In an effort bordering on the heroic, USC’s integrative scholarship is put to the test as authors attempt to place 25 titles in the hands of Senior High School students.

“What they have, they share” is how the University of San Carlos envisions Carolinians to live in society. This vision is epitomized by the collective effort of over 100 authors preparing and developing learning resources in the form of work/textbooks (dubbed “worktexts”) for current and incoming Senior High School students.

Boasting to be comprehensive worktexts for a total of 25 subjects, the titles cover 15 core subjects, nine strand electives in the academic track, and one for arts and design track. Books for the academic track include five titles for the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) strand, three titles for the Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) strand, and one title for Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM) strand.

This ambitious project has been running for over one year, with five titles already printed and used in the USC Senior High School during 1st semester of AY2016–17; the remaining books are in different stages of completion.

In preparation for the book writing project, authors underwent an intensive four-day training conducted by Richard R. Jugar, Ph.D., USC Basic Education Director, who is also a Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC) national mobile trainer for science. The training focused on pedagogy which included workshops targeted at matching chapter objectives with the Department of Education’s learning competencies, and content and performance standards, as well as construction of appropriate evaluation and assessment exercises.

Aside from complying with DepEd standards, USC’s worktexts feature bridging learning opportunities for students, fun facts and trivia to keep the subject matter interesting, and links to online resources. Perhaps best of all, the books are contextualized in the Philippine setting, unlike many commercial textbooks. The worktexts are printed in full color on high-quality, white paper, although the books are sold at affordable prices making quality textbooks available to students. Next year, these worktexts will be available to a wider readership through SoLine Publishing Company, which will exclusively distribute the books. More titles for SHS, as well as for tertiary General Education subjects, are in the pipeline.

by Patrick John Y. Lim, Ph.D. (Coordinator, USC Press SHS textbooks)

Tags: Senior High School, USC Press