Exploring Students’ Acquisition of Manipulative Skills during Science Practical Work

Abstract

This paper reports a study on students’ science manipulative skills at the lower secondary school level. Students’ manipulative skills can be explored by understanding their technical skills and their functional aspects of performing experiment. However, this paper will focus on students’ technical skills in using basic scientific apparatus. Technical skills in this study refer to skill, abilities, and knowledge required for accomplishing a specific task in the laboratory. The skills include knowledge and skills needed to properly manipulate and operate scientific apparatus when executing a scientific task. It was found that students perform the skills in a certain pattern that reflects a form of hierarchy. This hierarchy can be used to aid science teachers in teaching manipulative skills. The paper will present the hierarchy of these technical skills and discuss these skills specifically from the perspective of lower secondary science teaching and learning. The results of this study have provided an insight on the issue of science manipulative skills that supports the importance of practical work.