Information and communication technologies (ICTs) usage in education falls into three board categories: ICTs as objects under study, ICTs as support tools, and ICTs as catalysts for transformation. The researcher's goal was to determine and evaluate the status of ICT resources in Metro Manila schools. Specifically, the researcher wanted to determine the goals that educators had for using ICTs, whether schools had the necessary ICT facilities to reach these goals, whether actual usage was consistent with these goals, and whether there were differences between public and private schools' responses. Using a mail-in questionnaire and follow-up interviews, the researcher determined that schools, a few primary schools and many secondary schools said they espoused emerging or transformative uses of ICTs. However, Metro Manila students' access to computers, peripherals, and the Internet was poor. Software selections were also generally limited to productivity tools. As such, ICTs were actually primarily used to teach computer literacy and programming. Private schools were better equipped than public schools, but ICT usage was similarly limited.

Due to the popularity and flexibility of Minecraft, educators have used this game to develop instructional materials and activities to cultivate student interests in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). One example of such an initiative is the What-If Hypothetical Implementations in Minecraft (WHIMC) project of the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. The study reported in this paper describes a WHIMC deployment in the Philippines and the effects this deployment had on student STEM interest. The study used quantitative and qualitative methods to determine the effect of WHIMC on the STEM interest of Filipino students. We performed quantitative analysis of the pre- and post-STEM Interest Questionnaire (SIQ) ratings and Game Experience Questionnaire (GEQ) ratings of the high- and low-performers to determine the effect of using WHIMC in the students’ STEM interest and the difference between the game experience of high- and low-performers, respectively. Qualitative analysis of the answers to the open-ended questions about the attributes of the module was also conducted to determine the relationship between the module attributes and student performance. The analysis of the aggregated SIQ ratings before and after using the WHIMC-based modules revealed only a minimal effect on the STEM interests of the students. However, there was a significant effect in the Choice Actions construct, which implies that students recognize the importance of studying hard if they want to pursue STEM-related careers. Further, the analysis of the overall GEQ of high-performers and low-performers also revealed no significant difference. Although no significant difference was observed in the overall GEQ, high-performers had significantly higher GEQ ratings in the Immersion dimension. This result suggested that high-performers had a more positive, engaging, and enjoyable learning experience. Moreover, the findings on the favorite module attributes suggested that students perform better in the out-of-game assessments when they like all the module attributes. This implies that students must be engaged in the game and learning task aside from being interested in the learning topic to have better assessment scores. The study also showed that open-ended learning environments coupled with tasks that demand exploration, observation, and higher-ordered thinking are demanding even on high-performers.

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