Objectives

At a research level

This action research seeks: 

1. to determine the COMCARE instructional design process for First Communion catechesis; 

2. to identify the best COMCARE instructional design practices for First Communion catechesis; 

3. to determine the learning preferences of the First Communicants; 

4. to determine the prior knowledge of the First Communicants; and 

5. to produce instructional materials beneficial towards the learning goals of COMCARE.

At a personal level
This action research aims :

• to develop my skills as an instructional designer;

• to hone me for the professional world;

• to apply my BES learnings in real life; 

• to help COMCARE teacher better; and

• to serve an underserved community education-wise.

Initial Intentions

The original intention of this project was to provide instructional design (ID) to help bridge identified instructional gaps. The researcher will produce instructional design materials for two of six sections, the classes of Sister Todie on Saturdays and Sister Perry on Sundays. The researcher was requested by the COMCARE head, Sister Todie, to assist in the production of a number of instructional materials based on set lesson plans. The researcher will develop slide presentations and formative assessments based on COMCARE context, instructional design theories, learning objectives and learner preferences.

 Data Gathering

The researcher used mixed method data gathering in order to get a rich understanding of how COMCARE conducts their First Communion catechesis classes. Qualitative data collection methods included interviews with learners, parents/guardians, and catechists. Rich qualitative data was also accumulated through observations written in the researcher’s e-journal. Both classes were observed (for at least the first two weeks) and both catechists were interviewed. The observations and interviews covered a wide variety of topics: operations and capacity of COMCARE, catechists' general thoughts on the administration of Lesson 1, learner demographics, the learning setting, and learners’ insights from the class. 

Quantitative data was gathered through attendance sheets and several learner assessments. Only Sister Perry’s class took the assessments. The attendance sheets monitored those eligible for First Communion as complete attendance is a requirement by COMCARE to receive it. 

Learning Style Questionnaire

A Learning Style Questionnaire adopted from the University of California measured the frequency of students’ study habits, associating the item totals of the learner to Visual, Auditory, or Kinesthetic. 

Pre-Test and Post Test

The pre-test and post test assessment tool was the same. The test is 32 items long and available in two languages, entitled, “Sign of the Cross and Basic Prayers: Fill-in-the blanks“ in English and “Tanda ng Krus at mga Pangunahing Dasal: Punan ang Patlang” in Filipino. It quizzed students on the words to the Sign of the Cross, Our Father, Glory Be, and Hail Mary. 

The pretest was administered on March 16, 2025 while the posttest was given on May 4, 2025 – taking place seven weeks apart. The researcher checked the outputs. One point was given to correct answers while half a point was given to correct answers with wrong spelling. This is one of the few instructional assessments COMCARE used from my proposed suggestions.

Long Test

The research includes a designed 30-item Long Test, assessing students’ knowledge on all ten lessons conducted. The researcher used a Table of Specifications to ascertain the proportionality of the test questions. Her output covered the four lower classifications of Bloom’s taxonomy.

Near the end of the study, the project gatekeeper evaluated the outputs developed by the researcher  through a Special Project Instructional Design Rubric based on  the researchers’ university requirements. 

Statistical Analysis

The researcher used mixed data analysis to deeply understand the status of learners before, during, and after the implementation of research. Qualitative data was analyzed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).  IPA was used to analyze the personal experiences behind how First Communion catechesis 2025 was conducted. Meanwhile, the quantitative data used descriptive analysis – mainly averages and frequencies. Inferential statistics were not used due to the small and purposive sample; descriptive statistics provided sufficient insight into learner outcomes.

Designing Materials for COMCARE

The researcher followed Gagne’s instructional model throughout her conduct of the study. Incorporation of constructivism and experimentalism in design sought to build learning experiences that are authentic and co-created. Bloom’s Taxonomy was used for learning objectives in the remedial class to help measure and enable lower to higher order thinking. Ideas from Dale's Cone of Experience informed the optimal media to concretize student knowledge. The plan put focus on the role of assessments as an important data gathering instrument for educators and a crucial knowledge-formation tool for learners – particularly since COMCARE did not plan to utilize diagnostic and summative activities for their classes (Ibid). Due to the researcher’s limitations, she often worked around the plan of COMCARE instead of working with them. Sister Perry gave the most freedom to collaborate with in her class design and implementation (See Appendix ???).

Theoretical Underpinnings

This action research seeks to provide contextualized materials catering to the needs of COMCARE in the delivery of  catechesis for First Communion. First Communion is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, it is a key aspect in a believer’s life. In respect of catechists’ and learners’ faith and culture, it is crucial to provide quality education appropriate to their context. This research is founded on literature covering multiple research paradigms, pedagogical models and education theories so as to reflect the complexity of learning experiences in this field. 

This multiparadigmatic study, comprised of the post-positivist and interpretive paradigm, analyzes objective and subjective outcomes to produce the appropriate instructional design. The research considers the situative perspective, instructional models from Kemp and Gagne, the AGILE model, experimentalism, constructivism, Bloom’s Taxonomy, Dale's Cone of Experience, dual coding theory, assessments. remedial teaching, and pedagogical thoughtfulness throughout the planning, implementation, and analysis of the topic.

Instructional Design Models and Theories

This special project will employ several instructional design models and theories for the creation of assigned materials. These theories were selected according to the needs and characteristics of COMCARE and their learners. 

Situated Learning

The situative perspective to learning sees learning as always influenced by cultural and social contexts, impacting outcomes. Knowledge is viewed as benign rooted in community practices wherein success is measured through effective participation in said practices. It corrects earlier theories which concentrated only on cognition or behavior, neglecting the social dimension of learning. This position supports that learning must be personally meaningful, linked to identity and self-esteem, and socially molded. It also touches on the importance of forming students into reflective learners (Mayes & de Freitas, 2004). This perspective is relevant to the study as it seeks to improve the teaching methods affecting learners’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards their faith, particularly in relation to First Communion. As First Communion is a practice of the Catholic community, the catechists and first communicants become a community of practice. The learning, teaching methods, and curriculum are all situated in the culture of the Catholic Church.

Kemp’s Instructional Design Model

This model builds on the often-cited ADDIE instructional design model. Kemp’s model has nine stages that guide the design process: instructional problems, learner characteristics, task analysis, instructional objectives, content sequencing, instructional strategies, designing the message, instructional delivery, and evaluation instruments (The Kemp Instructional Design Model: A Simple Summary, n.d.). This model was selected because it clearly maps an approach to pre-assessment, development, and evaluation of instructional materials.

Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction

Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction is a tool beneficial in the creation of a framework for the preparation and delivery of instructional content that simultaneously addresses and considers learning objectives. It is recommended that the course goals and learning objectives are decided before the implementation of the nine events in order to contextualize learning. The events are then modified to fit the content and student level. The events include: (1) capturing students’ attention; (2) informing learners of the objectives; (3) recalling prior learning; (4) presenting the content; (5) providing learning guidance; (6) eliciting student performance; (7) giving feedback; (8) assessing performance; and (9) enhancing knowledge retention and transfer (Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, 2020). This model will be used as COMCARE currently has a broader instructional goal but lacking in assessments to measure the achievement of such.

AGILE Model

The AGILE design model is a relatively modern approach with roots as a technological framework for software development. Since then, it has expanded into other fields. AGILE is an acronym that stands for the stages of development “align”, “get set”, “iterate and implement”, “leverage”, and “evaluate.” Feedback, collaboration, and iteration are pillars of this model. Through cross-team cooperation among AGILE teams, allowing for the swift modification and improvement of products, course development is quicker without sacrificing quality (Instructional Design Models, n.d.). This model was chosen due to the limited time and collaborative aspect of this special project.

Experimentalism

Experimentalism is the practical equivalent of John Dewey’s progressive ideas. The individual must deem the knowledge being taught as meaningful and relevant for it to be beneficial. Such is determined by learners and educators collaborating to produce purposeful knowledge (Rieber, 1996). Instructional materials will be assessed and designed to enable collaborative construction of knowledge.

Constructivism

Constructivism is an influential theory in education. Student-centered learning can  be regarded as the most significant contribution of constructivist ideology. Constructivism is a learning theory based in psychology that theorizes that people construct knowledge and meaning from their experiences. A constructivist learning environment involves knowledge exchange between teacher and student, shared authority between teachers and students, educators as facilitators, and small heterogeneous learning groups.  It allows children to learn more, boosts how to think and understand, and gives learners ownership of what they own (Olusegun, 2015). This learning theory was selected due to its potential benefits and emphasis on authentic learning tasks.

Behaviorism 

Behaviorism involves conditioning the learners to master information through repetition and practice (National University & NU Editorial Contributors, 2023)

Cognitive Load Theory 

Cognitive Load Theory postulates that learning is more effective when the mental effort required is managed appropriately. Here, less is more. Instructors are recommended to remove what is unnecessary to prevents overwhelm in learners (Sweller, 1988).

Communities of Practice 

Communities of practice are people or groups of people with a shared activity/passion that you learn with and from (Ibid.). I think this applies with the practice of First Communion given it is shared among Catholics.

Heutagogy 

Heutagogy covers self-directed learning. Students can learn independently, find more learning opportunities, and understand how they learn (Pedagogy, Andragogy, & Heutagogy, n.d.). This is a bit advanced for the age of the learners. While the instruction will still primarily be pedagogical, the most valuable part of heutagogy that I want to incorporate, hopefully, is learners’ self-efficacy. With this, they can improve how they know their faith.

Community of Inquiry 

Community of Inquiry is a model that believes deep purposeful learning happens when there are adequate levels of three elements -- social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence. Respectively, this refers to how learners socialize, engage with content, and receive direct instructions (Anderson, 2008). While this better refers to online learning, I think this model is useful for building learner independence.

Piaget’s Theory and Stages of Cognitive Development 

Piaget’s Theory and Stages of Cognitive Development states that cognitive development processes through four different stages, wherein children’s thinking becomes increasingly advanced and nuanced. Cognitive development is how an individual’s ability to learn, think, problem-solve, remember, and make decisions changes with time. Schemas, our inner mental structures of information, become further complex with experience (McLeod, 2025a). This theory is related to COMCARE as lesson schemas are slowly being built from familiar to unfamiliar and from concrete to abstract in terms of religious beliefs.

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory posits that cognitive development is affected by cultural and social factors. People learn through social interaction with more knowledgeable others, such as teachers or peers. It favors a more student-centered approach, where knowledge is co-constructed through dialogue (McLeod, 2025b). COMCARE practices somewhat align with this as learners are often asked by the catechists questions about life situations and the Word of God.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a set of measurable verbs that assist educators in describing and classifying observable knowledge, skills, and attitudes. It is founded on the idea that there are tiers of observable actions that indicate cognitive activity. Through the development of measurable learning objectives, educators can explicitly facilitate what learners must do to demonstrate learning (Utica University, n.d.). Using this taxonomy allows educators to promote higher-order thought in their students by building upon flower-level cognitive skills. Starting from the lowest level, Bloom's Taxonomy builds knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (University of Central Florida, n.d.). This popular taxonomy was selected to provide more measurable learning objectives for COMCARE and to help guide the learners cognitive development in a more levelled fashion.

Dale's Cone of Experience

Dale’s Cone of Experience is a visual analogy heavily influenced by John Dewey’s notions, particularly the importance of learning experiences extending beyond the classroom and the call for education to concentrate more on higher order thinking and meaningful learning. The Cone of Experience displays the progression of learning from concrete to abstract across a continuum and how they relate to audiovisual media options. Learning experiences can be enactive (by doing), iconic (by observing), or symbolic (through abstraction). Dale recommends that educators start with experiences near the bottom of the Cone before relating to more abstract representations (Lee & Reeves, 2007). Given that religion by its very nature is abstract, the Cone can provide recommendations for materials that can help learners concretize knowledge before delving into the immaterial.

Dual Coding Theory

Paivio’s dual coding theory (DCT) postulates that the human cognitive has two distinct but connected subsystems,  an imagery and a verbal system. Both systems have limited capacity, can interact, and also be triggered independently. It states that putting together pictorial and verbal information increases memory retention given the two systems’ interconnected nature (Schnotz & Horz, 2010). This idea is reflected in many of the materials as its inclusion is effective yet efficient to the design process. 

Assessments

In education, assessments are the methods educators use to gather data on their teaching and on their students’ learning. The data collected provides the means to evaluate student performance. Through this evaluation, instructors can design ways to improve identified gaps, weaknesses, or deficiencies (Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, 2012). 

Assessment is a tool that can measure the knowledge and skills of students. Assessment seeks to gather data that validates evidence of meaningful achievement of learning objectives. It can be used to identify learning gaps, measure readiness, and weigh progress. Data generated from assessments can work to personalize learning, serving both the whole class and individual students. Assessments can be on paper, digital, short, long, multiple-choice or open-ended. Each tool provides a targeted snapshot of information reflecting mastery or the need to revisit. (Johnston, 2023)

Assessments are crucial evidence of student learning to aid COMCARE in examining what the learners already know, what they are currency learning, what they have learned, and which teaching strategies are most effective in meeting instructional goals (Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, 2012). 

Assessments can be diagnostic, formative, or summative. Diagnostic assessment identifies students’ prior knowledge; formative assessment measures progress in both the learners’ learning and the teachers’ teaching; and  summative assessment is conducted after a set learning period (Ibid.).

Diagnostic Assessment

Diagnostic or placement assessments aid teachers in find out the prior knowledge and skills of learners. It aids in identifying learners’ current understanding, misconceptions, and knowledge gaps. They are administered before the formal teaching period. Diagnostic tests supply crucial data informing instructors on how to best cater to learners’ needs (NIUCITL, 2012, Brown, 2020).

Formative Assessment

Formative assessments help monitor performance and support growth. These assessments contain a  teacher-to-student feedback loop involving  teachers giving constructive and detailed areas for the student improvement. It aids in action-oriented decision-making which can increase motivation, participation, and achievement. Such assessments let instructors determine whether a certain activity is helpful towards achieving learning targets (Johnston, 2023; NIUCITL, 2012; Sir Jay’s Academy, 2021).

Summative Assessment

Summative assessments are used to evaluate learner performance at the end of a learning period. They must align with the objectives and curriculum. Such assessments must clearly explain what is being measured and set appropriate expectations. It determines whether learning goals have been met. It can provide valuable information on learning gaps according to trends in student outcomes (Johnston, 2023; (NIUCITL, 2012; Sir Jay’s Academy, 2021). From these assessments, learners can receive summative feedback. Summative feedback is pivotal for learners to know how far they have come and what still needs improvement. This guides the choices learners make and can also impact how students see themselves (Summative Assessment and Feedback, n.d.).

Assessment in Religious Education

A strong religious understanding of the faith is essential for Catholics. In the field of religious education, assessment is an important tool in supporting catechists as it supplies an overall look of what learners know and comprehend about their Catholicism and where catechesis can support them. Assessment in religious education can support catechism and personalize faith formation. Data gathered from the different assessments informs instructional strategies which improve outcomes and encourage engagement in the faith journey of learners. Catholic teachers can deliver strategic and meaningful assessments to ascertain all know their faith and are moving forward in their personal faith journey (Johnston, 2023).

Reporting and assessment are crucial to the curriculum process. These elements are strongly associated with learning, teaching, and planning. Assessment, teaching, and planning aim for student achievement in the learning process; the communication of that achievement is reporting (Assessment and Reporting in Religious Education, n.d.)

Assessment involves the collection and interpretation of evidence on learner progress over a period of time. Teachers must evaluate their own impact, keeping what works and changing what does not (Ibid.).

Reporting is communicating what students have achieved and their learning progression over time. This can be formal or informal, verbal or written. Reports have a wide array of audiences including the students, teachers, parents, school heads, local and national education authorities, and the wider community. They also serve several purposes (Ibid.).

There are principles that can guide effective reporting for teachers. These include: consistency with the institution’s vision, mission, and goals; sensitivity towards students achieving as individuals; encouragement of personal responsibility and fostering of self-esteem; enhancement of the teacher-student relationship; being understandable, meaningful, and appropriate to the audience; linkage to level standards; fostering a school-home interaction; and being part of the learning and teaching process (Ibid.).

Remedial Teaching

Remedial or corrective teaching involves reviewing, clarifying, and correcting concepts – often in a brief manner. It is an extension of regular classroom teaching but targets only the students in need of additional learning. Every learner has a unique set of learning abilities. Those that have not achieved competency based on the expected level of mastery should be given remedial teaching. In remedial classes, the relatively slower learners will be able to catch up. Students are given more opportunities to dedicate serious time into learning. Teachers adjust the curriculum, approach, and activities to better serve students’  learning needs. For learners to achieve competency standards, the learning process must be motivating, challenging, fun, and interactive. This can be achieved by catering to their interests, talents, and developmental level (Ratnayanti, Hasbi, & St. Marwiyah, 2021).

Learners do not study at the same pace – remedial teaching is the bridge that helps those that struggle keep up with their peers. Primary to remedial teaching is supporting students performing below competency level, synthesis of foundational knowledge, improvement of self-directed learning, and propagation of positive attitudes towards learning. Key approaches to remedial education include reward systems, peer support programs, andIndividualized Educational Programs (IEPs). Remedial classes involve. Recognizing learning difficulties, supplying step-by-step instruction at the learners’s pace, administering regular assessments and feedback, and employing captivating and multisensory teaching strategies. Effective programs highlight the need for preparation, clear instructions, fun learning setting, diverse teaching techniques, and continuous observation of progress. These efforts are central to bridging delays and ensuring all learners receive equal opportunities to prosper (Somani, 2023).

Rai and Penjor (2020) examine the impact of remedial education of low achievers and the learners’ satisfaction with such classes. The paper used action research, mixed methods, and purposive sampling – all similar to this research. The instruction took place over four weeks and data was in interpreted using inferential statistics t-test, mean, standard deviation and the coding system. Using learning achievement tests, semi structured interviews,learners’ reflective journals, and instructors’  journals, it was found that remedial classes had a positive impact on low-achieving learners and that the students were extremely satisfied with the sessions (Rai & Penjor. 2020).

Pedagogical Thoughtfulness 

Often used in critical research, pedagogical thoughtfulness refers to writing that elicits meaningful reflection in readers. It employs verisimilitude or writing that is believable, realistic, and connects with the audiences’ experiences (Taylor & Medina, 2013). Pedagogical thoughtfulness was used in the materials provided to COMCARE, who are foremost specialized in Catholic education rather than instructional design.