ICT as inquiry-oriented approach to enhance teaching, learning, attitude and thinking skills towards science at rural schools

The purpose of this study was to investigate ICT as inquiry-oriented approach to enhance thinking skills, attitude towards teaching and learning science at rural schools. Level of ICT usage, level of knowledge in ICT, teachers and students attitude and impact of ICT usage in understanding the concepts in science lesson have also been investigated. The study also investigates teachers and students attitude and motivation towards the use of computer in science classroom. The respondents in this study were thirty Science teachers and seventy pupils from year 3 to year 5. Seven rural schools of Zone 7, Semanggol were involved in this study. The schools are located in Kerian district. The data collection methods used in this study were sets of questionnaires and interviews to find the obstacles in ICT usage and observation of pupils work and presentation. The data in this study was analyzed by using SPSS 14.0 software (Statistical Packages for Social Science) and presented in the form of frequency and percentage, mean and standard deviation. The findings of this study were illustrated that most of the teachers and students have positive attitude towards the use of ICT in science classroom. Also, this study was proved that students have high motivation when computers were used in Science learning classroom. Through this study, it could be concluded that the use of ICT as inquiry-oriented approach in science classroom should be encouraged because it helps to motivate students and generate a positive attitude towards Science learning