Lifelong learning more than Second Chances: The Story of the Miriam College Adult Education Unit

The Power to Create: Walking on Water
Mariano R. Singson
This workshop is dedicated to the development of the key to success of the teaching-learning process – the teacher. It uses the discovery approach with exercises and activities inspired by the works of noted creativity authors Mayo Bryce, Thomas Cronin, and Harry Hepner. Ultimately, the workshop will teach the participants that the creative person proceeds from being a convergent to a divergent thinker, from looking at only one solution to a problem to looking at several solutions, from asking ‘Why?’ to inquiring ‘Why not?’, from believing that some things are possible to understanding that nothing is impossible, from thinking that to see is to believe to appreciating that to believe is to see, and from claiming, ‘I only believe in scientific concepts’ to asserting, ‘I also believe in magic!’.
Mariano R. Singson is a distinguished teacher of child development and education at the College of Education of Miriam College.


Designing Culminating Tasks in Teaching Science
John Vincent D. Salayo, Antonio G. Overio, Jr., Melvin P. Inojosa,

Paul Edward M. Yang, and Rosemichael Ll. Yusingco
In recognition of the need to make instruction and assessments more meaningful and relevant to students, the development of culminating tasks (CT) across subject areas has recently gained attention. From the teachers’ perspective, these CTs, when well designed, promise to be more valid evidence of students’ understanding. From the students’ perspective, these CTs serve as opportunities to demonstrate a wide range of innate and acquired competencies. Given such views, this session demonstrates the process of developing and facilitating a culminating task in a science class. Specific emphasis is given on relationship of subject content and performances of understanding, creating assessment rubrics, multiple sources of feedback, and cooperative learning. The session hopes to encourage more educators to make science more interesting, life-like, and engaging for learners.
John Vincent D. Salayo is the Subject Area Coordinator for Science at Miriam College High School. Antonio G. Overio, Jr., Melvin P. Inojosa, Paul Edward M. Yang, and Rosemichael Ll. Yusingco are fulltime Science teachers in the same school.


Exploring Discovery-Oriented Activities in Teaching Mathematics
Joan Michelle F. Malvas and Celeste Joy O. Matias
There exists a perennial struggle and challenge to make students’ engagement in mathematics classes interesting and fun. In light of this, this session serves as a venue for sharing best practices in making mathematics more real. In particular, the session explored a constructivist orientation towards the management of the teaching-learning process in the context of mathematics. A variety of discovery learning approaches, performance tasks, alternative assessments, and other alternative learning experiences shall be explored by participants. A discussion on how these activities result in students’ enhanced motivation and interest to learn mathematics shall also be facilitated. On the other hand, caveats and considerations shall be provided in employing the strategies and techniques that will be shared.
The presenters are fulltime faculty members from Miriam College High School. Joan Michelle F. Malvas is the Subject Area Coordinator for Mathematics. Celeste Joy O. Matias is the course manager of the Program of Excellence in First Year Mathematics.

Can Music Education Boost Self Efficacy and Self Esteem of College Students?
Jeong-Yang Park, Ph.D. and Kyung-Hyun Suh, Ph.D.
Researchers examined the links of the music preferences and self-efficacy or self-esteem among the college students. The psychological tests used in this research were 35-item Music Preference Inventory, Jerusalem and Schwarzer’s General Self-Efficacy Scale, and Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale. Results of correlation analysis indicated that that the music preference, all of sub-variables of Music Preference Inventory, such as the pursuit of psychological effects of music, preferences of musical activities, preferences of singing, preference of classical music, and preference of classical music, was positively related to self-efficacy as well as self-esteem. Especially, the pursuit of psychological effects of music was shared 15.5% variance of self-efficacy and 13.1% variance of self-esteem. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the music preference accounts 21.4% variance of self-efficacy and 18.8% of self-esteem. In spite of limitation of measurement and generalizability, it may provide valuable information for music psychologists, mental health professionals, music educators.
The presenters are based in Sahmyook University in Seoul, Korea. Dr. Jeong-Yang Park teaches in its Department of Music while Dr. Kyung-Hyun Suh teaches in its Department of Counseling Psychology.


Parental Overprotection and Social Anxiety among Elementary School Students
Kyung-Hyun Suh, Ph.D.
This study investigated how parent's over protection influences social anxiety among elementary school students. The psychological tests used in this research included the following: the Korean version of Parker's Parental Bonding Instrument, LaGreca's Social Anxiety Scale, and the Korean version of Social Anxiety Scale. To achieve the purpose of this study, 2(gender) × 4(parent's over protection) 2-way MANOVAs for interpersonal anxiety and performance anxiety were performed. Results revealed that children with higher parent's intrusion showed more interpersonal anxiety and performance anxiety than children with lower parent's intrusion. However, the influence of father's intrusion was only effective for son, whereas the influence of mother's intrusion was only effective for daughter. And, children with higher parent's autonomy respect showed less performance anxiety than children with lower parent's autonomy respect. It could be discussed results of this study with previous studies, de-identification from parents, and socialization process.
Dr. Kyung-Hyun Suh teaches in its Department of Counseling Psychology of the Sahmyook University in Seoul, Korea.

Visual Arts Heal: Visual Arts Psychotherapy for Depression
Grace Brillantes-Evangelista, Ph.D.
The intentional use of visual arts may enable depressed or emotionally wounded individuals to draw on images, symbols, and metaphors to depict, and in the process make sense of their thoughts and feelings. The use of arts can help them create a more positive life narrative and eventually help them look forward to a life ahead. Drawing from the principles of constructive alternativism, psychoanalysis, active imagination and archetypes, gestalt art therapy, response and arousal theories, and mindfulness, this seminar workshop is an introduction to the practice of visual arts psychotherapy specifically in addressing depression. The workshop includes: (1) a discussion on the key elements and theoretical bases of visual arts psychotherapy, (2) a discussion of depression and how visual arts psychotherapy can address this, and (3) actual visual arts psychotherapy sessions using different modalities.
Dr. Grace Brillantes-Evangelista teaches in the Department of Psychology of Miriam College. She is also the psychologist-consultant of ASMAE-SENMAP, a network of NGOs for street children.
Malikhaing Guro (The Creative Teacher)
Edward Perez
Since 1994, ARTIST Inc. has been conducting creative pedagogy workshops. Dubbed as MALIKHAING-GURO (MG), the regular workshop evolved into a short course on heritage-based teaching philosophy and pedagogy. MG aims to develop the teachers’ creative capability as a performer, innovator, facilitator, and critic in classroom settings. Through MG, teachers gain deeper understanding and appreciation of the local heritage and arts as creative strategies for the teaching and learning of science, mathematics, and related subjects in primary education. Viewing the teaching process as a storytelling while the learning process as a performance, MG allows the teachers to experience the process of writing poems, composing songs, re-telling stories, and rendering short theatre performances reflective of the community’s local heritage.
Edward Perez is the Executive Director of ARTIST, Inc. He is also the vice-chairperson of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts-Committee on Dramatic Arts. He is a recipient of the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, Full-length Play category.

Workshop on Language Garden
Maricel Elorde, Ixara Jane Dollente, and David Warr
Language Garden is a good resource in helping out educators in the use of technology in preserving mother tongues and indigenous languages. It features materials called language plants which are the result of a synergy of two theories: a theory of learning that encourages the use of multiple intelligences – linguistic, logical, artistic, and spatial, inter- and intrapersonal and a theory of language that focuses on word combination and collocations. Language plants show how words fit together. They show collocations and patterns in language, at word, sentence, and text levels. They are like grammatical mind maps, concentrating on language features to help learners learn, appreciate, and grow to love language. Imagine a tree, its branches composed of words, spreading out, giving learners access to lots of language. Language plants make use of modern technology. Teachers and learners can make language plants quickly and easily in any language on any subject and share these with others using the language plant maker thereby creating a wonderful community of Language Gardeners.
Maricel Elorde and Ixara Jane Dollente are educational consultants and presenters of the Language Garden Program in the Philippines. David Warr is the Director of the Language Program Ltd. Based in the United Kingdom.