Sains Malaysiana 41(7)(2012): 921-930

Perception, Conceptual Knowledge and Competency Level of Integrated Science Process Skill Towards Planning a Professional Enhancement Programme

(Persepsi, Pengeta huan Konsepstual dan Tahap Penguasaan Kemahiran Proses Sains

Bersepadu Ke Arah Perancangan Program Pembangunan Profesional)

Edy Hafizan, Lilia Halim* & T. Subahan Meerah

Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi

Selangor, Malaysia

Received: 20 July 2011 / Accepted: 25 October 2011

ABSTRACT

Science curriculum that emphasizes science process skills (SPS) will be able to help students acquire and understand information, as well as improve skills in critical thinking and decision making. Consequently, the SPS should be systematically taught to the students from as early as at primary school. To produce students who acquire the science process skills, the teacher should be competent in SPS; theoretically and practically. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify the teachers’ perception on their understanding of integrated SPS, conceptual knowledge and the competence level of integrated SPS of primary school teachers in Kuala Lumpur. A questionnaire was administered to 329 science teachers from 52 primary schools that have been selected randomly. The reliability of the instrument is 0.80. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential analysis (t-test and ANOVA). The findings showed that majority of teachers (74.1% to 83.6%) perceived that they have a high level of understanding on each of the sub-component of an integrated SPS. However teachers’ perception on their level of understanding of the integrated SPS was found to be inconsistent with the actual level of understanding (conceptual knowledge). Teachers had a low level of conceptual understanding of the integrated SPS. The findings also revealed that science teachers did not have sufficient conceptual knowledge of integrated SPS to teach their students to understand it in a meaningful way. However, the competency level of the integrated SPS among teachers is high with a mean of 20.86. As a conclusion, the study showed that teachers competency in the integrated SPS is good at the practical stage but not theoretically. Therefore, emphasis should be given to integrated SPS both conceptual and operational knowledge in pre and in-service training to ensure that the teachers understand, acquire and are able to implement the skills meaning fully.

Keywords: Primary school science teacher; teacher’s perceptio.

 ABSTRAK

Kurikulum sains yang menekankan kemahiran proses sains (KPS) akan berupaya membantu pelajar untuk memperoleh dan memahami maklumat, disamping meningkatkan keupayaan pemikiran kritikal dan kemahiran dalam membuat keputusan. Sehubungan itu, KPS perlu diajarkan kepada pelajar dengan sistematik daripada peringkat seawal sekolah rendah. Bagi melahirkan pelajar yang menguasai KPS, maka guru perlulah terlebih dahulu menguasai KPS secara teori dan praktikal. Maka kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti persepsi guru terhadap tahap kefahaman KPS bersepadu, pengetahuan konseptual dan tahap penguasaan KPS bersepadu dalam kalangan guru-guru sains sekolah rendah di Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur. Kajian melibatkan 329 guru sains dari 52 buah sekolah rendah yang dipilih melalui pensampelan secara rawak mudah. Darjah kebolehpercayaan (Cronbach alpha) instrumen adalah 0.80. Data dianalisa secara deskriptif dan inferensi (Ujian-t dan ANOVA). Dapatan menunjukkan majoriti guru (74.1% hingga 83.6%) berpersepsi bahawa mereka mempunyai tahap kefahaman yang tinggi terhadap setiap sub komponen KPS bersepadu. Namun demikian, persepsi guru terhadap tahap kefahaman KPS bersepadu ini tidak selari dengan tahap kefahaman sebenar (pengetahuan konseptual). Guru mempunyai tahap pengetahuan konseptual KPS bersepadu yang rendah. Dapatan juga mununjukkan guru tidak mempunyai pengetahuan konseptual yang mencukupi untuk mengajar murid memamahi KPS Bersepadu secara bermakna. Walau bagaimanapun, guru mempunyai tahap penguasaan (praktikal) KPS bersepadu pada tahap baik secara keseluruhan dengan nilai min 20.86. Kesimpulannya, kajian menunjukkan guru sains menguasai KPS bersepadu secara praktikal tetapi tidak secara teoritikal. Maka penekanan perlu diberikan terhadap pengetahuan KPS bersepadu secara konseptual dan operational dalam latihan pra dan latihan dalam perkhidmatan agar guru berupaya untuk memahami, menguasai dan melaksanakannya secara bermakna.

Kata kunci: Guru sains sekolah rendah; persepsi guru

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*Corresponding author; email: lilia@ukm.my