Penilaian Amali Sains Sekolah Rendah: Satu Kajian Perintis

Abstract

In line with the aim of producing a science oriented and progressive society, Science was reintroduced as a subject in the primary school curriculum in December, 1994. It is also an examination subject in the UPSR since 1997. Other than testing for content knowledge, aspects such as scientific skills, attitudes and moral values should also be assessed. Many of these aspects of evaluation willl eventually become the responsibility of the teachers teaching Science in schools. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of using the evaluation checklist form for Primary Science introduced in the Buku Sumber Pengajaran Pembelajaran Sains Sekolah Rendah Jilid 4: Penilaian Sains Sekolah Rendah that was produced in the PIER Project, Teachers' Training Division, Ministry of Education, Malaysia (1995). A sample of 30 teacher trainees from Semester 3 doing the Science Studies option at a teachers' training college were asked to use the evaluation form during their practicum training in schools. They were asked to evaluate two process skills and one manipulative skill for each class that they taught Science. As many as nine process skills and three manipulative skills were evaluated by the trainees. 14 topics from two areas of the Primary School Science Syllabus Year 4, namely The Living Environment and The Physical Environment, were used in their evaluation. The study identified a number of problems encountered by the Science teacher when using the evaluation form in their classroom. It is hoped that the study will bring greater awareness of the numerous problems encountered by Science teachers if they are given the task of evaluating the practical science work of their students in the coming UPSR examination in 1997. A number of proposals have been forwarded to reduce the workload of the teachers when carrying out classroom evaluations of Science so as to make the exercise more accurate and reliable.