Friday, August 29, 2008 Bautista: Holistic development of science & math teachers By Oscar D. Bautista Light That Transforms
FOR three decades now, the government has led efforts to enhance the competence of teachers in science and mathematics through various in-service training programs. Since the late 60s, in-service training programs on teaching have been conducted in selected training centers all over the country.
These in-service training programs conducted by the Regional Science Teaching Centers (RSTC), UP-National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development (UP-Nismed), Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) and the Department of Education-Bureau of Secondary Education (DepEd-BSE) were interventions aimed at updating and upgrading the competencies of science and math teachers in terms of content, process skills and thinking skills.
Summer Science Institutes and Certificate Programs were held at the RSTCs mostly for non-majors handling science and mathematics subjects.
It is highly expected that teachers who have attended in-service training should have acquired a mastery of science and mathematics concepts, developed laboratory skills, higher order thinking skills, and reasoning patterns, attitudes and values.
How teachers assess their students can provide information on whether the teachers have applied skills they learned from the training programs.
There is a need therefore, to determine the effects and benefits from these training programs such as on the extent of concepts, skills, and values developed by science and math teachers who underwent training. Thus in 2007, the SLU-Regional Science Teaching Center/Regional Staff Development Center (SLU-RSTC/RSDC) teamed up with the UP-Nismed, DOST-SEI, and DepEd-BSE in conducting a joint study covering the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
The respondents of the study included both teachers and the students. Generally, it studied the levels of competence as well as the effects of the training programs on them.
Specifically, the study determined their concept understanding of science and mathematics, laboratory skills, thinking skills/reasoning patterns, and the values they developed. Information was obtained through actual classroom observations and interviews with elementary and secondary high school teachers and students within the service area of the SLU-RSTC/RSDC.
There are many findings and conclusions gathered from the study. These will be useful to various agencies that will be re-designing and developing future training programs on science and mathematics education at the basic levels:
* Teachers who underwent training explain concepts more clearly, logically and accurately than teachers without training. They also ask more high-level questions in the classroom.
* Teachers with training provide more activities in the classroom for the development of laboratory skills.
* High school science teachers with training exhibit higher-thinking skills or reasoning patterns in developing foundations in reasoning, collecting evidence on problems and formulating conclusions.
* Both teachers with and without training develop values in the classroom especially cooperation. However, only teachers with training develop the value of "concern for the environment". Trained high school science teachers have more developed values in terms of being open-minded, having positive attitude towards science, and suspending judgment.
* Ideas learned by science students of trained teachers belong to the category of the cognitive domain higher than knowledge or simple recall. Students of teachers with training do not limit their questions to the lowest category of the cognitive domain but go higher application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
* Students of teachers who were trained perform more experiments in their science classes, have better thinking skills or reasoning patterns, learn more values, and have better attitudes towards science and math.
* In-service training programs have a positive effect on the level of competence of both the elementary and secondary science and math teachers.
* Finally, the level of competence of the teachers in turn affects the level of competence of the students.
For more inquiries about the SLU-RSTC, you may visit, call or e-mail Mr. Oscar D. Bautista, RSTC Director, Room A-208, 2nd floor, Adenauer building, tel. nos. 444-8246 (to 48 & 53) local 250, or e-mail rstcdir@slu.edu.ph or rstcsec@slu.edu.ph.
