Jasmine Jain

The Tentativeness of Scientific Theories: A Study of Views from Different Educational Levels in Malaysia

Developing science literacy has been the perennial aim of science education. One suggestion to achieve this literacy would be to ensure students have sound understanding of the nature of science (NOS). This is because comprehending NOS develops eloquent learners in science-based decision making, resulting in better scientific literacy. This study examined the views of NOS among students across different educational levels in Malaysia, focusing solely on an aspect of NOS – the tentativeness of scientific theories. This study was qualitatively designed, where a semi-structured interview protocol adapted from VNOS(C) (Lederman et al. J Res Sci Teach 39(6): 497–521, 2002) was used. The educational levels were, namely, lower secondary, upper secondary, and post-matriculation levels, with nine respondents interviewed individually for each level using the phenomenographic approach. From the data analyzed, it was found that the students’ views of theory can be categorized into four, namely, “static,” “book static,” “conditionally tentative,” and “tentative.” The categories revealed different views on the way Malaysian students perceived the nature of scientific theories compared to their counterparts in other countries.

Learning Beyond the Walls: The Role of WhatsApp Groups

World nowadays is acquainted with the term “technology” as human are surrounded with gadgets and easy access to information. Past researches have proven the vitality of technology as it eases the life and transformed the way of communication. This advancement in technology is also profound; tremendously changing our education systems and the way teaching and learning occur through the use of social media. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of one of the social media, namely WhatsApp. Specifically, it studied in what way does the WhatsApp Group assist in improving students’ learning process. This study was a quantitative study that was conducted in a college located in Perak. Questionnaires were distributed to 150 respondents by using random sampling. The data were analysed by using the SPSS Version 22.0. The results indicated that WhatsApp Group contributed rather significantly in helping the students to communicate actively and encouraged meaningful learning among the users.

Science Learners’ Conceptions on the Scientific Theory-Law Relationship: A Phenomenographic Case Study

This study was grounded on the ultimate goal of science education in Malaysia, which is to produce individuals who are scientifically literate. The study specifically aimed to probe how science learners conceptualize the relationship between scientific theory and law. Guided by the phenomenographic structure of awareness as the methodological framework, this study involved interviewing 10 Secondary Four Science students. Differing from the literature reviewed, the findings revealed that there were unique ways in which the scientific theory-law relationship is conceptualized by the interviewees in the study, namely “Scientific laws are superior to theory” and “Scientific theories are different from law”. The findings inferred the interviewees’ understanding of nature of science as absolute and objective. To summarize, it is pertinent to further probe and rectify incorrect, alternative understanding about science knowledge among science learners to ensure sound understanding about science in promoting students’ motivation to learn science.

Attitude on Microteaching: A Study on Third and Fourth Year Science Student Teachers of the Faculty of Education, UiTM

This research investigates the attitude of the Third and Fourth Year student teachers in Science Programs from Faculty of Education, UiTM. The objectives of this study is to gather student teachers’ attitude towards microteaching subject and to identify the difference in attitude about microteaching among Third and Fourth Year Science student teachers. Eighty Science student teachers were involved in this study. The respondents from Fourth Year of study had completed their microteaching course and had done their practical teaching in school during previous semester while the Third Year Science students only completed their microteaching course. Each respondent answered a set of questionnaires consisted of 40 items made up of three parts which are demographic information, student’s attitude and open-ended questions. The findings of the study indicate that the student teachers have mixed attitude towards microteaching that warrant further studies.