On Friday, 25 July 2025, P5 students went to Manahan. Not only did they just walk around, but they also did a simple observation and data collecting. Starting the activity with a briefing, students were informed about what they need to do in Manahan and received a worksheet for data collecting.
During the observation, they had to name some food being sold, find how many groups were using other school uniforms, and count the people wearing blue clothes and/or a hat. They walked together through Manahan before stopping to answer the worksheet. The students counted the people they needed to find; some estimated the number, and some worked together with their friends. Once they returned to school, they had a presentation to explain their process in data collecting, the result, the difficulties, and how to solve them in one minute.
Through this activity, not only do students have their activity outside the classroom, but also reintroduce them to data collecting, this time with more subjects. They can see that simple observation can be used for data collecting. Not only that, but through the presentation, they learn how to recall and reflect on their process before presenting it in a certain amount of time.
This activity served as a lesson that anyone can do research, even in a simple observation, but they need to be careful when collecting the data and to not miscount; missing data can lead to a different result. Exposing this skill will be useful for the students in the future, when they will be faced with even more data. ***
