Theoretical Background

This study is anchored on John Dewey’s theory on learning by doing;

Jean Piaget’s constructivism; and Republic Act No. 10533 an Act enhancing

the Philippine Basic Education system by strengthening its curriculum and

increasing the number of years for basic education, appropriating funds there

for and for other purposes.

In Dewey’s philosophy of education he greatly accentuated the

importance of letting the child to be exposed in actual learning, explore to

create a significance on their experience to prepare him in his future.

In addition, this study is also based on constructivism a theory of

knowledge that argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from

an interaction between experiences and their ideas. It has influenced a

number of experiences and their reflexes or behavior-patterns. Jean Piaget

called these systems of knowledge as schemata. Piaget’s theory of

constructivist learning has a wide ranging impact on learning theories and

teaching methods in education and underlying education reform movements.

He found a premise that by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our

own understanding of the world we live in. Each of us generates our own rules

and mental models which we use to make sense of our experiences.

Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting our mental models to

accommodate new experiences.

Furthermore, Jean Piaget authored his theory based on the idea that a

developing child builds cognitive structures, mental “maps”, for understanding

and responding to physical experiences within their environment. Piaget

proposed that a child’s cognitive structure increases in sophistication with

development, moving from a new innate reflexes such as crying, sucking to

highly complex mental activities.

Likewise, this study is supported with Republic Act No. 10533 also

known as the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013. It is hereby declared

the policy of the state that every graduate of basic education shall be an

empowered individual who has learned, through a program that is rooted on

sound educational principles and geared towards excellence, the foundations

for learning throughout life, the competence to engage in work and be

productive, the ability to coexist in fruitful harmony with local and global

communities, the capacity to engage in autonomous, creative, and critical

thinking, and the capacity and willingness to transform others and one’s self

( Sec 2).

Additionally, the purpose of the implementation of RA 10533 is to

create a functional basic education system that will develop productive and

responsible citizen equipped with essential competencies, skills and values

for both life-long learning and employment. In order to achieve this, the state

shall give every student an opportunity to receive quality education that is

globally competitive based on pedagogically sound curriculum that is at par

with international standards; broaden the goals of high school education for

college preparation, vocational and technical career opportunities as well as

creative arts, sports and entrepreneurial employment in a rapidly changing

and increasingly globalized environment; and make education learner-

oriented and responsive to the needs, cognitive and cultural capacity, the

circumstances and diversity of learners.

 REPUBLIC ACT NO. 10533
John Dewey’s Jean Piaget’s
ENHANCED BASIC
Theory of Constructivism
EDUCATION ACT OF
2013 Learning

The School

Availability of Tools and Significance of Technology and

Equipment Livelihood Education Tools and
Equipment

Technology and Livelihood Education

Facility Upgrading Plan

Figure 1. Theoretical Framework of the Study

Constructivism stressed out that in order for the students to acquire

concrete ideas we should mainly engage them in actual experiences and

assess them using performance-based assessment. It is necessary that the

students will have the application of their knowledge. As a teacher you can

gauge and measure students’ learning by giving them a performance based

assessment. Teachers’ and students’ learning in constructivist’s way, stresses

the creation of meaning through active involvement in learning activity (Gloria

Salandanan Ph. D 2009). During practicum wherein you will be evaluating

students’ skills you readily needs enough facilities in your shop like equipment

and tools. Moreover, equipment, tools and machineries are indispensable

items used in teaching especially in the subject areas in Technology and

Livelihood Education.

A study of Commendador (1982) reveals that in order to achieve

successfully the aims and objectives of Industrial Education. It is necessary

for the students to be provided with adequate and desirable participating

experiences in the use of equipment and materials involved in industrial

processes. To make this possible, there must be a well-equipped and well-

organized industrial laboratory in terms of school shop.

He further emphasized that Industrial Arts instruction has really no

worthy place in the Philippine schools unless it is carried on at a high level of

quality, so that the success or failures of an Industrial arts teacher depends

upon the teaching strategies and methods used in Instructional process.

Likewise, it would be idle to carry on a sensible program of vocational-

technical education without tools, equipment and machineries and other

materials. A teacher no matter how well-prepared will fail in his mission,

unless he has the much needed tools for instruction. This is predicated on the
educational precept or doctrine that “vocational-technical education skill

development cannot be taught by means of chalk and blackboard alone”. In

the Psychomotor domain of Bloom’s of learning he pointed out that it is more

important to focus on the skills of the students rather than dwelling on what he

know and could not actually apply it.

One of the current leading proponents of this instructional theory Dr.

Roger Schank wrote “life requires us to do, more than it requires us to know,

in order to function. It makes more sense to teach students how to perform

useful tasks. There is only one effective way to teach someone how to do

anything and that is to let them do it” (Schank et al., 1999). Moreover, Aristotle

stated “One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it,

you have no certainty until you try.”

The essence of John Dewey’s theory of learning and Jean Piaget’s

constructivism is the significance of experiential learning. It is when the child’s

senses are involved that he may learn. The experience will concrete all the

ideas in mind. Therefore, as a teacher we should be a good facilitator of

learning. We should provide our students an ample opportunity to apply all

they have learned in our classroom discussion in reality and that is by actual

learning. Both theories of Piaget and Dewey based on the premise that an

individual is an active learner.