This study was conducted to assess the reading comprehension among the grade 4 pupils in an integrated school in the District of Tangalan, Philippines. The result of the study was the basis on the development of an instructional reading material during the School Year 2023-2024. The design based research was used in this study using IPO model. The participants were the 66 grade 4 pupils and 10 teacher experts. Reading Comprehension Test and Learning Material Evaluation Tool were the data gathering (...) instruments. The data were analyzed and interpreted using descriptive and inferential data analysis. The reading comprehension in English of grade 4 pupils is “low”. Based on the result of the study, an instructional material was developed offering a variety of engaging activities, including word boxes, missing letter challenges, collaborative group activities, reading experiences, interactive games, and visual aids for descriptive analysis. The level of acceptability of the developed instructional material for grade 4 was “very highly acceptable” as to content, instructional quality, prints, design and layouts. The level of reading comprehension of grade 4 pupils before the intervention were “low” and after using the developed instructional material, it became “moderate”. Hence, there is a significant difference on the reading comprehension of grade 4 pupils before and after using the instructional material. -/- . (shrink)

Purpose A mixed-method study was performed to determine the impact of integrating systems thinking (ST) into an electronic learning module for junior high school teachers in the Philippines. The study aims to assess how an ST approach to pedagogy compared against a conventional approach in terms of contribution to the participants’ global climate change content knowledge, holistic thinking and depth and accuracy of knowledge and reasoning. -/- Design/methodology/approach The study implemented e-learning modules using an ST approach versus a conventional approach (...) in teaching climate science to junior high school teachers. The paper presents quantitative data obtained from pre and posttests results of the 20 teacher-participants and qualitative data obtained during the focus-group discussion (FGD) after the implementation of the study. -/- Findings The results from the statistical analysis indicated that the ST group obtained a significant increase in their assessment scores compared to the non-ST group, according to predetermined criteria. Content knowledge, depth and accuracy of knowledge and reasoning increased the most. The participants mentioned during the FGD that the module helped deepen their understanding of climate change. -/- Research limitations/implications The study was limited to 20 teacher-participants, but it has relevance for public school teachers in the country given that participants had raised concerns regarding the lack of training in their schools for teaching climate science. They admitted that they lacked critical information to include in climate change topics in their classes. -/- Originality/value This paper shows how the ST approach can be used to teach climate change to junior high students. The e-learning module can provide teachers with better understanding, knowledge and reasoning to teach climate change to high school students more effectively. (shrink)

From the time of Confucius and Aristotle up until the present day, theorists have argued that the individual self exists only as an aspect of social structures. The claim is not merely that the self is causally affected by social structures; but that the self is just social structure. The most recent iteration of this claim comes in book-length from Brian Lowery, though the argument was made more completely by Charles Taylor and Kenneth Gergen in the preceding decades. The (...) most rigorous version of the argument draws on Wittgenstein, claiming that thought itself is impossible without socially constructed meanings. Wittgenstein argued that a “private language” would be incoherent because the person using the language could not have any criteria by which to judge the correctness of the symbols used. However, this reasoning fails as an argument against individualized thought because it applies equally well to the use of public languages. So this paper argues that eliminative social constructivism has never made any sense, least of all in its latest form. (shrink)

The 2013 FOIM (Fellowship of Indian Missiologists) Conference was hosted at Punalur, Kerala. 12 papers from this conference were compiled and published in Christian Mission in the Midst of Violence under the editorship of Dr. Joy Thomas SVD, director of Ishvani Kendra of Pune and Secretary of FOIM and Dr. Siga Arles, director of the Centre for Contemporary Christianity of Bangalore.