Laboratory resources, teacher compentencies and students' process skills

Abstract

Laboratory resources and teacher competencies are foundations for students' process skills. This non-experimental quantitative descriptive correlational study examines the relationship between these factors. An adapted survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 350 students, 9 lab in-charges, and 25 science teachers. Results from mean rating show that laboratory resources were moderately utilized (3.32), teaching performance was highly evident (4.15), lesson preparation (4.10) and professional development (3.86) were often demonstrated. These factors may have contributed to the high rating (3.53-3.72) of process skills which with students frequently exhibited and were often observed by teachers. As to the correlation of variables, the findings reveal that while the availability of laboratory resources does not significantly influence students' process skills (p-value of 0.905), the utilization of these resources shows a significant relationship with process skills, as indicated by a p-value of 0.010 and an r-value of 0.259. Additionally, the study reveals a very strong relationship between teacher competencies and students' process skills, with an r-value of 0.995 and a specified p-value of <0.001. The study emphasizes the utilization of laboratory resources and teacher competencies contribute significantly to the development of students' process skills. Future researches may explore other factors.