Cambodian Students’ Competency and Teaching Material Development on Chemistry at Secondary Level

The main purpose of the research is to study students‟ competency on chemistry at lower secondary school in Cambodia and to develop teaching and learning apparatus from simple and available materials to support students‟ learning in Chemistry at secondary school. In order to achieve the research purposes, three research questions are posed: 1. To what extent do lower secondary school students in Cambodia understand the chemistry concept? 2. What teaching apparatus can be developed to support students‟ learning in chemistry at secondary school? 3. What are secondary school student‟s perceptions on the teaching and learning apparatus which were developed? The research on Cambodian students‟ competency in Chemistry at lower secondary school can be shown through quantitative data analysis from 1304 Cambodian students in grade 8 (2nd year of lower secondary school) from 34 public schools across 17 provinces out of 25 throughout the country using the test paper designed by the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 2011 standard. The study discussed the comparison by genders, areas, as well as within the regional countries and Japan whom participated in TIMSS-2011 standard. The results showed that Cambodian student's achievement was comparable to those of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, however, they were all still below the ASEAN and international averages and far below Japan. The results also showed that there was not a significant difference in performance between male students (N=614, M=6.34, SD=3.044) and female students (N=690, M=6.44, SD=2.873); p=0.537>0.05. On the other hand, the students from the districts (N=655, M=6.56, iv SD=2.971) seemed perform the test slightly better than those from the towns (N=649, M=6.28, SD=2.928); p=0.043