FACULTY OF EDUCATION

CURRICULUM AND INTRUCTION

EDU 555

ARTICLE REVIEW:
Uncovering Malaysian Students Motivation to Learning Science

STUDENTS NAME

STUDENTS ID

GROUP

INSTRUCTORS NAME

This article with title Uncovering Malaysian Students Motivation to Learning Science
was written by Othman Talib, Wong Su Luan, Shah Christirani Azhar and Nabilah Abdullah.
This article is actually an exploratory study which investigates various internal as well as
external factors contributing towards Malaysian students excellent performance in science
learning. This study is important as it can determine the factors that effecting students
performance in science subject as part of a bigger research which trying to outline a profile of
potential good secondary science student in Malaysia or Profile of Outstanding Science Students
(POSS). Through this profile, it is hoped that students can discover and understand their true
potential. Other than that, it is also hoped that appropriate guidance or activities and any other
support needed in order to motivate students in learning science can be done by science teachers
and also policy makers in science education field. This article was chosen because it is really
interesting article where it gives information and new knowledge about what actually the factors
contribute towards students performance in learning science.
In this exploratory study, various factors contributing towards students performance in
science subject has been identified. Interviews were carried out on three groups of research
participants. The first group was twenty-five students taking science courses from two
institutions of higher learning whom passed Malaysian Certificate of Education examination
with grade of A1 and A2 in all of the science subjects which are Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
Meanwhile the other two groups of research participants were experienced science teachers from
Malaysian national schools and lecturers who involving in science education field. Semistructured interviews were used in this study. The interview question was prepared before the
interview sessions. The first group of students were interviewed by a few question regarding
their contributing factors which lead towards their excellent performance in science subjects and
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as well as what are the extra effort that they took in order to do well in their science subject and
also their opinion on the differences between the factors that contribute in their excellent
performance in science subject. Meanwhile for the other group of respondent, the other set of
interview question has been prepared for them. The interview questions were what are the
characteristics of good science students, how do they define a good science students as well as
their opinion on the students attitudes towards science and what are the factors that contributes to
good performance in science.
The results from the students responses showed that there are some important factors in
determining excellent performance in science subjects. They can be classified into two
classifications which are internal and external factors. An internal factor means the students
intrinsic aspects including their learning strategies/styles, attitude towards science, ability or
talent in learning science as well as their English language proficiency. On the other hand, the
external factors include family involvement, interaction with others and extra classes.
Unfortunately, teachers and lecturers responses do not really emphasis on both internal and
external factors as they tend to focus on the internal aspects of the students only. From their
responses, it can highlight that a good science student should have high level of curiosity and
they tend to ask questions. Not only that, those students are also able to think critically,
creatively, logically and/or abstractly. In addition, some of the teachers and lecturers also agree
with the students responses regarding the importance of family support towards students
performance in science subjects. With the evidence from the analysis that has been done from the
studys result, the author concludes that by using the profile of students ability in learning
science, teachers will become more aware of their students attitude, perception as well as their

ability towards science learning. Thus teachers can come up with suitable instructional methods
that can be use in class in order to make sure that the science learning process is successful.
From the study that has been conducted, several implication has been identified which
can be use as instructional method in teaching science subject in school. Obviously from the
article, the authors state that teachers need to know their students learning preferences and
learning styles. According to G. Smith (2015), learning style can be describes as the way a
classroom need to be organized to respond to individual needs. I do agree with this statement as
teachers should try to use a variety of materials and delivery methods to allow students to at least
have their learning style preference partly addressed. Several researches conducted showed that
students motivation and achievement will improve as their learning preferences match with their
teachers learning style (Brown, B. L., 2003).
The authors also state that teachers should challenge the students with tasks and projects
from different levels of difficulty. According to D. Stipek (2010), teachers should give to all of
the students, tasks that are challenging but attainable for them. This can be done by diverge the
difficulty of tasks among students according to their skill levels. This is important in developing
critical thinking skills among students as well as generates their idea regarding new problem.
Example of activities that can be done is problem solving activities. Problem solving activities is
a process in which students need to take what they know to discover what they did not know
(Fredericks.A. D.,2005). Thus this process will actually generate their critical thinking which can
help them to perform best in their subject.
One of the implications of this article is teachers need to understand students motivation
in class. Students performance can greatly be enhanced if and only if teachers understand what

motivate their student in class. Teacher should be the one who able to motivate students towards
achieving their goals. If the students do not motivated, there is no use to have the best lessons or
books or even material in the world as they will not get excited about learning and do not willing
to work (Michigan, T. R., 2015). When teachers dealing with poor academic performance or low
motivation students, teachers need to teach them how to learn. (K. Kirk, 2015)
Although all the important factors contributing towards students performance in science
subject has been listed in this article showed the agreement, but in certain extent, the
characteristic of good science student also match with the characteristic of a good learner
regardless their learning field. As one of the respondents response said that a good science
students should have high level of curiosity, able to think logically and abstractly. According to
M. Weimer (2014), good learners are curious. Thus any students who have high level of curiosity
are said to be good learner in their field. The characteristics of having high level of curiosity, able
to think logically and abstractly are actually the characteristics of the formal operational stage
according to Piaget (1954) as stated by S. McLeod (2010).
As a conclusion, the article stated that there are many factors effecting students performance
in science subjects such as their learning strategies/styles, attitude towards science, ability or
talent in learning science as well as their English language proficiency and some external factors
such family involvement, interaction with others and extra class. Teachers also one of the
external factors in determining students performance. Teachers also the main reason for the
students to perform well in their subject besides the students intrinsic aspects. Thus in order to
make learning successful, teachers need to know the best method to be use in class. Teachers
need to become more aware of the students attitude, perception and ability towards learning thus
the learning process will be successful.
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