Science should be made more relevant - MASE

Achievements in the sciences can be improved by supporting economically disadvantaged students, investing in teachers’ working conditions and making changes in the curriculum to make the subject more relevant.

These were among the suggestions made by the Maltese Association of Science Educators to improve students’ performance in sciences.

The association, made up of volunteers, produced the recommendations after analysing the results of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007 released at the end of last year.

The TIMSS study – which looks into the performance of Grade 4 and 8 students in mathematics and science in 59 countries – highlighted a need to review science education as Maltese Form 3 students ranked 30th out of 49 countries in sciences.

The association found that student that performed the best in sciences spoke English at home, their parents had a higher level of education, they has access to computers and books, they attended school regularly and their teachers showed higher levels of job satisfaction.

It also found that students attending schools with few economically disadvantaged students performed better. A look at Maltese students’ performance showed that five per cent had advanced scientific skills, 16 had high skills, 27 per cent intermediate, 23 low while 29 per cent did not reach the low benchmark.

While Maltese student value the importance of science, many struggled to find the subject enjoyable.

Given these findings, recommendations included: giving particular attention to low achievers, supporting economically disadvantaged students, better monitoring of absenteeism, revising current reaching practices to make the sciences more hands-on and relevant, teaching science in primary schools as a basic subject, focusing on improving the level of English by reaching it at an early age, improving teacher’s working conditions and ensuring their salaries attract them to the job, and providing teachers with professional development opportunities.

The MASE report can be viewed on www.masemalta.com .