Chemistry private tutoring in Malaysia

The unsatisfactory result obtained by Malaysian secondary students in international assessment has caused the Ministry of Education to put much effort into structuring the curriculum. Variety of teaching pedagogies has been suggested but not all the approaches are applicable due to many constraints. It leads students to enroll in extra private tutoring classes after their regular school hours. This research aimed to identify the reason students attend chemistry private tutoring, to explore the teaching pedagogies used in chemistry private tutoring, and to identify the perceptions of students on the pedagogies used in chemistry private tutoring. This is an exploratory qualitative study that is conducted among six tutors and five students in Malaysia. The result was analyzed through thematic analysis. Interestingly, the study has indicated that despite improving their academic result, students attend tuition to enhance their understanding and knowledge of chemistry as they were ably exposed to a variety of teaching methods. A new insight on pedagogies used in private tutoring lessons was determined, such as deductive learning, inquiry-based teaching and contextualization. It is found that student’s learning needs are highly emphasized in tuition classes. Students experience more meaningful learning and obtain interesting learning experiences in tuition

Problem-based learning module of organic insecticide for the aborigine students in Malaysia

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching model that uses real-world problems to lead students toward the learning objective of a course. It has been widely adopted in Malaysian education. However, PBL module for aboriginal people is scarce. This study aimed to provide suitable PBL activities in learning environmental problems by developing a PBL teaching module for the aborigine community and accessing its suitability. In this study, data was collected through an online validation form that was given to four validators, all of them have science or chemistry education backgrounds. The online questionnaires collected were further analyzed to investigate their responses to the module. The result has shown positive feedback (95.83%) as the responses are very encouraging. All respondents give approbation to the objectives of the module which are clearly stated and are parallel with the content. Many of them also strongly agree that the PBL model and the language used are suitable in this module. There is no doubt that PBL is a valuable tool to teach chemistry to improve students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills effectively

Chemistry private tutoring in Malaysia

The unsatisfactory result obtained by Malaysian secondary students in international assessment has caused the Ministry of Education to put much effort in structuring the curriculum. Variety of teaching pedagogies has been suggested but not all the approaches are applicable in the formal education classroom with many constraints. It leads students to enrol in extra private tutoring classes after their regular school hours and believes that it helps them to gain more exceptional learning experiences and to improve their results academically. While most research on private tutoring focuses on finding the reason for enrolling in a tuition class, it often loses sight of the exploration of pedagogies being used in helping students to cater their learning needs. Hence this research aimed 1. To identify the reason why students attend Chemistry private tutoring, 2. To explore the teaching pedagogies used in Chemistry private tutoring, and 3. To identify the perceptions of students on the pedagogies used in Chemistry private tutoring. This research is an exploratory qualitative study to identify the needs of tutoring, to explore the teaching pedagogies used and its perception in Chemistry private tutoring, among 4 tutor and 5 students who teach or receive tuition in a registered tuition centre in Malaysia. The result was analysed through thematic analysis. Interestingly, the study has indicated that despite improving their academic results, students attend tuition to enhance their understanding and knowledge of Chemistry as they were exposed to a variety of teaching methods by their tutor. A new insight on pedagogies used in private tutoring lessons were also being determined, for instance inductive learning, inquiry-based teaching and contextualisation. In conclusion, it is found out that students’ learning needs are highly emphasized in tuition class. Tutor tailor their lesson based on students’ needs, meanwhile tutoring lesson would also complement the regular lesson by providing more exposure on experiment and practice. Students experience a more meaningful learning and obtain interesting learning experience in tuition, driving them further to their learning goals and promotes lifelong learning