Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 18, Issue 2, Article 3 (Dec., 2017) Pongsuwat SERMSIRIKARNJANA, Krissana KIDDEE and Phadungchai PUPAT An integrated science process skills needs assessment analysis for Thai vocational students and teachers Previous Contents Next

Results

Respondent’s Characteristics

The total number of respondents included 345 individuals who were either teachers (48-13.91%) or students (297-86.09%) involved in vocational science education in Thailand’s Region 3 in Phitsanulok Province. Table I and Figure 2 show the results of performance evaluation of integrated scientific process skills of vocational certificate education. According to Table I, the authentic performance of integrated scientific process skills was found to be at a medium level (X̄=3.19, S.D. =0.25), with expected performance at a high level (X̄=4.12, S.D. =0.52).

Table I. Mean (X̄) and Standard Deviation (S.D.) of Authentic and Expected Performance of Integrated Scientific Process Skills

	Authentic			Expected
Dependent variables	X̄	S.D.	results	X̄	S.D.	results
1.Formulating Hypotheses	3.08	0.45	Medium	4.11	0.57	High
2.Defining Operationally	3.24	0.32	Medium	4.09	0.58	High
3.Identifying and Controlling Variables	3.21	0.52	Medium	8.66	4.13	High
4.Experimenting	3.05	0.58	Medium	4.14	0.59	High
5.Interpreting and Making Inferences	3.35	0.57	Medium	4.15	0.58	High
Totals	3.19	0.25	Medium	4.12	0.52	High

Needs Assessment Analysis

The needs assessment analysis of integrated scientific process skills of vocational certificate students is shown in Figure 3. According to Figure 3, it is shown that the needs assessment of 5 integrated scientific process skills (formulating hypotheses, defining operationally, identifying, and controlling variables, experimenting, and interpreting and making inferences) fall in Quartile 3 which need an urgent improvement.

Figure 3. Needs assessment analysis of integrated scientific process skills.

Prioritizing needs assessment of integrated scientific process skills of vocational certificate students is shown in Table II. According to Table III, it was found that PNI(Modified) appears between 0.23-0.35 which identified the following skills targeted for improvement. From weakest to strongest, it was determined that experimenting was the weakest. However, formatting hypotheses was a bit better. Interpreting and making inferences, identifying, and controlling variables and defining operationally, were next in their order of need for improvement.

The comparison of needs assessment of integrated scientific process skills of vocational certificate students classified by institution type is shown in Table III. According to Table III, it was found that needs assessment of integrated scientific process skills of vocational certificate students in technical colleges, vocational colleges, polytechnic colleges, and industrial and community colleges are not different, as confirmed by a significance level of 0.05. When comparing all the integrated scientific process skills, the results show that all skills need significant improvement.

Model assessments are accomplished with the use of fit statistics, and in regression modeling, R² is commonly used. The R² is a descriptive index, and the evaluation of goodness-of-fit is somewhat subjective as where is R² good? R²= 0.50? R² = 0.30? R² = 0.10? There are no fixed guidelines for R², thus it is desirable to supplement it with the F-test used in Table III (Iacobucci, 2009). The F statistic tests the null hypothesis because it comes with a corresponding statistical distribution. Thus, the F-test tells us whether the model is capturing a significant amount of variance.

Table II. Assessment Results and Prioritizing of Needs Assessment of Integrated Scientific Process Skills of Vocational Certificate Students.

Items	Integrated scientific process skills	I	D	PNI(Modified)	Prioritizing
1	Formatting hypotheses	4.11	3.08	0.33	2
2	Defining operationally	4.09	3.24	0.26	4
3	Identifying and controlling variables	4.13	3.21	0.28	3
4	Experimenting	4.14	3.05	0.35	1
5	Interpreting and making references	4.15	3.35	0.23	5
	Total	4.12	3.19

Table III. Comparsion of Needs Assessment of Integrated Scientific Process Skills of Vocational Certificate Students (Classified by Institutions).

Integrated Scientific Process Skills	Source of Variance	SS	df	MS	F	Sig
1. Formatting hypotheses	Between Groups Within Groups Total	0.831 71.005 71.836	5 339 344	0.166 0.209	0.793	0.555
2. Defining operationally	Between Groups Within Groups Total	0.631 35.621 36.252	5 339 344	0.126 0.105	1.201	0.308
3. Identifying and controlling variances	Between Groups Within Groups Total	2.605 90.643 93.248	5 339 344	0.521 0.267	1.949	0.086
4. Experimenting	Between Groups Within Groups Total	2.731 116.589 119.321	5 339 344	0.546 0.344	1.588	0.163
5. Interpreting and making inferences	Between Groups Within Groups Total	1.988 110.383 112.371	5 339 344	0.398 0.326	1.221	0.299
Total	Between Groups Within Groups Total	0.252 21.364 21.616	5 339 344	0.050 0.063	0.801	0.550

Table IV also shows items from the questionnaire along with their results.

Table IV. Questionnaire items for Level of Need.

Item	Mean	SD	Level of Need
The assumptions.
1. I can understand the assumptions from the problem set.	4.58	0.560	most
2. I can understand the rules of the assumption.	4.42	0.540	much
3. I can tell how to test assumptions from the given data.	4.39	0.551	much
The definition of action.			much
1. I can define the meaning and scope of words	4.38	0.532	much
2. I can define the action of a word or variable.	4.57	0.557	most
3.  I can improve the definition of action.	4.35	0.524	much
Defining and controlling variables
1. I can control the parameters that are set and the assumptions made.	4.38	0.547	much
2. I can define the dependent, independent, and control variables.	4.40	0.501	much
3. I can tell and control the conditions and circumstances of either the constant or non-constant variables.	4.40	0.557	much
The trials.			much
I can decide the design of each experiment.	4.35	0.526	much
2. I can follow the experiment’s plans.	4.38	0.503	much
3. I take note of each experiment and its results.	4.39	0.539	much
Interpretation of information and conclusions.			much
1. The interpretation of results is very clear and conclusive.	4.39	0.551	much
2. I can interpret or describe the properties of the data.	4.39	0.566	much
3. I can describe the meaning of the information provided in different ways.	4.40	0.531	much

 

 

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