Research Publications

Academic theses and dissertations are regularly published and widely disseminated in YUOE Journal, Monographs, Universities Research Journal (URJ), Myanmar Academy of Arts and Science (MAAS) Journal, AsTEN Research Journal and International online Journals for sharing knowledge and contributing to the development of our education.

Myanmar Academy of Art & Science List of Research

No. Researcher Title Abstract Year
251 Hnin Aye Nyein AN INVESTIGATION INTO TE MATEMATICS PROCESS SKILLS OF TE MIDDLE SCOOL STUDENTS The development of mathematics process skills in students is essential in learning and application of mathematics. The purpose of this study is to investigate the mathematics process skills of the students at the middle school level. The design adopted in this study was a descriptive research design. Twelve schools were randomly selected from four townships of four districts from Yangon Region. In order to obtain the require data, (600) students were requested to participate in this study. A mathematics process skills test was used as an instrument. It consists of five main parts: problem solving, reasoning, communication, connection, and representation. Each part consists of (10) multiple choice items. Students’ answer sheets were scored manually, each correct answer was scored one mark while a wrong answer was scored zero. Mean, standard deviation, and Pearson product-moment correlation were calculated to analyze the data. The research findings indicated that most of the students possessed moderate level of mathematics process skills. Communication skill was the highest among the students and connection skill was the lowest among the students. Furthermore, there were significant positive relationships among five mathematics process skills 2018
252 May Myat Moe Thein TE CORRELATION BETWEEN MIDDLE SCOOL STUDENTS ATTITUDES AND ACIEVEMENT IN MATEMATICS The main purpose of this study is to study the correlation between middle school students’ attitudes and achievement in mathematics. A quantitative research method was mainly used to study students’ attitudes. A descriptive research design was adopted in this study that was conducted in Yangon Region. The sample schools for this study were selected randomly. Two high schools and one middle school were selected from each district, Yangon Region. Therefore, eight high schools and four middle schools were included in this study. There were (600) Grade Seven Students participated in this study. As instruments, an attitude questionnaire and an achievement test were used. For the reliability of instruments, a pilot testing with (50) Grade Seven students was conducted. The internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha) of the students’ attitudes questionnaire was (.725) and the students’ achievement test was (.742). In this study, the data were analyzed by using the descriptive analysis techniques and Pearson product moment correlation. The research findings revealed that there were positive correlations between students’ attitudes and their mathematics achievement (r = .705, p<.01), students’ confidence in learning mathematics and students’ mathematics achievement (r = .728, p < .01), effectance motivation in learning mathematics and students’ mathematics achievement (r = .767, p< .01), mathematics usefulness and students’ mathematics achievement (r = .786, p< .01) and the general perceptions about teaching and learning mathematics and the students’ mathematics achievement (r = .641, p< .01). But there was a negative correlation between students’ attitudes in terms of mathematics anxiety and their mathematics achievement (r = -.798, p< .01). 2018
253 Ngu Wah Soe A STUDY OF TE EFFECTIVENESS OF CONCEPT MAPPING IN TEACING SCIENCE AT TE MIDDLE SCOOL LEVEL The main purpose of this research is to study the effectiveness of concept mapping in teaching science at the middle school level. A concept map is a schematic device for representing a set of interrelated, interconnected conceptual meanings. There are three essential steps to create concept maps: (a) a list of concepts, (b) lines that represent the relational links between these concepts, and (c) labels for these linking relationships. In this study, Ausubel’s model of meaningful learning was applied to develop the lesson plans including concept maps that implement into experimental study. According to the format of that design, (7) sample lessons of learning materials were constructed. The target population is Grade Seven students from Basic Education High School, Dagon Township and Basic Education High School, Mingaladon Township. Simple random sampling method was used. Therefore, (120) students and (4) science teachers participated in it. The instruments in this study were a pretest and a posttest. Learning materials were selected from Chapter (5), The Earth and Space, from Grade Seven science textbook. To study the effectiveness of concept mapping in teaching science, one of the true experimental designs, pretest-posttest control group design was used. The data were analyzed. Independent samples t test was used to test the hypotheses of this study. The result of this study shows that there was a significant difference in the science achievement of Grade Seven students who receive instruction with concept mapping and those who do not. The results also indicated that when students are exposed to concept mapping, they achieved significantly better in performing knowledge, comprehension and application level science questions than other students. It verifies that concept mapping in science teaching brings positive effects on students’ science learning at the middle school level. Hence, concept mapping can be integrated in science teaching and learning in the classroom. 2018
254 Thandar Oo A STUDY OF TE CONTRIBUTION OF TECNOLOGY INTEGRATION IN TEACING BIOLOGY TO GRADE NINE STUDENTS This research was conducted with the purpose of studying the contribution of technology integration in teaching biology to Grade Nine students. In this study, both the qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to study the contribution of technology integration. The posttest only control group design was used to compare the achievement between the students who were taught by integrating technology and those who were not. After administering a posttest, a set of attitude questionnaires was used to know the students’ attitudes towards technology integration in teaching biology. For the qualitative study, biology teachers were interviewed to know their perspectives on the technology integration in the classroom. From Grade Nine biology textbook, Chapter (V), Variety of Living Organisms, the first five sub-topics of the topic, A Bony Fish, were selected as the learning materials. The result of the posttest showed that the achievement of the students who were taught by integrating technology was significantly higher than that of the students who were not. The results of No.4, Basic Education High School, Sanchaung was (t = 3.764, df = 50, MD = 7.08, p< .01) and that of No.6, Basic Education High School, Insein was (t = 4.315, df = 68, MD = 10.63, p< .001). Furthermore, the students who used technology as a learning tool in their study showed positive attitudes towards the integration of technology. The interview results showed that the teachers are willing to integrate technology in their classroom but they have some difficulties in using it in the classroom. They also admitted that if they were given opportunity, they would like to receive training in using technology in the classroom. 2018
255 Phue Pwint Khaing A STUDY OF TE CORRELATION BETWEEN STUDENTS CRITICAL TINKING SKILLS AND TEIR MATEMATICS ACIEVEMENT AT TE MIDDLE SCOOL LEVEL The main purpose of this study is to study the correlation between students’ critical thinking skills and their mathematics achievement at the middle school level. Especially, this study aims to study students’ critical thinking skills in mathematics in terms of analysis, synthesis and evaluation level of Bloom’s cognitive domain. A descriptive research design was used for this study. Four townships were randomly selected from four districts in Yangon Region. Twelve schools (eight high schools and four middle schools) were randomly selected from the four townships. The participants in this study included (600) Grade Eight students. As instruments, a test for critical thinking skills and a test for mathematics achievement were used. To obtain the reliability of these instruments, a pilot test was administered. The internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha) of the test for students ‘critical thinking skills was (.782) and of the test for students’ mathematic achievement was (.807). In order to address the research questions, a descriptive statistics (percentage) and Pearson product-moment correlation were used. The percentage of low, moderate and high levels of students’ critical thinking skills were 13.7% (N=82), 70.1% (N=421) and 16.2% (N=97) respectively. The percentage of low, moderate and high levels of students’ mathematics achievement were 22.7% (N=136), 65.3% (N=392) and 12.0% (N=72) respectively. And also there was a positive correlation between students’ critical thinking skills and their mathematics achievement (r = .748, p < .01). 2018
256 Myint Shwe Soe A STUDY OF TE EFFECTIVENESS OF DEMONSTRATION METOD ON GRADE NINE STUDENTS ACIEVEMENT IN PYSICS The main purpose of the present study is to study the effectiveness of demonstration method on Grade Nine students’ achievement in physics. Demonstration method was used as a method of teaching that relies heavily upon showing the learner a model performance. Demonstration method includes five main parts: purposing, planning, demonstration proper, executing and evaluation. The design used in this study was a true experimental design; pretest-posttest control group design. According to the format of that design, (7) sample lesson plans of learning materials were constructed. The target population is Grade Nine students who are learning physics. Two high schools situated in Dagon and Mingalardon Townships were selected by random sampling method. Science combination students were selected. A total of (120) students and (4) physics teachers participated in it. Treatments were conducted separately in two groups. The experimental groups were taught according to the principles of demonstration method. The control groups were taught as usual. Learning materials were selected from Some Applications of Mirror Formula in Chapter (9), Reflection of Light and Electric Charges, Matter and Electricity, Conductors and Insulators, Charging by Induction and Materials and Magnets in Chapter (10), Electricity and Magnetism from Grade Nine Physics Textbook. Independent samples t test was used to test the hypotheses of this study. The result shows that there was a significant difference in the achievements of physics between the students who were taught by using demonstration method and those who were not. It can be suggested that the demonstration method should be used in the classroom in teaching physics. Therefore, it verifies that demonstration method bring positive contributions to the physics teaching as well as learning at the high school level. Finally, discussion, and suggestions were provided by the researcher based on the data for improving teaching physics and learning at the high school level. 2018
257 Khin Phone Nwe AN INVESTIGATION INTO TE EFFECTIVENESS OF AUDIO AIDS AND VISUAL AIDS IN TEACING ENGLIS AT TE PRIMARY LEVEL The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of audio aids and visual aids in teaching English at the primary level. The aids involving the sense of hearing are called audio aids. The aids which use sense of vision are called visual aids. In this study, picture cards, flash cards and audio clip were used as audio-visual media. A total of seven sample lesson plans were developed based on the events of instruction. Each step was prepared with the use of picture cards, audio file and worksheets appropriately. The pretest-posttest control group design was used in this study. The participants in this study were (120) Grade Three students from the selected sample schools, and they were also randomly selected. The instruments used in this study were pretest items, lesson plans and posttest items. The pretest items were based on the content area of Lessons (1, 6, 9 & 10) and the posttest items were based on the content area of Lessons (16 & 17) from Grade Three English textbook. The control groups were taught conventionally while the experimental groups learned through the use of audio and visual aids. The data were analyzed by using the independent samples t test. Research findings revealed that there was a significant difference between the language skills achievement of the Grade Three students who learned English through the use of audio aids and visual aids and those who do not. It proves that using audio aids and visual aids can bring positive effects on students' language learning. Therefore, in language classrooms, the use of audio aids and visual aids should be implemented to maximize students' understanding and application of what they have learned. 2018
258 Thandar Swe A STUDY OF TEACERS KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES ON SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS IN TEACING SCIENCE The primary purpose of this study was to investigate teachers’ knowledge and practices on science process skills in teaching science at the middle school level. The design adopted was a descriptive research design. Four townships were randomly selected from four districts in Yangon Region. Two high schools and two middle schools were selected by using a stratified random sampling technique. The population in this study consists of (640) Grade 5 students and (77) teachers who are teaching science. Three instruments: knowledge and practices questionnaires for junior science teachers and science achievement test were employed. Teachers’ knowledge and practices questionnaires involved (33) items. Science achievement test for students involved (18) items. One-Way ANOVA, dependent samples t-test and a correlation technique were used in this study. As a result of the research, there was a significant difference between experienced teachers and inexperienced teachers of knowledge and practices on science process skills. And, there was also a significant difference between basic and integrated science process skills of those teachers. Moreover, teachers who were welltrained got higher mean for knowledge and practices than teachers who were partially trained. Also, it was found that science teachers are familiar with basic science process skills. The research findings proved that teachers’ knowledge and students’ achievement were moderately related and teachers’ practices and students’ achievement were not correlated in all the selected schools. This indicated that if teachers’ knowledge on science process skills is high, they can arrange their teaching learning situation more systematically to teach their students more effectively. 2018
259 Aye Mon Mon Kyaw A STUDY OF TE RELATIONSIP BETWEEN TE NUMBER SENSE AND PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS IN MATEMATICS OF MIDDLE SCOOL STUDENTS The primary purpose of this research is to study the relationship between the number sense and problem solving skills in mathematics of middle school students. A descriptive research design was used to collect the data. In order to investigate students’ number sense, their problem solving skills and the relationship of these two elements, a quantitative research method was used. A total of (600) Grade Seven students from eight high schools and four middle schools participated in this study. A number sense test and a test for students’ problem solving skills were used as the research instruments. The number sense test was composed of (40) items. The test for students’ problem solving skills involved (10) problems. To obtain the reliability of these tests, a pilot test was administered. The internal consistency for these two tests were (.778) and (.699). In this study, the data were analyzed by using the descriptive analysis techniques and Pearson product-moment correlation. The results revealed that 69.3% of the students possessed a moderate level of number sense. Among the five number sense strands (number concepts, multiple representations, effect of operations, equivalent expressions and computing and counting strategies), the lowest and highest means were found in multiple representations and effect of operations. Moreover, (73.7%) of the students were found in a moderate level of problem solving skills. According to Pearson productmoment correlation results, each strand of number sense was moderately and positively related with problem solving skills at (0.01) level. In addition, there was a high positive correlation of (.607) between students’ number sense and their problem solving skills. Thus, the study could be concluded that Grade Seven students who were good at number sense were also good at problem solving skills or students who were weak in number sense were also weak in problem solving skills. 2018
260 Lily Myint DEVELOPMENT OF A TEACER EMPOWERMENT MODEL FOR IMPROVING TEACING PRACTICES OF LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE TEACERS This paper intended to study the knowledge level of lower secondary science teachers, to study the empowerment level of lower secondary science teachers, to investigate the variation of science teaching practices in terms of teacher empowerment levels, and to develop the teacher empowerment model for improving teaching practices of lower secondary science teachers in Yangon Region. Quantitative and qualitative research methods were used. A set of questionnaire to collect the required data was developed based on School Participant Empowerment Scale (SPES) of Short and Rinehart (1992). The reliability coefficient (Cronbach ) was 0.98 for the teacher empowerment questionnaire and 0.87 for science teaching practice questionnaire which was developed based on literature. Three hundred and twenty lower secondary science teachers were selected by using the cluster sampling method. The descriptive statistics was used to analyze the collected data. The level of knowledge (satisfactory level, Mean=10.42, SD=2.17), empowerment (somewhat empowerment level, Mean=2.96, SD=.42) and teaching practice (moderately high level, Mean=3.87, SD=.54) that perceived by teachers and the relationship between empowerment and teaching practice were identified in this study. There was a typical association between science teachers’ empowerment and science teachers’ teaching practice (r=0.430, p<.01). Professional development and autonomy could be identified as the best predictors of science teaching practice in lower secondary level (R2=.22, F(5,314)=17.65). Qualitative findings also suggested that the higher the teacher empowerment level of science teachers, the better the teaching practice of science teachers. Finally, the teacher empowerment model for improving teaching practices of lower secondary science teachers could be developed 2018