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This study investigated the effect of physics inquiry learning using PhET Interactive Simulation on form four students’ attitudes toward physics in a fully virtual environment during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. This quantitative study employed the Quasi-Experimental Design by administering the Attitude Toward Physics Lesson Scale (ATPLS). Fifty-nine form four students from a rural school located in Selangor, Malaysia, participated in this study. The control group (n1= 25) was taught in the standard thematic order as the usual teaching approach by the teacher during online lessons. In eight lessons, students only watched videos related to laboratory experiments that covered Gravitational Force, Newton’s Laws, and Gas Laws. Meanwhile, the experimental group (n2= 34) used the PhET Interactive Simulations as a treatment to explore the same topics. All test results underwent a normality test, homogeneity test, and hypothesis evaluation. The data in this study were analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Findings revealed that PhET Interactive Simulation negatively impacts students’ attitudes towards physics inquiry learning during the full virtual online lessons. Further study is expected to pair PhET Interactive Simulation with other e-learning tools or platforms to provide better instant feedback and enhance students’ attitudes in physics inquiry learning.

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This quantitative study reports the effects of gender and grade level on secondary students' attitude towards chemistry lessons. For this purpose, the Attitude towards Chemistry Lessons Scale (ATCLS) was administered to 446 secondary school students between 16-19 years old. The ATCLS consists of four different subscales: liking for chemistry theory lessons, liking for chemistry laboratory work, evaluative beliefs about school chemistry and behavioral tendencies to learn chemistry. Data obtained from the ATCLS survey was analyzed using two-way MANOVA to identify the effects of gender and grade level on students' attitude towards learning chemistry. The findings show that gender and grade level have a significant effect on attitude towards learning chemistry. Gender and grade level also have a significant interaction effect (Wilks' lambda = 0.933, F (15, 1198) = 2.032, p < 0.05) on secondary school students' attitudes towards chemistry.

Chemistry textbooks serve as the primary reference for teachers and students during teaching and learning. The textbook details the learning content and knowledge covered within a particular subject. Chemistry is more effective in raising awareness of people’s behavior and its impact on the surrounding environment, so it receives more research attention. This study investigates the chemistry content covered in Malaysian Independent Chinese Secondary School and lower secondary science textbooks published by Chinese People’s Education Press. The comparative method, which includes description, interpretation, juxtaposition, and comparison, was employed in this study. The authors compared lower secondary science textbooks used in most regions of China and Malaysian Chinese schools. Results showed some similarities in the chemistry contents; for instance, they are arranged from fundamental concepts to a broader perspective. However, differences were found in the sequence in which the chemistry concepts and their application to Nature were introduced in both textbook versions used in this study. It was discovered that the organization of chemistry textbooks used in most regions of China was more scientific than the book used in Malaysia. It was relatively basic in comparison and only presented the concepts required for secondary school subjects. The findings of this study suggest that it might be appropriate for 21st-century chemistry concepts to be integrated into the curriculum to address the need for education in environmental and sustainability issues from the perspective of education in chemistry.

This study reports the effectiveness of nanoscience activities in enhancing secondary school students' understanding of two chemistry concepts: structure of atom and acid and bases. For the purpose of this study, quasi experiment was employed to 163 Grade 10 students from the Northern Region of Malaysia. Sample from the experimental group was exposed to a series of nanoscience activities lasted for 10 weeks. Students' understanding on the two chemistry concepts was tested using Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT). The CAT consists of multiple-choice questions and openended questions. Data obtained from CAT was analysed using one-way ANCOVA to identify the effectiveness of nanoscience activity in enhancing students' understanding of chemistry concepts. The findings show that there were statistically significant differences between experimental and control groups' mean scores (F (1,160) = 167.82, p < 0.05 ηp 2 = 0.512) with the experimental group students reporting higher mean. The ANCOVA result indicated experimental group students' understanding of chemistry concepts significantly higher than the comparison group. The qualitative analysis of open-ended responses further supports findings obtained from the quantitative analysis. The study suggests that integrating nanoscience into the contemporary teaching of chemistry is relevant and appropriate.

During the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, online teaching was implemented by teachers in almost all education areas, and various technological tools were also employed to improve teachers' online teaching effectiveness. Based on this, the current qualitative case study aims to explore chemistry teachers' experience during online teaching in Malaysian secondary schools according to the data collected by interviewing five teachers. The findings show that student-centered teaching strategies, such as project-based and game-based pedagogy, may be well implemented in online environments by teachers, especially during the pandemic session. In addition, educational changes caused by the pandemic have provided new development opportunities for teachers' teaching, in which teachers ponder how to better use the existing high-tech tools to serve their teaching practice and improve their students' engagement and learning enthusiasm. Discussions and recommendations for future researchers are also provided at the end of the research.