Effect of Problem-Based Service Learning on the Civic Consciousness of Students enrolled in the National Service Training Program of De La Salle Lipa
De La Salle Lipa, Philippines
ABSTRACT
As the required service learning subject for all Filipino college students, the National Service Training Program (NSTP) seeks to continually enhance their civic consciousness by making them active participants in the decision-making and problem-solving processes of their partner communities. This research study aimed to look into the extent by which a problem- based approach in service learning can enhance the civic consciousness of students enrolled in NSTP. A descriptive research in the form of pre-test-post-test equivalent groups was utilized. One NSTP section with 37 students under the Health and Nutrition (feeding) program in Bolbok Elementary School in Lipa City served as the respondents. Primarily, the students were oriented about the concepts of problem-based learning and service learning, with a discussion on the step-by-step procedure of creating a written project proposal. During the pre-test phase, they answered the Scale on Civic Consciousness (SCC), the data gathering instrument. Afterwards, they carried out actual service learning by implementing the feeding program and creating a proposal based on an identified need of the partner school. Oral presentation and final submission of the proposals were accomplished in class on the last meeting alongside the re-answering of the SCC as post-test. The results showed that NSTP students who are engaged in PBL as manifested by the completion of a written project proposal develop a deeper sense of civic consciousness. Positive results are noted in all five dimensions of civic consciousness based on the scale: personal identity and citizenship, national identity, moral consciousness, ecological consciousness and social citizenship. Statistically significant differences were determined between the pre-test and post-test scores in these three dimensions: national identity, ecological consciousness and social citizenship. The strategy of making them write a project proposal as manifestation of being immersed in problem-based service learning is considered effective in carrying out the projects of NSTP.
KEYWORDS
Community service learning, problem-based learning, National Service Training Program, civic consciousness, De La Salle Lipa