Secondary School Science Students Research Articles

Exploring the Impact of Students School Life Experiences on their Conceptual Learning in Physics at Secondary Schools

The conceptual learning of the secondary level science students (N=1840) in the subject of physics assessed on the concept application ability test (CAAT) was low up to 33 %. Views of the same students about learning and assessment at the school investigated through questionnaire were considered as one of the possible factors affecting the conceptual learning of the students. Sample of the survey among the selective male and female Secondary school science students was chosen randomly through the Cluster sampling technique. Correlation and regression analysis were used to explore the relationships. The combined views of all students towards their entire learning and assessment experiences at school were highly satisfactory. A positive correlation was explored between students under consideration. Experiences and their score on the test (CAAT) and the multiple regressions predicted the concerning experiences of the students as a significantly contributing factor to their conceptual learning in terms of the application of physics concepts in problem situation and life.

Utilizing a discovery learning, real-world based fruit juice clarification experiment to enhance teaching and learning of biological enzyme concepts

Discovery learning is an approach that encourages students to become active participants in the learning process by exploring concepts and answering questions through experience. It is one of several inquiry-based learning techniques that seems particularly suited to the instruction of science since performing experiments is one of the key methods in discovery learning. However, the efficacy of discovery learning projects have not been explored much in Malaysia. In this study, an experiment integrated with real-world biotechnology industry example focusing on the function of the enzyme pectinase in the clarification of fruit (apple) juice was adapted and introduced to a group of urban, international secondary school science students who had undergone prior direct instructional guidance on the biological role and function of enzymes. The students were asked to complete a set of pre-experiment and post-experiment questions in order to analyse the impact of the experiment on their understanding of this topic. Results suggest that this discovery learning project do strengthen the learners’ prior knowledge and understanding of the function of biological enzymes through application of concept based on real world practice. High level of positive feedback was received (86.2%), with the students commenting on the “fun aspect”, being excited about being able to perform the experiment and expanding their understanding by linking their findings with a real-world, industrial application. Given the reported steady decline of Malaysian students enrolled in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) courses at secondary and tertiary levels, our findings suggest that developing and including more real-world, discovery type projects in secondary schools may help to effectively raise student interests in science subjects such as biology through new learning approaches.

Nature of Conceptions of Learning in a Collectivistic Society: A Qualitative Case Study of Pakistan

Conceptions of learning determine students’ ways to learn, motivations and expectations in schools. Conceptions have potential to understand and mold their learning behaviors at schools. Certain types of conceptions of learning appear obvious feature of students performing poorly in schools. Literature suggests that students’ conceptions of learning are affected by students’ social and cultural backgrounds. Students in underdeveloped, minority and Asian social and cultures have quite different conceptions than the students in developed countries. In Pakistani public school, most students are from the lower socio-economic background. Available literature reports drill, memorization, and external regulation of learning and lack of adequate motivation to learn in students of these schools, which signpost undesired conceptions of learning. The current study deals with the students studying in Pakistani schools to determine and understand their conception of learning. A qualitative data collection approach was used to collect the data from the respondents. An approach of applied thematic analysis used reduced qualitative data into themes, sub-themes and into sub-sub-themes. The thematic analysis corroborated Pakistani secondary school science students’ intake of knowledge and cooperation conceptions of learning. The findings were in line to various studies on Asian students. The high failing rate at secondary school level in science education in Pakistani schools is congruent to presence of intake of knowledge and cooperation conceptions of learning.

Development and Validation of an Instrument to Measure Secondary School Science Students’ Social Capital Scale

The purpose of this study is to develop a scale which will ensure that social capital levels of secondary school science students are determined. Validation and reliability works of the scale were performed on 304 (154 girls and 150 boys) students in North Cyprus. In the process of developing the scale, explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis were done, and reliability was determined with Cronbach alfa and split-half methods which are internal consistency tests. In addition to the Cronbach alfa and split-half tests, as the item total item correlations are sufficient, no item was excluded from the scale and it was confirmed that the scale was reliable. Results of confirmatory factor analysis show that the model belonging to social capital scale has perfect consistence and it consists of three dimensions such as trust in peer relations, communication intra-family relations, and sensitiveness in friendship relations.

EFFECT OF SELF-EFFICACY ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN SCIENCE: A CASE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN PAKISTAN

The current study aimed to investigate the effect of self-efficacy on students’ achievement in science. The case of secondary school science students’ is examined to achieve this task. The study is based on Bandura's Theory of Self-Efficacy, which divides Academic, Social and Emotional self-efficacy in three categories. The Questionnaire ‘Self-efficacy Questionnaire for Children (SEQ-C) developed by (Muris, 2001) was adapted in the present study to quantify secondary school students’ and was administered to 811 students. The achievements of students in science subjects governed by their academic, social and emotional self-efficacy were statistically examined to meet the research objectives. Findings revealed that secondary school students have a stronger academic and social self-efficacy. The need to assimilate content for developing emotional self-efficacy among students is highlighted. The study also discovered the significant impacts of parents’ job status and the qualifications on children’s self-efficacy. Article visualizations:

Construct Validation of Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire for Secondary School Science Students: Lesson for Practitioners

Student’s epistemological beliefs are important to the teacher’s teaching plan and construction. Various studies have highlighted that the regulatory role of students’ epistemological beliefs underpinnings their cognitive processing strategies, regulation of learning, learning approaches, learning orientations and conceptions of learning. As teachers, they should consider different efforts to measure epistemological beliefs which proposed general domain independent measures and specific domain dependent measures. This study is intended to highlight the process of preparing and validating the Urdu version of a domain dependent Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire for secondary school science students. Later, a confirmatory factor analysis was employed to examine the hypothesized dimensions of the translated Urdu version by using the Partial least squares approach of structural equation modelling. Twelve items of the translated version of Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire with adequate validity and reliability indices were loaded across three dimensions of students’ epistemological beliefs namely Belief in Knowledge Certainty, Belief in Knowledge Justification and Reasoning, and Belief in Omniscient Authority. This confirmation will implies the teachers upon epistemological belief of the student, what to expect and dimensions to consider in their classroom teaching and learning activities.

Regulation of Learning: From the Perspective of Male Students in Pakistan

Studies have shown that the students’ regulation of learning is associated to their learning outcomes, cognitive processing strategies and understanding of the content. In Pakistan, it was suggested that science students at secondary school possesses inadequate learning behaviours which diminished regulation of learning behaviours. This study was conducted with the intention to explore the issue of regulation of learning among secondary school science students in Pakistan. Twenty-four male students were selected purposefully to participate in the study. The data was collected through focus group interviews to understand their view of self-regulation of learning behaviour. The Applied Thematic Analysis was executed to analyse the student’s comments. It was found that the external regulation of learning in Pakistani secondary school science students were presence. Three common factors such as gender, teaching methods, and field of study were highlighted by the participants as a vital role in the development of external regulation of learning. The findings promote changes in teaching and learning approaches at the Pakistani secondary school level in science teaching.

Construction and Standardization of Scientific Aptitude Test (SAT) for Secondary School Students-A Pilot Study

The main objective of the present pilot study was to construct and standardize a Scientific Aptitude Test (SAT) for the secondary school science students (Grade 9 and 10). The test items (30 questions) were prepared by the researchers based on the five important aspects in scientific thinking such as Analogy, Scientific reasoning, Numerical ability, Logical reasoning and Comprehension based questions. A test of multiple choice items were used as a data collection instrument in the six different schools in the selected districts in Tamilnadu, India. The computer based Microsoft excel spreadsheet (2007) was prepared to document the obtained score and the same used for statistical analysis. Through recent method of item analysis, Cronbach’s Alpha values were computed using IBM SPSS software. The reliability coefficients were found 0.874(Spearman-Brown) and 0.672(Guttmann Split-Half). Hence, the present pilot study revealed that the scientific aptitude test for secondary students to ignite their scientific temper and also useful in preparing future competitive examinations.Int. J. Soc. Sci. Manage. Vol-3, issue-1: 17-21

Cognitive preferences and academic achievement in students of science

The present study is an attempt to identify the cognitive preferences of secondary school science students and its relationship with academic achievement. For this purpose a ‘Cognitive Preference Test’ and an ‘Achievement Test in Science’ were developed and administered to 500 eleventh grade science students subsequent to their study of tenth grade science subject. The finding suggests that secondary school science students have a strong bias for ‘Principle’ and that their general order of preference is ‘Principle-Recall-Application-Questioning’. A strong dependence of cognitive preference orientation on ‘Academic Achievement’ in science was observed. High achiever group of students were found to exhibit a high preference for ‘Questioning’ and a strong discontentment for ‘Recall’ mode. Exactly an opposite trend of preferences among low achiever group has been reported, as having highest preference for ‘Recall’ and lowest preference for ‘Questioning’ mode.

Status of Safety Awareness among Senior Secondary School Science Students in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria

The study aimed at determining the status of safety awareness of senior secondary school science students as well as examining how their safety awareness vary with gender and location of school. Three research questions, two of which were converted to null hypotheses.Descriptive survey research was employed in carrying out the study using 3906 science students selected using stratified random sampling method. Safety awareness questionnaire was used to collect data which were analyzed using mean, percentage and dependent t-test. The result showed that science students had just fair knowledge of their safety; their gender and location of schools not withstanding. It was recommended that enlightenment programme like seminar should be arranged for them by the school principals in order to safeguard their health. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n2p275

Effect of Mind-Mapping as a Self-Regulated Learning Strategy on Students’ Achievement in Basic Science and Technology

The study investigates the effect of mind-mapping strategy as a self-regulated learning strategy on students’ on achievement in Basic Science and Technology(BST). The design adopted in the research was a quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test method. The population of the study included all junior secondary school science students in Akoko south-west Local Government Area of Ondo State. One hundred and twenty( 120) Basic science students were selected using simple random sampling technique, and were divided into two groups of sixty (60) students out of which thirty(30) male thirty (30) female students were selected per group using stratified random sampling technique. The research hypothesis raised was analyzed using ANCOVA and multiple classification analysis statistics. In conclusion, the study showed that mind-mapping strategy as a SRL ,helped to improve students performance in BST and should be employed in the classroom as a better approach to teach Basic Science and Technology (BST) as its potency is very clear in this study at improving learners’ critical thinking and creative skills. Students should likewise be encouraged to transfer the knowledge and the approach gained to study other Science subject.. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n6p163

Science Teacher Quality and Effectiveness: Gweru Urban Junior Secondary School Students’ Points of View

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions among junior secondary science students from Gweru Urban secondary schools in Zimbabwe towards science teachers' teaching quality and effectiveness. This qualitative study approached and interviewed Form 2 students from 10 different schools in Gweru urban. The results show that three key dimensions of science teacher quality and effectiveness emerged: teacher's scientific knowledge, teacher’s pedagogical skills and teacher's social competence. Findings suggest that the teachers can promote and enhance teaching effectiveness by applying a positive student approach, understanding students’ learning difficulties, acknowledging the individual student, being someone the students can trust, being able to organise and teach in interesting and flexible ways, using good teaching methods, their ability to plan and structure the content and the use of practical investigative science in the classroom. Student perspectives, however, retain a humanistic vision of teaching and learning. Students want teachers who care and respect them, who help them learn and make learning interesting and fun. This study adds value by unveiling the key antecedents and predictors of students perceptions thus confirm previous findings that teacher quality is an important educational issue. It is apparent from this study that quality teachers must embrace the vision of caring for students and their learning.The results of the research indicated that students highly value teachers who are both passionate about the subject taught and passionate about their students. Secondary school science students prefer teachers who teach science in a way that is both interesting and relevant to the student.

Exploring the Use of Audience Response Systems in Secondary School Science Classrooms

An audience response systems (ARS) allows students to respond to multiple choice questions using remote control devices. Once the feedback is collected and displayed, the teacher and students discuss misconceptions and difficulties experienced. ARSs have been extremely popular and effective in higher education science classrooms, although almost no research has been done at the secondary school level. The purpose of this study was to conduct a detailed formative analysis of the benefits, challenges, and use of ARSs from the perspective of 213 secondary school science students. Perceived benefits were increased student involvement (engagement, participation, and attention) and effective formative assessment of student understanding. Perceived challenges included decreased student involvement and learning when ARSs were used for summative assessment, occasional technological malfunctions, resistance to using a new method of learning, and increased stress due to time constraints when responding to questions. Finally, students rated the use of ARSs significantly higher when it was used for formative as opposed to summative assessment.

The Ability to Interpret and Construct Scientific Graphs by Secondary School Science Students

The Ability to Interpret and Construct Scientific Graphs by Secondary School Science Students

Pedagogic Thinking That Grounds E-Learning for Secondary School Science Students in New Zealand

Course designers adopted a language-learners approach to the online teaching of New Zealand secondary school students in the subject of astronomy. This was possible because the curriculum for astronomy that was in 2004 established as a part of New Zealand's national curriculum was specifically designed to engage underachieving students in science and technology. A criterion-referenced assessment regime was established and an Internet platform was built specifically to facilitate this form of assessment. This platform contrasts with the norm-referenced assessment programmes that are most frequently used with online instruction. In this situation – where the essential task is to reward students for learning basic vocabulary and to motivate them to further study – the theory of psychologist William James assisted the teachers to develop their online pedagogy. The article concludes with a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of using the Internet to deliver science courses to secondary school students.

Some aspects of students’ understanding of a representational model of the particulate nature of matter in chemistry in three different countries

This preliminary study is part of a cross-cultural study that investigates students’ understanding of a particulate model used for relating submicroscopic entities and processes to macroscopic events in chemistry. The study initially involved some selected secondary school science students in Nigeria (Grade 10; n = 224) and in Japan (Grade 12; n = 72) and was later repeated with first year preservice university science teachers (n = 27) in South Africa. Subjects were presented with several test items in which they were required to use the particle model to infer the macroscopic chemical events they are meant to depict. The results show that for many of the subjects across the three countries, making the association between submicroscopic models and macroscopic events was problematic and not entirely straightforward. Intuitive misunderstandings abounded. One implication of the findings so far for chemistry education is that students are not always able to display consistent reasoning about the particulate nature of matter unless they have appropriate representational model on which to base their thinking. The knowledge of their conceptual misunderstandings, however, provides a basis for a good teaching point and for changing pedagogical approaches. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2006, 7 (4), 226-239]

How do secondary school science students interpret and construct scientific graphs?

The study explored how Grade 10 science students learned from scientific graphs. This paper explores (a) students' abilities to interpret graphical information; (b) students' abilities to represent information graphically; (c) factors that could impede the process of interpretation and construction of graphs among secondary school science students; and (d) ability-related strategies that are used by students drawn from two contextually different educational systems. The data for the study was drawn from a representative sample of Grade 10 (15–16 years) secondary school science students in United Arab Emirates and Brunei Darussalam. Results suggested that students do not have the necessary ability to interpret graphical information. The results also suggested that students tended to interpret graphs much better than to construct them. A major conclusion from the study was that an emphasis should be placed on systematic instruction on data handling and graphical situations so that students learn how to handle information better.

Interpreting experimental data: the views of upper secondary school and university science students

In this paper we examine students' views about the interpretation of experimental data within a specified science context. A written survey was completed by 731 science students drawn from upper secondary schools and universities in five European countries. An additional 19 upper secondary science students were interviewed individually after they had completed the survey. A minority of students emphasized the role of models in the interpretation of the data, despite the emphasis placed on theoretical models within the survey text. A substantial proportion of respondents focused on the quantity and quality of the data to be interpreted. Post-survey interviews showed that many students had difficulty in articulating a view concerning the role of theoretical models. Our data support previous studies, typically involving younger respondents, which have found that science students tend not to recognize the role of theoretical models in the interpretation of data.

Teacher-student classroom interactions among science students of different sex and cultural background

The purpose of this study was to determine associations between science students' perceptions of their interactions with their teachers, the cultural background of students and their attitudinal and cognitive achievement outcomes. A sample of 3,215 students from 158 secondary school science classes in 43 schools completed a survey including the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI), an attitude to calss scale, an enquiry skills scale and questions relating to cultural background. The sample was chosen in order tobe representative, though only coeducational classes were used in order to permit an unconfounded test of sex differences. Statistical analyses confirmed the reliability and validity of the QTI for secondary school science students. Generally, the dimensions of the QTI were found to besignificantly associated with student attitude scores. In particular, students' attitude scores were higher in classrooms in which students perceived greater leadership, helping/friendly, and understanding behaviours in their teachers. Correlations between cognitive achievement and interpersonal behaviour were not as strong, but there were positive associations with cooperative behaviours and negative associations with oppositional behaviours. Females perceived their teachers in a more positive way than did males and students from an Asian background tended to perceive their teachers more positively than those from the other cultural groups identified in the study.

Comprehension evaluation and regulation in learning from science texts

AbstractMetacognitive variables influence students' learning from science texts. This article deals with the comprehension monitoring abilities of secondary school science students, one of the areas of metacognition which has drawn considerable attention from researchers. The aims of the study are, in particular: (a) to know the extent to which comprehension is monitored by secondary science students as revealed by inconsistency detection in manipulated science texts, and (b) to identify the strategies used to regulate comprehension by the students who detect the inconsistencies. The results indicate that knowing that one understands or fails to understand science texts could be as important a problem as understanding proper. Besides, some incorrect regulatory strategies used by students who notice the inconsistencies in the texts are identified. These could also have an annoying influence in the regulatory behavior of students when studying regular science texts.