Evaluation of STE-Graduates’ Senior High School Science and Mathematics Performance
Pierre Jared T. Morados
Science and Mathematics Education Department
University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Philippines
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54476/iimrj342
ABSTRACT
The Special Curricular Program in Science, Technology and Engineering is developed to cater students whose interests are in the fields of Science and Mathematics. To achieve its goals, the program enhances its basic education curriculum by offering additional science and mathematics subjects. Financial assistance is provided as well to schools implementing the program. However, the program seems to lack evaluation. There are no means of monitoring the students’ performance, and no attempts were made to determine whether these students pursued Science-and-Mathematics related courses after graduation. Along this line, this study aimed to evaluate the program by comparing the performances of students who graduated in the program to those who did not. It also investigated whether these students tend to pursue career paths along the fields of science and mathematics. Earth Science and General Mathematics scores of 177 Grade 11 students from different academic strands were analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance and Chi-square test. Results showed that there was a significant difference between the students’ Earth Science and General Mathematics scores when grouped according to their junior-high program; that is, students who graduated from the program performed better than those who did not. On the other hand, there was no interaction found between the students’ performance and gender. A significant association between the students’ junior-high program and strands was also established; that is, majority of the students who graduated from the program is in the STEM strand, which prepares students for careers along the fields of science and mathematics. Despite the results, further studies may be done to include a wider range of variables that would better capture students’ performance.
Keywords: Special Curricular Program in Science, Technology and Engineering (STE), STEM strand, Science and Mathematics performance, Career paths, Quantitative research