INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Students struggle each day with a lot of test procedures,
high standards, and a feeling of stress and pressure to
learn everything as quickly as possible so the curriculum
can all be learned before the year ends. Unfortunately, most
students do not learn the best by seeing flash cards, rote
memorization or by chalk and board discussions. I have also
seen teachers who try to teach their students some facts and
information using visual representations and other aids that
are more appealing to students. I have also talked to
teachers who feel there isn't enough time in a day, to teach
all the curriculum to be taught this way. And as a result,
the teachers find themselves rushing teaching the
curriculum. I believe students need to learn strategies that
work within their style of learning, and then use whenever
possible to create and reinforce the links of information
within their brains. When students are able to do this
successfully, they will be able to retain important
information that will most likely be needed on future tests.
And these tests that administered in school mostly are
factual recall. It is unfortunate to know that many students
in barangay schools in elementary education failed to have a

consistent passing grade, this learning situation is clearly

revealed in the 2010-2014 NAT results.

Every year, Grade 3

and Grade 6 take the Department of Educations (DepEd)

National Achievement Test (NAT).

The results are

disappointing, particularly having difficulties of

remembering academic content.

The NAT achievement grade for

Liberty Elementary School Year 2010-2014 for Grade 6 was a

mean percentage score (MPS) of 55.10 percent which is far
from DepEds passing goal of 75 percent.

This result

implied that most students still need to enhance their

knowledge and comprehension as this will serve as their
ticket to maximum learning.

The unsatisfactory result above

is shared by our local education sector of which our

educational institution had been a recipient of this
unfortunate outcome.
Social Studies (Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika)
is one of the basic subjects included in the K-12 curriculum
in the Department of Education.

As an elementary teacher,

it was observed that the learners experiencing difficulty in

remembering facts in their academic contents, as well as
understanding chalk and board discussions of concepts. This
alarming

situation

should

be

seriously

addressed

by

the

educators not just in the local area but throughout the

country.
According to research, memory techniques should be developed
in every learner that can certainly help them to be more

dynamic in school.

This approach may possibly address both

the

and

opportunities

encounters.

challenges

faced

in

educational

The use of Dynamic Memory Techniques as a

learning aid makes students aware of how memory techniques

work, when they work and where they can be used. As Sousa
(2001), affirms that through teaching learning strategies,
students

become

better

equipped

to

face

future

tasks and become independent lifelong learners.

learning
According

to Barlow in 2011, memory can help search respond quickly

and efficiently to changes in a dynamic problem.
their

strengths,

standard

memories

which limit their effectiveness.

have

many

Despite

weaknesses

One technique that may

improve optimization and learning Social Studies is by using

mnemonics.

Mnemonics or the art of memory is considered to

be an unfathomable intellectual interest.

It is a useful

tool in storing and retrieving limitless information that

helps
2014).

students

strengthen

their

learning

skills

(Diron

It is designed to boost the confidence of learners

to maintain and retrieve information from the past through

the use of memory, where answers are stored periodically and
can be retrieved and refined when needed.
That is the reason why the researcher feels the
need to conduct an experimental study regarding the use of
dynamic memory techniques as a learning strategy in dealing
with their academic difficulties.

As it promise to develop

an automatic recall of the basic facts in order for them to

construct their own knowledge and activates their learning.
This study will be conducted to address issues
concerning difficulty in learning the concepts particularly
in Social Studies (Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika) subject
in grade 6 in Barangay Liberty Elementary School, to enhance

their proficiency level of performance deficits in order to

alleviate

their

academic

performance

in

meeting

the

standards set by the Department of Education (DepEd).

Objectives of the Study

The focus of this study is to determine the ramification of
the Dynamic Memory Techniques for optimization and learning
Social Studies in intermediate level among grade 6 students
of Liberty Elementary School in Catarman, Northern Samar.
This study addresses of these issues. More specifically, it
was aimed to:
1. determine the performance of grade 6 students taught in
Social

Studies

using

Dynamic

Memory

Techniques

(experimental group) in the pretest;

2. ascertain the performance of grade 6 students taught in
Social Studies using the Traditional Learning Strategy
(control group) in the pretest;
3. find out if there is a significant difference in the
pretest
those

performance
taught

(experimental

of

using
group)

the
the
and

grade

Dynamic
those

students

Memory
taught

between

Techniques
using

the

Traditional Learning Strategy (control group) in Social

Studies;
4. determine the performance of grade 6 students taught in
Social

Studies

using

the

Dynamic

Memory

Techniques

(experimental group) in the posttest;

5. ascertain the performance of grade 6 students taught in
Social Studies using the Traditional Learning Strategy
(control group) in the posttest;

6. find

out

if

there

is

difference

in

the

posttest

performance of the grade 6 students between those taught

using the Dynamic Memory Techniques (experimental group)
and

those

taught

using

Traditional

Learning

Strategy

(control group) in Social Studies;

7. determine if there is a significant difference between
the pretest and posttest result of the grade 6 students
taught

in

Social

Studies

using

the

Dynamic

Memory

Techniques (experimental group) and those taught using

the Traditional Learning Strategy (control group).
Significance of the Study
This study values the use of Dynamic Memory Techniques
in learning Social Studies among grade 6 students of Liberty
Elementary School in Catarman, Northern Samar. It provides
significant features that are useful to students studying
Social Studies for optimization and better learning.

The

following groups of people are assumed to be benefited by

this study:
Students. The students will be able to improve their
memory,

retention

and

their

learning

concepts;
enjoyable.

The

time

comprehension
will

required

be

by

on
more

encoding

Social

Studies

meaningful
and

and

retrieval

operations decreases with practice once retrieval structures

are

developed.

Improve

concentration

and

better

recall.

Helps students overcome examination phobia. Develop selfconfidence, belief, imagination and creativity.
their

proficiency

level

that

alleviates

their

Enhance
academic

performance in meeting the standards set by the Department

of Education (DepEd).

Parents.
supporting

Parents

their

can

children

make
in

use

of

the

studying

technique

the

concepts

in

that

appear difficult for them. It can also serve as a checklist

basis for assessing childs learning.
Teachers. This study will be beneficial to educators
particularly

those

teaching

Social

Studies

and

Science

subjects. They will greatly benefit from the significant

features of the strategy in terms of substantive delivery of
concepts and assuring student engagement. They will find
added enjoyment and aesthetics as well as creativity in
preparation workload in teaching.
Researchers. This study could give deeper insight and
perspective to other researchers in deciding and conducting
another related investigation regarding the ramification of
memory techniques in other areas.
School Administrators. They will be provided with a
useful strategy which could be of advantage to their staff
and to the improvement of Social Studies teaching.
Teacher Education Institutions. Findings of this study
will be useful to teacher education institutions like the
University

of

Eastern

researches

pertaining

Philippines
to

the

use

to
of

conduct

memory

further

techniques.

Factual data resulting from this study will also serve as

guide

in

considering

potent

strategies

in

addressing

educational problems. They can utilize the pedagogy as an

effective

strategy

in

teaching

Social

Studies

and

other

discipline to maximize teacher and student performance. They

can

utilize

the

techniques

teaching and learning process.

for

optimization

and

better