REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The Importance of Science Education

Governmental guidelines and tests often focus on middle and high school-level STEM
(science, technology, engineering and math) education. Yet, many educators believe science
education should begin much earlier. Not only does science education teach young learners
problem-solving skills that will help them throughout their schooling, it also engages them in
science from the start.

Kids usually form a basic opinion about the sciences shortly after beginning school. If this
is a negative opinion, it can be hard to engage those students in science as they grow older.
Engaging young students with exciting material and experiences motivates them to learn and
pursue the sciences throughout school.

UTA (2017) Science education is one of the most important subjects in school due to its
relevance to students’ lives and the universally applicable problem-solving and critical thinking
skills it uses and develops. These are lifelong skills that allow students to generate ideas, weigh
decisions intelligently and even understand the evidence behind public policy-making. Teaching
technological literacy, critical thinking and problem-solving through science education gives
students the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in school and beyond.

Loney (2014) Improving science education is necessary to prepare additional numbers of

STEM workers, but a strong background in science also benefits students who enter other fields.
A rigorous science education helps all students develop key analytical and problem-solving skills
that are applicable across all fields. From the doctor’s office to the kitchen stove, Americans make
countless decisions every day that involve science, yet recent reports indicate that our country’s
scientific knowledge is sorely lacking. On the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy, fewer
than one in three college graduates could perform tasks such as interpreting a data table about
blood pressure and physical activity.

Hooker (1987) stated from the study of Haig (2018) Modern science is a complex human
endeavor comprising many parts. It articulates aims that it seeks to realize; it employs methods in
order to facilitate its investigations; it produces facts and theories in its quest to obtain an
understanding of the world; and it is shaped by the institutions within which it is embedded
Although all of these dimensions are essential to a full-bodied characterization of science, method
is arguably its most important feature. This is because everything we know in science is acquired
in good part through the application of its methods, whether it be our knowledge of substantive
matters, values, or the methods themselves.

Freire, Baptista & Freire (2016) Science Education for sustainability means developing a
critical consciousness in people, allowing them to understand and to be alerted to a certain reality,
causing them to feel implicated with this reality, and to feel as an integral part of it. This entails
the dissemination of values of respect for others, and for diversity, for the environment and for the
different resources, but also a posture of constantly seeking solutions that integrate human welfare
and economic development, cultural traditions and natural resources. Furthermore, education for
sustainability requires knowledge of what sustainable development is, and about the current reality
and its challenges, as well as it requires competencies of analysis and of critical thinking.

Santos (2017) Critical thinking is inherently existent in Science practice, thus potentially
powerful in Science education. Its importance and role in science education and education in
general, is unquestionable. It has been increasingly presented from the 80’s to current times in the
curriculum in different ways. Nevertheless, Critical Thinking implementation in the Curricula of
Science Education has frequently had problems. Those problems have been presented mainly due
to the misconception of CT, as well as poor guidance for implementing CT activities in the
classroom, linked to the insufficient teachers’ training in topics regarding CT. However, there are
reports of good experiences about successful implementations of CT in practical ways in Science
curricula. Those experiences are presented in terms of activities, strategies and ideas proved by
other teacher-researchers that have successfully worked in their attempts of implementing Critical
Thinking in Science Education and can be emulated to improve students’ science learning and
Critical thinking development.
The Importance of Educational Mobile Application

Shing & Yuan (2016) Apps produced or designed by educators have the potential to
translate decades of research and experience into a mobile learning platform that could be
distributed globally. The goal should be to deploy high quality mobile apps wherever they are
needed, offering knowledge and learning to anyone who yearns for it and especially meeting the
needs of those who lack access to a good education.

Vikram Kapila - The app can serve as an interactive learning aid. By allowing multiple
students to simultaneously connect to the experiment, the apps afforded deeper engagement and
learning.

Zaheer, et.al. (2018) M-Learning, incorporates the use of mobile technologies, separately
or together with other Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). This type of
technology can provide students with possibilities to construct and improve knowledge at any time
or place. According to Leite, M-Learning can occur in situations where technologies can offer the
student means to build their knowledge. Thus, mobile learning presents innovations and challenges
for its implementation such as connectivity, portability, flexibility, autonomy of students and new
forms of communication and interaction.

Hsu & Ching (2013) App Inventor programming tool for motivating students to learn
programming logic and encourage students to engage in creative problem solving through mobile
app design activities. This study shows the educational value of mobile app design activities, and
the possibility and practicality of teaching/learning mobile app design online.

Acceptance of Educational Mobile Application in the World of Education

(Tapio, 2005) as cited from the study of Mugo, et. al. (2015) ICT technologies were being
introduced in the school system. Scholars speculated that the technology would change the face of
education. With well integrated ICT, educators came to appreciate the efficiency with which
teachers were performing their duties. Education systems continued to receive support from the
government and from the electronic industry to adopt the technology not only for administrative
purposes but also for teaching and learning.
 Armatas, Holt & Rice (2005) as stated from the study of Mugo, et. al. (2015) In
teaching and learning, the convenience and flexibility offered by mobile technologies is freeing
teachers and learners from tethered instructional technologies, transforming mobile devices from
simple communication tools to significant tools for learning and information sharing. This scenario
is occurring at a time when university students are getting increasingly equipped with high end
mobile phones, tablets and laptops, which allow cheap communication as well as convenient ways
of sourcing of learning content and the University lecturers already realized that mobile
technologies can be a good opportunity for them to support learning.

Smith et al. (2005) as stated from the study of Camiller (2017) ICT transforms teaching
and learning as it contributes to the acquisition of basic or key competences. In this day and age,
it is imperative that students achieve digital fluency.

Hoskins & Crick (2010) as cited from the study of Camiller (2017) Digital skills and
ICT competences are a pre-requisite for employment, personal fulfilment, social inclusion and
active citizenship in today's rapidly-changing world.

Padmo, Idrus & Ardiasih (2018) Recent advance in mobile devices have opened up
opportunities for every individual to be able to communicate and obtain information quicker. Users
of mobile devices in Asia now account for about 49% of mobile device users in the world. The
extent of utilization of mobile devices by the students pursuing higher education, especially at
Universitas terbuka (UT), is an important component of this development.

Different Effects of using Educational Mobile Application in Education

Bohm & Constantine (2015) The targeted students in the sample where mainly
concerned about the perceived usefulness of the system. Herein, the a priori hypothesized strong
impact of the students’ perceived usefulness on their intention to use the CoLaLe app was found
to be a major influencing factor in the model. The students aspired to support their language
learning routine with technology only when it offered genuine assistance. On the other hand, the
results emphasized the overall magnitude of the perceived contextual value in the model. The
students expressed that the location-aware feature of the CoLaLe app was essentially relevant in
regard to their perceived usefulness of the system, as it may increase the learning effectiveness
and contribute to usage scenarios in their everyday life.

Klimova (2019) Reveal that foreign language learning, particularly studying and
revising English vocabulary and phrases via smartphones is effective in the enhancement of
university students’ performance. However, such learning must be designed around students’
needs and continuously facilitated by a teacher. Only then can it contribute to positive learning
outcomes. In addition, the results also confirm that mobile learning can serve as an appropriate
complementary method to other forms of course delivery. The learning materials and tools, such
as the described mobile app, designed based on students’ needs and continuously facilitated by a
teacher, are effective in the enhancement of students’ performance and contribute to positive
learning outcomes. In addition, the results also confirm that mobile learning can serve as an
appropriate complementary method to other forms of course delivery thanks to its opportunities of
frequent exposure to the target language. However, students were also encouraged to use the
mobile app for the meaningful content and immediate feedback they received.

Ali (2018) Certainly, the use of mobile applications and technology effects students’
behaviour, academic performance and teaching strategies. Alternatively, the educational
objectives got a direct link between with the use of mobile technology in the class room
environments. It is impossible to stop students from using mobile during the course of lecture
deliver and therefore teachers need to adopt new techniques and methodologies to balance this and
overcome issues raised due to the use of mobile applications.

It is equally important to look on the behaviour of teachers who use mobile

technology during the course of their lecture delivery. In a survey conducted by Pew Research
Centre in United Sate of America was found that 73% of the teachers reported using mobile
technology in their classrooms, either through their own instruction or by allowing students to use
it to complete assignments (Pew Research Centre, 2015).

This is the responsibility of the teachers to make sure and balance the use of
information system and technology during the course of their lecture delivery in class room
environments.
Summary

Science education is most important due to universal applicable problem-solving and

critical thinking skills. Science education can lead to frequently problems of poor guidance and
insufficient teachers training if science teachers do not have good experiences such as:
improving their activities, strategies and ideas. Educator and App Inventor create mobile app that
could help teachers and students for their learning. This mobile app could improve students’
knowledge and can serve as an interactive learning aid. As time goes by with well integrated of
ICT, teachers performing their duties and receive support from the government and electronic
industry to adopt technology for the purpose of administrative, teaching, and learning. The use
of mobile app and technology effects students behaviour, academic performance and teaching
strategies if only if these technologies are being abuse.