Philippine E-Journals

Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Secondary Biology Teachers in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM): Its Effect on Students’ Science Process Skills

Dayamon T. Magdara

Discipline: Education

 

Abstract:

In these times, humanity continues to witness the glorious reign of science and technology that is responsible for marvels that in centuries past were thought mere flights of the imagination. The study investigated the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of the biology teachers and its relation to the science process skill of students in secondary high school of mainland Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Of the 17 biology teachers representing the sample school respondents, 10 expressed willingness to statistical tools like measures of central tendency, measures of variability. Somer’s d test and correlation coefficient were utilized for the analysis of the data gathered. Results showed a great majority of the biology teachers as holders of non-science/biology degrees and have not attended seminars and trainings related to science. To augment their knowledge of the content, few of them pursued advanced courses either at the Master’s or PhD levels. Result showed that the teachers lend themselves to classification as novice, traditional, and experienced. Tests to establish correlations between teacher’s PCK and the student’s science process skills yielded very low correlations in al most all constructs when tested using the alpha 0.05 level of significance. The biology teachers from the two provinces (Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao) of the mainland ARMM are not science or biology-oriented teachers; therefore, a mismatch exists between teacher’s qualifications or preparations/training and their teaching assignment.