Effect of PLT-Based Physics Enhancement Course to the Content Matter Competence of Grade 7 Science Teachers

Abstract

The adoption of the spiraling curriculum in Philippines’ K-12 program necessitates enhancing the competence of Science teachers in fields that they did not specialize in during their undergraduate and graduate degrees. This study sought to determine the effect of a PLT- based (Progressive Learning Theory) Physics enhancement course to the Physics competence of Grade 7 Science teachers who are not Physics majors. Using a one-tail paired T-test, the Physics Achievement Test (PAT, Cronbach’s α=0.874) pretest and post-test scores of the participants were compared. The study revealed that there was a significant increase in the Physics competence of the participants. Further analyses have shown that the PAT scores (pretest, post-test, and post-pretest) of teachers having different fields of specialization do not vary significantly. Moreover, although the PAT pretest scores of new teachers were shown to be significantly higher than the more experienced teachers, the post-test scores do not vary significantly implying that the course had a leveling effect on the competence of the participants. Two-way ANOVA have shown that the length of teaching experience and the field of specialization do not interact to affect the PAT scores of the participants. Given the effectiveness of the course, DepEd (Department of Education) administrators and teacher education institutions may adopt the course model in this study in providing training to more teachers from various fields of expertise and grade levels. Further studies may also be conducted in their trainings to verify the findings in this current study as well as to evaluate its effect on other teacher qualities. Finally, follow-up studies may investigate the impact of the teacher trainings delivered using the training model to student performance.