EXP is an experiment module handbook that is tailored to the needs of the Grade 9 students from Our Lady of Angels Seminary College - BED Department. It is created to help the students who prefer learning by seeing the concepts in action through experimentation and to show the students that learning STEM is a fun and enjoyable experience.

The Community

Our Lady of Angels Seminary College (OLASC) - BED Department is an elementary school located in Brgy. Bagbag Novaliches Quezon City.

It is one of the three Franciscan schools under OFM Schools Philippines, together with San Jose Tagapagtanggol Elementary School and Saint Francis School.

The school was founded in 1962 as a college but in 2009 it opened a Basic Education Department and opened its gates to nursery students and began adding a grade level after every proceeding year. In 2021, they opened their Senior High School program which offered ABM and HUMSS strands.

Vision

"A Christ-centered Filipino Catholic Franciscan community molded by the Gospel values."

Mission

"We commit to facilitate the opportunity for the Franciscan learner a culture-based and integral education that promotes quality of life, common good and reverence to all creation towards a renewed society."

Gatekeeper

MARISSA D. ONIFA-MEPRANUM, Ed.D.

Vice President for Academics, Our Lady of Angels Seminary-College

Principal, OLAS-Basic Education Department

Academic Coordinator, OFM Schools Philippines

Guidance and Research Officer, Saint Francis School Manila

Objectives

According to a study by Albert et al. (2020), there is a gap in the supply and demand of STEM workers in the Philippines. Their study projected that there will be a shortage of tens of thousands of workers in the life science, physical science, math and statistics, and engineering fields by 2025.

Therefore, the project sought to increase interest in the different Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) subjects in junior high students, when it is most likely to influence the students (Almeda & Baker, 2020), and help fill the gap in STEM that exists in the Philippines. It also sought to expand the science community in the Philippines by allowing students to apply their scientific knowledge and skills beginning at a young age.

As a result of the pandemic, OLAS has not been able to implement experiments because of the lack of face-to-face classes. Thus, our group aimed to provide them with supplementary experiments that were easily doable from each student's own home. Additionally, if OLAS adds STEM to their SHS program in the future, these experiments can be used to better prepare students who wish to take the strand.

Science vector created by freepik

References

Albert, J. R. G., Tabunda, A. M. L., David, C. P. C., Francisco, K. A., Labina, C. S., Cuenca, J. S., & Vizmanos, J. F. V. (2020). Future S&T human resource requirements in the Philippines: A labor market analysis (PIDS Discussion Paper Series No. 2020-32). Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), Quezon City. http://hdl.handle.net/10419/241021

Almeda, Ma. V. & Baker, R. S. (2020). Predicting student participation in STEM careers: The role of affect and engagement during middle school. Journal of Educational Data Mining, 12(2), 33-47. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1267599

Implementation

Key Procedures

After doing the needs assessment interview and being given the syllabus for the concerned grade level, we began our research on potential experiments for their upcoming topics: Projectile Motion and Impulse and Momentum. Specifically, we looked for both experiments that required a physical setup and those that could be done purely online.

We then proposed them to, Ma'am Christina Madriaga, the community's science teacher and our point person, to see which type would better suit the needs of the students. In the end, we were advised to use the online experiments for the convenience and safety of the students.

Afterwards, we proceeded to create the modules for each topic. We first created a generalized template to be used for each module. We designed each experiment such that they would align with the learning objectives stated on the community's syllabus. We tinkered with the possible online experiment applications in order to figure out a methodology that would best and most easily demonstrate to the students the important concepts of the topics. A few questions were then added to evaluate their understanding of said concepts.

In order to ensure the quality and accuracy of the modules, we consulted with Sir Kendrick Agapito, a Physics teacher from PSHS-MC, for feedback and revised the modules accordingly.

Once the modules were up to a satisfactory standard, we sent them to our community point person for approval and for distribution to the students.

Experiment Modules

Projectile Motion

SS6 Experiment Module 1.pdf

Impulse and Momentum

SS6 Experiment Module 2.pdf

Experts Consulted

Ms. Christina Madriaga - OLAS-BED Science Teacher
Mr. Kendrick Agapito - PSHS-MC Physics Faculty

Timeline

Results

Project Contribution to Community Development

EXP was able to give its target community an additional learning option for its future students who want to learn about STEM and apply their knowledge.

According to our expert consultant, Sir Kendrick, both modules one and two were suitable as learning materials to teach Grade 9 students about 'Projectile Motion' and 'Impulse and Momentum', respectively.

The modules were also able to display these learning objectives:

Projectile Motion

Describe the horizontal and vertical motions of a projectile.
Investigate the relationship between the angle of release and the height and range of the projectile.

Impulse and Momentum

Relate impulse and momentum to collision of objects
Determine how the total momentum before and after the collision could be equal.
Examine the effects and predict the cause of collision-related damages/injuries.

Objectives Achieved

To provide OLAS with supplementary experiments that are easily doable from each student's own home.
To better prepare students who wish to take the STEM strand, especially if the community decides to add STEM to their SHS program in the future.

Problems Encountered

The community's teachers were not able to respond immediately to our emails and we were not able to immediately respond to theirs due to our busy schedules.
- Intervention: The least busy group member was assigned to respond to the community's emails and we made sure to follow-up on our emails relatively often whenever necessary.
Only Physics modules were made because when we were doing the modules, the scope of the syllabus that was given to us only had Physics subjects to cover left.
- Intervention: Additional modules concerning past topics will be made for use in future academic years.
We had trouble following our original timeline because of communication delays between us and the community and also because we had to do other school requirements.
- Intervention: The group worked double time on the modules to compensate for the delays.

Sustainability

The procedures of the experiments were made such that they would be clear and easy to follow. PDF copies of the modules were given to the teacher of the community for use even after this project has ended.

Thus, future batches will still be able to utilize them as additional learning materials with minimal assistance from the teachers or the members of this project.

Additionally, an editable copy (in Canva) of our module template will be left for the potential creation of new modules.

Conclusion

Since there is a gap in the supply and demand of STEM workers in the Philippines (Albert et al., 2020), we created the experiment modules to provide the OLAS-BED community's students with a way to better visualize how the topics they learn can be applied to real life situations, thereby helping them feel more connected to and curious about what they have learned. In turn, we hope that sense of curiosity in them carries over to their future studies as well.

Recommendations

Early communication - Give more time for community recipient/s to respond than how much you think is needed (at least one week).
Schedule a weekly meeting for all project members - To make sure that the project timeline is followed and every group member is updated with the project.
In-person/Online community meeting - Set-up a meeting with the students of the community to be able to introduce the experiment modules more effectively. This could also possibly help community teachers if they don't have time to discuss the modules themselves.

Video Reflection

socsci reflec.mp4