Effects of a Flipped Classroom Approach on Grade 6 Learners' Achievement in Marcotting: A Quasi-Experimental Study in Philippine Technology and Livelihood Education

Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) is a key element of education in the Philippines, aiming to provide learners with the skills, knowledge, and work attitude needed for daily life and careers (Barcelona et al., 2023; Valle & Valle, 2024). At the elementary level, TLE introduces pupils to agriculture, plant propagation, home economics, and entrepreneurship so they can understand basic livelihood competencies before taking specialized courses in junior and senior high school. The purpose of the revised education program under the MATATAG Curriculum (Department of Education [DepEd], 2024) has been repeated, making the classes focused on the learners, stressing the competencies, and considering local realities. In many classes in the Philippines, TLE is still taught mainly in traditional ways. Teachers conduct lectures, explain, and demonstrate as if they had little time for hands-on practice and face issues such as time limitations as well as difficulties with facilities and lack of training (Barcelona et al., 2023; Espiritu, 2022). This limited peer learning becomes especially problematic when teaching procedures like marcotting (i.e., a specific type of plant reproduction in which branches are attached to the parent plant) (Hartmann et al., 2014).To learn how to conduct marcotting, students must grasp several processes, such as selecting a suitable branch, girdling and stripping the bark, applying a damp rooting medium (including rooting hormone, if available), wrapping and securing the medium, monitoring, and separating the rooted branch. When students have little time left to practice these operations under the teacher's supervision, because the lesson is spent discussing each stage in detail, the tension can be resolved by using the Flipped Classroom model. Flipped Classroom alters the way knowledge is conveyed by shifting its transmission to the time outside of class when brief instructional videos and study materials are used. Classroom time is then available for active, collaborative, and hands-on learning under teacher supervision (Abeysekera & Dawson, 2015; Bergmann & Sams, 2012). According to meta-analyses made on flipping, the approach is indeed effective and shows reasonable evolutionary diversity, but the studies are mostly conducted in the higher education sector and school learning, and there is little data about utilization of the flipped approach among learners of the upper elementary school stage, who are less experienced in planning their own education (Lo & Hew, 2017). This gap has practical and theoretical implications. Practically, TLE teachers need to ensure that their efforts to find appropriate materials are reasonable and satisfactory for students, given differences in home devices and internet access. From the theoretical standpoint, the content of TLE, such as cases on marcotting, serves as a perfect material for testing the argument made by many scholars claiming that the mechanism of flipping leads to better learning because it allows students to dedicate class time to guided performance of certain tasks under the supervision of the teacher (Abeysekera & Dawson, 2015; Mayer, 2021). The present study therefore examined the effect of a four-week flipped classroom approach on Grade 6 learners’ achievement in marcotting, compared with conventional lecture-discussion instruction. Specifically, it addressed four research questions: 1. What were the pre-test achievement levels of the experimental (flipped) and comparison (conventional) classes in marcotting, and were the two classes comparable at baseline? 2. What were the post-test achievement levels of the two classes after four weeks of instruction? 3. Was there a significant change from pre-test to post-test within each class? 4. Was there a significant difference in post-test achievement between the two classes, and how large was the difference? Two null hypotheses were tested at the .05 level of significance. H₀₁: There is no significant difference between the pre-test and post-test achievement of learners within either class. H₀₂: There is no significant difference in post-test achievement between learners taught through the flipped classroom approach and those taught through conventional instruction. Review of Related Literature The Flipped Classroom: Definition and Evidence Base The flipped classroom method reverses established norms regarding teaching. The first introduction to a topic is done before students enter the classroom (usually through videos created or shared by the instructor), and time in class is now dedicated only to activities that encourage learners to assimilate, collaborate, and use the information received (Bergmann & Sams, 2012; Bishop & Verleger, 2013). Tomas et al. (2019) point out that flipping is not a means but a continuum of instruments whose efficacy hinges on learners' preparedness and the ability to connect pre-class and in-class activities. Similarly, Deng et al. (2022) argue that flipped learning should be viewed as student-centered, but as a refined practice rather than simply introducing videos into teaching. According to some studies, flipped classrooms can be said to be effective since meta-analyses carried out in various areas show that learners achieve moderate gains (g = 0.19; Cheng et al., 2019) and substantial gains (g = 0.36, van Alten et al., 2019; g = 0.50, Strelan et al., 2020), but the results vary greatly across studies. The effects become more notable when in-class activities involve active learning and include checks for students’ preparation (van Alten et al., 2019). In the study conducted by Gross et al. (2015), it was claimed that the improvement in performance was largely facilitated by the increased preparation of students. Reviews of the advantages and pitfalls that flipping presents highlight students’ awareness, teachers’ workload, and access to technology as problems in the field (Akçayır & Akçayır, 2018; Kapur et al., 2022). Flipped Instruction with Younger Learners Most flipped classroom research has been conducted in higher education, and its findings cannot feasibly be applied to younger learners. In the critical review, K–12 studies by Lo and Hew (2017) reveal generally positive effects while identifying challenges specific to school settings: learners almost never watch the videos; access to devices at home is terribly limited; unfamiliarity with the approach; and the time required for teachers to produce materials. They suggested short videos and simple pre-class tasks to diagnose understanding, with in-class activities following directly from that content. In reports involving lower secondary learners, achievement and engagement increased when these were in place (Ying & Ayub, 2022), and research on blended learning with Grade 6 students indicates that learners' self-regulation and access to resources shape outcomes (Nguyen et al., 2024). Taken together, the findings suggest that upper elementary learners will benefit from flipping only when the pre-class component is short, readily available, and closely linked to classroom tasks. Flipped Instruction in Technical, Vocational, and Philippine Contexts Data from studies on technical and vocational education are important for TLE. Holik (2019) investigated how the flipping process affected students' performance and engagement in a cooking program in CTE and concluded that it increased performance and class involvement because students arrived in class after seeing the process performed first and were ready to master the procedure in the lab. Research in other subjects that focus on skills learned through demonstration has also shown that watching videos on the topic before the lesson improves students' performance and learning (Elmaadaway, 2018). In the Philippines, studies on flipped learning in chemistry (Macale et al., 2021) and biology (Malto et al., 2018) showed improvements in students' performance and learners' feelings in college education (Gonzales, 2019). Researchers investigating TLE call for an innovative approach to developing technical skills (Barcelona et al., 2023), the use of supportive videos and electronic materials (Espiritu, 2022; Grandeza & Grandeza, 2024), and differentiated, inclusive methods (Mendoza, 2024). Related intervention studies in classrooms in the Philippines show that applying a well-structured, student-centered approach, such as peer reading, can improve performance for many students in a short time and achieve a large effect size. Student feedback indicates that program length and the alignment of activities with assessments should be considered when designing such programs (Astrero & Eugenio, 2025). However, to date, no study has tested flipped classroom in agriculture or plant propagation. Synthesis and Research Gap In this study's conclusion, three gaps are highlighted. Research on the flipped classroom concept has mainly focused on post-secondary education and academic subjects, neglecting elementary vocational training and education. Second, only some studies focus on procedural subjects, where flipping provides the most help because it gives students time to practice. Lastly, many articles report only the significance level of an experiment, not effect sizes. This research addresses these gaps by reviewing the flipped classroom model in marcotting for 6th-grade students and reporting impact measures alongside experimental results. Theoretical Framework This research is based on three distinct perspectives. Constructivist learning theory interprets learning as a process in which students actively construct knowledge by building understanding from their experiences (Vygotsky, 1978), i.e., through guidance from peers and teachers. Cognitive load theory and the cognitive theory of multimedia learning then come into play. According to them, an instructional video that enables one to watch a demonstration of a complex procedure in a non-intera