In 1987 the University of the Philippines in cooperation with theDepartment of Science and Technology embarked on training programs inscience (biology, chemistry, physics) and mathematics teaching forsecondary school teachers in the public schools via the then innovativedistance education mode. The program has continued to this day and hasgraduated more than a thousand. Then as now the ultimate goal of theprogram was to upgrade the quality of science and mathematics teachingin response to the need to produce better quality graduates of secondaryschools. The distance education mode was conceived as one remedy to theprevalent situation in the country where secondary school teachers inscience and mathematics lacked the academic preparation to handle thesesubjects but could not take time off to enroll in residential programsto learn content for lack of time, resources and other personalconstraints. The net result was secondary school graduates with poorunderstanding of science and mathematics. The proposed paper/poster will present the results of the evaluation ofthe multiplier effects of teacher training in science and mathematicsvia distance education through a follow-up study of graduates of the program from 1987 to the present. In general the effectof producing graduates in this program extend well beyond upgrading ofthe teacher-graduate's competence in teaching science or mathematics.The effects are felt in their performance in other aspects of theircareer and in the performance of their students. Freed from theconstraints of obtaining their education only from the urban centers,the teachers who come from places in the country that are otherwiseunreachable to residential programs are able to enroll thus widening thearea of impact of the program. |