Whole brain teaching in the Philippines: Teaching strategy for addressing motivation and academic performance

Abstract

Whole Brain Teaching (WBT) is a brain-based teaching strategy rooted on the concepts developed by Biffle (2013) and Hermann (1998). This strategy treats every child to have four brain areas that require close attention. The four brain areas correspond to four learning activities to address the holistic need of an individual. The four learning activities are: (1) lecture; (2) individual work; (3) group work; and (4) practical display. The study aims to determine the effect of the use of whole brain teaching on students’ learning gains and motivation. Quasi-experimental research method was used in the study. The pre-test-posttest design without control group was specifically used to determine learning gains. A set of six lessons were planned and delivered to two groups of grade 10 Physics classes. Learning gain was measured by getting the difference of pre- and posttests using a validated 40-item taken from released international test items. Motivation results were gauged using a Physics Motivation Questionnaire (Koballa & Glynn, 2006). The results revealed that the two sections of Grade 10 science students had an average learning gain of 20%. It was further found that the students had average to high motivation with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the top two of the six components of motivation. The results revealed positive effects to academic performance and motivation can be derived from the use of WBT as teaching strategy.