Navigating Cognitive Complexity Through SOLO: Science Teachers’ Lived Experiences
Abstract
Research on the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) Taxonomy has often emphasized assessment and learner outcomes, while giving less attention to how science teachers experience its classroom use. This qualitative descriptive phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of ten science teachers at Dadiangas North High School in General Santos City. Criterion-based purposive selection identified teachers with direct experience applying SOLO in secondary science instruction. Data were generated through 45- to 60-minute semi-structured interviews, supported by field notes and reflexive memos, and analyzed using Colaizzi’s seven-step method within a Husserlian orientation. Sixteen finalized theme clusters showed how teachers encountered SOLO through professional learning; organized tasks and assessments; interpreted connected and applied responses; scaffolded foundational understanding; differentiated support; reworked lessons; and adapted to time, curriculum pacing, large classes, limited resources, varied learner readiness, and monitoring demands. Several participants also described shifts from answer correctness, content delivery, assessment, or compliance toward closer attention to student thinking and flexible instructional judgment. The validated Fundamental Structure characterized the experience as structured yet flexible: SOLO gave instructional direction, while observation, scaffolding, adjustment, contextual adaptation, and reflection shaped what teachers did next. All ten participants confirmed that structure without requesting revision. The findings informed a recursive six-component instructional framework linking professional understanding, progressive task and assessment design, observation and judgment, responsive scaffolding and differentiation, context-responsive adaptation, and reflective recalibration. The framework remains findings-informed and untested; the study did not independently measure learner achievement, cognitive level, or causal effects. It offers a context-bounded account rather than a universal model of SOLO-based science teaching.