I. INTRODUCTION
“No man is an island. This classic adage has served as a guiding principle for many people around the world. It denotes that people thrive in interconnected environments where mutual support is needed. This concept is particularly relevant in the realm of education, where collaboration plays a pivotal role in the teaching-learning process. In a classroom setting, students are encouraged to work together, share ideas, and support one another.
As defined by Allison Academy (2022), collaboration involves working together to address challenges, valuing the contributions of others, nurturing teamwork, and taking responsibility within a group. Meanwhile, collaborative learning refers to the process where students engage in teamwork to construct knowledge and accomplish educational objectives (Nguyen, 2020). It is one of the 21st century skills embedded in the K-12 and emphasized in the MATATAG curriculum.
Several studies have shown the correlation between collaborative strategies and learners’ academic performance. When students are actively engaged with peers, they not only develop social skills but also enhance academic performance. The more they are engaged, the better they perform (Youngren, 2021). Collaborative strategies and team teaching enhance cognitive performance (Esquivel & Cuenca, 2022). Moreover, collaboration boosts motivation (Loes, 2022) and positively impacts reading comprehension (Putri et al., 2020).
In Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE), collaboration is crucial as the subject reflects a practical and teamwork-oriented nature (Asuncion, n.d.). It emphasizes real-world skills, such as Family and Consumer Science, ICT, Agri-Fishery, and Industrial Arts, which often require collaboration. For example, in projects like starting a small business or engaging in telecommunications tasks, collaboration enables students to divide responsibilities and support one another. By incorporating collaborative learning strategies in TLE, it equips students with academic and real-world skills, aligning with the subject’s goal of advancing socioeconomic objectives (Dalangin, 2023).
Nevertheless, TLE subjects are often undervalued. Young teenagers do not view TLE as important (SunStar Baguio, 2016). Worse still, Curan (2023) found that learners are more interested in other subjects, perceiving TLE as difficult. This issue is evident at Cayetano Arellano High School. Based on the 2024–2025 Diagnostic Test, the Mean Percentage Score (MPS) was only 31.12%. Furthermore, the First Quarter Examination showed an MPS of 58.33%. Both scores are below the 75% average, which implies significant gaps in concepts and skills. To emphasize, 67 out of 256 students, or 26.17%, received “Fairly Satisfactory” grades in TLE.
Based on these findings, the researcher is prompted to conduct a study on the extent of utilizing collaborative learning strategies to improve the academic performance of Grade 7 learners in TLE. The results of this study are deemed important for the school’s action planning and improvement. The findings may serve as bases for addressing learning gaps not only in TLE but also in other subjects. Moreover, instructional leaders may refer to this study to implement new strategies for TLE, as Barcelona et al. (2023) disclosed. Lastly, this study can be valuable to future researchers as a source of information on the effectiveness of collaborative learning strategies in improving academic performance.
II. INNOVATION, INTERVENTION AND STRATEGY
TLE is a subject that involves collaborative learning strategies (SunStar Pampanga, 2017); hence, CLICK, which stands for Connecting Learners In Collaborative Know-how, comes to birth. It is a collaborative learning and teaching strategy that aims to improve the academic performance of Grade 7 TLE learners of Cayetano Arellano High School for the school year 2024-2025. It uses collaborative learning strategies as the intervention to address challenges in students' performance.
The identified problem that this research hopes to address is the poor academic performance of Grade 7 learners in TLE subject. Many learners struggle to perform well in TLE, as evidenced by the results of summative and formative assessments conducted by the researcher. Also, it is observed that learners find the subject challenging which lead them to disregard TLE and prioritize other subjects. Additionally, some students are more inclined toward academic pursuits and perceive vocational skills as less appealing or irrelevant to their future goals.
To address the aforesaid problems, the solution was embedding collaborative learning strategies in teaching. This involved small-group activities, peer-led discussions, think-pair-share, role-playing, project-based learning, and the like that simulate real-world scenarios.
The procedure for implementing the intervention began with the administration of a pre-test to the participants. Afterwards, one group (control) was taught using the traditional method, whereas the other group (experimental) was exposed to the intervention. During the implementation stage, the teacher incorporated collaborative strategies into her instructions. This was reflected in the lesson plan which are as follows: (1) Connect – this refers to engagement activities for activating prior knowledge; (2) Learn – this pertains to collaborative discussions of lessons; (3) Implement – this includes application of new concepts learned to the real-word scenarios; (4) Collaborate – this stage features learners’ teamwork, and; (5) Keep Going – this relates to additional activities to ponder skills.
Fellow teachers were invited to the class for classroom observation where the said strategy was being employed for generating feedback and technical assistance. Furthermore, the teacher sought support from parents and other stakeholders to ensure full participation and cooperation of the participants. The intervention was conducted for four weeks or one month. After the implementation, a post-test was administered to both groups. Their scores were compared using appropriate statistical treatment to determine the effectiveness of CLICK.
This intervention was anchored on the 21st-century education that emphasizes collaboration, critical thinking, and problem-solving which are deemed attributable to the intervention. Reasonably, when students are engaged and motivated, they tend to perform well in class. By incorporating collaborative learning strategies in teaching instructions, the CLICK intervention not only addresses the immediate academic challenges in TLE but also prepares students with interpersonal and technical skills.
III. ACTION RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This action research aimed to determine the effectiveness of CLICK as an intervention to improve the academic performance of Grade 7 learners at Cayetano Arellano High School for school year 2024-2025. Specifically, it sought answers to the following questions:
1. What is the performance of control and experimental group in the pre-test?
2. What is the performance of control and experimental group in the post-test?
3. Is there a significant difference between the performance of control and experimental group after the implementation of CLICK?
4. What insights are drawn from the implementation of CLICK in TLE class?
IV. ACTION RESEARCH METHODS
A. Participants and/or other Sources of Data and Information
The participants in this study consisted of Grade 7 learners enrolled in the TLE subject at Cayetano Arellano High School for the school year 2024–2025. Two sections were selected: Section J, which served as the control group, and Section G, which served as the experimental group. The former was taught without or very minimal collaborative learning strategies while the latter was exposed to CLICK intervention, meaning collaborative learning strategies was thoroughly used.
The total number of participants is 76, with 39 learners from the control group and 37 learners from the experimental group. They were selected using the purposive sampling technique to ensure that the two selected sections are comparable in terms of class size, student demographics, and academic background. Further, a test of homogeneity was employed to guarantee equal variances among the participants for reasonable comparisons.
B. Data Gathering Methods
The instruments used in this study are the researcher-made pre-test and post-test. They are multiple-choice type of tests which consist of 30 items to determine the performance of learners in TLE subject. The contents of such were taken from the Learning Exemplar issued by the SDO-Manila to ensure alignment with the curriculum. The instruments were faced by the three experts to ensure validity and reliability.
A pre-test was administered to both groups of participants to assess their baseline knowledge. Afterward, the control group was taught using traditional teaching methods while the experimental group underwent the CLICK intervention. In the implementation proper, classroom observations were conducted periodically by fellow teachers to ensure the fidelity of implementation and to gather meaningful insights.
After the four-week intervention period, a post-test was administered to both groups. The pre-test and post-test scores were statistically analyzed to compare the academic performance of the two groups. Feedback from the teachers who conducted classroom observations were gathered to provide additional insights into the effectiveness of intervention.
This study adheres to the ethical standards set by generic research ethics; hence, the researchers sought approval from the proper authorities to conduct a study. Upon approval, the researchers proceeded to the implementation of intervention. On the part of the student-participants and their guardian, they were informed about all the steps to be taken in the study. This was done through the provision of Parental Consent Form and Assent Form. Also, they learned that the study is completely voluntary and would not affect their lives as students and as persons, even their families, in any way. All pieces of information given by the participants were kept confidential.
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