Digital Image Processing

Hou Lu ¹, Dennis G. Caballes ²

Affiliations
1 Centro Escolar University, PH
2 De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, Manila, PH

Abstract

This study aims to describe the teacher’s experiences in online learning curriculum development during the COVID 19 pandemic. The experiences of the teachers in online learning curriculum development were tested in terms of: workload in redesigning the curriculum; involvement in formal structures related to curriculum change; participation in professional development and learning opportunities; access of instructional materials and faculty experience. the following conclusions were drawn: (1) Faculty respondents have increased workload in redesigning the curriculum for online learning and they have received trainings and have participated in professional development and (2) Faculty respondents are uncertain if they are paid in the development of online learning materials. The researchers recommend a continuous training and participation in professional development must be done to equipped faculty in the redesigning of curriculum necessary for online learning during COVID 19.

Keywords

Online Learning Development, Curriculum, Faculty Involvement, Curriculum Change.

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Josephine L. Belen ¹, Dennis G. Caballes ²

Affiliations
1 Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation, Lucena City Quezon Province, PH
2 De La Salle College of Saint Benilde, Manila, PH

Abstract

Science education in the Philippines has significantly change through time with the advent of the K to 12 program of the department of education in response to the ASEAN integration to meet the so called demands for “quality education and global competition.” In the light of the present curriculum, science is now characterized as decongested following the spiral progression approach. The major areas of science curriculum are earth and space science, living things and their environment, matter and forces, motion and energy which was previously known as, biology, chemistry and physics. The terms might have changed and methods and approach also have been upgraded or updated but one thing is certain, and that is “the importance of a hands-on activity” or the “laboratory activities” in teaching science. Lecture method is a time-tested approach in teaching various discipline such as science and math but lecture alone is no longer effective for learners of this generation. Teachers and educators are now engaging in various techniques and strategies in order for students to construct meaning in what they learn. Technology, not to mention plays a vital role in delivering quality instruction and information, internet are a great source of information, thus saving time and energy. This paper hoped to combine laboratory activities and technology to bring about meaningful learning among students. How exactly is this possible? The current global situation served as one of the driving mechanism of this research. Various sectors such as schools are discouraged to conduct face – to – face classes this year in order to avoid the spreading of COVID -19. Online classes can be considered as the “new normal” nowadays, there are advantages and disadvantages of having such, in addition as teachers and educators we are finding ways on how to deliver the best learning experience to our students. This paper sought the help of thirty-four (34) science teachers from public and private secondary and tertiary schools to evaluate the “level of acceptability of the proposed offline-based laboratory activities in cellular respiration.” There are forty-four (44) teacher evaluators in total but ten (10) of which were used for testing first the reliability of the instrument used in this paper. They have provided valuable suggestions to further improve the instrument that will be used to evaluate the software program. The reliability test showed that the Cronbach’s alpha is .823 greater than the acceptability value of .5, which means to say that, the instrument is a valid instrument to measure the level of acceptability of the proposed offline-based laboratory activities for cellular respiration. The research made use of a descriptive quantitative methods of research and a survey questionnaire was distributed via google forms.The thirty-four teachers were asked about the type of computer/units they use for lessons and instruction, this was done in order determine if the software program will work and function best at which type of unit and operating systems. Majority of the teachers were using laptop or notebook computers with 76.47% or 26 out of 34 respondents.

There are a number of reasons why people in general chose laptop over desktop computers; portability, ease of assembly, keyboard and monitor sizes, power usage, upgrading and repair, are some of the advantages of laptop over desktop computers [1]. With the vast information found on the web, it is not surprising that the respondents of this study rated themselves “excellent” in terms of the basic computer literacy skills which coincided with their answers pertaining to basic computer and webpage browsing skills with 3.80 mean interpreted as “with high mastery,” specifically highest on “creating ppt presentation and “least skill mastered” in creating a simple database using access” with only “moderate  mastery”, and a  mean of 2.85. It goes to show that a significant number of respondents might not yet be fully oriented or have mastered well the designing or creating their own software program or applications for classroom instruction or laboratory use just like what the researchers of this paper did. Moreover, this paper also revealed that majority of the respondents were mostly engaged in “World Wide Web” or internet surfing with a mean of 4.97. While “blogging” ranked last among the list of applications and or activities for instruction that were used by teachers with only 2.44 mean value, they only used or did blogging for about once or twice a month for instruction and lesson purposes. The paper also shows significant value in terms of the “Overall Level of Acceptability” of the Prototype Offline- Based Laboratory Activities and result of the evaluation revealed that the teacher respondents commended the software program given the remarks of “Highly Acceptable” with an overall weighted mean of 3.71, this includes the content quality, order of presentation of activities and usability/user – friendly nature of the prototype offline – based laboratory activities in cellular respiration when all the three criteria combined respectively. Although the level of acceptability of the prototype offline-based laboratory activity was highly commendable by the science teachers, there were still a number of significant recommendations and suggestions for the improvement of this software program. To mention a few, majority of the responses were on the technical quality and presentation of the software program including the size of the texts, transition of the windows, and the most important is the system requirements of the software program which is to be most compatible but not limited to the latest and widely used operating systems there in in most laptop and even desktop computer units. In addition, cellular respiration is just part of the many pre requisite knowledge in cell biology, therefore aside from including more personalized and customized examples of the different stages; glycolysis, kreb cycle and electron transport chain, the researchers also encouraged future researchers to create their own, identifying abstract concepts and topics in cell biology like, central dogma of molecular biology and even genetics.

Keywords

Cellular Respiration, K to 12 Program, Motivation, Prototype Software, Science Education

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Ma. Lourdes G. Narca ¹, Dennis G. Caballes ²

Affiliations
1 San Sebastian College- Recoletos, Manila, PH
2 De La Salle - College of Saint Benilde, Manila, PH

Abstract

Being an educator entails a lot of hard work, determination, and perseverance to nurture young students to do their task effectively and efficiently. Thus, the objective of this study is to re-examine the curriculum design for higher education institution, which leads us to know the curriculum component of San Sebastian College- Recoletos, Manila towards curriculum enhancement. In the introduction of the study, it was clearly emphasized that meta analysis is a method for systematically combining quantitative and qualitative data from several selected studies. With the purpose of identifying concrete answers from questions pertaining to the curriculum of the school. The quantitative data analysis is the method use for finalizing results gathered from students. This includes their honest thoughts about questions pertaining to the curriculum. The end results will be looking at the hard data-the number figures, which are converted into percentages to be able to determine the bulk results to the questions given and be able to evaluate and make an assessment. Likewise, the qualitative method has been administered to the area chairpersons, in order to know more about their concerns in the construction of their respective curriculum, since using the qualitative method analysis can mean subjective concerns and thoughts, geared towards possible curriculum improvements.

The researchers have done the best possible way on how to reach out to the alumni and area chairpersons who are the main respondents of this study. Thankfully, they were able to get a good number of respondents, who willingly answered the questions given to them. The results from the answers were carefully collated, evaluated, and interpreted. Thus, the  results can explain the logic of this study. It is in the conclusion where the researchers have explained further the assessment on the experimental results. A good insight from the qualitative results of the area chairpersons is about confirming their intemtions of making possible revisions in their curriculum, if the conditions calls for it. However, at the moment they have told the researchers that they have their reasons on why they have to stick first to the present curriculum, and be more vigilant for possible changes or improvements. The over-all impact of the study showed that the curriculum of SSC-R is subject centered, which is more focused and concerned on the needs of students for their adaptability in the outside world.

Keywords

Meta-Analysis, Qualitative Data, Quantitative Data, Curriculum Design, Curriculum Enhancement

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Irene H. Andino ¹, Dennis G. Caballes ²

Affiliations
1 Lian Senior High School, Batangas Province, PH
2 De La Salle College of Saint Benilde, Manila, PH

Abstract

Principals are considered as the managers or supervisors in various schools and school principals’ leadership is critical for school effectiveness and performance at many levels. Therefore, it is imperative to develop strategies that can provide the motivation for appropriate policy changes, highlight health concerns, and generate knowledge that can be used to support principals’ occupational health and well-being. This study aims to support school principals of Lian District and enhance their job performance through determining the challenges and issues they encountered in supervision. It is important to consider various factors that affect their performance as leaders and managers of the school as this may determine the extent to which they are able to contribute effectively to improving student achievement and school performance. It includes survey of the challenges and issues encountered by the principals in terms of relation to teachers, external challenges, recognition and growth and other issues concerning supervision. The researcher made use of descriptive-quantitative and qualitative research design for the study. The online survey technique using Google Forms was used as a data collection tool. The statistical treatments that used in this study were mean, ranking, frequency, and percentage. As a result, in terms of challenges encountered in relation to teachers, teacher resistance to change received the highest mean from the respondents. Then, in external challenges pressure in adapting to new programs becomes the first in the rank. Likewise, few opportunities for them to learn and grow are the highest challenges in recognition and growth of the principals. Also, there are three major themes of issues and challenges they encountered, namely: teacher resistance to change, overlapping of schedules and conduct of post conferences. A proposed action plan was made by the researcher to better support the issues and challenges encountered by Lian district principals.

Keywords

Challenges, Lian, Principals, Supervision

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Josephine L. Belen ¹, Dennis G. Caballes ²

Affiliations
1 Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation, Lucena City Quezon Province, PH
2 De La Salle College of Saint Benilde, Manila, PH

Abstract

For many decades, scientists and philosophers strived hard to bring to the world the knowledge of things beyond earth and beyond our naked eyes – space science. How interesting it is to know that our planet is not alone in this “solar system” and earth is just one of many planets that revolve around the center of the solar system, our star, the sun. The moon as our planet’s natural satellite and constant companion even has its own characteristics and motion. Thanks to the great people behind all these discoveries, people have the sources of information based on scientific evidences and facts. The fascination that we have right now maybe comparable to that of the earlier generation or even more but with lack of sophisticated instruments and gadgets, one would wonder, how exactly people of the earlier times studied astronomy or the vast night sky just to bring about what we knew today? Superstitious beliefs are beliefs that is not based on human reason and is a non-scientific knowledge, but is connected with old ideas about magic, supernatural, etc. which was held true and acceptable by the earlier generation and was passed on through their ancestors. For instance, the belief that a full moon or Friday the 13th has some negative vibes or bad omen, an eclipse may signify an upcoming deluge and many other beliefs. Surprisingly, different countries and or region have different superstitious beliefs on astronomy or space science. For example, Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev did something odd before a space flight in Kazakhstan on June 6, 2018, the bus transporting the space crew to the launch would stop, and the male crewmembers will urinate on the back-right tire of their ride. Apparently, female crewmembers splash urine from a cup onto the [1]. Another example showing superstitious beliefs in space science was that of Indian origin, ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan with wife Padmini comes out of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala in Tirupati after offering prayers for the successful launch of PSLV-C25 India's maiden mission to the Mars [2]. Lastly, the early Filipinos used the stars to determine the best conditions for fishing and seafaring. In Tawi-Tawi, the Big Dipper was more than just a constellation resembling a fish trap. The Sama people turned to this to determine whether fishing will yield bountiful results. [3]. This paper sought to understand and explain the influences of superstitious beliefs to the teaching and learning of astronomy, and suggest the superstitious beliefs about astronomy that students and teachers know and in order to address the misconceptions and or alternative conceptions brought about by superstitious beliefs in astronomy. In order to gather significant data and information this paper applied the descriptive evaluative research design and quantitative approach to investigate on the superstitious beliefs’ influences on the teaching and learning astronomy.

A researcher-made questionnaire was designed and its reliability was tested using the Cronbach’s alpha. A total of 154 respondents, composed of 43 science teachers that were purposively chosen and 111 students from different schools that were randomly selected. The questionnaire has two (2) parts, the first part is a checklist survey table and second part were an open-ended question primarily for teacher’s suggestions or plan of instruction on how to address the misconceptions on astronomy brought by superstitious beliefs. This paper revealed that both the students and teachers were very much familiar with the different superstitious beliefs about space science with an overall percentage of 74.5. However only 25.5% of the total respondents when combined, were not familiar with the given phenomena on space science that are superstitious in nature. Based on the answers of the teachers, their concept of space science was more positively influenced with an overall weighted mean of 3.27 compared to its negative counterpart with only 3.01. Teachers strongly agreed to the fact that, “Learners, although brought with them some misconceptions due to the superstitious beliefs become more eager to know and prove their prior knowledge through research and teacher interaction. (e.g seek teacher’s guidance on addressing misconceptions).” Moreover, teachers strongly agree to the fact that, “Some stories that learners were told at an early age creates misconceptions about how the universe and earth formed. (e.g. bathala).” Concepts on bathala was taught in araling panlipunan and students used this learning as valuable in natural science even though it is not based on scientific evidence. In general, the teachers were positive that they can do something to address the misconceptions in space science brought about by superstitious beliefs and create an avenue for learners to explore, be creative and informative as well as give meaningful learning experiences that are factual and based on scientific evidence. Throughout the tedious research and gathering of information, the researchers were able to find out that there were a lot of superstitious beliefs about astronomy in the Philippines but only a few study and related researches were conducted. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to explore and expand the research local to the entire Philippines, documenting how these superstitious beliefs greatly affect not only our concept of space science but also our way of living; biology, chemistry, environmental science and other branches of natural science.

Keywords

Astronomy, Misconceptions, Motivation, Superstitious Beliefs, Science Education,

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Ma. Lourdes G. Narca ¹, Dennis G. Caballes ²

Affiliations
1 San Sebastian College- Recoletos, Manila, PH
2 De La Salle College of Saint Benilde, Manila, PH

Abstract

Having to look into the welfare of our students should be one of the primary concerns of teachers. This reason prompted then the authors to come up with a research study, signifying the remarkable learnings of the chosen alumni from san sebastian college-recoletos, manila. The study focuses on the type of a major philosophical thought which is pragmatism, where the pedagogical approach is in teaching the students about enhancing their skills in hands-on activities, like experimentation, research works, documentations and projects, and even in practicing them in certain drills and simulations. The subject concerned here is all about the different sciences taken up and learned enthusiastically by our students, like biology, earth science, and zoology. They all graduated with different courses, but science had been an integral part of their way of life, since they were able to incorporate their learnings in school to the outside world. This study then is a summation on how philosophy has been looked up in such a way that a major philosophical thought had been chosen, in line with the pedagogical approach, because of the reason that it is still observed and existing nowadays. Whatever has been taught in the past years, in line with pragmatism, has been applied by our students in their present works or jobs at the present time. Those who are not working right now have incorporated the knowledge, skills, and values from the hands-on learnings from certain activities in the school, as applied in their day to day routinary activities in life. The statement of the problem tried to confirm whether these graduates have truly enhanced their knowledge, skills, and attitudes, using the pedagogical approach. This part of the study has been confirmed through the use of the survey questionnaires that were emailed to each of the respondents, where the likert scale was used, which acted as the scoring range in the survey.  The weighted mean and standard deviation was also analyzed in order to come up with a concrete evaluation of the learnings of the graduates. The concluding part was more of confirming the validity of the study in having to adapt pragmatism, even during the present time, since it can effectively hone the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of students, as long as they will always be guided accordingly and effectively.

Keywords

Pedagogy, Pragmatism, Philosophy, Hone, Imbibe, Hands-On Learning, Enhancement, Likert-Scale Rating

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