Teachers’ perceptions and students’ motivation to Thinking-based Learning (TBL) in a classroom context

Abstract

This paper will present part of a larger study on the development and implementation of a Thinking-based Learning (TBL) instructional manual for secondary science. Two of the research objectives discussed in this paper is to determine teachers’ perceptions in conducting the TBL approach in the regular classroom and the students’ motivation after undergoing a series of TBL activities. Four teachers from 4 different schools volunteered to conduct TBL science lessons to an intact group of 187 students. Another group of 40 MRSM science teachers were given a 2 days TBL workshop. A five point Likert scale questionnaire on teachers’ perception and an intrinsic motivation inventory was used to collect data. The findings showed that despite 79% of teachers who are in favor of the TBL approach, many constrains faced by them might impede the implementation and success of the approach. 85.6% of the students were highly motivated intrinsically after undergoing the TBL lessons. It can be concluded that TBL is a potential, powerful and competent approach to instill thinking skills in the teaching and learning process. As such, its introduction and implementation in schools as an initiator to pedagogical transformation should proceed progressively so as to overcome the existing constrains in a slow and naturalistic way.