Integrating Climate Change Lessons in Grades 7 and 8 Science

This study designed, developed, validated and tested the effectiveness of the climate change lessons integrated into Grades 7 and 8 Science concepts of population, pollution, biodiversity, environmental factors and environmental phenomena. The study was conducted in Bukidnon State University-Secondary School Laboratory (SSL) during the school year 2013-2014. Three stages followed in the preparation of the lessons: predevelopment, development, and post-development stages. The criteria of the Department of Education (DepEd) was used by the five experts and ten pre-service teachers in evaluating the lesson plans. Grades 7 and 8 students also evaluated the lessons. Findings showed that the climate change lessons met the criteria for validity, specifically on functionality and usability. The developed lessons were appropriate, appealing and exciting, challenging, easy to understand, and enjoyable to the students. The result showed that both Grades 7 and 8 students from the experimental groups obtained the level Approaching Proficiency (AP). This indicates that the students have developed the basic knowledge and skills but cannot transfer learning independently. The performance of the control groups for both Grades 7 and 8 falls below the level Developing (D) which means possessing minimum knowledge, skills, and understanding but needs help throughout the performance of authentic tasks. Competence levels along the five climate change concepts were also determined. Data suggest that students show great difficulty in understanding or learning creatively in producing products or performance especially in the concepts of biodiversity and population for Grades 7 and biodiversity for Grades 8.Keywords:  climate change, integration, population, pollution, biodiversity, environmental factors, environmental phenomena