OPTIMIZING CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION THROUGH SELF-PACED LEARNING PROTOTYPE

This study investgated the learning impact of self-paced learning prototype in optmizing classroom instructon towards students’ learning in Chemistry. Two sectons of 64 Laboratory High School students in General High School Chemistry were used as subjects of the study. The Quasi-Experimental and Correlaton Research Design was used in the study: a pre-test was conducted, scored and analyzed which served as the basis in determining the inital learning schema of the respondents. A questonnaire was adopted to fnd the learning motvaton of the students in science. Using Pearson-r correlaton, it was found out that there is a highly signifcant relatonship between their internal drive and their academic performance. Moreover, a post-test was conducted afer self-paced learning prototype was used in the development of select topics in their curriculum plot. It was found out that the students who experienced the self-paced learning prototype performed beter in their academic performance as evidenced by the diference of their mean post-test results. ANCOVA results on the post-test mean scores of the respondents were utlized in establishing the causal-efect of the learning prototype to the academic performance of the students in Chemistry. A highly signifcant efect on their academic performance (R-square value of 70.7%) and signifcant interacton of the models to the experimental grouping and mental abilites of the respondents are concluded in the study.


INTRODUCTION
The current curricular paradigm for teaching recognizes that knowledge is constructed, discovered, and extended by student-learners as they interact their pace and mood in a constructve learning environment.It recuperates learning by putng the student-learners at the center of the educatve processes.The teacher, who serves as the facilitator of learning, plays an important role in the learning process as he creates relevant conditons necessary to the development of this cognitve and metacognitve knowledge that support and encourage student-learners to construct meaning (Lee, 2003;Kumar et al., 2005;Bautsta, 2005).
Cogniton in any classroom instructon is anchored on the nature of the student-learners as strokes of the classroom instructon are made to be responsive.Ofered in a constructve learning environment, studentlearners are allowed to proceed at their own pace and mood.Educatonists assume that student-learners do not learn at the same rate and are not ready to learn at the same tme.Hence, the student-learners regulate their own pace and task towards learning (Butler, 2002;Dick, Carey & Carey, 2014;Anderson, 2006).
Self-paced learning, banked on the development of cognitve and metacognitve knowledge, is imperatve to optmizing the classroom efcacy as it ofers an array of benefts to the student-learners.Students' real achievement are measured and optmized as it deviates from the artfcial assumptons of teaching and learning based on a normal curve.If it is designed and implemented well, self-paced learning is highly benefcial to students' learning as it allows fexibility, cooperaton, feedback, mastery, motvaton, objectves and recycling.These make them realize their satsfacton to actvites by making them part of the learning process (Dick et al, 2014;Lee, 2003;Fine, Jaeger, Farmer & Qian, 2013).
Astutely, learning is said to be efcient if student-learners can build cognitve and metacognitve knowledge from their past experience, relate what they are learning to things that are relevant to them, have direct "hands-on" experience, construct their own knowledge in collaboraton with other students and teacher, and communicate their results efectvely through personalized learning prototypes (Bautsta, 2005;Bautsta, 2012).
Optmized classroom efcacy is achieved as the teacher and student-learners work enthusiastcally in the transformaton of the traditonal learning conditon into a rich and actve learning conditon.Conducted in a constructve learning environment, self-paced learning is developed on the prototype of mastery learning and self-regulated learning.Thus, self-regulated learning strategies help prepare learners for lifelong learning and the important capacity to transfer skills, knowledge, and abilites from one domain or setng to another (Butler, 2002).

Self-paced Instructon
Self-paced instructon is a kind of instructon that proceeds based on the learners' ability and responses to instructonal and pedagogical interventons.It is constructed in such a way that a learner proceeds from a topic or a segment to the next academic actvity and learning material at his own speed (Dick et al, 2014).Furthermore, it enables the learner to control his rate of exposure to learning actvites that contains a nonadjacent dependency from the teacher (Fine et al, 2013).Aptly, self-paced learning is in concordance to the pursuit of life-long learning.Hence, it comes into a play which can be defned as structured learning.Partcipants access the learning material and content, selectng when, where and how to study.This pursuit supplements and complements the traditonal educatonal system and satsfes the demand of life-long learners.When properly implemented through an enforced vigilance from the academic mentor, this instructon ensures quality learning (Anderson, Upton, Dron & Malone, 2015).Apropos of, self-paced learning strategies direct a beter academic achievement among student-learners.It is further concluded that it develops a beter internal drive among the student-learners as it harnesses overt perceptual processes as they interact with their colleagues and teachers in their learning tasks.Butler (2002) elucidated that the motvaton component used in this learning prototype includes both self-efcacy (degree to which one is confdent that one can perform a task or accomplish a goal) and epistemological beliefs (beliefs about the origin and nature of knowledge).
Self-paced instructon, as used in this study, made use of learning module as a supplementary and complementary material in leveraging the academic learning actvites ofered among Laboratory High School students in Chemistry.Learning modules were given to the partcipants prior to the development of the learning outcome.Classroom interventons were provided vis-à-vis with the lecture and laboratory actvites, e.g., focus group discussion, peer-tutoring, etc. Enrichment actvites, like homework actvites, practce tests, guided laboratory experiments, were also provided in the module.Check-point by the teacher and other evaluatve techniques were slated to check the progress of the students.New module is to be given when the student is ready.

Model for Self-Regulated Learning Strategy
Figure 1 presents the Zimmerman's Model of Self-Regulated Learning Strategy (Zimmerman, 1999).The model is observed in a cyclical nature that involves planning, practce and evaluaton.Multple opportunites abound the student-learners to gather and efectvely use learning feedbacks to improve his performance.During the planning phase, students learn to accurately assess their academic situaton and choose strategies that best address a specifc learning challenge.They also set achievable short-and-long-term goals by recalling and analyzing his previous learning schema and performances.This develops an inner drive that motvates him to do his learning tasks beter.During the practce phase, learners implement select strategies and make on-going adjustments to their plan as they self-monitor their progress.Lastly, during the evaluaton phase, studentlearners assess the applicability and correctness of each strategy in helping him achieve his goals.Constructve feedback is drawn in the evaluaton phase.Coupled with fexibility, cooperaton, feedback, mastery, motvaton, objectves and recycling, student-learners generate a beter plan in the next SRL cycle.(Zimmerman, 1999) Self-regulated learning helps the student-learners focus their atenton in discriminatng between the most efectve and the least efectve performances that can reveal their inadequacy.Feedback plays overt perceptual processes in their interacton with their colleagues and teachers through self-instructon and self-reinforcement responses.
This prototype helps the student-learners to become achievers as they develop beter tme management, specifc and proximal goals, accurate monitoring, higher standard for satsfacton, and self-efcacy.Hence, student-learners become more persistent to learning despite learning obstacles (Zimmerman, 1999;Wolters et al., 2003).

The Social Learning Theory
Bandura's Social Learning Theory (SLT) presents the interrelatonship of observaton and modeling of behaviors, attudes, and emotonal reactons of others in the learning process of an individual learner.The theory posits that human behavior is learned observatonally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed and on later occasions, this coded informaton serves as a guide for acton (Bandura, 1986).
Social Learning Theory (SLT) is also infuenced by reciprocal causaton: the person, behavior and environment are infuencing each other through self-efcacy and self-regulaton.Learning employs self-confdence towards learning (self-efcacy) under circumstances of an individual's personal ideas on the appropriateness and inappropriateness of actons in improving his own behaviors (self-regulaton).Self-regulaton involves modeling (doing what others do both live model and symbolic models) and imitaton (using another learner's behavior as a discriminatng stmulus both vicarious reinforcement and vicarious punishment).Therefore, SLT spans to both cognitve and behavioral frameworks by encompassing atenton, memory and motvaton.Hence, the central role of social learning is on behavioral interpretaton of modeling.These leaps are link to the Social Development (Vygotsky, 1978) and Situated Learning (Lave, 1988) Theories.
Social Development Theory posits that the social interactons made by a student-learner precede development, consciousness and cogniton.Hypothesizing that cogniton and development is the end product of socializaton and social behaviors, the theory posits the following tenets: • Social interacton plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitve development.Vygotsky felt social learning precedes development.He states: "Every functon in the child's cultural development appears twice: frst, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; frst, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological)"; • The More Knowledgeable Other (MKO).The MKO refers to anyone who has a beter understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a partcular task, process, or concept.The MKO is normally thought of as being a teacher, coach, or older adult, but the MKO could also be peers, a younger person, or even computers.
• The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).The ZPD is the distance between a student's ability to perform a task under adult guidance and/or with peer collaboraton and the student's ability on solving the problem independently.According to Vygotsky, learning occurred in this zone.(Vygotsky, 1978 as cited in htp://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html).
Situated Learning Theory argues that learning is a functon of various actvites, contexts and culture of inquiry under social interactons in a process of "legitmate peripheral partcipaton.Social interacton is a critcal component of situated learning.Student-learners are invited to come across learning in a "community of practce" which embodies certain beliefs and behaviors to be observed and practced.As student-learners involve themselves in the process of cognitve inquiry, they become more actve and engaged within each interacton.Hence, the student-learners assume roles in the learning environment which is usually unintentonal rather than deliberate.(Lave, 1988 as cited in htp://www.learning-theories.com/situatedlearningtheory-lave.html).

Objectves of the Study
This study was designed to determine the learning impact of self-paced learning prototype in optmizing classroom chemistry instructon.
Specifcally, it sought to fnd explanatons of the following: • What are the mean pre-test and post-test scores of students exposed in the self-paced learning prototype and the traditonal classroom routne?
• Are there signifcant diferences between the pre-test and post-test scores of student-learners in the self-paced learning prototype and the traditonal classroom routne?
• How do the respondents assess their motvaton in learning Chemistry?
• Is there a signifcant relatonship between the students' motvaton in learning science and their academic achievement in Chemistry?

METHODOLOGY
The Quasi-Experimental Design (pretest-postest control group design) was used in this study.This provided bases for the causal efect of the independent variable to the dependent variable involving experimental and control groups.Treatment, integraton of self-paced learning prototype, was introduced in the experimental group.The discourse treatment, which includes a self-paced instructonal modules and guided experiment and laboratory actvites, was limited only in the development of Stoichiometry.Modeling of the eclectc methods and approaches in a personalized learning conditon was integrated in the discourse treatment as well as reinforcement strategies based on Zimmerman's Model of Self-Regulated Learning.The use of groupings and motvaton was introduced in the process.Analysis of the scores was done to conclude on the causal efect of the independent variables.
On the other hand, the customary instructon was made to the control group with the usual class session, ordinary assignment, individual seatwork and exercises.This study made use of an adopted questonnaire on students' Motvaton towards Science Learning (Tuana, Chin & Shieh, 2005) in determining the motvaton level of the respondents in learning Chemistry and a Teacher Made Test developed by the researcher to determine their academic achievement in Stoichiometry.The instrument was refned through expert pooling with his colleagues in the Natural Sciences Department during his Master's Thesis study on Modular Instructon.Learning objectves were mapped in a two-way Table of Specifcaton in ascertaining the content/face validity of the instrument.The average grade of the student-learners in Chemistry (First, Second and Third Grading) was used as the basis in determining their learning ability in Chemistry.
The mean, percentage, independent t-test, ANCOVA, and Pearson-r correlaton were used in the treatment of the data gathered to conclude on the stated research problems.Presented in the foregoing table are the pre-test and post-test results of the 2 groups of respondents.Using independent t-test, it was found out that there is a comparable academic readiness of the learner-respondents at the start of the experimentaton: t-value of -0.923, and p-value of 0.359, at 0.05 level of signifcance.It can be noted that the experimental group even scored lower than their counterparts: mean diference of -1.011.This means that the control group manifested greater knowledge and understanding on the concepts to be mastered in the modular coverage.However, post-test results show a signifcant diference on their performance afer the treatment procedures as indicated by their incomparable group mean scores: t-value of 4.688 and a p-value of <0.001 at 0.05 level of signifcance.It can be construed then that the experimental group performed beter than their counterparts in the control group as shown by their group mean scores: 23.52 versus 18.73.These results lead to the rejecton of the null hypothesis of no signifcant diference on the academic performance of the students afer the treatment procedures were incorporated in the classroom processes.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The foregoing results could be atributed to the tenets of Social Development Theory (Vygotsky, 1978).It was posited that the social interactons made by a student-learner precede development, consciousness and cogniton.Hypothesizing that cogniton and development is the end product of socializaton and social behaviors, the theory posits the following tenets: • Social interacton plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitve development.Vygotsky felt social learning precedes development.He states: "Every functon in the child's cultural development appears twice: frst, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; frst, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological)"; • The More Knowledgeable Other (MKO).The MKO refers to anyone who has a beter understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a partcular task, process, or concept.The MKO is normally thought of as being a teacher, coach, or older adult, but the MKO could also be peers, a younger person, or even computers.
• The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).The ZPD is the distance between a student's ability to perform a task under adult guidance and/or with peer collaboraton and the student's ability on solving the problem independently.According to Vygotsky, learning occurred in this zone.(Vygotsky, 1978 as cited in htp://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html ).
The results of the study indicate that students who were exposed to the treatment mechanism obtained a signifcantly higher mean post-test score on their academic achievement than the students who were exposed to the customary teaching models and techniques.This result is supported by the theoretcal explanatons of Kumar et al. (2005), Montague (2008) and Newman (2002) in elucidatng that the students in the collaboratve learning group posted beter scores on the critcal thinking test than students who studied individually.
Apropos of, cogniton is believed to reshape the learning environment of the student-learner by transforming the individual's learning schema through imitaton, modeling and feedback consists of environmental, individual and other social stmulus.Learning in this conditon is based on collaboratve social interacton and social constructon of knowledge by enabling the students to acquire and develop cogniton as they get involved in a community of practce in a "legitmate peripheral partcipaton" (Anderson, 2006).
Hence, the teacher plays an important role as the teacher's feedback and interacton is stll essental to facilitate learning since students are vulnerable to generate signifcant ideas.Thus, teachers must be fexible enough in the switch response categories in the analysis of problem, propositon, statement, among others (Anderson, 2006;Dick et al, 2014;Anderson et al., 2015).  2 is the two-way analysis of covariance of the tests conducted between the two groups of the study.It presents the causal efect of the teaching model to the academic performance of the students when grouped according to their experimental grouping and the interacton of the experimental grouping with the respondents learning abilites.It was found out that the impact of the model of optmizing the instructon is moderately average considering that the coefcient of determinaton indicated by the adjusted R-squared is 0.725: F-value of 38.972 and a pvalue of <0.001 at 0.05 level of signifcance.This means that the model of teaching account for 70.7 % of the variability in the academic achievement of the students.It is construed then that there are other important variables or factors such as student ability and other classroom techniques which may explain beter the diference in the academic achievement of the groups of students in both the experimental and control groups.

Source
It also presents the efect of the reconstructed classroom instructon when the respondents are grouped according to their experimental grouping and learning abilites: F-values of 55.295 and 5.018, and p-values of <0.001 and 0.029 at 0.05 level of signifcance.These results lead to the rejecton of the null hypothesis of no signifcant efect of the self-paced learning prototype when used as an underpinning instructonal design on the academic performance of the student-learners in Stoichiometry.This means that the students under the experimental group who experienced the self-learning prototype performed beter in the subject afer the method was introduced in their learning experiences and became a potent mechanism in their learningroutne.
Table 2 likewise presents the interacton between the students' motvaton in learning science and the method (self-paced learning prototype).It further presents the impact of the treatment conditons to the academic performance of the students across the learning abilites of the students in the two groups as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 presents the relatonship of the estmated marginal means of the post-test result and the learning abilites of the students, categorized as low and high.The result of the post-test mean score is evaluated with the pre-test covariate value of 16.84.It presents that the high ability groups of the experimental and control groups had incomparable results while a comparable result is observed on the academic performance of the student-learners in the low ability group.This result confrms the percepton of the student-respondents towards their motvatons on self-efcacy, performance goal, achievement goal and learning environment stmulaton as the experimental group had a beter motvaton and self-esteem towards learning.Motvaton takes the exploraton drive among the students to be successful as they can in any classroom routne.
These results confrm the fndings of Chen (2002), Lee (2003) and Bautsta (2005) when they concluded that self-paced learning strategies direct a beter academic achievement among student-learners.They further concluded that it develops a beter internal drive among the student-learners as it harnesses over perceptual processes as they interact with their colleagues and teachers in their learning tasks.Butler (2002) elucidated that the motvaton component used in this learning prototype includes both self-efcacy (degree to which one is confdent that one can perform a task or accomplish a goal) and epistemological beliefs (beliefs about the origin and nature of knowledge).
student-learners must be boosted in order for them to recuperate learning challenges towards beter cogniton in Chemistry.
It can be construed that a constructve learning environment is a potent factor in any educatve process.Learners tend to be actve and responsive to the dynamism of the classroom routne if they take part in the process.This confrms the conclusions of the studies of Chen (2002), Lee (2003) and Bautsta (2005).These cognitons make them realize their satsfacton to actvites by making them part of the learning process in personalizing the classroom routnes through self-paced instructons.They concluded that students learn best when students are involved in the discussion and other challenging classroom cogniton (Petlos, 2003;Anderson, 2006).4 presents the relatonship of the students' motvaton in learning Science and their academic performance in the subject.As can be gleaned in the table, a signifcant result is observed on self-efcacy, actve learning strategy, performance goal, achievement goal and learning environment stmulaton: r-values of 0.601, 0.426, 0.412, 0.518 and 0.442, and p-values of <.001, at 0.01 level of signifcance.This means that the greater the drive and control that the students carry in their learning tasks, the greater is their leap towards their academic performances.Hence, the null hypothesis of no signifcant relatonship between the students' motvaton in learning science and their academic performance in the subject is hereby rejected.

Students' Motvaton in
However, careful atenton must be given to the realizaton of a sound science learning values as it posts an insignifcant result: r-value of -0.102 and p-value of 0.425.Remediaton, together with classroom interactons, must promote the development of science values needed to do tasks in the development of the cognitve and metacognitve knowledge in science partcularly in Chemistry.The atainment of cognitve and metacognitve knowledge must be developed and harmonized with the necessary science values for them to appreciate science concepts and exploratons.This appreciaton will eventually reshape their drive to do higher learning tasks in the subject.

CONCLUSION
Based on the fndings of the study, the following are concluded: • students exposed to the self-paced learning prototype performed beter in the subject as indicated by their post-test results; • great impact of the self-paced learning prototype was observed among high ability students; however, marginal impact was observed among low ability students; • the learner-respondents manifest a positve motvaton in learning the subject; • students' motvaton in learning science like self-efcacy, actve learning strategy, science learning value, performance goal, achievement goal, and learning environment stmulaton are highly related to their post-test performances.
In general, it is concluded that self-pace learning prototype optmizes students' performances and a potent tool in optmizing classroom instructon.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Zimmerman's Model of Self-Regulated Learning(Zimmerman, 1999) This study was conducted at the Quirino State College -Laboratory High School, Philippines, during the last quarter of School Year 2006-2007.Two sectons of sixty-four General High School Chemistry students handled by the researcher were utlized in the study.Lotery was done in determining the experimental grouping of the study.

Table 1 .
Test of Diference on the Pre-test and Post-test Mean Scores of the Respondents

Table 2 .
The Two-way Analysis of Covariance on the Tests ConductedPresented in Table

Table 4 .
The Relatonship of the Students' Motvaton in Learning Science to their Academic Performance