DANIPAS NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL LABISMA ANNEX

Labisma, Bislig City

THE EFFECTS OF USING PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES IN

INCREASING STUDENTS LEARNING IN THE ARALING
PANLIPUNAN SUBJECT
(Action Research Proposal)

Proponent:
JOHN NICHAEL M. BAGOTSAY
SST-I
Danipas National High School Labisma Annex
Labisma, Bislig City
January 11, 2016

I.

Introduction
Being the only social studies subject taught in junior high school, teaching araling

panlipunan has been a challenge for the teachers especially the non-majors of the said
subject.
As observed by the researcher, even before he was still a student himself until
today that he is already a teacher teaching araling panlipunan, a significant number of
students demonstrate a low level of achievement in the said subject. Even in his high
school days, the researcher noticed this situation considering the subject as one of his
favorites. In the present time, the researcher being a teacher of the subject in all four grade
levels in high school from grade 7 to grade grade 10 in his work station at Danipas
National High School Labisma Annex had a clearer view on why some of the students
do not perform so well in the subject leading to a low level of achievement.
There are many factors to consider in order to analyze and to know why the
students behave academically towards the subject. Considering the grassroots, one to
mention is the students learning experience during their elementary days. There are those
young learners at this period who developed indifference and negative attitude towards the
subject. Some considered the subject to be difficult with all the names, places and events
to recall, others perceive the subject not particularly enjoyable. This could even be true in
the higher levels. In addition, high school learners on the other hand consider the subject
as impractical on the basis that its not going to help them develop the skills needed for
future careers. Many students find social studies content boring citing that the information
is too far removed from their experience, too detailed or too repetitious. Aside from this
reasons, other causes could come from other things like teacher factor, poor learning
conditions and even the environment where the student lives.
It is apparent that if social studies is perceived negatively by some students, then
learning araling panlipunan will be adversely affected. With low levels of civic literacy
and apparent lack of public confidence in the quality of social studies teaching , it is
increasingly urgent that social studies educators pay attention to what young people, as
well as others might be able to tell us about ways to improve the social studies program
(Gallup, 1981).
Clearly, not only the researcher is affected by this problem but it also affects the
whole school as well since the subject is one of the six disciplines being evaluated in the
National Achievement Test (NAT) together with English, Science, Math, Filipino and
Critical Thinking. Moreover, the schools achievement in the NAT result is one of the bases

for the release of one of the incentives to the school faculty in public schools known as
Performance Based Bonus (PBB).
This is the reason why the researcher was drawn to conduct a study in order to
increase the students learning in the araling panlipunan subject by looking into approaches
and teaching strategies that will develop the students intellect, attitudes and spirit for them
to be inspired, to study and to understand the subject.
II.

Description of the Research Context (Context of the Study)

The study will be conducted at Danipas National High School Labisma Annex,

one of the public schools of DepEd Bislig City Division. The school has a steady increase
in annual enrolment since it was founded in the year 2009. It has total population of 113
students for the current school year 2015-2016 with four sections one in each grade level
from grade 7 to grade 10. The school is situated in a hilly area with a total land area of
11,200 square meters and is under process for Special Land Use Permit reserving the land
for school site leading to the issuance of Presidential Proclamation. Once issued, the
school can then be separated from its mother school, Danipas National High School and
become a national high school in itself then be called as Labisma National High School.
Geographically, the students of the school come from Sitio Palo, Sitio Sua and from the
locality of Barangay Labisma where most of the students resides at Sitio Palo, followed by
students residing at Barangay Labisma and then at Sitio Palo with the least number of
students. Regarding the distance from the school, Sitio Palo is the farthest, followed by
Sitio Sua and then Barangay Labisma.
The school puts a high regard for academic standards both students and teachers.
Meeting this standards has been a challenge so the researcher wanted to find the best
practices that will help the students in their learning in order to increase academic
achievement not only his subject but to all the subjects as well. Sadly, it is observed by the
researcher that a significant number of students in all the grade levels demonstrate a low
level of achievement as they do not perform so well in the araling panlipunan subject. This
performance can be traced in their learning before, during and after classroom discussions
and activities. With this reality, the problem will really affect so many things as what has
been stated earlier.
That is why the researcher felt the need to find solution to increase the learning of
the students in the subject by utilizing printed photographic images. He will make this
happen by surfing in the internet the images of persons, objects, places and events then

have this printed, pasted on a folder and then covered with cellophane for durability and
longevity of use. He believes that by showing images of what is discussed in class
discussions and activities and not only expressed verbally through words will awaken the
interest of the students and motivate them to listen and participate in the teaching-learning
process. He anchors this belief in the dualcoding theory hypothesized by Allan Paivio.
This theory of cognition uses the idea that the formulation of mental images aids in
learning (Reed, 2010). According to Paivio, there are two ways a person could expand on
learned material: verbal associations and visual imagery. The theory postulates that both
visual and verbal information is used to represent information (Sternberg, 2013). Visual
and verbal information are processed differently along distinct channels in the human
mind, creating separate representations for information processd in each channel. The
mental codes corresponding to these representations are used to organize incoming
information that can be acted upon, stored and retrieved for subsequent use. Both visual
and verbal codes can be used for recalling information (Sternberg, 2003).
III.

Methods for Data Collection and Analysis

The study is a qualitative phenomenological in design. The proposed design will

be used to describe a lived experience of a phenomenon. It will determine the effectiveness

of using photographic images in increasing the learning of the students in araling
panlipunan. The data will be compared with the past teaching practices which does not
involved or used photographic images but only used pure discussions. Other things to be
undertaken in gathering data will be in-depth interview to the students and observation of
the teaching episodes.
IV.

Importance and Potential Significance of the Study

The result of the study will benefit the students of the school to develop a positive

attitude towards the araling panlipunan subject. This will also give an idea to teachers to
use photographic images in their discussion and not merely traditional methods in order to
motivate students to listen and participate thereby increasing learning towards the subject.