Effects of open-ended laboratory approach to learners’ academic performance

Abstract

The challenge posed by today’s educational system empowers teachers to create a learning environment that is highly interactive, engaging, and digitally exploratory to produce globally competitive and skillfully sound learners. In senior high school science classes, authentic assessment such as but not limited to laboratory activities is encouraged. This is governed by the Theory of Constructivism and Discovery-Based Learning which allow learners to relate past experiences to their present discoveries and observations and form meanings that will answer their questions.  Nineteen respondents have purposively chosen to participate in the study from the government secondary school in Maasin City. Introducing the Open-ended Laboratory as an authentic teaching approach in learning topics in senior high Biology. Upon using the approach, results show a significant increase in the test results after pre-test and post-test scores were subjected to paired t-test.  This result supports the claim that open-ended activities are efficient tools in improving the academic achievement of learners. Open-ended laboratory as an innovative teaching-learning approach does not only allow learners to be creative and personal about their ways of discovering things, it also endlessly opens their opportunities to fun and exciting collaborations.