Analysis of Interest Towards Science Subject and Its Relation with 21st Century Skills

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the level of interest in science subject and the relationship between interest in science and 21st century skills among pre-service biology teachers. The domain of 21st century skills being studied includes three elements which are inventive thinking skills, effective communication skills and high productivity skills. These three skills are necessary in the field of science and need to be mastered by every pre-service teachers so that it can be applied to their students later. The quantitative approach with survey method was used, involving questionnaires as a research instrument for collecting data. Respondents consist of 111 students of Bachelor of Education (ISMP) in Biology. Descriptive and inferential analysis were used to analyse the data. The descriptive analysis explained the level of interest and skills of pre-service biology teachers in 21st century skills. While inferential statistics involve Spearman Rho correlation and regression test describing relationships and influences between variables. The results showed that the level of interest in science among pre-service biology teachers were at a high level with an average mean value of 4.2748. The results also indicated that the mastery level was high for inventive thinking skill, effective communication skill and high productivity skill with 4.0149, 4.0931 and 4.1778 respectively. Nevertheless, for each subscale, the correlation test revealed a significant and positive relationship between interests and 21st century skills with correlation coefficient value (rs) of 0.569. While for regression test, it showed that interest in science influenced about 37.7% towards inventive thinking skills, 21.5% towards effective communication and about 30.1% on high productivity skill. In conclusion, the level of interest in science influence the mastery of 21st century skills of pre-service biology teachers. The implication is that interest in a subject needs to be increased through a variety of teaching and learning processes to ensure that 21st century skills can be mastered.