Exploring Factors Associated with Grade VIII Students

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Exploring Factors Associated with Grade VIII
Students Attainment in Science The issue of
medium of Instruction

• Hafiz M. Iqbal, PhD
• Institute of Education and Research,
• University of the Punjab
• Lahore-Pakistan
• drhmiqbal_at_gmail.com

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(No Transcript)
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Importance of Science Education

• Development of inquisitive minds
• Scientific manpower
• Positive attitudes toward science, etc

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Factors Associated with Science Attainment

• NEAS Data (19 variables), including
• Location of school
• Students gender
• School type
• Homework
• Parental expectations
• Liking science
• Home language, etc

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Science scores broken down by provinces
Province N Mean Std. Dev.
Balochistan 1560 15.94 4.63
NWFP 1867 16.31 4.94
Punjab 4233 18.65 5.69
Sindh 2095 14.41 4.88
AJK 1180 16.69 4.12
FANA 1150 15.97 4.46
FATA 933 15.68 4.89
ICT 353 19.23 4.59
Total 13371 16.75 5.26
plt1, medium effect size
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Science scores broken down by gender
N Mean Std. Dev.
Gender
Male 7186 16.44 5.20
Female 6185 17.11 5.32
Location Location Location Location
Rural 5518 17.27 5.44
Urban 7853 16.38 5.11
School type School type School type School type
Boys 6453 16.60 5.13
Girls 6092 17.14 5.33
Mixed 826 15.00 5.41
Total 13371 16.75 5.26
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Science scores broken down by gender and school
type
N Mean Std. Dev.

Boys in boys' schools 6536 16.59 5.15
Boys in mixed schools 650 14.84 5.41
Girls in girls' schools 6009 17.16 5.31
Girls in mixed schools 176 15.59 5.40
plt1, t test between types of school, small
effect size
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Correlations of teacher practice with science
attainment
Teacher practice r N
Extent of coverage of text-book 0.109 12680
Frequency of science homework 0.038 n 12161
Frequency of teacher checking of science homework 0.130 12899
Teacher's depth of correction of homework 0.132 12935
Students allowed to ask questions (scale 1 to 3) 0.126 12815
plt1, small effect size (n effect size
negligible, Cohen, 1988)
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Liking science scale
Item Corrected Item-Total Correlation
I feel pleasure completing any science work. 0.441
When I get an interesting question of science, I don't give up till I have solved it. 0.449
I have a natural liking for science. 0.417
I can complete science work with great success as compared to other student of my age. 0.385
I feel proud when I solve a difficult question of science. 0.373
I praise those people a lot who are expert in science. 0.406
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Liking science scores broken down by gender
Gender N Mean Std. Dev.
Male 6111 2.641 0.363
Female 5331 2.696 0.322
plt1, t-test, very small effect size
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School variables as correlates of student science
attainment
Item Scale Correlation with science score N
Number of library books 4-point 0.125 12618
Usable science laboratory 3-point 0.091 12722
Usable library 3-point 0.083 12735
Usable science laboratory and library 5-point 0.101 12662
plt1
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Significant predictor variables for science
scores (multiple OLS linear regression) (N5152)
Predictor variable Regression coefficient Std. error Variance explained ()
Constant 9.444 0.763
Attends school in Punjab (scores '1') 2.046 0.224 4.1
How much time do you spend on your homework (scale 1 to 4) 0.400 0.084 1.0
Attends school in ICT (scores '1') 2.406 0.428 0.8
Liking science (scale 1 to 3) 1.040 0.212 0.8
Do your teachers allow you ask questions about the subject taught? (scale 1 to 3) 0.678 0.147 0.5
Total number of persons in the Home - 0.073 0.018 0.4
School has adequate and usable laboratory (scores '1') 0.594 0.141 0.3
Attends school in Sindh (scores '1') - 0.944 0.261 0.3
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Significant predictor variables for science
scores (multiple OLS linear regression) (N5152)
Predictor variable Regression coefficient Std. error Variance explained ()
My parents expect me to do well in the science subjects (scale 1 to 3). 0.471 0.135 0.2
Student gender ( from Student Report) Girl '0', boy '1' - 0.408 0.143 0.2
How many times do your teachers check your homework in science (scale 1 to 3) 0.520 0.153 0.2
Home language is Punjabi (scores '1') - 0.851 0.233 0.1
Extra-curricular activities (scale 1 to 3) - 0.443 0.152 0.02
Do you have use of a calculator at home? (scores '1') 0.358 0.140 0.1
Home language is Sindhi (scores '1') - 0.494 0.236 0.1
Student travels to school by car (scores '1') 0.434 0.220 0.0
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Variance in science scores across three levels
Variance attributed to Variance Std. error
Students 16.569 0.389
Schools 8.234 0.654
Provinces 1.126 0.667
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Variance in science scores across two levels in
the null model
Variance attributed to Variance Std. error
Students 16.575 0.390
Schools 9.503 0.725
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Effect of students home language
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Science scores broken down by language spoken at
home
Which language do you generally speak at home? N Mean SD
Urdu 1939 17.56 5.60
Barahwi 261 15.33 4.74
Balochi 824 15.63 5.02
Punjabi 3138 18.12 5.23
Pashto 2648 16.14 4.91
Sindhi 1171 14.44 5.05
Siraeki 833 17.77 6.06
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Science scores broken down by language spoken at
home
Which language do you generally speak at home? N Mean SD
Kashmiri 80 16.64 4.65
Hindko 614 16.46 4.59
Persian 87 16.71 4.85
Balti 405 16.39 4.35
Shena 484 15.85 4.51
any other 483 16.05 4.46
Total 12967 16.75 5.26
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Science scores broken down by medium of
instruction
Medium of instruction Mean N Std. Dev.
Urdu 17.06 11091 5.26
Sindhi 14.25 1209 4.96
Pushto 14.68 50 4.20
unknown 12.36 44 4.25
Double 15.72 18 3.59
Total 16.76 12412 5.30
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Recent Language Policy
English as a medium of instructions for science
and math from grade one Implications Language
policy is going to affect all other students
related variables and hence their attainment in
science