5 dr kartini badariah

8/14/2019 5 Dr Kartini Badariah

1/13

Jurnal Penyelidikan Dedikasi Jilid 2, 2010 26

SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE AMONGPRIMARY SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS IN DAERAH MANJUNG

PERAK: A PILOT STUDY

Kartini Abdul Mutalib 1, PhDBadariah Hashim 1

Ahamad Shabudin Yahaya 1, PhD

1Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Ipoh, Hulu Kinta, Perak, Malaysia..

Abstract

Most literature review reported that many students are lacked of science process skills necessary to conduct scientific inquiry even at the most simple

level because most teachers do not provision students with required skills.Therefore the purpose of this study are to investigate the primary scienceteachers knowledge level towards science process skills; to identify the

primary science teachers attitude level towards the implementation of science process skills; to study the relationship between primary science teachers attitude and their knowledge towards science process skills and to determinethe relationship between primary science teachers perception on government

policy of science curriculum and their knowledge towards science processskills. In this survey, 30 primary school science teachers in Daerah ManjungPerak were simple randomly chosen as the samples. The instruments of

knowledge, perception and attitudes used in this study were developed by theresearchers using expertise references method. The reliability indexes of AlphaCronbach for the instruments were more than 0.732. Results analysis of this

pilot study indicated that the primary science teachers knowledge towardsscience process skills is at moderate level (M = 72.11, SD = 15.34) but thet eachers attitude towards the implementation of science process skills level is

positive (M = 3.62, SD = 0.41). The finding of this study showed that there isno significant relationship between teachers attitude towards theimplementation of science process skills and their knowledge towards science

process skill (r =.184, n = 30, p >.05) . The relationship between teachers perception on government policy of science curriculum and their knowledgetowards science process skills was also not significant (r =.116, n = 30, p >.05) .

Abstrak

Kebanyakan kajian lalu melaporkan ramai pelajar kurang menguasaikemahiran proses sains yang diperlukan untuk melaksanakan inkuiri saintifik walaupun pada aras yang mudah kerana guru-guru tidak menyediakan pelajar dengan kemahiran yang diperlukan . Oleh itu, tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk mengkaji tahap pengetahuan guru sains sekolah rendah terhadap kemahiran


2/13


proses sains, tahap sikap guru sains sekolah rendah terhadap pelaksanaankemahiran proses sains, hubungan antara sikap guru sains sekolah rendahdengan pengetahuannya terhadap kemahiran proses sains dan hubunganantara persepsi guru sains sekolah rendah terhadap kurikulum sains yang

menjadi polisi kerajaan dengan pengetahuannya terhadap kemahiran prosessains. Dalam kajian secara tinjauan ini, 30 orang guru sains sekolah rendah di

Daerah Manjung Perak telah dipilih secara rawak mudah sebagai sampelkajian. Instrumen pengetahuan, persepsi dan sikap yang digunakan dalamkajian ini telah dibina oleh penyelidik menggunakan kaedah rujukan pakar.

Indeks kebolehpercayaan Alpha Cronbach bagi ketiga-tiga instrumen kajianini melebihi 0.732. Keputusan kajian rintis ini menunjukkan bahawa

pengetahuan guru sains sekolah rendah terhadap kemahiran proses sainsadalah di tahap sederhana (M = 72.11, SD = 15.34) tetapi tahap sikap guruterhadap pelaksanaan kemahiran proses sains adalah positif (M = 3.62, SD =

0.41). Keputusan kajian ini menunjukkan bahawa tidak terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara sikap guru terhadap pelaksanaan kemahiran prosessains dengan pengetahuan terhadap kemahiran proses sains (r =.184, n = 30,

p >.05) . Hubungan antara persepsi guru terhadap kurikulum sains yangmenjadi polisi kerajaan dengan pengetahuannya terhadap kemahiran prosessains juga didapati tidak signifikan (r =.116, n = 30, p >.05) .

Keywords: Science process skills, primary school science teachersknowledge, primary school science teacher s attitude

INTRODUCTION

Several decades ago, primary science was often a study of nature, in somecountries called nature study or natural science. But nowadays, ScienceEducation is increasingly turning to the instruction of the processes of science as avalid educational objective because of science is a way of knowing, made up of knowledge and the method or process of acquiring it as well as inculcating certainvalues in the learner. Science offers a lot of possibilities for experimentation whichcan help the child to learn about and interpret the environment because it is apowerful tool for the fulfillment of the human potential. In practice, science is aprocess involves an integration of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to developscientific understanding which means that the teaching of science include theteaching of science process skills. The governments of developing and developednations believe that the well being of a nation is extricable linked with scientificcapability (Skamp, 1988); while people believe that reaching the level developedand civilized countries can only be accomplished through education, especiallyscience education (Turkmen, 2007). At the national level since 1996, Ministry of Education giving greater emphasis that Science Education should lead to theindependent self-ability which empowers the ability of individuals or childrens tothink, to develop confidence and able to act. Therefore, effective primary science


3/13


4/13


challenges of teaching primary science effectively (Aluko and Aluko, 2008). If these skills are not well developed, then the emerging concepts will not helpunderstanding of the world around. Evidence also shows that many students feelscience is difficult and inaccessible (Monk and Osborne, 2000). Therefore, a study

needs to be done to explore the primary science teachers knowledge, attitude andperception towards science process skills because the quality and performance of the teachers are always considered as determining factors for the success of educational system of a nation.

Research Objectives

The purposes of this study are to investigate the:(i) Primary science t eachers knowledge level of science process skills.(ii) Primary science t eachers attitude level towards the implementation of science

process skills.(iii) Relationship between primary science teachers attitude towards theimplementation of science process skills and their knowledge of scienceprocess skills.

(iv) Relationship between primary science teachers perception on governmentpolicy of science curriculum and their knowledge of science process skills.

Research Questions

The following research questions were asked:

(i) To what extent is the primary science teachers knowledge level of scienceprocess skills?(ii) To what extent is the primary science teachers attitude level towards the

implementation of science process skills?(iii) Is there any relationship exist between primary science teachers attitude

towards the implementation of science process skills and their knowledge of science process skills?

(iv) Is there any relationship exist between primary science teachers perception ongovernment policy of science curriculum and their knowledge of scienceprocess skills?

Research Hypotheses

Ho(1) : There is no relationship between primary science teachersattitude towards the implementation of science process skills andtheir knowledge of science process skills.

Ho(2) : There is no relationship between primary science teachersperception on government policy of science curriculum and theirknowledge of science process skills.


5/13


Significance of the Study

The implication and result analysis of this study will serve as feedback to encourageprimary science teachers to reflect upon their existing conceptions about how the

world works, that is science ideas as well as their current beliefs about what itmeans to facilitate primary students science learning . It also provides a particularperspective with which to interpret the implementation of our national sciencesyllabus. Due to important of scientific literacy of teachers, science educatorsshould re-examine the quality of in-service teacher; and if we would like to enhancestudents scientific literacy, the quality of teachers should be given priority ( Chi-Chin, 2005). This study also would bring a new point view for primary schoolscience education and the other related study.

LITERATURE REVIEW

In practice, science is a process which involves an integration of knowledge, skillsand attitudes to develop scientific understanding during investigation. Scientificknowledge is needed to achieve greater understanding of God and His work. Asstudents learn science, teacher should encourage developing the knowledge andattitudes on which scientific investigations depends on. As a resourceful person,teachers are the determining factors that must have the investigative skills andpositive attitude towards science process skills (Aluko and Aluko, 2008).

According to Triandis (1971), Marof Redzuan (2001) and Burn s (2000) attitudes is

a set of affective reactions towards the attitude object, derived from concepts of beliefs that the individual has concerning the object, and predisposing the individualto behave in a certain manner towards the object. Attitudes consist of threecomponents which include cognitive, emotional and action tendency componentsthat lead to particular behavioural intents. Humans attitudes, belief and behaviorsare very complex, each components having their own relationship and havedifferent level of organization (Abdullah Hassan and Ainon Mohd, 1997); attitudesshowed or explained the mental and nerves readiness which organized throughexperiences (Allports, 1967). Scientific attitudes guide the thinking skills of children as they search for meaning in the world around them; the scientificattitudes are derived from the scientific values (Wolfinger, 2000).

The relationship among scientific content (knowledge), scientific process, attitudeand values as suggested by Wolfinger (2000) can be seen in Figure 1. Teachers havefar greater control over how the scientific content or knowledge is taught. Inparticular, teachers also have great control over the process skills developed to thestudents. Teachers should select hands-on, minds-on investigations which involvedthe process skills to challenge students through problem solving. Teachers alsocompletely control over two of the area of science: the scientific attitudes andvalues as they are presented to students in the classroom. Attitudes and values are


6/13


taught through the actions of the teachers that are through modeling. The picture of science as a fusion of content, process skills or scientific skills, attitudes and valuesshould govern how science approached in the elementary and middle school.Without knowing content, we cannot understand the grandeur of the universe;

without engaging in the processes, we cannot experience the excitement of thesearch, and without encountering the attitudes and values of scientists, we cannotbegin to value the knowledge gained. Science is a discipline involves acquisition of content matter (knowledge) and the processes of acquiring it as well as inculcatingcertain values in the learner (Aluko and Aluko, 2008).

Figure 1. The Relationship among Content, Process, Attitudes and Values(Wolfinger, 2000)

METHODOLOGY

In this survey, 30 primary science teachers in Daerah Manjung Perak were simplerandomly chosen as the samples. The independent variables in this study were theteachers attitude towards the implementation of science process skills and theteachers perception on government policy of science curriculum while thedependent variable is the teachers knowledge towards science process skills. All

data were collected from the samples through face to face interaction at PusatKegiatan Guru Daerah Manjung Perak.

There were three sets of instrument use in this study that are the knowledgeinstrument, the attitude instrument and the perception instrument using the five-point Likert type scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree). The Cronbachs alphacoefficient for the inner consistency of the instruments was more than 0.732. For thevalidity of the instruments, the researchers consulted three expertises in scienceeducation to evaluate the instruments. At the analysis of data, the answers given tothe scales by the primary science teachers were evaluated and then analyzed before

ScientificContent

(knowledge)

Scientific Processesand Attitudes

ScientificValues


7/13


converted into means of statistical techniques such as mean and standard deviation.The data were also tested for normality distribution before finally determined therelationship between independent and dependent variable using Pearson ProductMoment by SPSS statistical programme.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Demographic background of samples

The total sample of teachers involved this pilot study were 30 primary schoolscience teachers in Daerah Manjung Perak. The proportion of females to males inthe sample was 53.3 percent females and 46.7 percent males as indicated in Table 1.The proportion of tea chers position was 3.3 percent Senior Science Teacher, 36.7percent Head of Science Panatia and 60.0 percent Science Teacher as shown in

Table 2 whiles the teachers experiences in teaching primary science shown inTable 3.

Table 1. Gender Composition o f Teachers Sampl es

Gender Frequency (f) Percent (%)Females 14 46.7Males 16 53.3Total (n) 30 100.0

Table 2. Teachers Position in Primary School

Teachers Position Frequency (f) Percent (%)Senior Science Teacher 1 3.3Head of Science Panatia 11 36.7Science Teacher 18 60.0Total (n) 30 100.0

Table 3. Teachers Experiences in Teaching Primary Science

Teachers Experience s Frequency (f) Percent (%)0-2 years 3 10.03-5 years 11 36.76-10 years 9 30.011-15 years 7 23.3Total (n) 30 100.0

Teachers knowledge level towards science process skills

The result of this study showed that the primary science teachers knowledgetowards science process skills is at moderate level (% M = 72.11, SD = 15.34). Thisis because most of the primary science teachers (53.3%) had experience more thansix years in science teaching and are more knowledgeable compared to those


8/13


9/13


Relationship between teachers attitude towards the implementation of scienceprocess skills and their knowledge towards science process skills

However, analysis of this study showed that there is no significant relationship between teachers attitude and their knowledge towards science process skill (r = .184, n = 30, p >.05), therefore, the null hypothesis H o (1) in this study wasaccepted. This study showed that the primary science teachers level of knowledgedid not have any relationship with the teachers attitude . May be there are otherfactors or variables which influence teachers attitude compared to their knowledge.This result is also different compared to the study done by Chao-Chia, Guey-Shiun,Chun-Hong and Bih-Shya (2008) which found that teachers knowledge showed asignificant positive correlation with attitude. According to Slavin (2003), althoughsubject m atter knowledge is necessary to be a good teacher, but if teachers dont

have the positive attitude of teaching, they are going to end up with nothing.

Table 6. Relationship between Teachers Attitude and Their Knowledgetowards Science Process Skills

teachers knowledge

r p

Teachers attitude .184 .330** level of significance 0.01* level of significance 0.05where: +1.00 < r < -1.00

Relationship between teachers perception on govern ment policy of sciencecurriculum and their knowledge towards science process skills

Result of this study also revealed that there is no significant relationship betweenprimary science teachers perception on government policy of science curriculumand their knowledge towards science process skills ( r = .116, n = 30, p >.05)therefore, the null hypothesis H o (2) in this study was also accepted. This resultindicated that primary science teachers knowledge towards science process skillsdid not influence by their perception on government policy of science curriculum.However, most studied reported that teachers perception about curriculum,epistemology, the nature of science and science education, students and parentsexpectation and the role of teachers affect the way of science teacher teach(Uzuntiryaki and Boz, 2007).


10/13


11/13


12/13


Marof R edzuan. (2001). Psikologi Sosial . Serdang: Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Martin, D.J. (2009). Elementary science methods: A constructivist approach. (5 thed.). USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Monk, M. and Osborne, J. (2000). Good practice in science teaching: What research has said ? Buckingham: Open University Press.

Newhouse, N. (1990). Implication of attitude and behavior research forenvironmental conservation. The Journal of Environmental Education . 21(3): 8-21.

Opong, I.K. (1981). Science education in primary schools: Toe product of scienceor the way or science. Journal of Science Teachers Association of Nigeria , 19(2), 9-17.

Paul, A. (1996). The role of relevance in the acquisition of science process skills.Science Teachers Journal, 42(4), 34-38.

Skamp, K. (1998). Teaching primary science constru ctively. (3 rd ed.). Australia:Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited.

Slavin, R.E. (2003). Educational psychology: Theory and practice . (7th

ed.). Boston:Allyn and Bacon.

Tay, M.G. (2003). Satu tinjauan terhadap sikap dan masalah guru Bahasa Melayu diSekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan. Jurnal Penyelidikan Maktab Perguruan

Batu Lintang Sarawak . 4, 78-85.

Triandis, H. C. (1971). Attitude and attitude change . New York: John Wiley andSons.

Turkmen, L. (2007). The influences of elementary science teaching method courseson Turkish teachers college elementary education major students attitudestowards science and science teaching. Journal of Baltic Science Educa tion,6(1), 66-77.

Uzuntiryaki, E. and Boz, Y. (2007). Turkish pre- service teachers belief about theimportance of teaching chemistry. Australian Journal of Teacher Education ,32(4), 1-16.


13/13


Wilke, R.R., and Straits, W.J. (2005). Practical advice for teaching inquiry-basedscience process skills in the biological sciences. The American Biology Teacher ,67(9), 534-540.

Wolfinger, D.M. (2000). Science in the elementary and middle school . New York:Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.

5 dr kartini badariah

Documents