Authors : Muhamad Furkan Mat Salleh, Fatin Fareeha Mazli, Mohamad Hisyam Ismail and Sharipah Ruzaina Syed Aris
Abstract: Teachers are vital agent of a nation in order to instil and enhance student’s environmental knowledge and awareness. To produce teachers who are capable to carry out such role, teacher training institutions should provide mechanisms for the future teachers to learn and improve their content knowledge and related skills. This is to ensure effective delivery of environmental knowledge and inculcation of environmental awareness. This study was conducted mainly to investigate the Effectiveness of the Science and Society (SCE552) course in instilling the environmental knowledge and awareness to pre-service science teachers by examining the Faculty of Education UiTM’s pre-service science teacher’s level of knowledge and awareness of the environment. The study employed qualitative research design which semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis were carried out for data collection purposes. Three groups of students were involved in the observation while 21 pre-service science teachers from the three groups were randomly selected for interviews. The study found that the SCE552 course is effective in instilling the environmental knowledge and awareness among the pre-service science teachers as they reflected their sound understanding of the environmental terms, issues and also their high level of awareness. However, the results suggest further improvement need to be done on the course in order to help the pre-service teachers to translate the knowledge and awareness into practice. The study found that the active learning approach that has been practiced by the instructor of the course as well as the nature of the course that requires the pre-service teachers to look up for more information for presentation and class discussion are among the factors that contribute to the effectiveness of the course. The study urges teacher training institutions to produce more prospective teachers with sound environmental knowledge, improve the effectiveness of the environmental-related courses as well as to adapt active learning approach in order to enhance future teacher’s environmental knowledge and awareness.
Muhamad Furkan Mat Salleh, Fatin Fareeha Mazli, Mohamad Hisyam Ismail and Sharipah Ruzaina Syed Aris, 2017. The Effectiveness of Science and Society (SCE552) Course in Instilling Environmental Knowledge and Awareness to Pre-Service Science Teachers in Faculty of Education, UiTM. The Social Sciences, 12: 73-78.