Presented at the DLSU Research Congress 2019

De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines

June 19 to 21, 2019

Effects of Block Scheduling on Grade 12 STEM Students’

Academic Performance in General Physics 1

Marjorie A. Nariz, Lydia S. Roleda

De La Salle University
*Corresponding Author: [email protected]

Abstract: Block scheduling is a system for scheduling classes characterized by longer hours but less frequent
sessions in a week. Literature supported its effectiveness in enhancing students’ academic performance since
this schedule allows students to focus on fewer subjects each day. However, local studies supporting this is
lacking. This study investigates the effects of block scheduling in the academic performance of students in
General Physics 1. A hybrid block schedule was used to compare performances of two batches of Grade 12
STEM students. One batch received instruction under the traditional four one-hour-per-day sessions while the
other, two two-hour-per-day sessions. For comparison, the participants from both batches were paired based on
their Grade 11 GWA and grades in Mathematics, and scores in the Diagnostic Test in General Physics 1. Using
t-test, it was found that students who received instruction under the block schedule scored significantly higher
than the previous batch who were taught under the traditional schedule, with the means 31 and 28 out of 50 (p
< .05).

Key Words: block schedule; traditional schedule; academic performance; physics

1. INTRODUCTION that low mastery in the subject matter was rooted

from an insufficient time of instruction inside the
class. Students believed that extended discussions
The Philippines did a major overhaul in its
and lectures will be helpful to students who want to
educational system by adapting to the globally
understand the topics in General Physics 1. Students
patronized K to 12 curricula according to ICEF
felt that the time allotted for the discussion of
Monitor article entitled “Philippines Creates
General Physics 1 is not sufficient for them to
Opportunities in Overhaul of K-12 Education
understand and master the topics under the course.
System”. The K to12 Basic Education Program aims
Rayburn & Rayburn (1999) also believed that
to provide every Filipino with the essential education
grasping the knowledge to solve more complicated
he or she needs to compete in the global market. The
and longer problem takes longer time.
goal of the new curriculum was to give Filipino
However, the concern for a longer period
students extended time to master skills and concepts
was not observed in the current class schedule used
so that they are prepared for their tertiary education.
by senior high school students. No matter how
Based on the anecdotal evidences collected
complex or simple the subject is, all classes are
from the participating school, most students believed
 Presented at the DLSU Research Congress 2019
De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
June 19 to 21, 2019

having equal learning time. In the Philippines, meeting. Problems arise when students forget to
subjects in the basic education are taught four (4) bring again the materials needed for the experiment,
times a week, 50-60 minutes per class period. In the or students lose their experiment sheets. Worse, the
senior high school, the students share the same students might be able to attend the following
experience. Students are traveling to the six-, seven- session due to sickness or some school activities.
and an eight-period day is exposed to six to seven With these in mind, it is believed that adopting
pieces of unconnected curriculum each day. They the block schedule to the senior high school class for
rarely, if ever, have sufficient time to study Grade 12 General Physics 1 class would provide
exhaustively. (Canady, R et al., 1995). students their needed longer time per activity,
Additionally, traditional schedule provides whether it is during lecture or laboratory.
hectic, impersonal, inefficient instructional
environment that offers inadequate time in probing 1.2 Context
deeper ideas and discourages varied learning
activities (Irmsher, 1996). In addition, many According to Al-Huneidi, A., & Schreurs, J.
faculties felt that 50-minute classes three times a (2013), Constructivism theory is based on the idea
week do not allow for the same amount of teaching that people construct their knowledge through their
time since the first minutes of every class were used own personal experiences and that it prepares
for settling and making class announcements students for problem solving in complex
(Schultz & Sharp, 2006). environment.
Senior High Schools who offer Academic A change in the school schedule offers potential
Track-STEM Strand also offer General Physics 1 and for real reform to capitalize on these core creeds of
2 for the entire school year. General Physics 1 is constructivism. A block schedule could provide for
offered for two quarters during the first semester, extended learning periods leading to greater
and General Physics 2 is offered on the 3rd and 4th interaction and fewer interruptions (Roberts, 2016).
quarters during the second semester. Each subject is Moreover, in a constructivist classroom, both teacher
being taught four times a week, 40 hours per quarter and students think of knowledge not as chunk of
or 80 hours per semester. In principle, senior high information and facts to be memorized, but as a
school physics share the same difficulty level similar dynamic, ever-changing view of the world we live in
to those in college as referred to the contents, topics, and the ability to successfully stretch and explore
and the depth of the discussion to be tackled. that view. However, processing complex information,
However, physics in college are taught using block enhancing critical thinking and problem-solving
schedule; this means that students meet with their skills, and assessing their own understanding and
professors once or twice in a week (two or three hours learning would require longer working time since
per meeting). Students have longer class durations students need to digest and process the information,
but less frequent than the traditional schedule. they acquire from their classroom experiences. This
suggests that longer time is necessary to maximize
1.1 Purpose and rationale the effect of constructivist model in the classroom.
Adopting block scheduling in the class system
There are anecdotes about teachers would lengthen the class meetings to two hours. The
lamenting that having a 60-minute class period was increase in time per meeting is believed to allow
not enough to finish topic/s intended for the day. Or, ample time for doing laboratory experiments and for
it almost impossible to accomplish laboratory providing students exercises that will help enhance
experiments or outdoor activities in one meeting. their Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS).
Most of the time, lectures, outdoor activities, and
laboratory experiments are continued onto the next
 Presented at the DLSU Research Congress 2019
De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
June 19 to 21, 2019

2. METHODOLOGY was comprised of students’ portfolio, outdoor and

indoor physics experiments and the quarterly exam.
This study used a Quasi-experimental The quarterly exam was comprised of test questions
research design to acquire and interpret data aligned with all the required competencies in
gathered from its participants. The study aims to General Physics 1 and was already used in the
determine the significant effects of using block previous school year (SY 2017-2018). The researcher
scheduling in enhancing Grade 12 STEM students’ used Paired t Test in determining whether the use of
academic performance in General Physics 1. block scheduling in General Physics made significant
The experimental group for this study were difference in enhancing students’ academic
Grade 12 students from Batch 2019 and Grade 12 performance in the subject compared to the use of
students from Batch 2018 served as the control group traditional schedule.
of the study. Batch 2018 students received the one- All students were given a human informed
hour, four-times-a-week traditional schedule while consent form and the researcher informed the
Batch 2019 students took the two-hour, twice-a-week participants about the nature, objectives, risks and
block schedule for General Physics 1. confidentiality of the information they provided for
Data were gathered after the researcher this study. Students who were 18 years old and above
made sure that sample students from Batch 2018 were asked to accomplish a consent form and
and sample students from Batch 2019 had an students below 18 years old were asked to accomplish
approximately equal academic performance in terms a consent form and an assent form.
of their general academic performance mathematical
ability and background knowledge in General
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Physics 1 before block scheduling was applied.
Student academic ability and performance from both
batches were paired based on the students’ Grade-
3.1 Story and Outcomes
Weighted Average (GWA). Students from both
In Figure I the first quarter grades in
batches were ranked from highest to lowest GWA.
General Physics 1 of the two groups (N=30 for each
Students from both batches with the same GWA
group) of Grade 12 STEM students showed relatively
were grouped together to be paired according to their
higher first quarter grades of students under the
Grade 11 Mathematics (Pre-Calculus and Calculus)
block scheduling as compared to the grades under
grades. To ensure that students’ performance and
the traditional schedule. Under the traditional
knowledge in General Physics for students from both
schedule, most students received a grade of 85, the
batches were the same before the intervention was
lowest grade was 80 and the highest was 89. On the
applied, the scores in the diagnostic test in General
other hand, students under the block schedule
Physics 1 were compared. If the two students have a
received grades ranging from 86 to 92.
similar score or close scores in the pairing processes,
The quarter grades were computed based
the two students are assumed to be a perfect pair.
from students’ written works – 25% (quizzes, long
After students from both batches were
tests, seatworks and assignments), performance
perfectly paired, the researcher then compared their
tasks– 45% (indoor and outdoor
grades in the first quarter in General Physics 1 to
experiments/activities, projects, and quarterly
determine if there were significant changes in their
examination – 30%.
academic performance. The quarter grades were
obtained from the students’ Written Work (25%),
Performance Task (45%), and Quarterly Exam (30%).
The written work was comprised of quizzes, long
tests and home works scores while Performance Task
 Presented at the DLSU Research Congress 2019
De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
June 19 to 21, 2019

Table I presents the data analysis of the

sample means of the two groups of students under
the traditional schedule and under the block
schedule. The data suggested that block scheduling
received a higher mean compared to traditional
schedule (Mblock = 87.7; Mtrad = 85.3). Paired t-test
was run to test the significance of the difference
between the two means. The confidence level was set
to 95% (alpha = 0.05) and the degrees of freedom was
29 for N=30. Figure 2 shows the quarter test scores of
students under both schedules. There were 19
TABLE I: Excel Data Analysis Using Paired T test students who scored higher under the block schedule,
for Sample of Two Means 8 students scored higher under the traditional
schedule and 3 students received the same score.
Out of 50 items, the highest score for block
scheduling was 37 and the lowest score was 24 while
in the traditional schedule the highest score was 34
and the lowest score was 15. The mean of the scores
under the block schedule was 30.97 and its SD =
4.038 while the mean of scores under the traditional
schedule was 28.27 and SD = 4.417.
 Presented at the DLSU Research Congress 2019
De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
June 19 to 21, 2019

The computed t stat value was smaller than

the p value for one-tail and two-tail. Moreover, the t 4. CONCLUSIONS
stat value was smaller than the t critical value. The
result yielded implied that there is a significant
Statistical test results showed that the
different between the mean physics grades of the
different paired means were significant thus
students under the traditional schedule and block
indicates that the use of block scheduling in
schedule.
improving students’ academic performance as
In order to corroborate the initial findings on observed through their first quarter grades.
the effects of block scheduling on the academic In general, many students believed that
performance of students in terms of grades, focus block scheduling provide opportunities for them to
group discussions were conducted on selected student enhance their academic performance in General
participants. Physics 1 and, therefore, should support to the use of
block scheduling in the subject. Some students said
The interviews revealed that positive feelings that
and views towards block scheduling were manifested Overall, the results showed that block
among students. Some of the student responses were: scheduling provided positive effects to both teachers
“the new schedule gave me more time to prepare”, and students in terms of the number of activities
“there was more time doing the activities under the accomplished, amount of preparation and its
block scheduling”, and “it gave me more time to effectiveness in aiding student learning.
ready myself for the next lesson”. This study further recommends the use of
block scheduling in senior high school especially in
3.2 Self-reflection and learning teaching General Physics and also recommends the
full implementation of the new schedule in the senior
high school to realize its full effect on the academic
Initially, the participants found the two-hour performances and classroom behavior of the students
session for General Physics 1 to be too long. In fact, in this level.
the teacher-researcher was afraid that this
intervention might lead to more bored students in
the physics class. However, after implementing the
block schedule for the first quarter of the first
5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
semester of the current school year (about 3 ½
months), the students gave positive feedback on the The authors would like to acknowledge the
new schedule. They shared that the block schedule administrators and students of a government
allowed them enough time to accomplish their tasks school in Las Piñas City, who offered their precious
in class. Moreover, on the side of the teacher, the time and support throughout the conduct of this
block schedule was appreciated because of the study.
reduced amount of classroom and teaching
preparations.
 Presented at the DLSU Research Congress 2019
De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
June 19 to 21, 2019

6. REFERENCES

Al-Huneidi, A., & Schreurs, J. (2011, September).

Constructivism based blended learning in higher
education. In World Summit on Knowledge
Society (pp. 581-591). Springer, Berlin,
Heidelberg.

Canady, R. L., & Rettig, M. D. (1995). Block

scheduling: A catalyst for change in high schools
(Vol. 5). Eye on Education.

Farbman, D. (2011). Learning Time in America:

Trends to Reform the American School Calendar-
-A Snapshot of Federal, State, and Local Action.
Education Commission of the States (NJ3).

Rayburn, L. G., & Rayburn, J. M. (1999). Impact of

course length and homework assignments on
student performance. Journal of Education for
Business, 74(6), 325-331.

Salvaterra, M., Lare, D., Gnall, J., & Adams, D.

(1999). Block scheduling: students' perceptions
of readiness for college math, science, and
foreign language. American Secondary
Education, 27(4), 13-21.