ABSTRACT
The study aimed to determine the effectiveness of SuperSOLO strategy in enhancing the critical thinking skills among the select Grade 7 students in Calatagan National High School. The study employed quasi-experimental method of research. The respondents were 30 Grade 7 students in Calatagan National High School. The researcher-constructed test and the researcher-made survey questionnaire were the main data-gathering instruments. Different statistical tools were utilized which include frequency and percentage distribution, weighted mean, composite mean, standard deviation and Wilcoxon signed rank test. The results indicated that the SuperSOLO strategy significantly enhanced students’ critical thinking skills in science. It was also revealed that there is a notable improvement in post-test results compared to pre-test scores. The p-value of 0.001, which is far below the chosen significance level of 0.05, indicating a significant difference between the two sets of assessment results. It was also revealed that among the three aspects, analysis obtained the highest mean score of 4.67 (SD = 0.60), which is verbally interpreted as excellent. This indicates that students demonstrated a very high ability to examine information, identify relationships, and draw logical conclusions. The findings also revealed that the respondents strongly agree that the SuperSOLO strategy enhanced their critical thinking skills.
Keywords: Critical Thinking Skills, SOLO Taxonomy, SuperSOLO strategy, uni structural, multi-structural, relational, extended abstract
CONTEXT AND RATIONALE
In today’s rapidly evolving world, critical thinking has become an essential skill for students to succeed. Science education plays a vital role in fostering critical thinking, problem-solving and analytical skills. Science education doesn't just fill students with fact; it teaches them how to think as well. It equips them with the tools to question, investigate, reason, and solve problems, which are all essential parts of critical thinking and lifelong learning.
As Department of Education aims to equip Filipino students with high-quality education and the skills, they need to meet the challenges of the 21st century. (DepEd Order No. 21 s, 2019). Critical thinking is the number two among the top ten 21st century skills that the students should have in 2020 according to the World Economic Forum survey in 2016 (World Economic Forum, 2016). According to Stauffer, (2021) critical thinking is one of the four “C’s” needed by the sstude nt to succeed in school. However, many students struggle with these skills, hindering their ability to fully comprehend scientific concepts.
In 2018, the Philippines participated for the first time in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), a global benchmarking tool developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The results were concerning: Filipino 15-year-old students ranked among the lowest in all three core domains—reading, mathematics, and science. Specifically, in science, the Philippines had an average score of 357, significantly below the OECD average, and only about 23% of students reached the minimum proficiency level. This alarming outcome highlighted systemic issues in the Philippine education system, such as gaps in curriculum delivery, lack of critical thinking instruction, and overreliance on rote learning. It became clear that many students were struggling not because they lacked exposure to scientific content, but because they were unable to apply knowledge, reason logically, analyze data, and evaluate evidence—skills that are central to science literacy as defined by PISA.
In response, the Department of Education launched "Sulong Edukalidad," an initiative aimed at improving the quality of basic education in the country through reforms in teacher development, curriculum review, and learning environment enhancement. However, national-level reforms require support from grassroots initiatives in the classroom. One such response is the implementation of the SUPERSOLO strategy—a pedagogical approach grounded in the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) taxonomy, which guides learners from surface-level understanding to deep and extended abstraction. The SUPERSOLO strategy enhances the traditional SOLO framework by integrating scaffolding techniques, metacognitive prompts, and inquiry-based learning tasks designed to progressively build students’ critical thinking skills.
According to Brazel (2020), enhancing pupils' literacy and giving them the ability to evaluate and analyze information are vital. Despite the fact that 97.95 percent of Filipinos are literate, the nation has not changed in recent decades to match the demands of the modern world in terms of information processing. Educational institutions must change their teaching methods to enable students to evaluate, interpret, and find reliable sources for their own work in order to counteract this trend.
As a means of guiding beliefs and actions, critical thinking is the intellectually rigorous process of actively and skillfully conceiving, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating knowledge generated by or obtained from observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication (University of Louisville, 2012).
In the Department of Education, most of the educators used Revised Bloom’s by Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) as their guide in the formulation of the assessment task and lesson development (DepEd Order No. 8 s, 2015). However, Drew C. (2022), said that the SOLO taxonomy is a more practical framework than Bloom’s taxonomy due to its focus on observable outcomes rather than internal cognitive processes. He also said that the verbs in SOLO taxonomy are all observable, making them ideal for assessments. SOLO is a framework craft by John Biggs and Kevin Collis that classifies levels of understanding as pre-structural, uni-structural, multi-structural, relational, and extended abstract. According to Damopolii, (2020) cited by Dumaraos, (2022), Biggs and Collis (1982) created the Solo Taxonomy (Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes), a methodical approach to how students' comprehension progresses from simple to complex as they study various tasks or subjects. The SOLO Taxonomy offers a methodical approach to gaining profound understanding and can be utilized to improve the caliber of instruction in the classroom.
According to Mukuka, A. et. al., (2020), one essential assessment tool for teaching and understanding mathematics is solo taxonomy. It reveals the area of the subject that the student has difficulties with and gives a hint of the area that needs remediation. SOLO taxonomy is one of the models that can be considered in developing assessments to analyze students’ responses in what level of SOLO taxonomy the learning outcome falls. SOLO taxonomy combined with authentic assessment can be a powerful tool for evaluating students learning competency. (Mindayani et al., 2020).
This research focused on the application of the SUPERSOLO strategy in science education among selected Grade 7 students of Calatagan National High School. The need for this intervention is evident in the consistently low Mean Percentage Scores (MPS) obtained in quarterly assessments, which fall below the national standard. These results indicate limited mastery of learning competencies and underdeveloped critical-thinking skills among learners.
The Grade 7 level is particularly significant, as it marks the transition into junior high school and serves as a foundational stage for cultivating scientific habits of mind. At this stage, students are expected not only to understand scientific concepts but also to engage with them critically and analytically. However, traditional instructional approaches often prioritize memorization over higher-order thinking skills such as reasoning and problem-solving. As a result, students may be able to recall information but struggle to apply their knowledge in unfamiliar contexts—an issue reflected in the country’s performance in international assessments such as PISA.
The use of the SUPERSOLO strategy offers a potential solution to this challenge. By providing structured progression from simple to complex thinking tasks, the strategy encourages students to move beyond recall and comprehension toward relational and extended abstract levels of understanding. In doing so, it aligns well with PISA’s framework, which measures students' ability to apply knowledge in real-world contexts. Furthermore, the research aims to address a critical gap in empirical evidence regarding the effectiveness of structured thinking strategies in the local classroom setting. Most studies on SOLO-based instruction are international; thus, this research contributes valuable insights specific to the Philippine context.
Ultimately, this study sought to determine whether the SUPERSOLO strategy can effectively enhance the critical thinking skills of junior high school students in science. If proven successful, the approach could be scaled for broader application and serve as a model for other schools aiming to uplift science education outcomes. More importantly, it directly supports the national education reform agenda by providing teachers with a practical, research-based framework to foster deeper thinking and improved scientific literacy among learners.
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