Improving Experimentation and Adapted Laboratory-Based Skills of Senior High School Students in an Online Setup Through Discovery Learning Approach

• Main Authors: Crispino, Mardocheo, Bunao, Maria Angela, Cagas, Jethro Francis, Dumanat, Dionesito, Pascua, Mark Ian, Ulat, Aira Millen, Valencia, Joaquin Crisanto, Campoamor-Olegario, Lizamarie
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2023
• Subjects: Education; Physical Sciences and Mathematics; Science and Mathematics Education; Secondary Education
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/shs-faculty-pub/1; https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0126884
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

As a response to the emerging need of science educators to provide students the opportunities to learn and improve experimentation (cognitive) and laboratory (psychomotor) skills in an online setup during the COVID-19 pandemic, a three-week biodiversity module was designed and implemented among senior high school students. Through the module, the students proposed eco-friendly alternatives to some existing household practices. They tested the effectivity of the alternatives through the experimental design that they themselves formulated. Before and after the module implementation, the students answered problem-solving questions, whose results, through several statistical tests such as the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test, confirmed the improvement in the targeted skills. Subjected to thematic analysis, the triangulated data manifested the incorporation of higher cognitive and psychomotor functions in accomplishing some module tasks. The analysis of data proved that the decreasing instructional scaffolding while mirroring the precepts of the discovery learning approach, allowed the increase of student involvements; hence the integration of higher order cognitive and psychomotor functions. Moreover, the analysis gave ways to identify several recommendations for future usage or adaptations of the module.