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Science Education

The document summarizes the state of science education in the Philippines. It notes that there is a lack of basic facilities like classrooms and laboratories in both elementary and high schools across the country. Specifically, only 1 in 10 elementary schools in some regions have a science laboratory, and only around 20% of high schools have laboratories with modern equipment. This lack of facilities contributes to poor performance on national achievement tests, where passing rates are below 75% for elementary and only 46% for high school. Internationally, the Philippines also ranks low in math and science based on TIMSS tests. Issues like inadequate teacher training and the late start of formal science education in the K-12 program further exacerbate the problems in science education

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Danny Felix
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143 views2 pages

Science Education

The document summarizes the state of science education in the Philippines. It notes that there is a lack of basic facilities like classrooms and laboratories in both elementary and high schools across the country. Specifically, only 1 in 10 elementary schools in some regions have a science laboratory, and only around 20% of high schools have laboratories with modern equipment. This lack of facilities contributes to poor performance on national achievement tests, where passing rates are below 75% for elementary and only 46% for high school. Internationally, the Philippines also ranks low in math and science based on TIMSS tests. Issues like inadequate teacher training and the late start of formal science education in the K-12 program further exacerbate the problems in science education

Uploaded by

Danny Felix
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Science education realities

By THE MANILA TIMES

May 28, 2014

Apart from a few universities that shifted their calendar to August, the new school year will start
for public elementary and high school in a few days. Nothing much has changed as student-
teacher and student-classroom ratios have not improved. We expect worse in Yolanda-devastated
areas where even basic housing needs have not been addressed yet.

Classrooms are scarce, but the situation for science laboratories is even worse. The Department of
Education reports a serious lack of science laboratories in both elementary and high schools all
over the country. According to DepEd data, in regions III, IV-A, X, XI, and XII, only one school
has a science laboratory out of every 10 public elementary schools. In the National Capital region,
this ratio is 3 laboratories for every 10 elementary schools. The public elementary schools in the
other regions don’t have any science laboratory to facilitate science learning.

Preliminary results from a survey done by Raymond Pingol from the VISSER project show that
only around 20% of high schools have laboratories with non-traditional “modern” equipment.
Unfortunately, these “modern” equipment are typically no more than the combination of a
computer and an LCD projector.

The lack of science education facilities is reflected on the poor quality of basic science and math
education seen by the low achievement scores of Filipino students in various tests. The passing
rate for the national achievement test (NAT) for grade 6 is only 69.21%. This was already a 24%
improvement compared to the 2005-2006 passing rate but is still below the passing rate of 75%.

On the other hand, the NAT passing rate for high school is 46.38% in SY 2009-2010, which is a
slight decrease from 47.40% in SY 2008-2009.The last time we participated in international
surveys like the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the
Philippines ranked 34th out of 38 countries in HS II Math and 43rd out of 46 countries in HS II
Science; for grade 4, the Philippines ranked 23rd out of 25 participating countries in both math
and science. In 2008, even with only the science high schools participating in the Advanced
Mathematics category, the Philippines ranked lowest among 10 countries.

Teaching preparation of public school teachers in science is also a factor in learning. There is only
a small fraction of teachers in high school that qualified and capable to teach Physics, Chemistry,
Biology and mathematics. Although these numbers have increased for public schools due to
scholarship efforts of the DOST-SEI, there is still a need to have programs for the continuing
professional development such as training programs and conferences.

The implementation of the Kto12 basic education program does not bode well for science
education. Science education will start only at Grade 3, which is not comforting for the
improvement in basic science and math education. We need to develop critical thinking skills of
our Filipino students at an early age. The time allotment for laboratories and non-lecture activities
is also limited.

According to the UNESCO Science Report of 2010 on the Philippines, there were only 81
researchers in research and development per million people in 2009. Without our industries,
science and engineering graduates will not even be able find suitable engineering and science
work in the country. Thus, they are rarely allowed to contribute to the industrialization of the
country.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2014/05/28/opinion/columnists/science-education-realities/100096/

https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/sunstar-pampanga/20181129/281732680545144

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