Exploring Factors Associated with Grade VIII Students’ Attainment in Science: The issue of medium of Instruction Hafiz M. Iqbal, PhD Institute of Education and Research, University of the Punjab

Importance of Science Education Development of inquisitive minds Development of inquisitive minds Scientific manpower Scientific manpower Positive attitudes toward science, etc Positive attitudes toward science, etc

Factors Associated with Science Attainment NEAS Data (19 variables), including NEAS Data (19 variables), including –Location of school –Students; gender –School type –Homework –Parental expectations –Liking science –Home language, etc

Science scores broken down by provinces ProvinceNMeanStd. Dev. Balochistan NWFP Punjab Sindh AJK FANA FATA ICT Total p<1%, medium effect size

Science scores broken down by gender NMeanStd. Dev. Gender Male Female Location Rural Urban School type Boys Girls Mixed Total

Science scores broken down by gender and school type NMeanStd. Dev. Boys in boys' schools **5.15 Boys in mixed schools **5.41 Girls in girls' schools **5.31 Girls in mixed schools **5.40 **p<1%, t test between types of school, small effect size

Correlations of teacher practice with science attainment Teacher practicerN Extent of coverage of text-book **12680 Frequency of science homework **n12161 Frequency of teacher checking of science homework **12899 Teacher's depth of correction of homework **12935 Students allowed to ask questions (scale 1 to 3) **12815 **p<1%, small effect size (n effect size negligible, Cohen, 1988)

Liking science scale Item Corrected Item-Total Correlation I feel pleasure completing any science work When I get an interesting question of science, I don't give up till I have solved it I have a natural liking for science I can complete science work with great success as compared to other student of my age I feel proud when I solve a difficult question of science I praise those people a lot who are expert in science

Liking science scores broken down by gender GenderNMeanStd. Dev. Male **0.363 Female **0.322 **p<1%, t-test, very small effect size

School variables as correlates of student science attainment ItemScale Correlation with science score N Number of library books 4-point0.125 **12618 Usable science laboratory 3-point0.091 **12722 Usable library 3-point0.083 **12735 Usable science laboratory and library 5-point0.101 **12662 **p<1%

Significant predictor variables for science scores (multiple OLS linear regression) (N=5152) Predictor variableRegression coefficient Std. error Variance explained (%) Constant Attends school in Punjab (scores '1') How much time do you spend on your homework (scale 1 to 4) Attends school in ICT (scores '1') Liking science (scale 1 to 3) Do your teachers allow you ask questions about the subject taught? (scale 1 to 3) Total number of persons in the Home School has adequate and usable laboratory (scores '1') Attends school in Sindh (scores '1')

Significant predictor variables for science scores (multiple OLS linear regression) (N=5152) Predictor variableRegression coefficient Std. error Variance explained (%) My parents expect me to do well in the science subjects (scale 1 to 3) Student gender ( from Student Report) Girl '0', boy '1' How many times do your teachers check your homework in science (scale 1 to 3) Home language is Punjabi (scores '1') Extra-curricular activities (scale 1 to 3) Do you have use of a calculator at home? (scores '1') Home language is Sindhi (scores '1') Student travels to school by car (scores '1')

Variance in science scores across three levels Variance attributed toVarianceStd. error Students Schools Provinces

Variance in science scores across two levels in the null model Variance attributed toVarianceStd. error Students Schools

Effect of students home language

Science scores broken down by language spoken at home Which language do you generally speak at home? NMeanSD Urdu Barahwi Balochi Punjabi Pashto Sindhi Siraeki

Science scores broken down by language spoken at home Which language do you generally speak at home? NMeanSD Kashmiri Hindko Persian Balti Shena any other Total

Science scores broken down by medium of instruction Medium of instructionMeanNStd. Dev. Urdu Sindhi Pushto unknown Double Total

Recent Language Policy English as a medium of instructions for science and math from grade one Implications Language policy is going to affect all other students related variables and hence their attainment in science