TITLE: Study Approach: PAMANTANSAN NG LUNSOD NG MAYNILA CS THIRD YEAR BIOLOGY STUDENTS A. Background of the Study
BS Biology students have the burden of memorizing technical/scientific terms, different defining characteristics of representative species from different phyla, long and confusing life cycles of different organisms and such. Many have failed in recalling key details and important information during examinations and majority of that is because of the technicality of the information they need to digest.
The change made by the new administration of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila regarding the grading system has motivated the students to study harder to acquire the maintaining grade or to get a higher one. This has driven students to create their own techniques regarding memorizing or understanding overwhelming information and data. In the case of the BS Biology students in PLM, they deal with scientific terminologies, numerous characteristics of different organisms and the like which are hard to put in mind. Different techniques are being used to make the students remember as many information as possible.
To make the future students acquire needed values, viewpoints, strategies and forms of knowledge to live creatively in the world of future, new trends in educational area have been needed(Koutselini, 1997). For that reason, together with these new ideas and triggered by the changes in educational arena, various approaches, theories, and trends have appeared, applied, and been studied by the educational researchers to investigate their effects and find new ways to increase student success.
In today’s educational arena, some of the approaches used are multiple intelligences theory, constructivist learning approach, technology-based learning, brain-based learning, critical thinking, problem-based learning, active learning, and project-based learning. All these theories and approaches have implications for educational settings to enhance student achievement. For instance, Multiple Intelligences theory (MI theory) advocated by Howard Gardner (1993) pointed out that there exist different kinds of intelligences in human mind which can be discovered if suitable environment is provided. For that reason, MI theory requires the teachers to use variety of techniques, methods, activities, tools and strategies to explore and foster those intelligences of the students (Armstrong, 2000).
Since the context in classrooms has changed significantly over the last two decades and allowed more to the use of new trends and some of the old ones, this review was conducted with the intention of providing a clear and improved method to be used for reviewing specifically to Biology students who is more in to memorizing and also to inform other concerned people and even future researchers about the effect of the approaches on student achievement in Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila university context. It is considered by the researchers that evaluating the effects of used methods or approaches on student achievement provides a valuable feedback on their efficiency and for future applications of the practitioners. Undergraduate science students regularly acquire knowledge in lecture learning environments, but not necessarily meaningful understanding (Birk and Foster, 1993; McDermott and Shaffer, 1992; McDermott et al., 1994). In light of the fact that lectures are the favored instructional style for college level science courses, we needed to take in more about whether these learning situations help undergraduate students’ objectives to learn. That is, how effective college students are in figuring out how to make their own particular styles for learning.
The researchers were motivated to pursue this study because:
1. They want to identify the different techniques used by students to memorize scientific terms, characteristics of different species, life cycle and the like.
2. They want to know what study approach is the most suitable for a particular topic.
3. They want to help student improve their performance during exams and to further success in the future.

B. Statement of the problem
The study should identify the different study approaches used by the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila- College of Science third year BS Biology students. This study will specifically answer the following questions: 1. What are the different types of study approaches used by third year PLM CS BS Biology students? 2. What is the most appropriate technique for specific topic? 3. How effective is the chosen technique?

C. Significance of the study
This research will benefit the following group of people: 1. Biology students – who want to improve their academic performance on biology related courses. 2. Future researchers – to the students who will conduct a research for a partial fulfillment of courses with relevance to the study and to those who will conduct a similar study.

3. Concerned people – who wants to be knowledgeable regarding the research matter.

D. Scope and Limitations
The study encompasses the different techniques used by third year BS Biology students in PLM, their effectiveness in improving the students’ academic performance, and deciding the most appropriate technique for specific topics. Limitations of the study are: other students but the third year BS Biology PLM students, the place where the research will be conducted is within PLM only, the timeframe of the study will be between the months of February and March 2015, and the techniques enumerated will only be applicable to Biology subjects, how the approaches are made will not be discussed instead will only be enumerated and assessed so that the researchers may find out the most appropriate technique in a particular topic.