Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS

BACKGROUND INTRODUCTION

Welding requires skills from learners. It is important that

learners know how tooperate equipment related to Shielded
Metal Arc Welding (SMAW). Before or at the startof the
practice, one has to know all of the equipment and how to
handle the weldingmachine efficiently and effectively.According
to Zalkind (2007), the future need for competent welders
should prompt educational programs to adequately train
individuals for industrial assignments as punctually as possible
for various levels of skill requirement. The challenge arises in
highschools, universities, and technical institutions to
 adequately recruit and prepare youngertalent. As stated by
Meyers et al (2012) he found experienced agriculture teachers
perceived pre-

service teacher training should focus on “managing the

laboratory setting,for effective student learning” to help new
and beginning teachers successfully teach a

4-welding course. Hoffman et al (2012) mention that Anecdotal

evidence has shown thatSMAW as the most difficult weld
process to master by secondary students. GMAWrequires fewer
operator-controlled variables than SMAW Having fewer
operator-controlled variables during welding practice s

essions should improve secondary students’

ability to meet weld quality standards for an ASW 1F test. This

could be accomplished bysequencing laboratory experiences so
that students practice welding with GMAW firstfollowed by
SMAW. This may translate to improved student performance of
SMAW. Asindicated by Simon & Chase (1973), to accumulate
10,000 hours of practice isnonexistent in an entry-level class;
 therefore, reducing the amount of time it takes to

become proficient in welding will aid in replacing skilled

workers faster for industrialassignment.

Ericsson and others’ (1993) suggested that the instructor

organize the sequence of

appropriate training tasks and monitor improvement to decide

when transitions to morecomplex and challenging tasks are
appropriate such as the case when transitioningstudents from
GMAW to SMAW laboratory practicums.Additionally, Wulf et al
(1998) studied how to improve the effectiveness ofdeliberate
structured practices it is suggested that students concentrate
on the resultingeffects of movements rather than on the
movements themselves.The purpose of this study was to
describe the welding skills of Grade 12 learnerswith the hopes
to provide inputs on their current skills in welding. This study
also hopesto give ample information on how well the SMAW
students of Tarlac Nation HighSchool

San Miguel Campus had grasped the necessary skills in their

field ofspecialization to further improve their skills and also help
the school administration tomake curricular actions on the
rendering of the course to the learners