Yoon Fah Lay

Relationship Between Affect and Achievement in Science and Mathematics in Malaysia and Singapore

Background : The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) assesses the quality of the teaching and learning of science and mathematics among Grades 4 and 8 students across participating countries. Purpose : This study explored the relationship between positive affect towards science and mathematics and achievement in science and mathematics among Malaysian and Singaporean Grade 8 students. Sample : In total, 4466 Malaysia students and 4599 Singaporean students from Grade 8 who participated in TIMSS 2007 were involved in this study. Design and method : Students’ achievement scores on eight items in the survey instrument that were reported in TIMSS 2007 were used as the dependent variable in the analysis. Students’ scores on four items in the TIMSS 2007 survey instrument pertaining to students’ affect towards science and mathematics together with students’ gender, language spoken at home and parental education were used as the independent variables. Results : Positive affect towards science and mathematics indicated statistically significant predictive effects on achievement in the two subjects for both Malaysian and Singaporean Grade 8 students. There were statistically significant predictive effects on mathematics achievement for the students’ gender, language spoken at home and parental education for both Malaysian and Singaporean students, with R 2 = 0.18 and 0.21, respectively. However, only parental education showed statistically significant predictive effects on science achievement for both countries. For Singapore, language spoken at home also demonstrated statistically significant predictive effects on science achievement, whereas gender did not. For Malaysia, neither gender nor language spoken at home had statistically significant predictive effects on science achievement. Conclusions : It is important for educators to consider implementing self-concept enhancement intervention programmes by incorporating ‘affect’ components of academic self-concept in order to develop students’ talents and promote academic excellence in science and mathematics.

Dispositions Towards Science and Science Achievement in TIMSS 2011: A Comparison of Eighth Graders in Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, and Singapore

East Asian education systems have consistently been outperforming their counterparts in mathematics and science on each and every cycle of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) ever since its inception in 1995. The findings of the recent cycles of TIMSS reveal that Korea and Singapore are the top-performing countries in science in TIMSS 2011 at the fourth grade, followed by Finland, Japan, Russian Federation, and Chinese Taipei. At the eighth grade, Singapore had the highest average science achievement. This was followed by the next highest-performing countries for science achievement that are Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Japan. This study explored the predictive effects of eighth graders’ dispositions towards science on science achievement in five of the highest-performing education systems: Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, and Singapore, which participated in the TIMSS 2011. The results of the present study indicated that eighth graders’ liking and valuing of learning science and confidence in learning science were positively associated with their science achievement in these five education systems, except students’ liking of science in Japan. Implications of the findings for educational policy and practice are discussed.

A Glimpse of Evolution Education in the Malaysian Context

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is the widely held notion that all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor. Darwin’s general theory presumes the development of life from non-life and stresses a purely naturalistic (undirected) “descent with modification”. That is, complex creatures evolve from more simplistic ancestors naturally over time. Malaysia is a multi-racial and multi-religion country in the Southeast Asian region. Due to different religious backgrounds, evolutionary theory is always a sensitive and hotly-debated issue in the teaching of biology in Malaysian schools. This book chapter evaluates the place of evolutionary theory biology curriculum in Malaysian secondary schools. Emphases given to evolutionary theory in the biology teacher education programmes at two public universities as well as prospective biology teachers’ attitudes towards evolutionary theory are also investigated. It can be concluded that the level of acceptance on evolutionary theory among Malaysian prospective biology teachers is low as evolutionary theory was not fully understood. Hence, the introduction of specific courses on biological evolution that cover its most fundamental principles is crucially needed in the biology teacher education programmes in the Malaysian context.

Examining the Validity and Reliability for a Measurement Model of the Malaysian Teacher Disposition Index (MTDI)

In recent years, teacher quality has become the concern nationally and internationally as reflected in the initiatives to prepare quality teachers through the development of teacher education model or quality teacher standards at national and regional levels as documented in NCATE (2001, 2006), SEAMEO RECSAM (2014) and UPSI education research laboratory (undated) Teacher development is a continuous effort either by an individual or supported by the ministry of education.

Investigation of Tertiary Chemistry Learning Environment in Sabah, Malaysia

Over the last four decades, researchers in many countries have shown increasing interest in the conceptualization, assessment, and investigation of students’ perceptions of psychosocial dimensions of their classroom environment. Research conducted over the past 40 years has shown the quality of the classroom environment in schools to be a significant determinant of student learning. However, not many studies were conducted to examine the tertiary chemistry classroom learning environment especially in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. The purpose of this study is to investigate pre-service chemistry teachers’ perceptions of their chemistry classroom learning environment at the teacher education institutions in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. This study is also aimed to ascertain if there is any significant difference in students’ perceptions of their chemistry learning environment based on gender and type of school. This was a non-experimental quantitative research and sample survey method was used to collect data. Samples were selected by using a cluster random sampling technique. The College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI) was adopted to measure pre-service chemistry teachers’ perceptions of their chemistry learning environment. The seven subscales of the CUCEI measured were: Personalization, Involvement, Student Cohesiveness, Satisfaction, Task Orientation, Innovation, and Individualization. Independent samples t-test was used to test the stated null hypotheses at a predetermined significance level, alpha =.05. The research findings will bring some meaningful implications to those who are involved directly or indirectly in the planning and implementation of tertiary chemistry curriculum especially at teacher education institutions in the state of Sabah, Malaysia.