Science Education plays a significant role in the country's economic development. It brings technological advancement, promotes national wealth, and improves health and industry. In this context, the qualitative study explored the participants' experiences regarding their choice in specializing Science. Narrative inquiry from four purposively selected and interviewed graduating students of Secondary Education in Teacher Education Institutions in Northern Negros Philippines determined and described that Personal Interest, Nature of Science, Family Influence and Teacher's Impact drives their interest to specialize Science. Data analysis involved a simplified version of Groenewald's coding and categorizing the participants' responses (Cebuano) which then transcribed and translated to the English language. The emerging themes are essential in students' choice in Science. Thus, academic institutions may revisit and review its science curriculum, provide state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, strengthen teacher's mastery and competence through professional advancement, and involve parents in school’s career campaign to attract students’ to pursue science education.

The 21st century emphasizes the role of technology in different facets of life, especially in the educational system, as it serves as a platform for teachers and students in the delivery of effective teaching and learning process. In this perspective, descriptive-correlational research determines the level of technology exposure and its relationship to the study and academic performance in Social Studies subject of the one hundred seventy-four (174) students who were randomly chosen from a total population of six hundred eighty-eight (688) during the School Year 2018-2019 in the three selected public secondary schools in the district of Tapaz West, Schools Division of Capiz, Philippines. The data were gathered using a standardized survey questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics: mean, percentage, frequency count, and standard deviation. For the inferential statistics: t-test, analysis of variance, and Pearson r correlation at 0.05 level of significance through the aid of the SPSS software version 27. The study's significant findings revealed that exposure to technology significantly relates to students' study habits. At the same time, it does not significantly relate to their academic performance in Social Studies subjects. The findings suggest that school administrators, parents, teachers, and other stakeholders should ensure that students are properly guided to the right technology platforms to support learning and improve their study habits towards excellent academic achievement.

Metaheuristic algorithms are optimization algorithms that are used to address complicated issues that cannot be solved using standard approaches. These algorithms are inspired by natural processes such as genetics, swarm behavior, and evolution, and they are used to explore a broad search space to identify the global optimum of a problem. Genetic algorithms, particle swarm optimization, ant colony optimization, simulated annealing, and tabu search are examples of popular metaheuristic algorithms. These algorithms have been widely utilized to address complicated issues in domains like as engineering, finance, and computer science. In general, the history of metaheuristic algorithms spans several decades and involves the development of various optimization algorithms that are inspired by natural systems. Metaheuristic algorithms have become a valuable tool in solving complex optimization problems in various fields, and they are likely to continue to play an important role in the development of new technologies and applications.

The advent of technology proliferates the evolution of social media that creates a massive breakthrough in different aspects of life, especially in education. Teachers play a crucial role as they adapt to the new era of an educational system where students with special needs are mainstreamed in the regular learning environment. Student’s success in learning is attributed to teachers' effective techniques, methods, and approaches to deliver quality and meaningful learning to diverse students regardless of religion, ethnic groups, race, culture, and disabilities. This context inspired the author to investigate the effectiveness of Facebook Messenger as an educational platform in teaching to scaffold deaf students’ conceptual understanding in environmental science subject through a quasi-experiment to a single group composed of four (N=4) deaf college students in one selected State College of the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Northern Negros Philippines. The findings revealed that deaf students had a very low conceptual understanding of the subject in the pre-test, however, manifested very high after the intervention (post-test). Moreover, results show that there was no significant difference in the level of the participants’ conceptual understanding between and among gender groups, however, the difference was significant in the pre-test and post-test gained scores. Furthermore, Facebook Messenger has been proven effective and thereby recommended to maximize its potential as an educational tool in teaching to scaffold deaf students’ conceptual understanding of science fields and other disciplines.

Introduction:The Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) is a measurement of the quality and excellence of the Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) the country has produced. Passing the licensure exam brings prestige not only to pre-service physical science teachers but also to the academic institution, as it projects the public the impression of producing quality graduates. Purpose: The objective of the study is to determine the extent of the factors that contribute to the performance of pre-service physical science teachers in the licensure examination for teachers. Moreover, it will serve as a guide for the school administrators of different Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) in the Philippines on the essential program enhancements and interventions needed to further improve the performance of the pre-service takers in the licensure exam. Methodology: The purposive sampling technique was used. Since there are only 34 takers on the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) in the year 2012, the author decided to utilize the total enumeration with 6 out of the total population being maximized in the reliability testing. A descriptive method of research design was employed to determine the extent of the contributing factors. Results:The subsequent results revealed that, in terms of teacher and review class factors, it was rated as high extent. School facilities factor was rated moderately extent and student factor as very high extent. Referring to the significant difference in the extent of the factors on the performance of pre-service physical science teachers in the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET), it was found that there is no significant difference among the factors. Recommendations/Classroom Implications: The findings suggest that intensive review classes should be strengthened with a strong focus on the specialization and professional education subject areas as they contribute 40% each of the total result in the LET. Moreover, the school administrators should provide state-of the-art laboratory facilities to enhance pre-service physical science teachers' pedagogies, scientific, and practical skills in physical science.