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Ateneo Science Educators and Researchers in Virtual
Engagement (SERVE) 2020 Ateneo de Manila University
School of Science and Engineering
MS Science Education Program of Biology Department

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Chemistry Experiments for Academic Achievement and
21st Century Skills of Students

a*
a
Corina N. Samin , Armando M. Guidote Jr. , and Rhodora F. Nicdao a

a b
School of Science and Engineering, Ateneo de Manila University, Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Engineering,
c
Ateneo de Manila University Department of Education, School of Social Sciences, Ateneo de Manila
*Corresponding Author: corina.samin@obf.ateneo.edu

ABSTRACT

Many watchwords in education have risen such as “21 Century Skills (21CS)” and “Do-It-Yourself (DIY)”.
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Both are grounded on project-based learning (PjBL) which deals with hands-on projects to apply theories. In
chemistry, theories seem to be very difficult to grasp. To address this, the study considered DIY
experiments to provide concrete learning and determine its impact on students’ academic achievement
and 21CS. These DIY experiments deal with different topics in General Chemistry. DIY1: “Making Crystals”
tackles types of crystalline solids by forming crystals out of mixing water and borax from an all-natural
powder. While DIY2: “Producing Sparklers” discusses types of solutions with sparklers being made from
mixing sugar and potassium nitrate obtained in some fertilizers. DIY3: “Creating Chemical Cold and Hot
Packs” addresses the energy changes. Cold packs were made by dissolving table salt and cornstarch in water
while hot packs used vinegar and baking soda. All these DIY experiments were done voluntarily by
students in their homes. A quasi-experimental non-randomized pretest-posttest group design was used in
this study. Three instruments were administered to two groups (n1 = 40, n2 = 38) of students: (1) researcher-
made test on General Chemistry, (2) Likert-scale Survey of 21CS (S21CS) developed by Ravitz J. (2014) and
(3) an open-ended questionnaire for the participants to describe their experiences. Based on the analyses,
DIY experiments had a significant effect on students’ academic achievement (p<0.000*). This is supported
by students’ responses stating that they have learned chemistry in a more interesting and very informative
manner. A negligible correlation was observed between academic achievement and 21CS. The DIY group
(MPRES21CS=2.79, MPOSTS21CS=3.79) obtained a higher increase in the mean S21CS scores than the non-DIY
group (MPRES21CS=2.90, MPOSTS21CS=3.69) indicating a better development of 21CS in the DIY group. Thus, DIY
experiments were undeniably beneficial to the students’ overall learning.

Keywords: Do-It-Yourself (DIY), General Chemistry, Project-based learning (PjBL), Academic Achievement,
21 Century Skills (21CS)
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