Development of a laboratory manual in physics for students enrolled in the double secondary curriculum with a thrust in the arts

A laboratory manual in physics is developed for students enrolled at the Philippine High School of the Arts (PHSA), National Arts Center Laguna, to enable teachers and students meet demands not only of the arts curriculum but also of science education. Using the Dovetailed Secondary-Tertiary Methodology, the teacher must use other means aside from the lectures to supplement the needs of the students who are enrolled in the double secondary curriculum. The student would need, therefore, materials which are easy to work on and which would be very useful in their study. In addition, one way to change students\u27 negative attitude in physics is to let them understand its significance which follows once they have understood the basics of Physics. The experiments in the manual are not original. They were taken from the available laboratory manuals although the procedures were modified to suit student needs. The developed manual has the following features: 1. Experiments covering the basic concepts of Physics 2. Quotations to motivate students 3. Theories to give students the idea of the experiments to be performed 4. Procedures made which are easy to follow 5. Diagrams to simplify instructions 6. Guide questions to help students in analysis and discussions 7. Tables to facilitate systematic presentation of data 8. Analysis presentation to develop critical thinking 9. Questions as applications of the concepts learned 10. Conclusions to synthesize students\u27 thoughts. Assessment of the manual is basically based from feedbacks of students who directly used the manual. It was also presented to both public and private school teachers and students for evaluation using questionnaires. Its mean and standard deviation were computed. The following conclusions were drawn based on the findings: 1. The laboratory manual is of great help to students in getting a deeper understanding of the concepts of physics. 2. Physics can be an interesting subject if the students are provided with opportunities in manipulating and even improving apparatus as long as they experience the thrill of scholarly discovery in the performance of experiments. 3. The manual is useful not only to Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA) students but to other students as well