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As Covid-19 cases increased rapidly in Malaysia, the Movement Control Order was imposed nationwide by the government, resulting in immediate closure of schools and universities. Consequently, teaching and learning were instantaneously transformed into distance and remote formats. This article offers a snapshot into how teacher educators and student teachers, coped with the unprecedented situation. We also share our reflections and examination of the online teaching and learning experiences through the lens of TPACK and online learning models. A major implication for both teacher educators and student teachers is to acquire TPACKtechnological knowledge and technological pedagogical knowledge to ensure learning continuity and equity.

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Gamification in education refers to the introduction of game elements in the design of learning processes. Our gamification approach was based on the self-determination theory. According to this theory, people need to have competence, social connectedness, and autonomy in order to feel determined to perform certain activities. We aimed to investigate the effects of teaching presence in online gamification on sustainability learning and self-determination as well as identify the driving factors and barriers to sustaining students’ participation in online gamified activity. A mobile application called JouleBug was used. It contains game elements and aims to encourage pro-environmental behaviours. Our quasi-experimental design included two university courses (as control and treatment groups) on sustainable education with 48 participants. Both groups worked with JouleBug, whereas the treatment group was also supported by their teacher’s teaching presence. To establish online teaching presence, the teacher shares the students’ leader board rankings, acknowledges the students’ achievements, and give comments and feedback on students’ activities in the chatting group twice a week. Sustainability knowledge and pro-environmental behaviour were measured through survey. Students’ performance in the gamified activities was measured through collected points in the JouleBug application. The drivers and barriers to sustaining the students’ participation in JouleBug activities were identified through focus group interviews and students’ reflection writing. We found there were significant differences in the sustainability knowledge, pro-environmental behaviour, and performance between the treatment and control groups. The Cohen’s d effect size value obtained for the treatment on sustainability knowledge, pro-environmental behaviour, and students’ performance indicates a large effect as well. Focus group interviews with the participants and the students’ reflection writings revealed that the driving factors in sustaining the participation in the gamified activities in the application are recognition by teachers and peers, competition, and sense of belonging to a group. Meanwhile, the barriers to sustaining participation in online gamification are time constraints, boredom caused by lack of social interaction, and boredom caused by activity repetition and activity’s inappropriate level of difficulty. The conclusion is the teacher plays a role as an agent in this online gamification learning context. The findings suggest that teaching presence is one of the important building blocks that encourage the students’ participation and learning in online gamification.

This study has aimed to identify the relationship of self-efficacy in science with academic achievement amongst national secondary school students in the Rompin district. This study is a quantitative research using the survey method through a questionnaire. A total of 191 students from 4 schools in the Rompin were involved in this study. The data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics methods. This study found that practical work was the highest contributing factor to student self-efficacy (M = 3.77, SD = 0.572) whilst cognitive skills were the lowest contributor (M = 3.13, SD = 0.437). An independent sample t-test analysis showed that there were significant differences in the self-efficacy of science between male and female students. The study found that female students' self-efficacy (M = 3.49, SD = 0.363) was higher than for males (M = 3.28, SD = 0.384). The Pearson correlation test showed that there was no significant relationship between self-efficacy and academic achievement, where r = 0.124 and p = 0.09. The implication of the findings from this study can assist the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE), schools, and teachers, especially science education teachers, in developing strategies to enhance student science self-efficacy and thus, increase students' participation in Science streams.

Creativity in teaching is important in order to ensure children are engaged in learning Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). However, previous research has claimed creativity in learning STEM for children is not adequately supported by teacher in classroom due to the lack of preparation, content knowledge and skills. This study aims to assess the needs and challenges of promoting creativity in STEM education. In this study, preschool teachers (n= 22) were interviewed as they are the key informants who are involved in STEM education. The semi-structured interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis and were qualitatively coded. Results illustrate that there are several distinctive themes identified as described by the participants when discussing the needs and challenges of implementing integrated creativity skill in STEM education as well as the support that would be most helpful in overcoming them. The results highlighted a huge gap between creativity knowledge and the implementation of creativity in STEM education. Participants also provided specific support needed to integrate creativity in STEM education. Preliminary findings suggest that many teachers are interested in integrating creativity skills in STEM education. This research sheds light on the needs and challenges for professional pre-school teachers by providing them pedagogical module as well as professional training to promote creativity in teaching STEM   Keywords: Creativity Skills, Needs and Challenges, STEM

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between teachers' knowledge and perceived skills in implementing inquiry-based science teaching at the secondary level. Methodology: This quantitative research involved 63 science teachers from nine secondary schools in Putrajaya. Respondents were selected using a random sampling technique. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics methods. Main Findings: The analysis showed that the level of teachers' knowledge of inquiry-based science teaching and the level of teachers' perceived skills in implementing inquiry-based science teaching which was divided into four phases (conceptualization, investigation, conclusion, and discussion) were high. The Pearson correlation test found that there was a strong and significant relationship between teachers' knowledge in inquiry-based science teaching and teachers' skills in four phases of inquiry. Applications of this study: This study implies that teachers' knowledge and skills are essential aspects to be emphasized in implementing inquiry-based science teaching and teachers should be trained in both of these aspects as they are interrelated to each other. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study explores deeper on teachers' skills in implementing inquiry approach by dividing it into four phases to determine which phases of the inquiry that educators and scholars need to emphasize and give the training to improve teachers' implementation skills and determine whether the phases are interrelated to knowledge.