A comparison of Malaysian and German science teachers’ conceptions in teaching science in secondary schools

Abstract

In this advanced world, our younger generation has been exposed to science and technology since they were born. Hence, there is an obvious need to prepare our younger generation for a better future. Malaysian and German classroom have similar physical appearance and students in both nations perceive science as a difficult and boring subject. Nonetheless, Germany scored higher than Malaysia in Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for science in 2012. Since Malaysia is looking forward to improving our science education, sharing and exchanging views between Malaysia and Germany are great ideas for a better science education. This case study is aimed to compare Malaysian and German secondary school science teachers’ conceptions in teaching science. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with four Malaysian science teachers and four German science teachers in their respective secondary schools. As the result of this study, there showed some improvements in Malaysia science teachers’ conceptions of teaching science where they prefer to practise student-centred conceptions of teaching during the practical session and apply teacher-centred conceptions of teaching during theory lesson. On the other hand, most of the German science teachers prefer student-centred conceptions of teaching. This has added a useful and different perspective of Malaysian science teachers’ conceptions in teaching science.