Enhancing STEM Education during School Transition: Bridging the Gap in Science Manipulative Skills

Hidayah Mohd Fadzil; Rohaida Mohd Saat

doi:10.12973/eurasia.2014.1071a

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Hidayah Mohd Fadzil ¹, Rohaida Mohd Saat ¹ ^*

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¹ University of Malaya, MALAYSIA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

The lack of exposure to practical work in primary schools leads to incompetency in manipulative skills and students may carry this problem with them to secondary school. To address this issues, an in-depth qualitative study was conducted during transition from primary to secondary school. The research involved 10 primary school students (grade 6) who were interviewed again in secondary school (grade 7). Manipulative skills during transition can be described by understanding of technical skills and functional aspects of performing laboratory tasks. Findings indicated that students’ cognitive knowledge did not reflect their true ability in manipulative skills. Further collaboration between primary and secondary schools should be considered in order to bridge the gap during transition.

Keywords

experiments
functional aspect
science manipulative skills
STEM education

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2014, Volume 10, Issue 3, 209-218

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.1071a

Publication date: 15 Dec 2014

Article Views: 3950

Article Downloads: 1750

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How to cite this article

APA

Fadzil, H. M., & Saat, R. M. (2014). Enhancing STEM Education during School Transition: Bridging the Gap in Science Manipulative Skills. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 10(3), 209-218. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.1071a

Vancouver

Fadzil HM, Saat RM. Enhancing STEM Education during School Transition: Bridging the Gap in Science Manipulative Skills. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2014;10(3):209-18. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.1071a

AMA

Fadzil HM, Saat RM. Enhancing STEM Education during School Transition: Bridging the Gap in Science Manipulative Skills. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2014;10(3), 209-218. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.1071a

Chicago

Fadzil, Hidayah Mohd, and Rohaida Mohd Saat. "Enhancing STEM Education during School Transition: Bridging the Gap in Science Manipulative Skills". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2014 10 no. 3 (2014): 209-218. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.1071a

Harvard

Fadzil, H. M., and Saat, R. M. (2014). Enhancing STEM Education during School Transition: Bridging the Gap in Science Manipulative Skills. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 10(3), pp. 209-218. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.1071a

MLA

Fadzil, Hidayah Mohd et al. "Enhancing STEM Education during School Transition: Bridging the Gap in Science Manipulative Skills". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 10, no. 3, 2014, pp. 209-218. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2014.1071a