Perceived Relevance of a Structured Debate Toolkit in Araling Panlipunan

This study focused on assessing the relevance and perceived relevance of a Structured Debate Toolkit for Grade 10 Araling Panlipunan as perceived by students, teachers, and evaluators. Using a developmental research design with evaluative components anchored on the ADDIE Model, the study involved 93 Grade 10 students, 6 Araling Panlipunan teachers, and 7 evaluators from selected public secondary schools in the Division of Agusan del Norte, Philippines. A researcher-developed Relevance Assessment Survey Questionnaire was utilized to determine the perceived relevance of the toolkit across five dimensions: content and contextual relevance, utility for achieving learning, addressing identified gaps, developmental and engagement relevance, and civic empowerment relevance. Findings revealed that students rated the toolkit as Highly Relevant, while teachers and evaluators rated it as Very Highly Relevant across all dimensions, with civic empowerment and content relevance obtaining the highest ratings. One-Way ANOVA further revealed significant differences in the perceptions of the three respondent groups, indicating variations in professional and experiential perspectives toward the toolkit. The study concluded that the Structured Debate Toolkit is a relevant, practical, and innovative instructional intervention capable of strengthening participatory learning, democratic discourse, and higher-order thinking skills in Araling Panlipunan. Furthermore, the toolkit promotes evidence-based reasoning, collaborative learning, reflective thinking, and respectful communication among learners, making it responsive to the demands of twenty-first-century education and active civic participation outside classrooms.

Structured Debate Toolkit, Araling Panlipunan, Critical Thinking, Civic Engagement, Debate-Based Instruction

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