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Proceedings of International Conference on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the Sustainable Development Goals : Policy and Practice 27-29 June 2016 at the Sirindhorn International Environmental Park, Cha-am, Phetchaburi, Thailand

to  use  the  language  to  further  their  studies  and for  work  purposes  (MOE,  2003:  1).  One  of  the themes  and  topics  that  was  stipulated  in  Form  1  to  Form  5  English  Language  syllabus  is  environment.  However,  learners  are  not  expected  to  deal  with  the  topics  in  depth.  This  topic  serve  as  the  subject matter  through  which the  three  areas  of  language  use  are  developed  using  meaningful  tasks  and  activities  (MOE,  2003:  8). While  in  Malay  Language  (national  language)  the  knowledge  covers  various  disciplines,  such  as  science  and  geography  that can  be  used  to  develop  language  knowledge  and  language  skills  (KPM,  2003).  Teachers  should  take  into  account  current  issues  (including biodiversity  or  biodiversity-related)  in  their  teaching  and  learning. Two  of  the  objectives  for  secondary  mathematics  curriculum  enable  students  to  apply  knowledge  and  the  skills  of mathematics in  solving  problems  and  making  decisions  and  relate  mathematics  with  other  areas  of  knowledge  (MOE,  2002c:  2).  These  objectives  are  in  line  with  one  of  the  elements  emphasized in  the  syllabus  ie  mathematical  connections.  By making  connections,  students  are  able  to  see  mathematics  as  an  integrated  whole  and  will  be  able  to  use  mathematics  contextually  in  different  learning  areas  and  in  real  life  situations. (MOE,  2002c:  7).  Biodiversity  or  biodiversity- related  provide  opportunities  for  mathematical  connections  elements  that  could  be  taken  into  account  and  infused  in  the  teaching  and  learning processes  in  the  classroom.  In  teaching  and  learning  teacher  must  incorporate  various  teaching  strategies  and  approaches  such  as  direct instruction,  discovery  learning,  investigation,  guided  discovery  or  other  methods  (MOE,  2002c). II. METHODOLOGY This  study  employed  a  qualitative  research  approach  through  content  analysis  technique  of  documents.  This  technique  is  purposely  used  to  capture  ‘biodiversity’  in  the  Malaysia  existing  curriculum.  Bardach  (2009:69) stated  that  documents  are  “anything  that  has  to be  read”.  In  this  study,  documents  that  been  analysed  are  the  official  curriculum  documents  prescribed  by  the  Ministry  of  Education  such  as  the  syllabuses,  the  description  of  each  subject  syllabuses  for  Form  1,  Form  2,  Form  3,  Form  4  and  Form  5,  and  Teacher’s  GuideBook on  Environmental  Education  Across  the  Curriculum  for  Secondary  School.  Following  Yan  Zhang  and Wildemuth  (2009),  samples  of  documents  for  the  qualitative  content  analysis  consist  of  purposively  selected  texts  which  can  address  the  research  questions  being  investigated.  The  texts  were  read  through  several  times  to  obtain  a  sense  of  the  whole.  The  items  that  have  been  sought  in  the  text  is  about  biodiversity  and  biodiversity-related  that  meet  the  definition  of  biodiversity  as  discussed above. III.  RESULTS Biodiversity  in  Science  Curriculum There  are  specific  learning  areas  on  biodiversity  in  the  secondary  school  science  curriculum.  Science  syllabus  for  Form  2  have  specific  learning  area  on  biodiversity  under  the theme  Man  and  the  Variety  of  Living  Things.  Based  on  the  learning  objectives  in  this  area,  knowledge  related  to  biodiversity  that must  be  known  to  the  students  are  variety  of  living  organisms  and  their  classification.  The  topic  comprise  two  elements  of  biodiversity  which  are  genetic  diversity  and  species  diversity.  These  topics  provide  instances  for  students  to  explain  the  diversity  of  living  organisms  in  a  habitat;  classify  various  animals  based  on  common  characteristics;  classify  various  plants  based  on  common  characteristics;  and  explain  the  importance  of  biodiversity  to  the  environment (MOE,  2002b). No  specific  learning  area  or  topics  on  biodiversity  per  se  in  Form  1,  Form  3,  Form  4 180 Proceedings  of  the  International  Conference  on  Climate  Change,  Biodiversity  and  Ecosystem  Services  for  the Sustainable  Development  Goals  (SDGs):  Policy  and  Practice  27-29  June  2016,  Cha-am,  Phetchaburi,  Thailand


Proceedings of International Conference on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the Sustainable Development Goals : Policy and Practice 27-29 June 2016 at the Sirindhorn International Environmental Park, Cha-am, Phetchaburi, Thailand
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