Predict–Observe–Explain Strategy Using Household Materials: Enhancing Grade 10 Students’ Mastery of Chemical Reactions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66133/z1ngsp28Keywords:
Chemical reactions, household materials, inquiry-based learning, Predict-Observe-Explain, science educationAbstract
Public secondary schools in the Philippines often face difficulties in teaching chemistry as a result of having limited access to laboratory facilities, which hinders students’ understanding of chemical reactions. Even though the Predict-Observe-Explain (POE) method has proven to be effective in the context of science education, there is still a lack of evidence on its use with everyday household materials in classrooms where resources are scarce. This study aims to fill that gap by examining how effective the POE approach is when it makes use of household materials in improving students’ understanding of chemical reactions. A quantitative, quasi-experimental one-group pretest–posttest design was carried out with nineteen students who were deliberately chosen for the study. The two-week intervention involved inquiry-based learning activities that used household materials easily available to students. Students’ conceptual understanding was measured using a validated 15-item achievement test that corresponds to the K-to-12 Grade 10 Science curriculum. The mean score rose from 4.84 in the pre-test to 7.58 out of 15 in the post-test. A paired-samples t-test showed a statistically significant improvement in performance, t(18) = -5.60, p < .001, with a large effect size (Cohen’s d = 1.285). The results show that the POE strategy can effectively improve students’ conceptual understanding of chemical reactions when it is applied with household materials and presents a novel, practical, and cost-efficient way of teaching chemistry in science classes that have limited laboratory resources. The study offers evidence in support of a contextualized and learner-centered method of teaching chemistry in educational settings with limited resources.
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