Science Education in the

Philippines
This module provides you with the concept of science education and
will identify some strategies to promote science education in the
country. One of the strategies is to establish science schools that will
encourage students to pursue their career in science and technology
and to nurture their gifted potentials in science.
Science Education in the Philippines
• Science education focuses on teaching, learning, and understanding
science. Teaching science involves developing ways on how to
effectively teach science. This means exploring pedagogical theories
and models in helping teachers teach scientific concepts and
processes effectively. Learning science, on the other hand, includes
both pedagogy and the most interesting aspect, which is helping
students understand and love science. Understanding science implies
developing and applying science-process skills and using science
literacy in understanding the natural world and activities in everyday
life.
 SCIENCE EDUCATION IN BASIC AND TERTIARY EDUCATION

• In basic education, science education helps students learn important

concepts and facts that are related to everyday life. Science
education also develops positive attitude such as love for knowledge,
passion for innovative things, curiosity about nature, and creativity.

• In tertiary education, science education deals with developing

students’ understanding and appreciation of science ideas and
scientific works. This is done through offering basic science courses in
General Education curriculum.
SCIENCE SCHOOLS IN THE PHILIPPINES
• Philippine Science High School System (PSHSS)

• This is a government program for gifted students in the Philippines. It is a service

institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) whose mandate is
to offer free scholarship basis for secondary course with special emphasis on
subjects pertaining to sciences, with the end-view of preparing its students for a
science career. The school maintains dormitory for students.

• The PSHSS continues to pursue its vision to develop Filipino science scholars with
scientific minds and passion for excellence. PSHSS students have proven to be a
beacon of excellence, courage, and hope for the country. When students
graduate, they are expected to pursue degrees in science and technology at
various colleges and universities locally or abroad.
 Special Science Elementary Schools (SSES)
Project
• The Special Science Elementary Schools (SSES) Project is in pursuance to
DepEd Order No. 73 s. 2008, and DepEd Order No. 51 s. 2010. This project
started in June 2007 with 57 identified elementary schools that
participated or were identified as science elementary schools in the
country.

• The SSES Project aims to develop Filipino children equipped with scientific
and technological knowledge, skills, and values. Its mission is to:
-provide a learning environment to science-inclined children
-promote development of lifelong learning skills; and
-foster the holistic development of the learners.
Quezon City Regional Science High School
• The school was established on September 17, 1967. It was a product
of a dream to establish a special science school for talented students
in mathematics and science. The school still teaches the basic
education courses prescribed by DepEd for secondary education.
However, there are additional subjects in sciences and technology
that students should take. The school is supported by LGU and PTA,
and is under DepEd.
 Manila Science High School
• The school was established on October 1, 1963 as the Manila Science
High School (MSHS). It is the first science high school in the
Philippines. MSHS aims to produce scientists with souls by integrating
humanities courses and other electives in their curriculum. The school
prides itself from producing outstanding alumni and for winning
various national competitions.
 Central Visayan Institute Foundation
• It is the home and pioneer of the prominent school-based innovation
known as the Dynamic Learning Program (DLP). The DLP is a synthesis
of classical and modern pedagogical theories adapted to foster the
highest level of learning, creativity, and productivity.

• The school takes pride in its Research Center for Theoretical Physics
(RCTP) established in 1992, which organizes small international
workshops to foster the informal but intense exchange of ideas and
perspectives on outstanding problems in physics and mathematics.
 Indigenous Science
This module focuses on indigenous science and technology in the Philippines.
Filipinos, especially during the times, tried to invent tools that will help them
in everyday life. They also developed alternative ideas in explaining various
phenomena and in explaining the world around them. This system of
knowledge is called indigenous knowledge, which is the foundation of
indigenous science.
INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM
• Indigenous knowledge is embedded in the daily life experiences of
young children as they grow up. They live and grow in a society where
the members of the community prominently practice indigenous
knowledge. Their parents and other older folks served as their first
teachers and their methods of teaching are highly effective in
transmitting cultural knowledge in their minds. The lessons they
learned are intimately interwoven with their culture and the
environment. These lessons comprised of good values and life stories
of people on their daily life struggles. Their views about nature and
their reflections on their experiences in daily life are evident in their
stories, poems, and songs.
Some examples of indigenous knowledge that are
taught and practiced by the indigenous people
are:
• predicting weather conditions and seasons using knowledge in observing animals’
behavior and celestial bodies,
• using herbal medicines,
• preserving food,
• classifying plants and animals into families and groups based on cultural
properties,
• preserving and selecting good seeds for planting,
• using indigenous technology in daily lives,
• building local irrigation systems,
• classifying different types of soil for planting,
• producing wines and juices from tropical fruits; and
• keeping custom of growing plants and vegetables in the yard.
INDIGENOUS SCIENCE
• Indigenous science is part of the indigenous knowledge system
practiced by different groups of people and early civilizations. It
includes complex arrays of knowledge, expertise, practices, and
representations that guide human societies in their enumerable
interactions with the natural milieu: agriculture, medicine, naming
and explaining natural phenomena, and strategies for coping with
changing environments. It is collectively lived in and experienced by
the people of a given culture.
INDIGENOUS SCIENCE
• Indigenous science includes everything from metaphysics to philosophy and
various practical technologies. Science is part of culture, and how science is done
largely depends on the cultural practices of the people.

• Indigenous beliefs also developed desirable values that are relevant or consistent
to scientific attitudes: motivating attitudes, cooperating attitudes, practical
attitudes, and reflective attitudes.

• Developmental stages of most sciences are characterized by continual

competition between a number of distinct views of nature, each partially derived
from, and all roughly compatible with the dictates of scientific observation and
method. Accordingly, indigenous science is composed of traditional knowledge
that uses science process skills and guided by community values and culture.
INDIGENOUS SCIENCE
• Indigenous science uses science process skills.
• Indigenous science is guided by culture and community values.
• Indigenous science is composed of traditional knowledge practiced
and valued by people and communities.