Variates Affecting the Performance in Basic Food Laboratory of College Home Economics Students at the University of Eastern Philippines System

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the variates affecting the performance in the basic food laboratory of college home economics students in the University of Eastern Philippines system. It sought to draw the socio-demographic profile of the student respondents in terms of age, parents' occupation, parents educational attainment, parents' monthly income; determine the students' level of knowledge and skills competence in basic food laboratory; find out the student respondents level of interest in the performance of basic food laboratory; assess the level of teaching competence of the home economics faculty as rated by students, faculty themselves, and head/superior; find out the problems encountered by the students and faculty respondents during the performance of basic food laboratory. The study utilized the descriptive-correlational research design to describe the problem. It involved seventy (70) students taking up the food selection and preparation subjects, three (3) home economics faculty handling the subject, and three (3) department heads as respondents of the study. Two sets of questionnaires were used: one for student- respondents and one for the faculty respondents and head/superior. The student's level of knowledge and competence showed that most of them had adequate knowledge and understanding of food selection and preparation subject while skill competence and attitude towards laboratory work was also found to be good. In the students' level of interest, most of them were "moderately interested" in performing basic food laboratories specifically in perceiving the importance, value, or usefulness of the home economics course. This denotes probably the result of having a lack or deficiency of sophisticated cooking tools and equipment and lacking exposure to enhance and develop their skills and knowledge and it might be of their limited budget for laboratory expenses. Respondents encountered a problem while performing laboratory tasks however, despite the problems, students performed "very good" in knowledge, "good" in skill, students showed "moderate interest" and faculty rated "most competent “in their teaching. It implies that the respondents treated the problems positively taking this as an opportunity to discover new learning in finding a solution to the problems instead of becoming disinterested in their performance.