An assessment of an in-service training program for physics high school teachers of Bulacan province

• Main Author: Cruz, Belarmino S.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1992
• Subjects: Physics teachers—In-service training—Philippines—Bulacan; Teacher Education and Professional Development
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/1427; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8265&context=etd_masteral
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study is an assessment of the Volunteer Science Program, an in-service training course for high school Physics teaching designed for non-Physics majors. The main components of the evaluation include a) a profile of the participants b) an analysis of the pretest-posttest scores of an achievement test in Physics given to the participants c) a description of those who gained scores from pretest to posttest d) a correlation analysis of some teacher variables and the achievement scores and e) a feedback analysis of the participants' perceptions regarding the program. Twenty-six (26) Physics teachers from 23 barangay high schools and four from national high schools of Bulacan participated in the two-semester-one-summer training course. The program consisted of Saturday lectures and laboratory activities on three areas of Physics: Mechanics, Thermodynamics, and Electromagnetism. Four volunteer Physics teachers from the Bulacan College of Arts and Trades took turns as trainors. A 60-item multiple choice test in Physics was administered as pretest and posttest. The participants were also asked about their perceptions about the program as well as their profile. Part correlation was used to establish relationship between the test scores and the teacher variables which include sex, civil status, attendance in seminar for Physics teaching, years teaching experience in Physics, and units in Physics earned in the undergraduate degrees. Statistical treatments on the data gathered gave the following findings: 1) The participants had very inadequate preparations to teach high school Physics 2) Although the posttest score mean was significantly higher than that of the pretest score mean, only twelve (or 40 percent) of the participants obtained significantly higher posttest scores and became gainers 3) Among the gainers, those who attended previous upgrading seminars obtained significantly higher gain scores and 4) Performance in Physics was found to significantly relate with attendance in seminars. The following conclusions were offered: 1) There is a need to upgrade Physics teachers of barangay high schools and national high schools in Bulacan 2) Those who attended previous seminars stood to profit more from the training and 3) Attendance in seminars is a good predictor of better performance in training programs of Physics teaching. The implications calls for a need for changes in the concept of the Volunteer Science Program. It is viewed that introduction of single-concept modules containing simple activities and exercises could enhance the learning process of the teacher participants. Recommendations include 1) the implementation of a similar program but on a larger scale and with enough remuneration given to both trainors and teacher participants 2) a built-in evaluation system 3) the inclusion of other predictor variables like mathematical and verbal abilities and 4) a more formal training design.