Development and Evaluation of Digital Courseware for Light and Optics Anchored on Cognitive Fitness Activities

The main objective of this research is to develop and evaluate a digital courseware for light and optics in which the learning activities are patterned from the principles of cognitive fitness by Gilkey and Kilts (2007) which includes (a) interaction with the learning environment, (b) the concept of play while learning, (c) the ability to pattern recognition, and (d) active engagement to new experiences. The integration of the cognitve fitness activities to the elements of a digital courseware was aimed to address the low conceptual understanding in the above-mentioned physics topics.

This study used descriptive-developmental research design patterned from the modified ADDIV model, for which it was divided into three (3) major phases: (a) Assessment Phase wherein the particular topics in light and optics with low conceptual understanding from existing literatures became the primary basis of the content and aligning it with the Most Essential Learning Competencies from the K to 12 Science Curriculum Guide and integrating it to various cognitive fitness activities as learnig tasks; (b) development phase which covered the designing and developing of the digital courseware and subjecting it to initial validation where both science instructional and technical-organizational content of the digital courseware were reviewed by Science and IT content expert validators; and (c) the validation phase for which the experts provided the final validation of the courseware, which was followed by the pilot implementation to Grade 10 students, for which they provided their evaluation feedback, together with their Science teachers.

The results of the study are as follows: The initial validation conducted ensured the accuracy of the courseware before it was subjected to the final validation, in which it received an over-all rating of 3.96 and 4.00 for the science instructional content and technical-organizational content, respectively. The courseware was then subjected to pilot implementation to Grade 10 students where it obtained a rating of 3.67. They strongly agree that the courseware is well-developed based on format and input.

In addition, the students also provided feedback on the developed digital courseware, which included the following: (a) how the courseware affected their understanding, for which they provided the different components in the digital courseware and grounded it with the four major principles of cognitive fitness; (b) how the students perceived the digital courseware, in which they mentioned that it provided an eases of understanding, fun learning experience, a novel concept of learning, and various technical aspects; (c) the skills that they were able to hone while utilizing the said digital instructional material, which were categorized as cognitive, study, and soft skills; and (d) their over-all impression of the digital courseware such as positive feedbacks (e.g., pleasant learning, recommendation for future use, smooth access), and suggestions for technical improvements like fixing of the bugs and modifications on the accessibility. Moreover, Science teachers also provided an over-all rating of 3.91, meaning it is also very acceptable for classroom use in teaching light and optics.

In a nutshell, the findings of the study, the following are put into conclusions: (1) the integration of cognitive fitness activities as learning activities and utilizing technology-based through a digital courseware can be considered as feasible, as confirmed by the Science Instructional Content and IT-Educational Technology experts through the results of the validation by the said experts; (2) the said digital learning material helps in addressing the low conceptual understanding in light and optics among students, which was attested by the students when they also indicated that it helped them in understanding the concepts of light and optics much easier; and lastly, (3) the digital courseware can be highly regarded as a very acceptable learning material for light and optics, as ascertained by the evaluation feedback made by the science teachers.