Scientific literacy is crucial for enabling learners to grasp and utilize scientific concepts in everyday scenarios. Nonetheless, international assessments such as PISA and TIMSS have shown that students in the Philippines still encounter difficulties in this area, demonstrating the need for meaningful and effective science teaching.

The study aimed to develop contextualized lesson exemplars and determine their impact on students' scientific literacy. In particular, it examined whether there was a significant difference between students' scores before and after the implementation of the developed contextualized lesson exemplar. Using a descriptive-developmental research design, the study involved 80 Grade 7 students from Plaridel Integrated National High School enrolled in the academic year 2025–2026, selected through cluster random sampling. Before developing the lesson exemplars, the researcher conducted a survey to assess the learners' perceived scientific literacy and administered interviews to explore the socio-cultural, historical, and environmental context of Nagcarlan, Laguna. Then, the contextualized lesson exemplars were organized according to the 4C’s framework of the Matatag Curriculum and included data from the local context of Nagcarlan. Altogether, this exemplar aimed to enhance scientific literacy by making the lesson meaningful and relatable to learners. Pre and post-assessments were used to assess students’ performance after using the contextualized lesson exemplars. Results revealed a significant difference in the students’ scientific literacy, as indicated in the pretest and post-test scores. This result revealed that the lesson exemplar helped to enhance learners' scientific literacy. Furthermore, the contextualized lesson exemplars were rated highly acceptable by science experts, indicating their effectiveness and reliability as instructional guides.