Promoting Conceptual Understanding and Advocacy on Biodiversity Conservation

• Main Author: Garcia, Moises Norman Zaragoza
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2015
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/443
• Institution: De La Salle University

The research is an interventional, purposive, single-group design that investigated the effectiveness of a novel instruction through a pre-test and post-test survey. The pedagogical intervention using a module developed by the researcher, integrates the STS Issue Investigation and Action Instruction of Rye and Rubba with the 5E instructional Model of Bybee et. al. that is, the STS-5E instruction. The aim of the instructional intervention is to promote the participation of Filipino College students in biodiversity conservation through the enhancement or development of the learners: (1) Conceptual understanding about basic Ecology, (2) Ecological beliefs and worldviews, (3) Attitude towards nature, (4) Empathy towards environmental degradation, (5) Self-efficacy on conservation, and (6) Willingness to participate in conservation efforts. Participants involved in the study were 238 first year college students from a comprehensive university in the City of Manila. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected at pre, during, and post-instruction. Quantitative methods using descriptive, inferential, and multi-variate analyses revealed that there is significant difference between the learners pre- and post-test survey scores of the six constructs. Cohens effect sizes for the variables ranged from small to large. Also, SEM and path analyses results suggested that the instructional intervention induced the learners empathic emotion which could have influenced their willingness to participate in rainforest conservation. Qualitative method using thematic analysis revealed that the learners have deeper conceptual understanding have negative beliefs about the relationship of humans with the rainforest have positive dispositions about nature in general and espoused negative feelings about the destructive attributes of human activities on rainforest. Moreover, learners are willing to participate in rainforest conservation according to the knowledge and skills that they acquired during the imp