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A CLASSROOM-BASED ACTION RESEARCH

PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Degree of Bachelor of Secondary Education

Major in……

By

Dannica J. Aranzanso
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Introduction and Rationale

Significant global events that ensued in the past years emphasized the necessity for a

workforce with a strong foundation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

(STEM) (Han et al., 2021). Thus, the reason why different sectors of education worldwide are

working hard to establish STEM in the curriculum of students (Wiebe et al., 2018).

In the Philippines, this was accomplished with the K–12 program which allowed students

additional two years of basic education curriculum (BEC) as well as an opportunity to pick their

own educational paths through the help of tracks which are academic, vocational or sports and

arts. The academic track is then further subdivided into strands, one of which was STEM

(Rabacal & Alegato, 2017; Almerino et al., 2020). Barquilla and Cabili (2019) stated that these

strands were curated depending on the learning direction of the learner which results in different

demands per strand.

One vital requirement in passing the STEM strand is to conduct scientific research that

will contribute to a body of knowledge in their chosen field of STEM (Tupas & Matsuura, 2019).

However, Rogayan Jr. et al. (2021) noted in their study that although conducting research has

always been part of the curriculum, students are challenged to conduct and write their own

research because of how students are oriented to do it themselves during their senior high school.

Similarly, Tus (2020) strengthened this claim by stating in his study that Filipino students have

different study habits that largely influence their academic performance, including the way they

treat subject requirements such as research papers.

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On the other hand, research found out that a student’s ability to perform several tasks

depend on the way teachers teach them (Davies & Meissel, 2016). Kelley and Knowles (2016)

even stated in their study that teaching students how to create research is harder than teaching

them all the lessons at once. They also added that in order to successfully teach research to all

the students, there is a need for a more coordinated framework in teaching STEM at all levels,

especially for students who are taking STEM as their specialization (Kelley & Knowles, 2016).

Furthermore, Magulod (2019) highlighted in his study that students will learn more

effectively if instructional techniques and activities are put into place that naturally fit with their

predispositions.To help students improve their STEM learning outcomes, educators should

provide appropriate instructional and social learning environments and develop teaching

strategies that have a positive influence on students' learning (Tanpoco et al., 2019). This

objective requires a thorough understanding of the factors that influence students' STEM

learning.

To further strengthen the STEM curriculum and allow students to perform better in

conducting scientific research and writing their research paper, there is a need to identify their

attitudes, motivations, as well as challenges while in the process of creating one.

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Related Literature and Studies

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Related Literature and Studies

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Statement of the Problem

This action research aims to identify the attitudes, motivations and challenges faced by

Grade 12 STEM students and how these factors affect their skills in conducting scientific

research.

Specifically, the researcher seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What are the attitudes of Grade 12 STEM students in conducting scientific

research;

2. What motivates Grade 12 STEM student researchers to pursue their studies;

3. What are the challenges that they encounter in conducting research;

4. What are the significant effects of the students’ attitudes, motivations, and

challenges on their scientific research conducting skills; and

5. What are the implications of the study?

Statement of the Hypotheses

Attitudes, motivations and challenges faced by Grade 12 STEM student-researchers have

no significant effect on their scientific research skills.

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Research Instrument

For the study, the researcher divided the survey into five parts. The first part aims to

identify the demographic profile of the respondents such as their sex, age, and the person who

decided the respondent’s strand. The second part of the survey was adapted from the scale of

Khan and colleagues (2018) to identify the research attitude of the student-researchers in a five-

point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = agree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree).

The third part of the questionnaire employed Landicho’s (2020) scale to assess the

attitudes of Grade 12 STEM students towards research and the factors that motivate them while

doing one. For the fourth part of the research, the research making conducting scale of Rezaei

and Zamani-Miandashti (2013) was adopted. Lastly, the perceived challenges of the respondents

were to be identified (Landicho, 2020).

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References

Barquilla, M. B., & Cabili, M. T. (2019). Forging 21st century skills development through

enhancement of K to 12 gas laws module: a step towards STEM Education. Journal of

Physics: Conference Series, 1835. 10.1088/1742-6596/1835/1/012003

Davies, M., & Meissel, K. (2016). The use of Quality Talk to increase critical analytical

speaking and writing of students in three secondary schools. British Educational Research

Journal, 42(2), 342-365. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3210

Han, J., Kelley, T., & Knowles, J. G. (2021). Factors Influencing Student STEM Learning:

Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectancy, 21st Century Skills, and Career Awareness.

Journal for STEM Education Research, 4, 117–137.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s41979-021-00053-3

Kelley, T. R., & Knowles, J. G. (2016). A conceptual framework for integrated STEM education.

International Journal of STEM Education, 3(11).

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-016-0046-z

Khan, S., Khan, S., Shah, S. M. H., & Khan, T. M. (2018). An Investigation of Attitudes towards

the Research Activities of University Teachers. Bulletin of Education and Research,

40(1), 215-230. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1209700

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Magulod Jr., G. C. (2019). Learning styles, study habits and academic performance of Filipino

University students in applied science courses: Implications for instruction.

OTSE: Journal of Technology and Science Education, 9(2), 184-198.

http://hdl.handle.net/2117/134350.

Landicho, C. J. B. (2020). Research attitudes, motivations, and challenges of STEM education

researchers. International Journal of Technology in Education (IJTE), 3(1), 49-61.

10.46328/ijte.v3i1.21

Rabacal, J. S., & Alegato, C. C. (2017). K-12 STEM Track in One Public Secondary School:

Opportunities and Challenges. Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 5(4).

Rezaei, M., & Zamani-Miandashti, N. (2013). The relationship between research self-efficacy,

research anxiety and attitude toward research: a study of agricultural graduate students.

Journal of Educational and Instructional Studies in the World, 3(4), 69-78.

Rogayan Jr., D. V., Rafanan, R. J. L., & de Guzman, C. Y. (2021). Challenges in STEM

Learning: A Case of Filipino High School Students. Jurnal Penelitian dan Pembelajaran

IPA, 7(2), 232-244. 10.30870/jppi.v7i2.11293

Tanpoco, M. R., Rillo, R. M., & Alieto, E. (2019). Filipino to English Transfer Errors in Writing

Among College Students: Implications for the Senior High School English Curriculum.

Asian EFL, 26(1), 227-246. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3561289.

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Tupas, F. P., & Matsuura, T. (2019). Moving Forward in STEM Education, Challenges and

Innovations in Senior High School in the Philippines: The Case of Northern Iloilo

Polytechnic State College. Indonesian Journal of Science Education, 8(3), 407-416.

Tus, J. (2020). The Influence of Study Attitudes and Study Habits on the Academic Performance

of the Students. 10.6084/m9.figshare.13093391.v1

Wiebe, E., Unfried, A., & Faber, M. (2018). The Relationship of STEM Attitudes and Career

Interest. EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 14(10).

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/92286