CALTECH SEMINAR: ENHANCING GRADE 10 STUDENTS' COMPUTATIONAL THINKING SKILLS IN STATISTICAL MEASURES

This study examined the effectiveness of CALTECH Seminar in enhancing the computational thinking skills of Junior High School Students under Grade 10 students in statistical measures at Sto. Niño National High School. The researchers proposed an intervention plan named the CALTECH (Scientific Calculator) Seminar. In this seminar, the researchers identified learning competencies related to statistical measures from the Department of Education’s K-12 curriculum guide for Junior High School – Mathematics – 10. The researchers implemented CALTECH Seminar intervention in the subject, Mathematics – 10, which deals with statistical measures. Employing a quantitative-descriptive method supplemented with interviews, the study provided a comprehensive understanding of the computational thinking skills and the effectiveness of the CALTECH Seminar intervention. Twenty-Nine Grade-10 Banahaw students purposefully and categorizing them into instructional and frustration groups based on their pretest scores. The intervention included using the Survey Questionnaire to evaluate computational thinking skills before and after implementing CALTECH Seminar. Findings revealed a substantial difference in the scores before and after the intervention. The mean pre-test score was 23.28% (needs improvement), while the mean post-test score was 79.48% (highly satisfactory. Moreover, results showed that students performed better in the post-test than the pre-test, implying a significant difference between the two test scores, t (28) =17.5, p<.001, with a standardized effect size of Cohen’s d=3.23. To provide a comprehensive understanding of the students’ experiences, the researchers conducted in-depth interviews with selected participants. From their responses, five (5) themes were identified from the insights of students: 1) difficulties in applying statistical concepts pre-intervention; 2) enhancing problem-solving skills; 3) improving computational thinking; 4) building confidence in solving statistical problems; and 5) incorporating real-world applications enhance learning. In conclusion, the CALTECH Seminar was effective in enhancing the computational thinking skills in statistical measures of the students. Keywords: CALTECH Seminar, Computational Thinking Skills, İnteractive Learning Approaches, Quantitative-Descriptive, Philippines