The Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) focused on addressing several challenges and shortcomings in the delivery of high-quality primary education due to nation’s relatively low performance on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). According to the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, roughly 22% of Filipino students achieved scientific competency scores at or above the second level. Only factual information presented in elementary circumstances can be trusted by these youngsters. They can identify the exact logic underlying well-known scientific occurrences and utilize this information to assess the reliability of a particular conclusion. The inability of the majority of students to perform at levels 5 or 6 suggested that they required more scientific competency instruction. The OECD (2019) asserts that students can handle a variety of circumstances, some of which may be unexpected, by applying their scientific knowledge and abilities.
The Philippines obtained the lowest literacy performance grade among the 79 member and associate countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). They finished second to last in math and science. The Department of Education (DepEd) has implemented the “Sulong Edukalidad” program to improve the basic education standards in light of the current circumstances. A new professional development program improves and retrains teachers and school administrators, the curriculum is carefully reviewed and updated, and all pertinent stakeholders collaborate in four key areas that the program focuses on. In the present day, it is essential to cultivate pupils’ motivations, attitudes, and actions. This requirement stems from the understanding that without these larger skills and attributes, students will be ill-equipped to handle the challenges they and their society will inevitably encounter. However, students’ unsatisfactory scientific achievement results from misconceptions caused by the lack of practical activities in scientific education classes.
In 2015, ASEAN integration began, and Philippine schools adopted the K–12 Basic Education Curriculum. The suggested curriculum modification emphasizes the value of formative assessment and calls for a fundamental shift in the method and practice of classroom evaluation. This test aims to help teachers enhance their teaching strategies and motivate students to evaluate their learning. When teaching science through “hands-on” performance activities, students must actively handle objects, document information, and assess the results of their experimental manipulations. Gaining the procedural skills necessary for specific tasks requires hands-on activities. Students would benefit more from stressing the development of process abilities and participating in scientific activities than concentrating only on studying scientific ideas, concepts, and empirical knowledge. “Doing” science in inquiry-based, hands-on science education means using the scientific method in practical settings, which refers to science process skills, which are a set of abilities that apply to various scientific domains and represent the conduct of scientists. Students actively cultivate scientific process skills inside and outside the classroom to understand the methods scientists use in their research and problem-solving.
