Developing research skills at secondary school

This paper reports the experience of Malaysian schools students in the learning of research skills through project work (as part of the course work in the social science subjects). The revision of Malaysian school curriculum using an integrated approach has brought a number of changes in the delivery of the curriculum. One of it is the introduction of project work in the learning of social science subjects. As part of the History coursework, students are required to carry out project work on their own based on a selected topic such as seeking and gathering information on the history of their village or housing area or charting their family tree. In Geography, topics on current issues such as environmental issues would be the focus of the projects. In the Living Skills course work, students are required to build a simple proto-type object such as a book shelf. Each student is required to submit a report on what they have done or gathered. The reports are assessed internally and the grades are re-examined by an external examiner for standardization purposes before the marks are recorded. The findings of the research showed that the students not only enjoyed the task but also found this part of the course to be useful. Teachers noted that the students acquired some research skills and gained the experience of doing research. However the teachers find it too demanding and taxing on the students' time. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.