Purpose This paper aims to investigate the knowledge, attitude and behaviour of foundation chemistry learners concerning the sustainable development concept. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative and quantitative studies were conducted. Atlas.ti software was used to analyse the chemistry curriculum based on selected themes and sub-themes. A survey was carried out involving 132 chemistry learners. The chemistry learners were students from a foundation programme in a local university located in Selangor, Malaysia. The collected data were analysed using SPSS 21.0 involving descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings Document analysis on the chemistry curriculum shows that water is the theme most covered in the chemistry learners’ textbook, as compared to other themes. In general, the chemistry learners have good knowledge and attitude concerning the sustainable development concept. However, their knowledge and attitude do not reflect in their behaviour as an individual, as well as in the classroom. Moreover, their knowledge, attitude and behaviour focus more on environmental dimension, as compared to other sustainable development dimensions. Practical implications This paper is instrumental in assisting educators to assess how chemistry learners perceive sustainable development, and this may help to bring about changes to improve chemistry teaching and learning processes towards education for sustainable development. Originality/value This paper is an original and novel research paper which is first conducted on sustainable development concept in chemistry curriculum in Malaysia.

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Purpose In Malaysia, research indicates that there is an interest amongst the stakeholders, namely, administrators and academicians to be engaged in education for sustainable development (SD), but it is rarely implemented as a part of the higher education curriculum due to various barriers. This paper aims to develop a framework for integrating SD concepts into the chemistry curriculum, using a case study approach. Design/methodology/approach This study was conducted at a local university located in Selangor, Malaysia, offering a foundation programme to students between 17 to 18 years of age. Data was collected using a qualitative approach that involved 12 experts as informants. The collected data was analysed via three coding stages, namely, open coding, category coding and thematic encoding using Atlas.ti 7.0 software. Findings The research revealed that six aspects contribute to the integration of SD concepts into the chemistry curriculum, namely, educational policy, awareness, resources, curriculum, pedagogical approach and stakeholders’ engagement. The proposed framework was formulated by considering these aspects. Originality/value The findings of this study can be used as a guide to facilitate the integration of SD concepts into the chemistry curriculum. It is expected to encourage the involvement of more teachers in adopting sustainable chemistry teaching.

Digital transformation is not a novel phenomenon. However, Covid-19 pandemic has initiated digital transformation tremendously and has led to novelty in education due to global shutdown of several activities, including STEM-based enrichment programs. During the outbreak of Covid-19, all the enrichment programmes conducted physically were changed to online mode to provide sustainable learning among the students. Thus, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness and perception of enrichment programme which was conducted in online mode for gifted and talented students. Twenty gifted and talented students from Be A Scientist module, aged 9 to 12 years old were selected as the respondents of this research. The respondents participated in the Summer Camp Program, organized by Pusat GENIUS@ Pintar Negara, UKM. Mixed mode approach was used, where the data were collected quantitatively and qualitatively. Data for quantitative study were collected as pre and post-test, while data for qualitative study were obtained based on perception of the students and parents via online survey. Students' interest was found to be a crucial role in engaging the students with learning activities regardless online or face-to-face mode. However, parents' choice was to face-toface teaching and learning, since the effectiveness of the program can be evaluated clearly than online mode.

Nowadays, there are increasing calls for teaching and learning of STEM related field. However, learning of STEM subject, focusing on chemistry at younger age is found to be a challenge among the students. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate gifted and talented students' knowledge and motivation towards learning chemistry subject. A total of 71 gifted and talented students, taking chemistry at the age of 12 to 13 years old at Pusat GENIUS@pintar Negara, University Kebangsaan Malaysia were involved in this study. A survey questionnaire was utilized in this study and the instrument employed was Attitude toward Chemistry Lesson Scale and Glynn's motivation model. The collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21 involving descriptive and inferential statistics. The result revealed that the students perceived chemistry playing a vital role in many aspects of everyday life. There was no significant difference in the mean of student's knowledge and motivation towards chemistry learning scores for male and female students. The result of the study also indicates that students' knowledge and career motivation has a moderately positive correlation with the highest correlation value. This paper is instrumental in assisting educators to enhance students' knowledge and motivation towards chemistry learning. Therefore, the role of educators is important to bring about changes in terms of knowledge and motivation towards chemistry teaching and learning processes.

Purpose This paper aims to discuss the knowledge levels, attitudes and behaviours regarding the concept of sustainable development among pre-university programme educators, as well as the potential barriers and opportunities they face in adopting the concept of sustainable development in the teaching of the pre-university level chemistry module at a public university in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted with eight educators of a pre-university programme at a public university located in Selangor, Malaysia. This pre-university programme exposes students to advanced courses in science, which are very much like first-year university courses for candidates who are interested in gaining admission to degree programmes. For this study, the focus was on chemistry educators only. The collected data were analysed through descriptive analysis following which interviews were conducted with the respondents. Findings In general, the educators have good knowledge and attitudes towards the concept of sustainable development. Moreover, their projected knowledge (K), attitude (A) and behaviour (B) focus more on environmental dimensions, as opposed to other sustainable development dimensions. While the integration of the concept of sustainable development in chemistry teaching is restricted by a few barriers, such as content-based learning, lack of guidebooks related to sustainable development and an overcrowded curriculum, positive responses from the chemistry educators indicate that there are opportunities to implement sustainable chemistry concepts in the pre-university chemistry module. Research limitations/implications The present study was conducted with several limitations; the data were obtained from a small sample size at an institute located within a public university. The respondents of this research consisted of only three existing chemistry educators and five administrators who are also educators. Further studies about sustainable chemistry teaching should include samples from other public and private universities. Originality/value This paper is instrumental in assisting the Ministry of Education, administrators, as well as educators within the pre-university sector to shift their goals towards sustainable chemistry teaching to achieve success in education for sustainable development.

Programs and educational practices that enable gifted students to conduct science activities and develop themselves in engineering fields are rapidly increasing in Malaysia. One of them is the science camp to improve STEM skills. This study investigates the effectiveness of science camp (Junior Science Camp) towards young children's understanding and knowledge about science. One hundred and three children aged four to six years old participated in the three-day camp. Mixed research model was used in this research. Data were collected by Junior Science Camp Scientist Test (JSCST) as pre and post-test, parent evaluation of the camp. Questions in the pre and post-test were on the content in the five camp modules: I am an engineer, I am a scientist, I am a chemist, I am a forensic scientist, and I am a natural scientist. Data from the open-ended question in the survey (parent evaluation) were used to triangulate the quantitative data from the pre and post-test. Findings showed that the camp was effective in enhancing the young children's (preschoolers') understanding about science and increasing their knowledge about science and STEM fields. Implications of this study are related to the design of future science camps and also the methodology and instruments of future research.