. The speaker emphasized that two very different things such as science and faith should not be fused with each other. There should be a difference between what is scientific and what is not. The speaker said that the teachers should let the students process ideas, interpret data, explain interpretations, conduct conclusions and think, not just memorize formula. Teachers should teach students to think critically; however it is not the norm in the Philippine context. Science taught in formula is “sayangs”. “Critical thinking means to train students to ask productive questions.” There are a lot of things that science did not invent. There are a lot of academic fields that produce inventions using critical thinking. But everything falls under science. Science taught by the book means no progress in science. The speaker said that the teachers should encourage the students to ask questions and not dismiss them as being nuisance.

8. Elements of Reasoning.  1) Purpose. It is important for the students to see the relationships between things on scientific facts. They should teach them to process ideas. 2) Perspective 3) Problem 4) Evidence 5) Assumption 6) Concepts 7) Implications. When it comes to understanding the concepts, it is important to use the principle of parsimony. This entails that explanations should be brief and concise. An example is the existence of extraterrestrials, where the problem would lie in the testing of the hypothesis using the scientific reasoning. The principle or law of parsimony relies on the data on hand to produce probable results and truths, and especially making the most basic explanations. This is also termed as the Ockham’s Razor. This also entails the KISS principle: Keep it short and simple. 8) Consequences.

9. Standards of Reasoning. 1) Clarity 2) Precision 3) Accuracy 4) Adequately 5) Depth. This is teaching the student very deeply without letting him memorize and make him write definitions. 6) Relevance 7) Coherence. The ultimate goal is to let the student think critically. The child should also see the significance of this topic in his own life.

10) The Scientific Reasoning and Critical Thinking in MTBMLE. There is no such thing as Singapore Science or Valenzuela Science. The problem lies with the use of English as medium of instruction in Science. Science teachers are a bad product of a bad and corrupted system where English is worshipped as the privileged language over Filipino. Materials are written in English because that’s how the system works. 

Katha 2014: What MTB-MLE is and What it is Not

Minutes of the Workshop Transcribed. Speaker Dr. Ricardo Ma. Nolasco

KATHA 2014 Part 2: Day 6

What MTB-MLE and What it is Not

Dr. Ricardo Ma. Nolasco

Associate Professor

University of the Philippines Diliman

August 30, 2014

Minutes of the Workshop

1. Introduction. The speaker emphasized the help and continuous assistance of the Congressman for him to push through the MTB MLE program. He started with the short stories in big books translated in the mother tongues of the people there. He turned to some of the pages where the native language Miraya was written and asked some of the participants to interpret the story. He emphasized the importance of learning reading through short stories with the use of pictures in the books. He surfaced the problem of not using these native languages in school, instead stories are translated in English.

2. The Philippine Experience. He focused on the teaching of English which is a failure in the Philippine context of curriculum. The author said that the Filipinos must first be intellectualized before learning English.

3. 1987 Philippine Constitution. He discussed the Philippine constitution where the Filipino and English must be used as medium of instruction in school. But then it should be emphasized that it should be based on the constitutional law. However the constitution states English must be used as the MOI in Philippine schools.

3.1. ECCD Curriculum. Early Years Act 2013 states the use of the native language from 0 to 4 years old. It shall use the child’s mother tongue as the medium of instruction, however this is not followed in most daycare centers.

3.2. Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013. This law states that the students should be taught in the native language not in the first three years of education but six years of education. Provisions were provided regarding the use of native language as MOI. These provisions involve that the language used should be the one understood by the students. It also includes assessment of the learners in the first three years of schooling of the students using the materials, exams and other means of evaluation which should be done in the mother tongue.

3.3. Transition Program. DepEd shall have a formulated and gradual transition program from Grade 4 to Grade 6 so that Filipino and English will be introduced as the medium of instruction for the students to realize that this should be the MOI in the higher years of education. Transition period starts when the student and his competence are ready to use English and Filipino as MOI. This is yet to be determined because our implementation is still until grade 3 only. Questions were raised on the students with different mother tongues which are blended in a linguistically heterogeneous classroom. The answer is that the teacher should know the native languages of the students and should practice the most appropriate language to be used in the classroom. Another question was raised on the global competitiveness of the student in English if the students should be first taught in the native language. The answer is the language of English is also improved when the students are already honed to their mother tongue. This is an immersion strategy for the students to learn their mother tongue before they are immersed in the English language.

4. Implementing the Rules and Regulations. The speaker clarified the transition of L1 to L2. This is to mean that the student should be honed both to L1 and L2 and not forget the L1 already. L1 should be used for life. MTB MLE is an additive education where L1 adds to the L2 of the students. There has been a study where students who learned in L1 and L2 have higher scores than those who only learned L2. This is due to the high drop out rates of the students because of socio-economic and linguistic factors.

5. Reading without Understanding. The issue of non-readers and students who cannot comprehend is a big problem in today’s Philippine education. FLEMMS (a type of international survey) concluded that literacy in the Philippines is only read, write and compute, but no comprehend. Level 3 includes understanding of the reading, however in the Philippines the students only reached a large percentage on level 2 only. Survey questions were raised by the speaker to test the participants their literacy. The survey concludes that 1 out of 5 are illiterate, which may be bad news but can be solved. Other international tests which includes TIMMS in 2003 states that the Philippines is in the bottom 3 of the most literate students in the world. The reason behind is the use of language for the students. Philippines is one of the countries who use a language which is not the mother tongue of the students, because there is the misconception that English learners are good students in the subjects.

6. Conditions under Aquino Administration. There are slight changes in the improvement of the literacy of the students, which ranges to 68%. Comprehension is 67%. How about in English? Their fluency is the same in the Filipino; that is, only 18% in reading comprehension. This is a question of how come the students who are taught in English first have low scores in English. NAT results show that achievement scores in grade 6 and high school is below 80%, while NCAE results compared to 2012 and 2013 show that the students’ GSA are only 37% from 45%, science and math the worst. These figures came from DepEd. There may indeed be a problem in the teaching of the subjects taught to the students, a problem that can definitely be solved. TEPT in 2012 results in grade 2 in the Philippines results show that structure and written expression are the lowest in scores in both the students and the teachers. Teachers’ Mean Performance shows that they also have low scores below 50% in English, Science and Math. Valenzuela Experiment 2010 shows that Tagalog questions are longer than in the English questions. The experiment, which was tested in English shows that high achievers got 1 out of 10 questions only, while those tested in Filipino got 4 out 10, which may be something related to language, especially in the comparison between high achievers and average students who answered the same questions. Other tests include the survey of what Filipinos read which are not textbooks—these include newspapers and comics, bibles cookbooks and history.

7. Conclusion. There is a need of change in the law—that is MTBMLE by letting the teachers finish the 5-day workshop in Valenzuela.