Contextualizing Physics Instruction for Indigenous People: The Mangyan Experience

Mangyans are indigenous people endemic in Mindoro. In the western part, the Tao-buhid tribe is the most prevalent. These groups of people are commonly marginalized because of lack of formal education. Specialized education has been a suggestion that will focus on the culture, beliefs, and tradition of the group. The creation of an education that maximizes the use of their daily routine. Physics is a branch of science that has a lot of practical applications in daily living. Subtlety, the indigenous people of Mindoro have Physics applications in their daily rituals that they are not aware of. The researcher utilized the strengths of contextualization for Mangyans to better appreciate the concepts of science e.g, in Physics. The study made use of the Embedded Experimental Design. It is a mixed method research design wherein quantitative results were the main sources of data, augmented by the results of the qualitative documents. The approach was tested in both the science performance and learning motivation of Grade 7 and Grade 8 Mangyan students. Reflective journals and semi-structured interviews reinforced the results. The t-test calculated for both science performance (mean =12.48; 15.44, t (24) = -4.23, p=0.000) and learning motivation (mean = 2.95; 3.38, t (24) = -6.66, p= 0.000) had a significant effect before and after the exposure to the contextualized approach. On the other hand, reflective journals and the semi-structured interviews revealed that Mangyan students enjoyed the approach because they can relate the concepts to their daily lives. It was therefore concluded that the contextualized approach is successful on its goal of contributing to the science performance and learning motivation of Mangyan students in Physics.