Abstract
To address the aggressive reform of the Department of Education focused on improving the quality of science education at the basic levels, this mixed-method research explores how high school students exemplified the predict-observe-explain (POE) strategy as a skill or strategy in performing science experiments. A survey questionnaire was administered to determine their practice of POE strategy during the performance of the experiment. Based on the result, a mental model of the predict-observe-explain (POE) strategy was generated, which will serve as a reference for the students when they use POE as a strategy in performing science experiments as well as the teacher’s reference when using POE as a teaching strategy. Previous studies on POE have primarily focused on its effectiveness as a strategy, not as a thought process; thus, this present study proposed a mental model. A mental model is an explanation of how students process the way science experiments are performed. This mental model can help students to understand science concepts and to make better decisions to develop the scientific literacy of the students.
