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Sample of Theoretical Framework

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Integration of technology and vocational components in the basic and general education curriculum in the Asia-Pacific region has attracted increased attention among the policy makers of the region. The need to improve the quality of learners and graduates by empowering them for life-long learning has led to the revision of the curricula. In the Philippines, entrepreneurship development was introduced in schools alongside the implementation of the restructured curriculum. The RBEC-Makabayan makes use of innovative, interdisciplinary and integrative modes of instructional delivery. As a curricular framework, the RBEC is open and flexible in that it allows schools to redesign and contextualize the Makabayan subject. In this research, an evaluation of the Revised Basic Secondary Curriculum Makabayan subject developed the theoretical constructs that serve as a vehicle for the outline of the instructional manual in food dehydration process.
The theoretical perspectives of this research study are based on the premise that:

  • Food dehydration can be integrated in the Makabayan subject of the revised basic secondary education curriculum that will provide numerous benefits to both students and the teachers;
  • Food dehydration is another form of basic entrepreneurial application in the secondary school;
  • There are barriers that exist in the secondary school system that can hinder the integration of food dehydration process in the Makabayan subject;
  • Secondary school teachers are the appropriate media to diffuse food dehydration technology to the educational system.

Curriculum development, being a dynamic process, can be an effective vehicle in the continuing integration of a focused course of learning objectives to eliminate weak general education characterized as a shopping mall curriculum. Through skillful school management of systems, an innovative approach to academic and occupational education can be articulated in a sequence of competency based courses such a food science and craft technology as a balance between breadth and depth to provide students life long learning outcomes putting to good use resources whenever possible and appropriate.

Student empowerment has become a new concern in school management. Lowe (1995) defines empowerment as a process of which an individual has the motivation and skills necessary to perform their responsibilities a sense of achievement in the performed tasks in school. This can be learned and put to practice by the student through competencies incorporated in an innovative course that will enable the student to find answers to challenges in performing the tasks required by the subject. And these competencies can be infused by their teachers through new learning concepts that can be overall beneficial to the stakeholders.

Fig. 1 Conceptual Framework

Input
–    Design principles in food dehydration process
–    New research method and approaches
–    Key learning areas in the revised secondary education curriculum
–    Background of Makabayan Project

Process
–    Dehydration design computations
–    Mathematical and design simulation modeling
–    Source material

Output
–    Comparisons of Basic education in the Asean region
–    Proposed manual for food dehydration and crafts modelling

By: Mary Rose Florence S. Cobar

Sample Background of the Study

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In the Philippine setting, dehydrated fruits are produced by bulk processors in comparison to foreign household wherein dehydrators are common kitchen equipment and food dehydration is as common as regular cooking of meals.

At present, a number of government run agricultural high schools are trying to incorporate food dehydration in the chemistry subject. This strategy of introducing food dehydration is being done in the Science High School of the Central Luzon State University (Andaya, et.al.2005). The said state university located in Munoz, Nueva Ecija coordinates with the Bureau of Post Harvest Research Extension (BPHRE) in its research in applying methods in food dehydration using locally-sourced material for the fabrication of a drying system that can be used by the farm cooperatives formed by the Department of Agriculture Extension services in the area. BPHRE in turn pilot tests food dryers with less power consumption or sometimes none at all due to the high cost of energy, by setting up a group of mushroom farmers into drying their produce which has a ready market in Central Luzon alone (Mateo,2005).

If home-based or small-scale food dehydration process is promoted widely, the benefits through sub-contracting similar to large producing and exporting countries such as Thailand, Brazil, Ecuador and Uganda will promote income generation in general. Food processing is labor intensive than capital intensive.

In the end view, the study hopes for the gradual assimilation of food dehydration, fabrication process and systems management approach not only in the Makabayan subject component in home and technology but also to a vocational course as food dehydration. The study develops a source material in food dehydration which includes accompanying technological processes for craft production used in the food dehydration industry. This source material maybe beneficial to Makabayan teachers who can integrate a project-based learning strategy in teaching the food dehydration process, dehydrator fabrication and a management framework that is simple enough to be integrated into the secondary school curriculum.

By: Mary Rose Florence S. Cobar

Sample Research Methodology

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Research Design

1. Food Dehydration

The method to be applied in this study is in the category of experimental type of research to discuss the cause and effect relationship of a treatment on a variable. Likewise, procedural steps to be used in the laboratory experiments to be conducted in the integrated subject will be incorporated in the manual for food dehydration. The study will employ library research, data from BPRE, CLSU and DepEd and the internet as tools in the development of the course outline.

2. Approach

The research study on the proposed integrated subject’s manual for laboratory use in the school will involve three (3) aspects:
2.1. theoretical study and modeling;
2.2. design simulation and mathematical modeling;
2.3. proposed design and fabrication of a modular dehydrator;
2.4. preparation of food to be dehydrated.
The proposed course framework for the basic secondary education Makabayan subject under the Teknolohiya, Edukasyong Panatahanan at Pangkabuhayan or formerly Technology and Home Economics.

Course Title: Food Dehydration
Major Concepts/Contents:

Food dehydration will provide students the opportunity to apply scientific principles and methods with common fruits and vegetables. The subject focuses on food preservation by means of the dehydration process in addition to related consumer topics. Activities and experiments integrate science, mathematics and language arts. Students develop writing and critical reasoning skills through the process of analyzing and reporting scientific data collected during experiments. The subject outline explores a career in marketing and process management opportunities in food dehydration.

Work-based Learning Activities:

It is recommended that the school and the students select a work environment for observation, volunteering or actual work experience depending on available opportunities.

Content Standards:
After successfully completing the subject outline, the students will be able to:
a)    explore the world of food dehydration as a science
b)    demonstrate the processes involved
c)    explore a career in food dehydration and allied processes
Suggested Scope and Sequence
A. Introduction to Food dehydration
1. What is food Dehydration?
2. Scientific evaluation
2.1. Laboratory equipment
2.2. Laboratory experiments
2.3. Scientific reports
3. Dehydration Process
3.1. Purposes of Dehydration
3.2. Preparation for dehydration
3.3. Methods of dehydration
4. Metal and Wood working
4.1. Materials applicable in the fabrication of a modular dehydrator
4.2. Tools and accessories
4.3. Steps in fabrication
4.4. Testing the finish product for its efficacy
4.5. Dehydration of selected foods for the experimental phase

5. Writing the scientific report of the experiment outcomes

6. Fundamentals in Management systems of small scale food dehydration enterprise and economic study of material resources and operations dynamics.

Research Topic Ideas

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It can be frustrated to choose a right topic for your thesis or research project. How will you know if you are in the right track?  The following are some guidelines and tips in choosing research topic ideas.  You have to choose a right topic before its too late and avoiding the problems later.

Topic ideas includes about business, crime and law, media and communication, health, psychology, religion, social issues, women issues, men issues, children issues, terrorism, family issues, environmental issues , current events, news and politics, criminal justice, earth and sciences, education, history and philosophy, sociology and social work and many more.  These topics ideas are very broad so you are the one who will choose the topic that interest to you.

The following are some tips on choosing a right topic for your needs:

  • Your research topic should be original.
  • Your topic might be interesting but make sure to have enough information
  • Choose specific subject you want to study and think of the question or problem that has not been addressed before.
  • Your chosen topic should have resources and expertise to access
  • Your research topic should be possible
  • Always find a background study for your topic before finalizing it
  • Limit your topic into specific for the specific time

 

 

How Long Does it Take to Write a Thesis

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A school or university gives at least one complete term for writing the thesis. Thesis requires complete time for researching, organizing, analyzing, and computing data.  Writing a thesis is easy if you know how to do it.  Some takes one year or two terms in order to complete the thesis.  Thesis written to identified a worthwhile problem or question which is not previously answered and you have to solve d the problem or answer the question.   Then provide evidence or proof for your answer by researching and analyzing this information.  Also, it should be original contribution to knowledge.

Writing thesis requires hard work and patient so it is important that your thesis topic is interesting to you so that it may not be bored.  If you are always excited about your topic, your thesis will be completed in no time.  Always remember that a rush job has a painful consequences at the defense.

Your thesis should be also organized so that you can easily manage everything.  You can start writing an outline so that you will know all section or chapter of your thesis.  Thesis outline can be divided into three (3) parts such as introduction, arguments, and conclusion. You can write your thesis statement under introduction section while future research and summary can be included in the conclusion section.

There are different format for your thesis outline but of course just ask your mentor about it so that He can give advice regarding different formats.

Dissertation Outline Sample

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Dissertation outline can be depends upon the requirement of your school and your field.  The beginning and the ending of the dissertation is standard but the body contains variations depends to your field.  But it is necessary to determine the basic outline of a dissertation to help in your dissertation writing.

Dissertation usually starts with an abstract that will summarize your dissertation.   Then after abstract you can write the acknowledgment which give thanks and appreciation that made your dissertation possible.

After writing the abstract and acknowledgement, table of contents is the next step.  In your table of contents, make sure to include both sections of your dissertation and its sub sections.

The next step is to start with introduction which include the scope of your research.  It includes statement of the problem, importance of the problem, dissertation arguments, research question and hypothesis.

The next chapter will be the review of related literature.  After related literature will the methodology then the results of your study.

Under the methodology chapter, you can include your research design, procedures used and data analysis while in the discussion chapter; you can include summary, conclusions, limitations and recommendation for future research.

The body of your dissertation may be varies depending of your type of field so it is important to determine the requirement of your university or college for your dissertation.  Some school or university provides outline depending the course of their students.

 Sample Dissertation Outline will be the following

  • Abstract
  • Acknowledgment
  • Table of Contents
  • Introduction
  • Review of Related Literature
  • Methodology
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • References
  • Appendices

 

Thesis Writing Preparation

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Schools or Colleges provides thesis guidelines and requirement for their students so it is important to prepare for these guidelines so that your thesis is passed in their specification.

Thesis writing preparation will be used to know if you are ready to submit your thesis.  It is a complete waste of time if you create a thesis that is not qualified to your colleges.

First of all, you must get a checklist for the college’s requirement for the thesis writing course. Make sure to get the necessary document before your thesis writing such as thesis proposal approval form, thesis title page form, thesis defense form, thesis signature and approval page, thesis table of contents, thesis formats, and many more that your school will required.  Also, list the required page format including the pagination, spacing and alignment.

There are always rules and guidelines to consider when writing thesis based on your school requirement, so better check everything.  School has instruction on how to submit your thesis and how your thesis will look like including thesis components and elements.

Some common errors in your thesis are incorrect margins, cover page wrong format, page number errors, text alignment and spacing.

To avoid mistakes, always check the paper, margin, typing, page numbering, text, table and illustration and references format requirements.

Sample Thesis and Dissertation

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Thesis is one of the hardest tasks that a student should make in order to graduate.  Some school gives thesis structure to be followed by the students. Below is a sample thesis structure:

Title Page
Abstract
Table of Contents
Figure List
Table List
Introduction
Method Used
Results and Discussion
Conclusions
Recommendations
Acknowledgments
References
Appendices

Sample thesis and dissertation over the internet is available now a day so students are given a chance to see an actual thesis and used it as guidelines to their thesis writing.  Students should aware of the topic they really care about. They can search an interesting question about it. Choice a topic that is interests you. Sometimes it takes several months to research and writing a thesis.  It requires patience and self-discipline.  Also, make sure that they should narrow the topic to a manageable size.  Some topic is too big so it should be specific. The topic should have enough resources for information. Then make a thesis statement or argument and justify it through presenting enough evidence. Limit the thesis statement to one to two sentences. Include the methodology used as well as the results and discussion. Also include the conclusion.  The last but not the least, grammar and spelling should be checked.

Thesis Format

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There are different thesis layouts.  The thesis format usually depends on the requirement of the school but in general there are elements that should be included in your thesis.  Some schools provide a general format for the thesis or dissertation.

Below is a sample thesis format

  • Cover Letter.
  •  Title Page. It contains the title of your research or thesis as well as your name, date of submission, etc.
  • Thesis Committee. It is contain the names, title and associations of the committee members including space for the signatures and date.
  • Thesis Examining Committee. It includes the names, titles and association of the Thesis Examining Committee members with space for signature and date.
  • Dedication and Acknowledgment.  It is optional. It can be included if there are someone you wish to dedicate and acknowledge to your work.  You can give thanks to your family and colleagues who support in your research.
  • Abstract.  It summarizes the contents of the thesis.
  • Table of Contents.  It lists all the parts of the thesis.
  • List of Tables. It lists all the tables’ titles in numerical order and their page numbers.
  • List of Figures. It contains all the figures used in your research or thesis in numerical orders with their page numbers.
  • List of Symbols and Abbreviations. It contains such as the alphabetical list of conventional signs and shortened forms of words or phrases.
  • Glossary.  It is optional. It includes foreign words or technical terms used in your thesis followed by their translation or definition alphabetically.

 

Thesis Problem Statement

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A good problem statement is answering a question about the issue you would like to research or explore. Your task is to know what question you would like to answer.  It involves a topic selection.

To write a problem statement, it is important to create and set up a thesis statement.  Identifying your thesis statement is one way of creating your problem statement.  Also, as part of problem statement, you must identify several solutions to the problem. These solutions are presented after the problem has been identified.

Once the problem is identified, several solutions are ready to be presented. Make your problem statement more informative by addressing the who, where, when, why and how.  Now you can create the conclusion by restating the problem and main ideas that you are trying to address.

It is necessary to brainstorm to come up with a problem statement so that your topic will become specific. Avoid writing multiple problems or broad topic because it can lead to unsuccessful thesis and vague documents.

Thesis statement should state exactly what your research will be all about to keep your topic manageable. Your thesis statement needs to have a concise conclusion. Also, it is a point of discussion in the entire document.