Exploring Teachers’ Approaches to Science Practical Work in Lower Secondary Schools in Malaysia

<p>Practical work in science is a teaching approach that aims to enable students to develop procedural and conceptual understanding and an understanding about the nature of science. Practical work is required by the Malaysian Science Curriculum at all school levels. The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of teachers’ views and practices in conducting practical work in lower secondary schools. This research, which adopted a case study approach, was underpinned by constructivist views of learning and investigated the phenomenon of practical work in three co-educational schools in the state of Melaka. The participants were three science teachers and their classes of about 35 students each. Data were collected through teacher interviews, classroom observations, document analysis and focus group interviews with students. Findings suggest that teachers’ understanding about practical work were aligned with their purposes for conducting practical work. Practical work that teachers offered promoted low levels of inquiry and at best students were developing a view that in science we follow a set of procedures to arrive at a well-known conclusion. Teachers’ practices were constrained by limited resources, prescribed texts, the amount of content to be taught, and their science content knowledge. Student learning was constrained by the limited exposure to authentic science investigation, low teacher expectation, a focus on hands-on rather than minds-on learning, and the language of instruction. The findings have implications for teacher practice and science education policy for lower secondary schools in Malaysia.</p>

Exploring Teachers’ Approaches to Science Practical Work in Lower Secondary Schools in Malaysia

<p>Practical work in science is a teaching approach that aims to enable students to develop procedural and conceptual understanding and an understanding about the nature of science. Practical work is required by the Malaysian Science Curriculum at all school levels. The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of teachers’ views and practices in conducting practical work in lower secondary schools. This research, which adopted a case study approach, was underpinned by constructivist views of learning and investigated the phenomenon of practical work in three co-educational schools in the state of Melaka. The participants were three science teachers and their classes of about 35 students each. Data were collected through teacher interviews, classroom observations, document analysis and focus group interviews with students. Findings suggest that teachers’ understanding about practical work were aligned with their purposes for conducting practical work. Practical work that teachers offered promoted low levels of inquiry and at best students were developing a view that in science we follow a set of procedures to arrive at a well-known conclusion. Teachers’ practices were constrained by limited resources, prescribed texts, the amount of content to be taught, and their science content knowledge. Student learning was constrained by the limited exposure to authentic science investigation, low teacher expectation, a focus on hands-on rather than minds-on learning, and the language of instruction. The findings have implications for teacher practice and science education policy for lower secondary schools in Malaysia.</p>

‘Believe in me, and I will too’: a study of how teachers’ expectations instilled confidence in Grade 10 students

Teacher expectation research has continued to establish an association between what teachers expect of their students and what students accomplish academically. These expectations affect students when they are communicated by teachers through differential treatment in the class, but no qualitative research has sought adolescent students’ points of view about how they experience teacher expectation effects. This paper presents new research findings that explain how Grade 10 students experienced their teachers’ expectations in ways that they reflected impacted their academic outcomes. Classic grounded theory methods were used to develop this new knowledge, which has implications for how teachers are educated for, and practice, interacting with secondary school students. The findings are grounded in data from more than 100 interviews with students and 175 classroom observations in three Western Australian metropolitan public secondary schools. Students’ voices are projected, explaining how their teachers convey high academic expectations through classroom interactions that instil confidence in students. The discussion invokes a connection to Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory and its enduring tenants of self-efficacy beliefs and mastery learning experiences.

Investigating how the accuracy of teacher expectations of pupil performance relate to socioeconomic and genetic factors

Teacher expectations of pupil ability can influence pupil’s educational progression, impacting subsequent streaming and exam level entry. Systematic errors in the accuracy of teacher expectations of pupil achievement may therefore have a lasting detrimental effect on a child’s education and life prospects. Associations between socioeconomic and demographic factors with teacher expectation accuracy have been previously investigated, but it is not known how expectation accuracy may relate to genetic factors. We investigated these relationships using data on nationally standardized exam results at ages 11 and 14 from a UK longitudinal cohort study. We found that teacher expectation of achievement was strongly correlated with subsequent achievement, that teacher expectation accuracy was patterned by pupil socioeconomic background but not teacher characteristics, and that teacher expectation accuracy related to pupil’s genetic liability to education. We find no strong evidence for heritability in teacher reporting accuracy, suggesting that the majority of variation in teacher expectation accuracy can be attributed to non-genetic factors.

Developing a New Model for Understanding Teacher Satisfaction With Online Learning

Teacher online learning is an important way to solve teacher shortage and improve teachers’ professional development. However, previous research works that focused on teacher-as-learner satisfaction with online learning were not enough. The aim of this study is to investigate factors that influence teacher satisfaction with online learning. The potential relation and whether there are differences in gender and teaching year among the factors were also studied. The Teacher Satisfaction Index (TSI) model is newly proposed based on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) model. A questionnaire survey was administered to 108 middle school teachers from four cities in China. Structure equation modeling was used to corroborate the initial model hypotheses regarding the relationship between variables (teacher satisfaction, teacher perceived quality, teacher expectation, teacher loyalty, and teacher complaint). A t-test and analysis of variance were conducted to investigate whether gender and teaching year were related to teacher satisfaction with online learning. Three main findings emerged. First, perceived quality predicted by teacher expectation significantly influenced teacher satisfaction with online learning. Also, teacher satisfaction significantly affected complaints and loyalty. Second, gender had no effect on the five variables. Third, teaching year played a significant role in teacher expectation. This study provides empirical evidence on what factors affect teacher satisfaction with online learning, gives insight into the development of the teacher online learning system, and suggests designer and administrator strategies for the platform content design and management.

Do Teachers Treat Their Students Differently? An Observational Study on Teacher-Student Interactions as a Function of Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement

Through classroom interactions, teachers provide their students with different opportunities to learn. Some kinds of interactions elicit more learning activities than others. With differential treatment of students, teachers may exacerbate or reduce achievement differences in their classroom. In addition, differential interactions may contribute to teacher expectation effects, with teachers treating their high-expectation students more favourably. This study investigated how differential teacher-student interactions are related to students’ mathematics achievement and teachers’ expectations. In eight fourth-grade classrooms in the Netherlands, interactions between teachers and students (N = 152) were observed in maths lessons. Data regarding teachers’ expectations about their students and mathematics achievement tests scores were collected. Analyses indicated that there were relations between teacher expectations and teachers’ classroom interactions. Teachers gave more direct turns and more directive feedback to their low-expectation students, who were also the students who performed low in maths. After controlling for actual achievement, it appeared that students for whom the expectations were lower than could be expected based on their performance received more direct turns and directive task-related feedback. These results point to the existence of teacher expectation effects.

Relationship Between Teachers and Students for Motivation (A Case Study of Community School of Nepal)

This research paper is focused to analyze how teachers - students’ relationship plays a crucial role in students’ motivation in learning. This paper is based on the Gardner model of motivation. By adopting a qualitative method approach and a phenomenological research design, the research paper has been prepared. Convenience sampling technique has been used in it. Data were collected by using a questionnaire and unstructured interview via telephone. Four issues were identified between the teachers-student’s relationships throughout the unstructured interview: the importance of teacher-student relationship, teacher expectation, students’ motivation, and increase in academic learning. The delimitation of this researcher was to collect the data from the telephone call due to the high transmission and risk of communicable diseases like corona virus (COVID -19) spreading all over the world. The research found out that, the better contact and mutual relationship between teachers and students result in higher students’ motivation in learning.