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The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) refers to the current rapid technological growth that fundamentally changes how humans live. 4IR is essential to improve higher education worldwide and develop crucial skills such as e-learning and innovation, information and media technology, and life and career skills. This study aims to assess the knowledge of the application of the nine pillars of 4IR in Education among STEM teachers in Malaysia. The nine primary pillars of 4IR that create a digital revolution in industries are autonomous robots, augmented reality (AR), system integration, additive manufacturing, cybersecurity, cloud computing, big data and analytics, the internet of things (IoT), and simulation. A quantitative study approach, through a survey questionnaire, is utilized to conduct the study. Meanwhile, a sample size of 200 secondary school STEM teachers in Malaysia had been chosen through a simple random sampling technique. Mean scores are used to assess the knowledge. The findings of the study showed that the teachers are highly knowledgeable about the application of simulation (M=4.15), augmented reality (M=4.11), and autonomous robots (M=4.06) in education. Meanwhile, the teachers have moderate knowledge in the application of cybersecurity (M=3.29), additive manufacturing (M=3.27), and the internet of things (M=3.11) in education. Finally, the teachers recorded a low level of knowledge toward the application of cloud computing (M=2.48), horizontal and vertical integration (M=2.20), as well as big data and analytics (M=2.02) in education. This study gives implications for ensuring the teachers can meet the demands of the present education system and help their learners become more proficient in learning. In conclusion, integrating 4IR technology is an important aspect that needs to be utilized in teachers' teaching practices.

Integrating Project-Based Learning (PjBL) and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in elementary schools can increase the quality of human resources in industrialization and globalization to maintain the environmental system and fulfill 21st century competencies. The research method used Quasi-Experiment from elementary schools in Bengkulu, Indonesia, with 50 respondents for the experiment and control class. For all attitude, context, and knowledge indicators, the data was analyzed using a non-parametric test and an ANOVA. The instrument's validity was tested statistically and by experts. The results show that PjBL and STEM significantly affect scientific literacy and environmental attitudes in three indicators. Furthermore, the diorama project with PjBL and STEM allows students to investigate environmental conservation efforts, accommodate science and technology. Students' success in making slogans to solve science problems. Environmental literacy instruments and STEM are suggested to be integrated with cognitive, motivation, behavior, and values.

The study using quasi experimental design involving 160 pre-university students, randomly assigned into experimental (n=80) and control groups (n=80), revealed science writing heuristics approach improved pre-university students' understanding of energy transfer in ecosystems and ability to produce quality arguments. After controlling the pretest scores, the one-way ANCOVA analysis indicates a significant difference between the experimental group's posttest scores taught using science writing heuristics approach, and the control group's posttest scores taught using a teacher-centered approach, in favor of the experimental group. The interview findings denote that the students acquired a comprehensive understanding of energy transfer as they provided holistic explanations describing the energy transfer. The science writing heuristics approach also enabled students to produce quality arguments. The study indicates that the science writing heuristics approach is a viable strategy to facilitate teaching and learning abstract concepts such as energy transfer in ecosystems that fundamentally require students to argue to connect and relate compartmentalized ideas to form holistic views.

The study was undertaken to examine within a single model the relationships between the teachers' perceived self-efficacy beliefs and their intention to practice STrEaM teaching in the classroom. The acronym STrEaM refers to the expansion of integrated STEM, merging it with a focus on reading, writing, and arts, for connecting the four STEM disciplines. Integrated STrEaM teaching overcomes the prevalent contention that the complexity of the suggested STEM teaching framework encumbers teachers performing cross-disciplinary STEM teaching in the classroom. Science and mathematics teachers who participated in an integrated STrEaM teaching workshop responded to the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale and a STrEaM Teaching Practice Questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling approach to model the direct relationships between the three sub-scales of self-efficacy (instructional strategies, classroom management, student engagement self-efficacy) and STrEaM teaching practices and indirect moderating effects of location of the school and years of teaching on the relationships. A total of 472 (261 female, 211 male) science and mathematics teachers were included in the analyses. Study results reveal that the three subscales of self-efficacy directly relate to employing STrEaM teaching practices. Location of school (urban/rural) and level of teaching experience did not moderate the relationships between instructional and classroom efficacies and STrEaM teaching practices. However, years of teaching experience moderated the relationship between student engagement efficacy and teaching practice. The model derived from the current study is helpful to guide the policymakers and curriculum developers.

In an effort to promote integrated STEM education, the Malaysian government has integrated STEM teaching framework within the science and mathematics curriculum specifications to guide the science and mathematics teachers to design and implement interdisciplinary teaching while teaching science and/or mathematics concepts. Some of the factors that make STEM teaching effective include knowledge about integrating the different subjects in teaching and teachers' pedagogical strategies, perceived difficulties (PD), and self-efficacy. This study was designed to measure and model the relationships between these three factors and integrated STEM teaching practices in a sample of Malaysian teachers. Data obtained from 573 science and mathematics teachers were analyzed using a partial least square structural equation modeling approach. Findings revealed that the model derived from a combination of the three factors exhibits substantial predictive power and thus has substantial relevance for STEM teaching. Knowledge and perceived efficacy have significant positive effects on and PD have significant negative direct relationships with STEM teaching. Knowledge has a significant negative and positive mediation effect between difficulties and integrated STEM practices, and self-efficacy and integrated STEM practices, respectively. This study has immediate implications for developing teacher professional development curriculum and STEM education policymakers in Malaysia, and it is a model to be tested in other countries or regions intending STEM education reforms.

Background: There is a somewhat common understanding that links teaching and environmentalism. This may be because schools are pioneers or are often used as platforms for many environmental advocacies. Years of research have demonstrated that teaching increases awareness and concern for the environment and encourages people to protect the environment, however there is a deficit in the literature that probed and determined which among teacher activities may be considered as pro-environmental behavior. Purpose: This study attempted to determine the influence of values, beliefs and norms in teaching disaster risk reduction. This paper attempted to reflect on teaching and environmentalism as deduced from the findings and aims to stimulate and contribute to the discussion on teaching and environmentalism. Participants: Data were gathered from 185 public school science teachers teaching from grades 3 to 6 under the Department of Education -- Division of Biliran located in one of the highly natural hazard-vulnerable islands in the Philippines. Participants were selected through random sampling of schools. All science teachers of the schools drawn were asked to voluntarily participate in the study. Design and methods: This quantitative study made use of survey design using adapted and content-validated Likert scale questionnaire on values, beliefs and norms in teaching disaster risk reduction. Data collected were analyzed through partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using Smart PLS. Conclusion: Results conform to the Value-Belief-Norm Theory of Environmentalism, which suggest that teacher activities pertaining to the integration and teaching of disaster risk reduction in science lie within the continuum of environmentalism, therefore, they may be considered pro-environmental behavior.

This study reports the effectiveness of nanoscience activities in enhancing secondary school students' understanding of two chemistry concepts: structure of atom and acid and bases. For the purpose of this study, quasi experiment was employed to 163 Grade 10 students from the Northern Region of Malaysia. Sample from the experimental group was exposed to a series of nanoscience activities lasted for 10 weeks. Students' understanding on the two chemistry concepts was tested using Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT). The CAT consists of multiple-choice questions and openended questions. Data obtained from CAT was analysed using one-way ANCOVA to identify the effectiveness of nanoscience activity in enhancing students' understanding of chemistry concepts. The findings show that there were statistically significant differences between experimental and control groups' mean scores (F (1,160) = 167.82, p < 0.05 n[subscript p] [superscript 2] = 0.512) with the experimental group students reporting higher mean. The ANCOVA result indicated experimental group students' understanding of chemistry concepts significantly higher than the comparison group. The qualitative analysis of open-ended responses further supports findings obtained from the quantitative analysis. The study suggests that integrating nanoscience into the contemporary teaching of chemistry is relevant and appropriate.

Ecology involves learning the multiple processes that occur in an ecosystem in a non-linear manner. For students to understand the complexity of an ecosystem and the processes, an interdisciplinary teaching and learning strategy is essential. Crossing the four disciplines that constitute STEM education, characterizes STEM education as an interdisciplinary approach. This study prescribes Facebook incorporated STEM education to conduct the lessons on a dynamic ecosystem, and the effects are reported. Mixed method research encompassing experimental research and qualitative interviews conducted with From Four students (equivalent to grade 9) revealed that the new strategy, Facebook incorporated STEM education fostered students understanding of ecosystems. The paired sample t-test analysis indicated significant differences between the pre and post understanding scores. The qualitative interview analysis informed how Facebook incorporated STEM education resulted in students acquiring better understandings. The study entails an interdisciplinary strategy is essential for effective teaching of a complex process such as the ecosystem.

A study of transition metals includes studying the physical and chemical properties of first-row d block metals in the Periodic Table. The curriculum on transition metals emphasizes learning the physical and chemical properties and is a lecture-based strategy that is predominately employed by teachers to transfer the knowledge on properties of the metals. As the teacher-centred strategy is unable to promote conceptual change, students frequently retain incorrect alternative conceptions about the metals. Literature indicates that multiple modes of representation embedded within the writing to learn activity facilitated learning and improved understanding of several scientific concepts. Literature also indicates that using a digital platform to create the writing encourages embedding of multiple modes. Modes such as diagrams, chemical equations, graphs, chemical formulae, and tables are often employed to illustrate the properties of transition metals. Hence, in this study, an attempt was made to encourage embedding modes commonly associated with transition metals into a writing-to-learn activity using the 'Popplet' application communicating the information on the properties of metals to their peers. The study explored the effect of embedding multiple modes of representation within a writing-to-learn activity using 'Popplet' in reducing the alternative conceptions on transition metals. For this purpose, 81 pre-university students responded to a diagnostic test administered as a pre-test before the writing-to-learn activity and post-test after the activity. From the pre-test, the alternative conceptions held by the students were identified. The post-test results showed a smaller number of students with the alternative conceptions identified in the pre-test. The paired sample t-test shows that the difference between the pre and post-test means is significant. The qualitative interview responses provided insights into how embedding the modes within the writing activity using 'Popplet' reduces the alternative conceptions. The findings of the study inform the teachers of an alternative student-centred approach to teaching the lessons on transition metals. This study introduces multiple modes of representation embedded within a writing-to-learn activity using 'Popplet' as an approach that promotes conceptual change.

This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of using Radioactivity Remote Laboratory Activities (RRLAs) in enhancing Form Four (equivalent to Grade 10) students' understanding of radioactivity and motivation to learn science. For this purpose, in this study, a repeated measures one-way ANOVA design was utilized in which 54 Form Four non-science major students participated. Radioactivity is one of the topics included in the general science curriculum and a compulsory subject for non-science majors. Understanding of radioactivity was measured quantitatively using multiple-choice and open-ended questions at three different times throughout the treatment. Motivation was measured quantitatively at three different times, and at the end of the study, interviews were conducted to gather insights on students' motivation. The findings suggest that there is a significant difference across the mean scores obtained for understanding (Wilk's Lambda = 0.11, F(1.76, 93.23) = 317.34, p < 0.05) and motivation (Wilk's Lambda = 0.56, F(1.72, 91.12) = 29.91, p < 0.05). Further analysis of the understanding test reflected that for all the multiple-choice questions, less than 50% of the students were able to provide correct answers in the pre-test. More than 50% were able to answer all the questions correctly in post-test 1, and in post-test 2, this percentage increases to more than 70%. In the interview responses, students explicitly mentioned using the Internet, and the computer is a possible way to motivate students to learn science than the usual teacher-dominated lessons.

This study aims to establish the dimensions that explain the Malaysian Chinese primary school students' quality of school life. This study employed a mixed-methods convergent parallel design. Quantitative data were collected from 649 Grade 5 Malaysian National Chinese primary school students, and six students were purposively identified to participate in a focus group interview. Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were used to identify the factor structures of the QSL scale. Quantitative findings informed six extracted dimensions: (1) positive affect, (2) teacher-student relations, (3) friendship, (4) opportunity, (5) negative affect, and (6) achievement that possibly explains the Malaysian Chinese students' quality of school life. Qualitative findings provided insights into the quantitative findings on the conceptualisation of quality of school life and proposed adding new dimensions. The findings suggest a need to develop a locally relevant Chinese version of quality of school life scale to be used in future studies. This study aims to establish the dimensions that explain the Malaysian Chinese primary school students' quality of school life. This study employed a mixed-methods convergent parallel design. Quantitative data were collected from 649 Grade 5 Malaysian National Chinese primary school students, and six students were purposively identified to participate in a focus group interview. Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were used to identify the factor structures of the QSL scale. Quantitative findings informed six extracted dimensions: (1) positive affect, (2) teacher-student relations, (3) friendship, (4) opportunity, (5) negative affect, and (6) achievement that possibly explains the Malaysian Chinese students' quality of school life. Qualitative findings provided insights into the quantitative findings on the conceptualisation of quality of school life and proposed adding new dimensions. The findings suggest a need to develop a locally relevant Chinese version of quality of school life scale to be used in future studies.

This study investigated the year 12 students' (N = 56) understanding of chemical equilibrium concepts after instruction using two conceptual tests, the "Chemical Equilibrium Conceptual Test 1" ("CECT-1") consisting of nine two-tier multiple-choice items and the "Chemical Equilibrium Conceptual Test 2" ("CECT-2") consisting of four structured questions. Both these tests were administered before and after the intervention. Students' responses to the items in both the instruments indicated limited understanding of the various concepts related to chemical equilibrium. Less than 50% of the students provided correct responses to four of the nine items in the "CECT-1." The total scores in the "CECT-1" ranged from 0 to 8 with a mean score of 4.14 (out of a maximum of 9). In the "CECT-2" the total scores ranged from 7 to 17 with a mean score of 11.0 out of a maximum score of 22. Almost half the number of students (44.6%) scored less than 50% of the total marks in the "CECT-2"; only 0% to 42.9% of students scored the maximum possible marks for each of the four items while achievement in all four items of the "CECT-2" was below 50%. The findings will be valuable and assist teachers in planning their instruction on chemical equilibrium by taking into consideration students' preconceptions about the topic.

In this study attempt was made to model the environmental literacy of Malaysian pre-university students enrolled in a matriculation college. Students enrolled in the matriculation colleges in Malaysia are the top notch students in the country. Environmental literacy of this group is perceived important because in the future these students will be joining a work force that requires important decision making. Environmental Literacy Model of these students is explained using environmental attitude, belief, conservation knowledge and Responsible Environmental Behavior (REB) with knowledge as a mediator. For this purpose data has been collected from 384 students (114 male and 270 female) and analyzed using covariance based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) approach. The result shows that REB is influenced by the students' attitude and belief towards performing REB and knowledge about the environmental issues. On the other hand, students' belief towards the environment does not influence the formation of REB. Furthermore students' knowledge also does not mediate the influence of belief on the REB. These findings imply that individual who possess certain desirable attitude, belief and conservation knowledge have more tendencies to engage in REB. The results suggest that the matriculation colleges should integrate approaches that could promote attitude, belief and conservation knowledge into the mainstream of education.

STEM education is gaining increasing attention globally to fulfill the acute shortage of STEM workforce. Executing STEM education is frequently viewed as a complex and challenging agenda. The current study proposes Integrated STEM-lab activities in the teaching and learning of electrolysis. The activities use real-world contexts as a platform to exhibit the transdisciplinary nature of integration of the four STEM disciplines. Embedded mixed methods research used quantitative one group pre-test--post-test design, and qualitative interviews were employed to measure the effectiveness of the Integrated STEM-lab activities in improving 50 secondary school students' (Form Four equivalent to Grade 9) understanding of electrolysis. The Electrolysis Diagnostics Instrument was administered for pre- and post-tests. One-way Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) revealed that the Integrated STEM-lab activities effectively improved the students' understanding of electrolysis measured in three subscales (Wilks' lambda = 0.664;F(3,96) = 16.164; p o 0.05; Z = 0.336) with 33.6% of the variances in the pre- and post-tests explained by the treatment. The qualitative interview data supported and provided insight into understanding the quantitative findings. In the interviews, the students elaborated their understanding of electrolysis with details, and consistently the activities were referred to in their responses. The findings of this study suggest that Integrated-STEM lab activities are suitable to address the limitation of the existing laboratory activities for knowledge construction. The activities are exemplary for integrating the four STEM disciplines into the standard science curriculum.

The abstractness of certain chemistry concepts demands the use of appropriate teaching strategies to enable students to construct mental images of the concepts. The concepts include understanding the effects of concentration and catalyst on the rate of reaction. The reactions at the molecular level are not visible to human eyes and the use of hazardous chemicals to teach the reactions further had made the learning irrelevant to the students. As an alternative to the existing curriculum, through this study, context-based green chemistry experiments (CBGCEs) were introduced as a laboratory curriculum. Teaching using CBGCEs began with unfolding a relevant context and followed with an investigation using benign green chemistry experiments. The qualitative interviews and responses to the issue-based open-ended questions show that students exposed to CBGCEs and existing curriculum attained better understanding about the effects of concentration and catalyst on the rate of reaction. However, the themes emerged from the responses of students learned with CBGCEs portray that this group of students has attained more specific and scientifically adequate understanding. The quantitative findings substantiated the findings obtained from the qualitative data.

Recent studies emphasize the importance of learning science while considering multiple perspectives on environment, society, economy, and technology, which allows learners to relate what they do in the classroom to the world beyond. In this study, 68 12-year-old primary students from 1 Malaysian school were followed while they engaged in a science curriculum centered around 8 environment-related socio-scientific issues during a unit on the interaction among living things. The analysis shows that the informal reasoning skills of the students improved significantly. Progressive implementation of SSI activities encouraged students to use evidence-based decision-making, improving reasoning modes, and advancing reasoning levels.

Attitude towards learning science is a well-researched domain for more than four decades. Globally, studies on attitude still stay relevant following the decline in enrollment in science-related studies across many levels. Particularly, emergent of new sciences in this century calls for a shift in the content included in school science, to be more contemporary. Hence, there is a need to inculcate an appropriate attitude to learn the new content. Many factors contribute to the development of attitude, in particular, motivation in learning the subject and the environment constitute learning the subject are imperative. In school science, investigating science laboratory environment is essential. Following this claim, in this study, an attempt was made to articulate the relationship between lower secondary school students' perceptions about laboratory environment, attitude, and motivation towards learning. For this purpose, in this quantitative survey, a total of 1003 lower secondary students between 13-15 years old from different schools in the Northern Region of Malaysia have participated. The result shows that motivation and perceptions of the learning environment are two factors that predict attitude towards learning science. These findings suggest that in designing teaching strategies, teachers need to consider how the teaching can affect the motivation and learning environment. Subsequently, the teaching strategies anticipated to influence students' attitude towards learning science.

In the context of Value-Belief-Norm Theory, a prior study revealed that the teaching of disaster risk reduction in existing school curricula is a form of pro-environmental behavior. However, there is limited if any that explored profession-specific values, beliefs, and norms on environmentalism. This paper reports a finding of a study about the possible existence of a distinct profession-specific values, beliefs, and norms in teaching disaster risk reduction. Following a two-phase cross-sectional survey design, 434 public school science teachers from Biliran Province, the Philippines answered an adapted, modified, and content validated questionnaire. Data collected underwent exploratory factor analysis and parallel analysis to determine the initial factor structure and confirmatory factor analysis to confirm the same. Results revealed the existence of distinct profession-specific values, beliefs, and norms in teaching disaster risk reduction that may have implications for environmentalism since schools are at the forefront of many environmental advocacies including environmental awareness, protection, and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies report on the importance of instilling environmental literacy among students from an early stage of schooling to enable them to adopt more pro-environmental behaviors in the near future. This quasi-experimental study was designed to compare the level of environmental literacy among two groups of students: the experimental group (N = 120) was taught using science writing heuristics embedded in a green chemistry curriculum (SWH-GC) and the comparison group (N = 90) was taught using a green chemistry curriculum. For the purpose of this study an environmental literacy model that consisted of pro-environmental attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and behavior was employed. ANCOVA with the pre-test as the covariate showed statistically significant differences in all four of the constructs that constitute environmental literacy, with the experimental group taught using SWH-GC exhibiting higher mean values. Interview findings with randomly selected students from both groups further reinforced the quantitative findings. Both quantitative and qualitative findings suggest that after the treatment, the experimental group students were keen to read about the environment, believed their actions would bring changes, were more knowledgeable regarding how to keep streams and lakes clean, and were more engaged in recycling activities. The implications are finally discussed.

Climate change is one of the most important environmental issues affecting our society today and we need to educate the citizens about the impact on human lives. An attempt was made to integrate experiential-based climate change education into the teaching and learning of secondary school Biology lessons on the topic of "Endangered Ecosystem" to improve students' knowledge on climate change and increase motivation towards caring for the environment. Two classes from a school were randomly assigned to experimental (N = 30) and control groups (N = 32). Following the intervention, a one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with pre-test data as covariate showed statistically significant differences in knowledge and motivation. Experiential-based climate change activities enabled students to construct the knowledge socially and also satisfied the three basic human needs: competence, autonomy and relatedness, which have subsequently promoted motivation. The findings described in this study are similar with other studies which reported that constructivist-based experiential learning has successfully developed awareness and encouraged learning and critical thinking about climate change.

In a world where environmental degradation is taking on alarming levels, understanding, and acting to minimize, the individual environmental impact is an important goal for many science educators. In this study, a green chemistry curriculum--combining chemistry experiments with everyday, environmentally friendly substances with a student-centered approach that includes student-student discussion--was tested for its potential to increase the understanding of acid-base concepts and argumentative skills. A quasi-experimental design was chosen intended to take into account teacher/school nested effects. The study involved three classes of 150 16 year old Form Four students (1 experimental, N = 50; 2 control, N = 100) from two Schools A and B serving students from the same sociocultural and economic backgrounds taught by two teachers (Teacher A in School A taught 1 experimental and 1 control; Teacher B in School B taught 1 control). An ANCOVA with a pre-test as a covariate showed a statistically significant treatment effect as measured by an acid-base concept understanding test. Additionally, qualitative analysis of an Argumentation Skill Test (AST) shows that the experimental students used higher levels of argumentation skills following treatment than their peers in the two control classes. Implications are discussed for integrating green chemistry into the secondary school chemistry curriculum to teach the content on acid-base and green chemistry as a tool to assist the construction of arguments.

Globalization, rapid industrial development, and tremendous population growth have significantly increased the demand for energy. Sustaining the energy supply requires that society be energy literate. Existing studies on secondary school students' energy literacy suggest that effective teaching approaches can enhance energy literacy. This quasi-experimental study was designed to test the null hypotheses that project-based energy learning does not enhance knowledge, attitudes, behavior, and beliefs related to energy. For this purpose, two classes from a school were assigned to experimental and control groups. Following the intervention, an ANCOVA analysis with the pretest results as the covariate showed statistically significant differences in the four aspects that were researched. Additionally, interviews with randomly selected students from the experimental and control groups further support the findings. Implications of the findings are discussed.

A socioscientific issues integrated instruction was used in the study to resolve college students attitude towards sexually-themed science content. Some 200 college students participated in the study as experimental and control groups. The former consisting of 98 students from one college was taught the content using the socioscientific issues integrated instruction. The later with 102 students from another college was taught the same content using a traditionally teacher dominated lectures. Both groups were taught over a period of eight weeks. Qualitative and quantitative data were obtained before and after the intervention. The quantitative data were analysed using analysis of covariance. The results revealed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and the control groups (F (1, 247) = 426.97, p = 0.00, partial eta squared = 0.64) where the experimental group showed a significant change in attitude towards the content studied. The qualitative data obtained some experimental group students showed a change in attitude the second interview. It was concluded that the use of the approach has significantly made the college students feel comfortable and confident to learn and teach the content.