Challenges in Conducting Action Research: Experiences from Biology Teachers of a Province in Mindanao, Philippines

Abstract: Challenges in Conducting Action Research: Experiences from Biology Teachers of a Province in Mindanao, Philippines. Objectives: This study aimed to explore biology teachers’ experiences from a province in Mindanao regarding their challenges while engaging in action research. Methods: It employed a multiple case studies method that involved detailed examination and in-depth analysis of primary and secondary data collected from questionnaires, in-depth individual interviews, and other relevant artifacts from the participants. Findings: Teacher’s major challenges in action research (AR) are reported as themes, namely: negative perceptions and attitudes, lack of conceptual knowledge and unresponsive nature to critiques, lack of time and resources, and mistrust of colleagues’ research capacity. Conclusion: The professional development programs these teachers previously attended did not upgrade their skills in AR because of the following reasons: rolled out in a short period, episodic, had minimal scaffolding and monitoring, and lack evaluation of teachers’ AR projects after the training programs.Keywords: action research, biology teachers, challenges, professional development. Abstrak: Tantangan Melakukan Penelitian Tindakan: Pengalaman Guru Biologi di Mindanao, Filipina. Tujuan: Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi pengalaman guru biologi dari sebuah provinsi di Mindanao mengenai tantangan mereka saat terlibat dalam penelitian tindakan. Metode: Metode studi kasus berganda yang melibatkan pemeriksaan detil dan analisis mendalam dari data primer dan sekunder yang diperoleh dari kuesioner, wawancara individu yang mendalam, dan hasil karya yang relevan dari para peserta. Temuan: Tantangan utama guru dalam penelitian tindakan yaitu: persepsi dan sikap negatif, kurangnya pengetahuan konseptual dan sifat tidak responsif terhadap kritik, kurangnya waktu dan sumber daya, dan ketidakpercayaan terhadap kapasitas penelitian rekan kerja. Kesimpulan: Program pengembangan profesi yang sebelumnya diikuti oleh guru-guru ini tidak meningkatkan keterampilan mereka dalam melaksanakan penelitian tindakan karena alasan berikut: diluncurkan dalam waktu singkat, episodik, minimnya scaffolding dan pemantauan, dan kurangnya evaluasi proyek penelitian tindakan guru setelah program pelatihan.Kata kunci: penelitian tindakan, guru biologi, tantangan, pengembangan profesi.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23960/jpp.v11.i2.20210

EXAMINING COMPETENCE IN ACTION RESEARCH OF BASIC EDUCATION TEACHERS IN CEBU CITY, PHILIPPINES

Background and Purpose: This study examined the self-perceived competence in action research components of basic education teachers in Cebu City as one form of identifying their challenges in doing AR. The results aimed to provide baseline information for the planned professional development program.   Methodology: It employed a sequential explanatory design (QUAN→qual). It is characterized by collecting and analyzing quantitative data in the primary phase and then by collecting and analyzing qualitative data. There were 166 teachers who participated in the online survey. These teachers previously underwent professional development programs in designing AR projects, and two-thirds did an AR. Using their responses, they were grouped through a hierarchical clustering technique to create distinct groups of teachers sharing the similarity of competence or needs in the AR components. The cluster analysis yields four groups. Eventually, eight teachers were interviewed regarding their responses, which means two teachers represented each cluster.   Findings: For very few teachers in cluster one (n=4), they regard selecting AR topic, planning the project, analyzing and presenting data, and integrating ethics as areas of non-difficulty while integrating technology, reflecting on AR, and communicating results as areas of difficulty. For the majority of the teachers belonging in cluster 2 (n=76), cluster 3 (n=37), and cluster 4 (n=49), all AR components are regarded as difficult, indicating all are critical areas for professional development. Contributions: A conventional way of conducting needs assessment of teachers’ competence in AR as a basis for professional development program is done through calculating the mean and standard deviation per AR competence or skills of all teachers participating in a survey. However, this method disregards the individual professional needs of teachers as it presents the general level of competence in each skill set. The professional needs may vary from one teacher to another. Thus, this study presents a novel way of examining teachers’ needs in AR by using cluster analysis to homogenously group participants according to the similarity of their responses or professional needs. This gives key reference points on which AR skills need to be improved for teachers belonging to the same group when planning a teacher development program in AR.   Keywords: Action research, competence, in-service teacher, professional development, teacher research.   Cite as: Cortes, S. T., Pineda, H. A., & Geverola, I. J. R. (2021). Examining competence in action research of basic education teachers in Cebu city, Philippines.  Journal of Nusantara Studies, 6(2), 202-230. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss2pp202-23

Nonrandom processes maintain diversity in tropical forests

An ecological community\u27s species diversity tends to erode through time as a result of stochastic extinction, competitive exclusion, and unstable host-enemy dynamics. This erosion of diversity can be prevented over the short term if recruits are highly diverse as a result of preferential recruitment of rare species or, alternatively, if rare species survive preferentially, which increases diversity as the ages of the individuals increase. Here, we present census data from seven New and Old World tropical forest dynamics plots that all show the latter pattern. Within local areas, the trees that survived were as a group more diverse than those that were recruited or those that died. The larger (and therefore on average older) survivors were more diverse within local areas than the smaller survivors. When species were rare in a local area, they had a higher survival rate than when they were common, resulting in enrichment for rare species and increasing diversity with age and size class in these complex ecosystems

Comparing tropical forest tree size distributions with the predictions of metabolic ecology and equilibrium models

Tropical forests vary substantially in the densities of trees of different sizes and thus in above-ground biomass and carbon stores. However, these tree size distributions show fundamental similarities suggestive of underlying general principles. The theory of metabolic ecology predicts that tree abundances will scale as the -2 power of diameter. Demographic equilibrium theory explains tree abundances in terms of the scaling of growth and mortality. We use demographic equilibrium theory to derive analytic predictions for tree size distributions corresponding to different growth and mortality functions. We test both sets of predictions using data from 14 large-scale tropical forest plots encompassing censuses of 473 ha and \u3e 2 million trees. The data are uniformly inconsistent with the predictions of metabolic ecology. In most forests, size distributions are much closer to the predictions of demographic equilibrium, and thus, intersite variation in size distributions is explained partly by intersite variation in growth and mortality. © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS

Testing metabolic ecology theory for allometric scaling of tree size, growth and mortality in tropical forests

The theory of metabolic ecology predicts specific relationships among tree stem diameter, biomass, height, growth and mortality. As demographic rates are important to estimates of carbon fluxes in forests, this theory might offer important insights into the global carbon budget, and deserves careful assessment. We assembled data from 10 old-growth tropical forests encompassing censuses of 367 ha and > 1.7 million trees to test the theory's predictions. We also developed a set of alternative predictions that retained some assumptions of metabolic ecology while also considering how availability of a key limiting resource, light, changes with tree size. Our results show that there are no universal scaling relationships of growth or mortality with size among trees in tropical forests. Observed patterns were consistent with our alternative model in the one site where we had the data necessary to evaluate it, and were inconsistent with the predictions of metabolic ecology in all forests