Exploring teachers' approaches to science practical work in lower secondary schools in Malaysia (IR)

Practical work in science is a teaching approach that aims to enable students to develop procedural and conceptual understanding and an understanding about the nature of science. Practical work is required by the Malaysian Science Curriculum at all school levels. The purpose of this research was to...

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Main Author:	Siti Shamsiah Sani
Format:	thesis
Language:	eng
Published:	2014
Subjects:	LB1603 Secondary Education High schools
Online Access:	https://ir.upsi.edu.my/detailsg.php?det=1185
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id	oai:ir.upsi.edu.my:1185
record_format	uketd_dc
spelling	oai:ir.upsi.edu.my:11852020-02-27 Exploring teachers' approaches to science practical work in lower secondary schools in Malaysia (IR) 2014 Siti Shamsiah Sani LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools Practical work in science is a teaching approach that aims to enable students to develop procedural and conceptual understanding and an understanding about the nature of science. Practical work is required by the Malaysian Science Curriculum at all school levels. The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of teachers' views and practices in conducting practical work in lower secondary schools. This research, which adopted a case study approach, was underpinned by constructivist views of learning and investigated the phenomenon of practical work in three co-educational schools in the state of Melaka. The participants were three science teachers and their classes of about 35 students each. Data were collected through teacher interviews, classroom observations, document analysis and focus group interviews with students. Findings suggest that teachers' understanding about practical work were aligned with their purposes for conducting practical work. Practical work that teachers offered promoted low levels of inquiry and at best students were developing a view that in science we follow a set of procedures to arrive at a well-known conclusion. Teachers' practices were constrained by limited resources, prescribed texts, the amount of content to be taught, and their science content knowledge. Student learning was constrained by the limited exposure to authentic science investigation, low teacher expectation, a focus on hands-on rather than minds-on learning, and the language of instruction. The findings have implications for teacher practice and science education policy for lower secondary schools in Malaysia. 2014 thesis https://ir.upsi.edu.my/detailsg.php?det=1185 https://ir.upsi.edu.my/detailsg.php?det=1185 text eng closedAccess Doctoral Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris Victoria University of Wellington N/A
institution	Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris
collection	UPSI Digital Repository
language	eng
topic	LB1603 Secondary Education High schools
spellingShingle	LB1603 Secondary Education High schools Siti Shamsiah Sani Exploring teachers' approaches to science practical work in lower secondary schools in Malaysia (IR)
description	Practical work in science is a teaching approach that aims to enable students to develop procedural and conceptual understanding and an understanding about the nature of science. Practical work is required by the Malaysian Science Curriculum at all school levels. The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of teachers' views and practices in conducting practical work in lower secondary schools. This research, which adopted a case study approach, was underpinned by constructivist views of learning and investigated the phenomenon of practical work in three co-educational schools in the state of Melaka. The participants were three science teachers and their classes of about 35 students each. Data were collected through teacher interviews, classroom observations, document analysis and focus group interviews with students. Findings suggest that teachers' understanding about practical work were aligned with their purposes for conducting practical work. Practical work that teachers offered promoted low levels of inquiry and at best students were developing a view that in science we follow a set of procedures to arrive at a well-known conclusion. Teachers' practices were constrained by limited resources, prescribed texts, the amount of content to be taught, and their science content knowledge. Student learning was constrained by the limited exposure to authentic science investigation, low teacher expectation, a focus on hands-on rather than minds-on learning, and the language of instruction. The findings have implications for teacher practice and science education policy for lower secondary schools in Malaysia.
format	thesis
qualification_name
qualification_level	Doctorate
author	Siti Shamsiah Sani
author_facet	Siti Shamsiah Sani
author_sort	Siti Shamsiah Sani
title	Exploring teachers' approaches to science practical work in lower secondary schools in Malaysia (IR)
title_short	Exploring teachers' approaches to science practical work in lower secondary schools in Malaysia (IR)
title_full	Exploring teachers' approaches to science practical work in lower secondary schools in Malaysia (IR)
title_fullStr	Exploring teachers' approaches to science practical work in lower secondary schools in Malaysia (IR)
title_full_unstemmed	Exploring teachers' approaches to science practical work in lower secondary schools in Malaysia (IR)
title_sort	exploring teachers' approaches to science practical work in lower secondary schools in malaysia (ir)
granting_institution	Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris
granting_department	Victoria University of Wellington
publishDate	2014
url	https://ir.upsi.edu.my/detailsg.php?det=1185
_version_	1747832943483551744

Exploring teachers' approaches to science practical work in lower secondary schools in Malaysia (IR)

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