Stream Students Research Articles

Teachers� Expectancy and Students� Attitude towards Science

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of teachers’ expectancy and students’ attitude towards science (ATS). The participants were 130 teachers and 300 students from secondary schools in Indonesia. The results indicated teachers’ expectancy significantly affected students’ ATS. Different kind of expectancy led teachers to have different classroom behavior. Teachers expect students from the science streams to have significantly higher potential to improve their academic achievements compared to the students from non-science stream. The results also showed that there is a significant correlation between teachers’ expectancy and students’ perception of teachers’ behavior. Furthermore, because students from science stream perceived that their teachers are supportive, they believe that the teachers expected them to score higher in science. In turn, this belief led them to possess higher ATS compared to the non-science stream students, which perceived that their teachers are focusing more on controlling their behavior. It could be concluded that teachers’ expectancy affected students’ ATS, moderated by the students’ perception of teachers’ behavior.

Gender and Syllabus Based Study Approaches and Academic Performance

The objective of the study was to examine the impact of gender-wise and syllabus-wise study approaches in academic performances of high school students. Study involved ninety high school students (45 girls, and 45 boys) randomly selected from two high schools in Galle, and Gampaha, Sri Lanka. Study process of respondents was measured by employing the ‘revised two-factor Study Process Questionnaire’ of Biggs et.al (2001). Descriptive and inferential analyses of data were conducted by using the SPSS software. The Study Approaches (including study motives, and study strategies) employed by respondents during the study process were examined. Relationships were tested among study process variables pertaining to the gender, and syllabus of respondents and their academic performances. High School girls have indicated deeper study methodologies in comparison to the boys. Science stream students recorded deeper study methodologies, and Arts stream students recorded surface study methodologies. Girls recorded superior examination results over boys. A positive relationship was found between the surface study approach and Academic performances of girls. Study highlights the necessity of defining, and applying integrated study process approaches, and evaluation techniques for the vitality of education.

EFFECT OF TRACK POSITION ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS SCIENCE

Attitude towards science (ATS) is major concern in science education due to its positive correlation with students’ science achievement. However, previous studies showed that students’ ATS is decreasing in many countries. Although many attempts have been taken to solve this problem, little consideration has been given to the effect of track position and students’ ATS. While cognitive aspect plays major role in tracking, affective aspect such as ATS is overlooked. It might be one of the factors that contributing to the decrease of students’ ATS. Accordingly, this paper aimed to investigate the effect of tracking on students’ ATS. A total of 450 science stream students and 299 arts stream students were involved in this study. The findings showed that among science stream students, 21 students (4.67%) prefer arts stream rather than science stream. Their ATS level is statistically significant lower than science stream students who prefer science stream and the effect size is large (Cohen’s d = 1.1028). Meanwhile, among arts stream students, 47 students (15.7%) prefer science stream rather than arts stream. Although their ATS level is higher than arts stream students who prefer arts stream, the difference is not statistically significant, with negative and small effect size (Cohen’s d = -.2271). The findings of this study would bear significant implication to enhance awareness of public and educators about the important of ATS in tracking. Moreover, this study would provides useful information for stakeholders in determining students’ stream. Key words: affective, attitude towards science, science education, tracking.

Why some students choose to become chartered accountants (and others do not)

PurposeSouth Africa, like many countries in the rest of the world, is currently facing a shortage of chartered accountants (CAs). The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing the career choice of accounting students in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire survey was used to assist professional institutes of CAs, universities, audit practitioners and other interested parties to understand the factors that influence students' career choices. The respondents were first‐year business students at a leading South African university.FindingsThe results indicate that CA students' choice is driven mainly by job security, job satisfaction, aptitude for accounting and potential future earnings. Although a high percentage of non‐CA students have considered becoming a CA (61.6 per cent), they cite job satisfaction as one of the key reasons why they decided against a CA qualification. The two groups clearly have different views on job satisfaction. Another important reason the non‐CA group mentioned against CA studies, was the strenuous nature of this field, including the technical difficulty of the subjects and the lengthy period of study required. Significant differences between the CA and non‐CA group were evident when the means of the ratings of career choice factors were compared. All mean scores, for each of the 12 career choice factors, were higher for CA stream students, compared with the non‐CA stream students. A possible reason is that CA students are more career oriented than their non‐CA student counterparts.Originality/valueThis study extends the literature. It investigates and rates the career choice factors influencing accounting students to become a CA and the factors that influence business students not to pursue CA studies. These results could potentially be used to develop a strategy to influence students' career choice of the CA profession in an effort to increase the number of CAs in South Africa.

Incorporating Music Into The Economics Classroom: A Comparison Of Two Teaching Methods

There is always something mysterious about music as it affects us so powerfully. This paper looks at the role of music in enhancing students' understanding of economic concepts, such as money and inflation. Music lyrics were used as a source for teaching some economic concepts to a group of Office Management (OM) students. A quiz was given to test the students’ knowledge of these concepts. A comparison of marks was made with another group of Quantity Surveying (QS) students who were taught the same economic concepts but without promoting music integration in the classroom. Both groups of students were given the same quiz and both groups were taking Principles of Economics, a course for non-business majors. There was a difference in learning outcomes between the two groups of students. Students learning economic concepts in music recorded a higher value of mean and mode in their results compared with the other group of students who were taught the same economic concepts without music as a resource. The t-test result did not show any significant difference between male and female students. The quiz results are not affected by gender factor. The same conclusion also applied to the stream factor. The t-test result did not show any significant difference between science and arts stream students, hence the quiz results are not affected by stream factor. This study shows that music incorporated into the classroom can help students understand concepts better and the quiz results seem to give support to the theoretical claim that music helps students concentrate better.

مستوى التفكير الإحصائي لدى طلبة كلية العلوم التربوية الجامعية التابعة لوكالة الغوث في ضوء بعض المتغيرات

This study aimed to investigate the degree of acquiring statistical thinking skills amongst students of the Faculty of Educational Sciences -UNRWA in the light of the variables: the student’s specialization in high school (scientific stream, literary stream), his or her grade in the statistics course in the faculty and his or her GPA. For the purpose of conducting the study, a statistical thinking test consisting of (40) multiple choice items has been designed. The test covered four skills or domains. The test was administered to a sample of (145) students of the class teacher specialization. The results showed that the degree of acquiring the statistical thinking skills amongst students was moderate. The results also showed that there were statistically significant differences between scientific and literary stream students as with regards to their descriptive statistical thinking, proportional statistical thinking and graphical statistical thinking in favor of the scientific stream students. Results also showed a positive statistically significant correlation between the student’s accumulative academic achievement in the faculty and their grades in statistics course and their accumulative grades on the descriptive, graphical skills and the whole test of statistical thinking.

The status on the level of environmental awareness in the concept of sustainable development amongst secondary school students

This paper aims to identify the status on the level of environmental awareness in the concept of sustainable development among secondary school students. The survey was conducted on 340 respondents (n=340) of Form Four and Form Five students from urban and suburban area in the district of Hulu Langat, Selangor (Bandar Baru Bangi and Mukim Hulu Langat). Dependents variables were the level of environmental awareness in the concept of sustainable development and practices, attitudes and moral values for sustainability. Independent variables on the demographic factors were gender, types of subject streaming, and school locations. The research instrument used was the questionnaire, using Likert scale. Methods of analyzing data were descriptive, t-test, Pearson correlation using SPSS software ver. 11.5. Research outcomes showed that secondary school students had “high level” of environmental awareness in the concept of sustainable development. The t-test analysis showed significant differences on the significant level of 95% (p<0.05). It indicated that the level of environmental awareness for the (i) female students were “higher” than the male students, (ii) science stream students were “higher” than the arts stream students, and the (iii) urban school students were “higher” than suburban school students. The Pearson correlation showed that there was positive but weak relationship between the level of environmental awareness in the concept of sustainable development and the practices, attitudes and moral values of sustainability. The research also revealed the three classifications of concepts for environmental awareness were emotional, attitude, and practices of sustainability awareness.

Science laboratory classroom environments in Korean high schools

In order to investigate the learning environment of senior high school science laboratory classrooms in Korea, the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI) was translated into Korean and administered to 439 students (99 science-independent stream students, 195 science-oriented stream students and 145 humanities stream students). Data analyses attested to the sound factorial validity and internal consistency reliability of the SLEI, as well as its ability to differentiate between the perceptions of students in different classrooms. Students in the science-independent stream generally perceived their science laboratory classroom environment more favourably than did students in either the humanities or science-oriented stream. Associations were found between various measures of students’ attitudes to science and their perceptions on SLEI scales; in particular, as in past research in other countries, integration between theory and practical classes was a statistically significant predictor of all attitude criteria when the other SLEI scales were mutually controlled.

Home Environment and Classroom Climate: An Investigation of their Relation to Students’ Academic Self-Concept in a Streamed Setting

Many studies concur that students’ perceptions of their home and school environments, such as relationships with parents and teachers, are related to their academic self-concept (for example, Chang et al., Int J of Behav Dev 27(2):182–189, 2003; Ireson and Hallam, Br J Educ Psychol 75:297–311, 2005; Jang, J Kor Home Econ, 39:101–114, 2001; Lau and Leung, Br J Educ Psychol, 62:193–202, 1992; Lau and Pun, Social Behav Pers, 27(6):639–650, 1999; Masche and Barber, “Connectedness and separation in parent-adolescent relationships: Indicators of a successful identity development.” Paper presented at the SRCD Biennial Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, April 19–22, 2001; Sanders, “School–family–community partnerships and the academic achievement of African American, urban adolescents.” Report No. 7. EDRS. ED 402404, 1996). Nonetheless, little is known about whether the strength of the relationships is comparable for students of different ability streams, or if the predictors of variance of their academic self-concept are similar. To fill the empirical gap, a 3-year longitudinal study was conducted with Secondary One students (approximate age 13) from three government schools in Singapore. Pearson product–moment correlation and Fisher’s z r transformation showed that there were significant differences in the strength of the relationships between higher- and lower-ability stream students’ academic self-concept and their perceived home environment and classroom climate. In addition, stepwise multiple linear regressions established that lower-ability stream students’ perceived teachers’ expectations had more consistent and substantial impact on their confidence level than that of their higher-ability stream counterparts. In comparison, higher-ability stream students’ perceived parental academic support had more consistent impact on their academic self-concept than that of their lower-ability stream peers.

Problems Arising from Streaming Mathematics Students in Australian Christian Secondary Schools: To Stream or Not to Stream?

This article focuses on selected sections of a wider research study that investigated the perceptions of students in upper, lower, and mixed-ability stream mathematics classes, regarding their classroom learning environment. The study collected data from a representative sample of Year 9 and Year 10 students, employing recognised, reliable survey instruments. The most significant finding of the study, resulting from the analysis of quantitative data, was that lower stream students not only had more negative perceptions of their classroom learning environment, but wanted less change. This negative perception is seen to be worse in Year 10 than in Year 9, particularly in terms of teacher support, task orientation and equity.

Dimensionality of rosenberg’s self-esteem scale among normal-technical stream students in Singapore

Dimensionality of the widely used Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) was investigated in a sample of 153 seventh-grade Asian students from Singapore. Confirmatory factor analyses performed on the scores of the RSES revealed two factors (positive and negative self-esteem) as hypothesized. Both factors were empirically related to different external variables. Results from multiple regression analyses indicated that positive self-esteem significantly predicted students’ mastery goal orientation and academic self-efficacy scores while negative self-esteem significantly predicted students’ disruptive behavior. These findings provide some preliminary support that the two factors could possibly be measuring substantively distinct dimensions, thus calling into question the unidimensionalty of the RSES in an Asian school-based sample.

A longitudinal study of students' academic self‐concept in a streamed setting: The Singapore context

Although several studies support the existence of a negative stream effect on lower-ability stream students' academic self-concept, there is not enough longitudinal research evidence to preclude the possibility that the stream effect may only be temporary. In addition, not much is known about the effect of streaming on changes in students' academic self-concept over time. The main aims of the study were to examine the effect of streaming on (a) the students' academic self-concept immediately after the streaming process, and at yearly intervals for 3 consecutive years, and (b) the changes in students' academic self-concept over a 3 year period. The sample comprised 495 Secondary 1 students (approximate age 13) from three government coeducational schools in Singapore. A longitudinal survey using a self-reported questionnaire. Results showed that the lower-ability stream students had a more negative academic self-concept than the higher-ability stream students immediately after streaming, but they had a more positive academic self-concept 3 years after being streamed. In addition, it was established that the students' academic self-concept declined from Secondary 1 to Secondary 3. Nonetheless, the decline was more pronounced for the higher-ability stream students than the lower-ability stream students. Streaming may have a short-term negative impact on lower-ability stream students' academic self-concept. However, in the long run, being in the lower-ability stream may not be detrimental to their academic self-concept.

Beyond rituals and riots: ethnic pluralism and social cohesion in Singapore

Contents: The Political History of Interethnic Relations in Singapore The Legal and Institutional Framework and Issues of Multiculturalism in Singapore We, the Citizens of Singapore: Multi-ethnicity, its Evolution and its Aberrations A Study of Children's Social Interactions in Informal Primary School Settings Schools and Post-Secondary Aspirations among Female Chinese Malay and Indian Normal Stream Students How Now, NE? An Exploratory Study of Ethnic Relations in Three Singapore Schools Trainee Teachers' Stereotypes of Racial Groups in Singapore by Ethnicity Management and Language Education Policy: Towards an Alternative Model of Language Education in Our Schools Madrasah Education and National Integration Cross-Cultural Issues in Social Service Delivery by Family Service Centres 'Ethnic' and 'Citizen' Patterns of Provision in Social and Community Services Ethnic Representation on Local Film and Television.

La philosophie à l’école de la pensée trouble

Under the impulse of the UE and of other world agencies such as the UN, Special Education in France has witnessed for the past ten years an acceleration in an evolution started more than a century ago. If the special ed teacher remains free to adjust his/ her pedagogy to his/ her professional situation, simultaneously he/ she is expected to develop any means allowing the special need child’s or adolescent’s integration to main stream education, as well as to encourage the acquisition of standard competencies as they are defined for every child in France. Facing these changes activities with a philosophical target in special education must respond to a legal and ethical framework that recognizes the special need child or adolescent the same learning rights as main stream students. This remains to be defined in the context of an innovative pedagogy. Beyond ethical principles generating activities of a philosophical nature for psychotic children or for children with deep cognitive troubles is particularly complex. Far from being impossible, it necessitates certain precautions (the idea of a reassuring psychological, sociological, and emotional framework) and the laying down of specific groundwork (such as thinking guidance).

Teacher–Student Interactions in Korean High School Science Classrooms

This paper provides a preliminary picture of teacher–student interaction in Korean senior high schools. In order to do this, the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) was translated into Korean and administered to 439 students (99 science-independent stream students, 195 science-oriented stream students and 145 humanities stream students). Based on the results from this survey, interviews with some students and teachers were also carried out and three science classrooms were also observed. It was found that the teacher–student interactions in Korean senior high school science classrooms reflect the general image of the youth-elder relationship in society as well as the senior high school's unique nature – portraying a scene of ‘directing teachers and obeying students’. It was also found that students experience unique interactions in their science classrooms with their particular teachers. It was considered that this difference comes from the overlapping of a teacher's personal characteristics with the nature of a stream (e.g., curriculum, expectation towards the students in that stream). This article reports part of a larger study conducted with Korean senior high school students and teachers. The aim of the main study was to investigate three different aspects of the high school science classroom environments in Korea, namely, the degree of implementation of constructivism, the pattern of teacher–student interactions, and the learning environment in laboratory classes. Based on the realisation that teacher–student interactions have not been systematically dealt with especially at the senior high school level in Korea, this article pays particularly attention to this aspect. The intention was also to provide useful insights for improving the current situation in senior high school science classrooms in Korea.

Why study French?

Abstract The following article gives an account of the results of a research project which looked, inter alia, at motivation among first year university students of French, both beginner stream and post school certificate students. While it is currently fashionable to underline the economic and social usefulness of language study, information is not freely available on why students who enrol for French actually do so. The extrinsic / intrinsic dichotomy of motivations was adopted as a working principle for classifying motivations. This dichotomy may be likened to the integrative / instrumental division used by Gardner and Lambert (1972) We observed that students were motivated by a wide variety of factors. Though motivations are sometimes hard to classify on a binary scale, there was nevertheless no clear preference for extrinsic or pragmatic reasons; if anything, personal or intrinsic reasons seemed to dominate.

Proficiency in English amongst Secondary Four Chinese Stream Students in Singapore

Proficiency in English amongst Secondary Four Chinese Stream Students in Singapore