This article is based on a case study of the management of curriculum change in primary schools. This was done by analyzing the management of curriculum change brought about by the introduction the History curriculum for the Year Four Primary Schools Standard-Based Curriculum. This instrumental case study employed a descriptive- interpretative approach grounded in the qualitative research tradition. Data was collected through analysis of documents, in-depth semi-structured interviews and the direct observations of teaching and learning of History lessons. It was located within the context of eight selected schools. A total of twenty eight participants (8 History teachers, 8 senior curriculum assistants, 8 headmasters, 1 National Trainer and 3 officers from Curriculum Development Division, State Education Department and District Education were interviewed. The process and procedures in managing curriculum change were analyzed in the context of characteristic of Havelock’s model, Schon.....

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The focus of the study was to determine the effect of Cooperative Integrated Reading Composition (CIRC) to improve pupils’ reading comprehension achievement and motivation. A quantitative approach with a quasi-experimental design was used for this study. Interviews were also used to support the quantitative data. A total of 54 fifth grade pupils from the district of Kalimantan, Banjar, Indonesia were involved in the study. There were 28 pupils in the experimental group and 26 pupils in the control group. Quantitative data were collected from the pre and posttests and surveys, while the qualitative data came from the interviews. The quantitative data were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential analyses. Descriptive analysis showed the frequencies, means, and standard deviation, while the inferential statistics involved an independent t-test. The findings of the pre and posttests showed that there was a significant improvement in achievement for the experimental group (M=91.96, .....

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This paper discusses the development of the Problem – Solving Efficacy Scale on College Algebra. Through factor analytic research design, the scale underwent five development stages including assessment of factorability of the data, factor extraction, factor rotation and interpretation, rotation confirmation, and internal consistency analysis. In the 80 – item questionnaire administered to 80 randomly selected College Algebra students of Isabela State University, structural validity was attained with 34 scale items grouped into four components; namely, physiological/somatic responses, social persuasions, vicarious experiences, and mastery experiences. The developed instrument can explain 55.36% of the overall variance and has a high reliability coefficient ( .87), confirming that the four factors are integral to problem-solving efficacy in College Algebra. Physiological/Somatic responses and social persuasion explain greater amount of variance than mastery experience and vica.....

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This study aims to present the observations and perceived challenges of a group of English as a Second Language (ESL) pre-service teachers (PSTs) engaging in reflective practice in their practicum. Past studies have shown that PSTs are uncapable of reflecting on their practice at the critical level. Results from the online survey indicated that reflection thinking is one of the areas respondents opined that they need to improve. Analysis of their practicum reflection forms indicated a low level of reflection shown by the respondents as they reflect on their lessons. Follow-up focus group interviews on the respondents’ reflective thinking revealed that respondents lack a clear grasp of what reflective thinking is about, and they also expressed their reluctance of reflecting with their peers on their lessons. The outcome of this study precipitates a need for PSTs to learn a strategy to conduct a critical reflection. Subsequently, it could be beneficial for the respondents to capitalise.....

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This paper is aimed to investigate causes of moribund enrolment problems of students in Islamic Studies using Ogun State, Nigeria as a case study. The study focused on 520 students of 42 secondary schools. This included students of Islamic Studies and other Muslim students who did not register for Islamic Studies. Measurement scale was tested using Cronbach’s Alpha reliability. This was further subjected to factor analysis for construct and content validity. Researchers thereafter conducted confirmatory factor analysis to establish earlier findings of factor analysis. The study ended with path analysis which the researchers found more robust than multiple regression analysis. Final analysis confirmed five causes of moribund enrolment problems of students in Islamic Studies. Out of these, Job marketability was identified as the main cause which if addressed would solve or reduce the problem to a lower level. Researchers noted however that this could not be achieved without improvement.....

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This research was conducted to identify the acquisition level of science process skills among Form 2 students in one of the districts of Sabah, Malaysia, and to investigate the difference between male and female students' acquisition levels of such skills. The survey study involved a sample of 269 students (134 female and 135 male) aged 14 to15 years using the Science Process Skills Test (SPST) that consists of 35 items covering Basic Science Process Skills (BSPS) and the Integrated Science Process Skills (ISPS). The descriptive statistical results indicated that the science process skills for both male and female students were at a moderate level. The male and female students scored 47.28% and 49.89% respectively in the SPST. The independent t-test result revealed that there was no significant difference between male and female students' science process skills, although female students got better scores compared to male students with a p-value (0.684) that was more than 0.05 (p> 0.05).....

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The case study aimed to explore and explain the issues and challenges experienced in the management of curriculum change in primary schools. This was done by analysing the management of curriculum change brought about by the introduction the History curriculum for the Year Four Primary Schools Standard based Curriculum. This case study used a descriptive- interpretative approach grounded in the qualitative research tradition. Precisely, it is an instrumental case study. Data was collected through analysis of documents, in-depth interviewing (based on semi-structured interviews) and the direct observations of learning and teaching of History lessons. It was located within the context of eight selected schools (four National Primary Schools and four Tamil Type National Primary schools). A total of twenty eight respondents were interviewed. The findings show that the respondents did face issues and challenges in managing the Year Four History curriculum. They were pertaining to curriculum.....

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Recently, peace has become an issue being discussed especially in regards to cultural diversity. With education, peace can be conveyed to all walks of life and levels, in particular, the children as our future generation. This study aimed to determine phases and their interrelation towards multicultural-based model of peace education curriculum for preschool children. In order to acquire the accepted (agreement) value for each phase and their interrelation based on experts’ opinion, the Fuzzy Delphi Method was adopted. A set of questionnaire was administered to a group of 12 experts selected based on specified criteria. Seven phases (internal awareness, external stimuli, self- formation, personality cultivation, character development, identity development and action build-up) was given to each expert for their suitable selection of the model. Only 4 phases were selected based on the agreement value of above 75% while their interrelation was stipulated by defuzzification value of the .....

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Green skills are the technical skills, knowledge, values and attitudes needed in the workforce to develop and support sustainable social, economic and environmental outcomes in business,industry and the community (as defined by the Green Skills Agreement, Australia). School teachers play a role in producing skilled labor that has green skills. The aim of this research is to explore the views of teachers regarding the instilling of green skills in students and the types of green skills applicable in schools. This research is a qualitative investigation using the method of in-depth interview to collect information from the teachers who handle the subject of Living Skill Integration in secondary schools. The respondents opine that the school can disseminate preliminary information about green skills, but the application of these skills in real life requires experienced teachers. Furthermore, these skills can be infused into various subjects so that students can have a holistic perspective.....

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Innovation, nowadays classified among the best strategies of the organizations’ survival. However, innovation combines with high level of risk that requests certain level of capabilities in order to face different kinds of risks. Therefore, this study is an attempt to investigate the relationship between TQM practices, absorptive capacity and innovation performance. The sample size was manufacturing companies operating in Malaysia. The main findings indicate to the positive effect of applying TQM on absorptive capacity, while the relationships between TQM and innovation performance was not supported. In the light of the output several recommendations have been mentioned to the managers of the companies...

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