RELEVANCE OF SCIENCE THROUGH SCIENCE ALIVE! PROGRAMME

The study explores ways in which students who have participated in a curriculum innovation, Science ALIVE! acquire Science process skills and perceive the relevance of Science in everyday life. It investigates whether students have, after the programme, perceived an improvement in applying Science process skills. Four classes of Secondary 2 Express students attended one of four modules in the Science ALIVE! programme and responded to a pre- and post-course survey to measure their perceived skill competency for each process skill. They also responded to questions on whether the programme enhanced their awareness of the relevance of Science in everyday life. Five students from each module were selected to provide written feedback at mid-course and write a journal after the course. The content of their feedback and journals were analysed to provide deeper insight of the results of the perception surveys. The data was triangulated with teachers ’ feedback, which was used to provide insight of the factors that affect the acquisition of the process skills. The findings show significant increase in students ’ perception of skill competency while a high percentage of students indicated that the programme has made them more aware of the relevance of Science in their lives