SCIENCE FUN DAY AS A SERVICE LEARNING ACTIVITY: EVALUATION, EXPERIENCE, AND PERCEPTIONS OF SCIENCE PRESERVICE TEACHERS

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:Service learning is an approach that can be utilized to enable students incorporate service related activities with their academics (Bates, 2009). Through service learning, students can improve their self-esteem, self-efficacy, and social responsibility (Conrad & Hedin, 1991; Wade, 1995; as cited by Bates, 2009).In teacher education, service learning has a powerful role to play (Durbin & Marchel, n.d.). Service learning allows pre-service teachers to experience situations that will make them mature both in their personal and professional life (Chambers & Lavery, 2012). Teacher education should incorporate service learning to open up the minds of future teachers to develop a commitment and be sensitive to the needs of the society.University X as the National Center for Teacher Education in the Philippines has been assigned to spearhead innovations that will help improve the teacher preparation programs in the country. One way of extending service to the country is through extension programs. Hence, the preservice teachers who are the subjects of this research have been enabled to do extension programs in their selected communities.In this research, the extension program called Science Fun Day is a form of service learning activity that science preservice teachers participated. This research has been undertaken to evaluate the activities during the implementation of the Science Fun Day through self -evaluation of the preservice teachers themselves. The experience of preservice teachers on the said service learning activities were also determined. Preservice teachers perceived implications of the service learning to their future practice was also investigated.The results of this research will be important to teacher education institutions in the Philippines to evaluate the possibility of integrating service learning activity in their course programs. With the challenges faced by the Department of Education on literacy and malnutrition, service learning facilitated by preservice teachers maybe a potential source of help.REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE:Service learning is the utilization of community oriented activities in academic context (http://www.sonoma.edu). The modus-operandi of service learning is experiential learning by rendering service (Crew, 1995; as cited by Chambers & Lavery, 2012). It is a pedagogy that allows students to directly apply the concepts they have in community outreach programs.Service learning positively learning affect students in different ways. Astin, Vogelgesang, Ikeda and Yee (2000), through their longitudinal study, described that students who participated in service learning developed different outcome measures like academic performance, values, and self -efficacy. Through service-learning, students are able to possess a sense of ownership that created difference in the way they understood concepts in the classroom (Bates, 2009). Spencer, Cox -Petersen, and Crawford (2005) described that compared with traditional teacher training, service learning provides a rich context of teaching and learning for preservice teachers. With these positive effects of service learning, many institutions have opted to adopt the pedagogy in the different disciplines for its viability to enhance the quality of education (Billig, 2003).In teacher education, service learning encourages teachers to develop both their personal and professional careers (Chambers & Lavery, 2012). Preservice teachers described that through service learning, they are able to learn course contents that they are taking (Castellan, 2011). Bates (2009) described that service learning is an important pedagogy to be experienced by preservice teachers as well as the university faculty members not just for personal growth but for the impact that teachers can do in the classroom through the said type of learning. Kezar (2005) sees service learning as a potential social justice enterprise that can help students develop positive attitudes through meaningful experiences in their classes making them become responsive and active citizens. …