RESEARCH OPERATIONAL TEMPLATE (ROT)

(By: OTHMAN TALIB)

Working Title:
THE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF AN INSTRUMENT TO MEASURE SCIENCE TEACHERS’ PREPAREDNESS
TOWARDS STEM IMPLEMENTATION
Name: ______________
1. Brief Overview of the study
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) is currently worldwide issues for its future workforce demand
and the fact that the foundation of STEM is linked to the prosperity of the country. U.S Bureau of Labour Statistics
reported that STEM related workforce grew by 10.5%, between May 2009 and May 2015 compared with 5.2% net growth
in non-STEM related workforce showing that the high demand for STEM related occupations (Fayer, Lacey, & Watson,
2017). Due to this increased STEM workforce grew, Malaysia also projected the growth for STEM related workforce by
aiming 1 million STEM workforce demand by 2020 compared to 120K STEM workforce that currently available (Academy
of Sciences Malaysia, 2015). In conjunction with that, Ministry of Education takes the initiative to embark on a
preliminary step towards providing future workforce by making STEM as one of the pillars in Secondary School
Curriculum Standard that will be used nationwide starting 2017 (Curriculum Development Division, 2016).

2. PROBLEM STATEMENT
i. Current issue / Symptom
- Malaysia faces the decline in science stream enrolment in upper secondary school, from 44% in 2011 to 21% in 2014
that way behind the Higher Education Planning Committee set a target to achieve their 60:40 Science: Art Policy
(Academy of Sciences Malaysia, 2015).

ii. Specific problem(s) underpinning the issue

-Students’ interest and achievement in science related subject were reportedly depending upon teachers preparations
(Henry et al., 2011; Slavit, Nelson, & Lesseig, 2016; Steele, Brew, Rees, & Ibrahim-Khan, 2013).
- Teacher preparedness have significant correlation with their of teaching instructional efficacy (Darling-Hammond,
Chung, & Frelow, 2002).
- Some of the reasons that contribute to students declining interest in science related subject is ad hoc changes in
education policies, low quality of teachers and ineffective STEM teaching instructional method (Academy of Sciences
Malaysia, 2015)
- Despite having less training compared to other methods , demonstration and experiments are the most effective
instructional methods in teaching STEM (Smith, Rayfield, & Mckim, 2015).
- Malaysia teachers were reportedly have issues in term of lack instructional training, exposure to content knowledge,
inadequate facilities and supports in implementing STEM (Ramli & Talib, 2017; Siew, Amir, & Chong, 2015; Wahid & Talib,
2017).

iii. Proposed solution – NOVELTY

Development of a valid and reliable instrument to accurately measure teacher preparedness towards STEM
implementation.

3. OBJECTIVE
I. To define the concept of science teachers’ preparedness towards STEM implementation
II. To generate item pool of science teachers’ preparedness towards STEM implementation instrument
III. To test the validity of science teachers’ preparedness towards STEM implementation instrument
IV. To test the reliability of science teachers’ preparedness towards STEM implementation instrument
V. To examine any significant difference among science teachers’ preparedness towards STEM implementation
instrument with regards to their teaching experience
4. THEORETICAL / CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

i. Theoretical Framework

STEM as Teaching and Learning Approach

Learning by Doing Theory Integrated Curriculum Model
(Curriculum Development Division, 2016)
(Schank, Berman, & Macpherson, 1999) (VanTassel-Baska & Wood, 2010)

•Goals •Issues / Theme Dimension •Knowledge

•Mission •Advance Content DImension •Skills
•Cover story (background story line) •Process Product Dimension •Value
•Role (who the students will play)
•Scenario operations (activities that
students does)
•Resources
•Feedback

Teachers Preparedness in STEM Implementation

ii. Conceptual Framework

5. SIGNIFICANCE
- Student interest and achievement in STEM related to teacher preparedness, so an instrument must be developed in
other to measure teacher preparedness in implementing STEM.
- Add more knowledge in the world of STEM, particularly in Malaysia scenario.

6. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 7. INSTRUMENTATION 8. DATA ANALYSIS

I. What is the concept of science teachers’ -Document Analysis Systematic Review
preparedness towards STEM implementation -Interview with Interview with practitioners
practitioners & experts and experts
II. What are the items on science teachers’ -Document Analysis Systematic Review
preparedness towards STEM implementation -Interview with Interview with practitioners
practitioners & experts and experts
III. To what extent the instrument is a valid measure for Survey using Content Validity -Kappa
assessing science teachers’ preparedness towards questionnaire Agreement
STEM implementation Face Validity
Construct Validity – CFA
IV. To what extent the instrument is reliable measure for Survey using Internal Consistency Reliability
assessing science teachers’ preparedness towards questionnaire -Cronbach’s Alpha
STEM implementation EFA,
V. Is there any difference among science teachers’ Survey using Rasch Measurement Model
preparedness towards STEM implementation questionnaire
instrument with regards to their teaching experience
9.RESEARCH DESIGN: 10. SAMPLING TECHNIQUE / SAMPLING FRAME:
Exploratory Design Sampling Technique : Multistage Cluster Sampling
Population : Selangor Secondary School Science Teachers
11. EXPECTED MAIN FINDING:
Valid and reliable instrument to measure science teacher preparedness in STEM implementation

12. CONTRIBUTION TO THE BODY OF KNOWLEDGE (THEORY, METHODOLOGY, PRACTICALITY):

 THEORY – Better theoretical comprehension in science teachers preparedness in STEM implementation
 METHODOLOGY – Steps in instrument development based on methodology adopted from previous studies (DeVellis,
2003; Mackenzie, Podsakoff, & Podsakoff, 2011; Suhairom, Musta’amal, Amin, & Johari, 2014)
 PRACTICALITY – A new assessment for teacher preparedness in STEM implement

REFERENCES: List of current ‘leading’ journals referred to prepare this proposal

1. Academy of Sciences Malaysia. (2015). Science Outlook 2015: Action Towards Vision. (Academy of Sciences
Malaysia, Ed.). Ministry of Sciene, Technology And Innovation.
2. Curriculum Development Division. (2016). Buku Penerangan Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Menengah (KSSM).
Putrajaya: Ministry of Education.
3. Darling-Hammond, L., Chung, R., & Frelow, F. (2002). Variation in Teacher Preparation: How Well Do Different
Pathways Prepare Teachers to Teach? Journal of Teacher Education, 53(4), 286–302.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487102053004002
4. DeVellis, R. . (2003). Scale Development : Theory and Aplications (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications Inc.
5. Fayer, S., Lacey, A., & Watson, A. (2017). STEM Occupations : Past , Present , And Future.
6. Henry, G. T., Thompson, C. L., Bastian, K. C., Kershaw, D. C., Purtell, K. M., & Zulli, R. A. (2011). Does Teacher
Preparation Affect Student Achievement? Education Finance and Policy.
7. Mackenzie, S. B., Podsakoff, P. M., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2011). Construct Measurement And Validation Procedures
In MIS And Behavioral Research: Integrating New And Existing Techniques. MIS Quarterly, 35(2), 293–334.
8. Ramli, N. F., & Talib, O. (2017). Can Education Institution Implement STEM ? From Malaysian Teachers ’ View.
International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(3), 721–732.
https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v7-i3/2772
9. Siew, N. M., Amir, N., & Chong, C. L. (2015). The perceptions of pre-service and in-service teachers regarding a
project-based STEM approach to teaching science. SpringerPlus, 4(1), 1–20.
10. Slavit, D., Nelson, T. H., & Lesseig, K. (2016). The Teachers’ Role in Developing, Opening, and Nurturing an Inclusive
STEM-focused School. International Journal of STEM Education, 3(1), 7.
11. Smith, K. L., Rayfield, J., & Mckim, B. R. (2015). Effective Practices in STEM Integration: Describing Teacher
Perceptions and Instructional Method Use. Journal of Agricultural Education, 56(4), 183–203.
12. Steele, A., Brew, C., Rees, C., & Ibrahim-Khan, S. (2013). Our Practice, Their Readiness: Teacher Educators
Collaborate to Explore and Improve Preservice Teacher Readiness for Science and Math Instruction. Journal of
Science Teacher Education, 24(1), 111–131. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10972-012-9311-2
13. Suhairom, N., Musta’amal, A. H., Amin, N. F., & Johari, N. K. A. (2014). The development of competency model and
instrument for competency measurement : The research methods. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 152,
1300–1308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.09.367
14. Wahid, N. T. A., & Talib, O. (2017). STEM Integration in Classroom Practices among Biology Teachers in Mara
Junior Science College ( MJSC ). International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(4),
1030–1041. https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v7-i4/2912