Investigating chemical literacy achievement among high-achiever students in Malaysia

Abstract

The main challenge in chemistry education is to nurture students’ knowledge in developing abstract chemistry concept. Proficiency in chemical literacy is the foundation in acquiring basic concepts of chemistry, such as chemical interactions at microscopic, macroscopic, symbolic, and process level as well as to understand and describe phenomenon scientifically. Objective of this study is to investigate chemistry literacy attainment at nominal, functional, conceptual, and multi-dimensional level among high-achiever students in Malaysia. An exploratory research was carried out involving 65 students from high-achiever schools from a state in Malaysia. Students’ levels of chemistry literacy was analyzed and measured using Chemistry Literacy Test. The study found that students’ nominal chemistry literacy was at satisfactory levels in terms of basic chemistry concepts. Yet, their achievements on functional, conceptual, and multi-dimensional levels were unsatisfactory. These results are discussed in relation to the problem-solving skills and interpretation skills of scientific investigation based on real-life situations and chemistry literacy.