Indicators of Asian Achievement in Chemistry: Implications to the Philippine Setting

Abstract

This paper aimed to determine the indicators, which could contribute to the Chemistry achievement of selected Asian countries according to the data set provided by the 2015 Trends in Mathematics and Science Survey results. Educational data mining was employed to capture patterns, comparison and correlation among selected Asian countries (Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand) using TIMSS results in Chemistry and other Science domains achievements, learning resources, school climate, instructional considerations, and student affective aspects. This study found out that the average Chemistry achievement of the Asian countries was significantly higher than the world achievement. Through exploratory analysis, it was revealed that high achievers among the Asian countries have moderate to high perspective towards school climate, instructional considerations and student affective aspects, while those average or low achievers had high perspective towards the said factors. The study concluded that, out of the 15 factors included in the study, nine had positive correlation yet only prior achievement in Science, home educational resources, Science laboratory resources, computer use and prevalence of bullying could significantly determine the achievement of learners in Chemistry. Implications on spiral progression, resource allocation, safe, orderly and harmonious environments, and inspiring stories in instruction were derived for application in the Philippine context to maximize and enhance learning in Chemistry.