Ireland is one of the most popular state in education system.

According to Action Plan for

Education 2016-2019, Ireland aims to make Irish education and training service is the best in
Europe in 2026. In 2011, the ranking of Ireland in TIMSS for Science subject is 22 out of 74
countries. It has shown a good improvement compared to previous TIMSS which is 20 out of 65
countries. Education in Ireland is compulsory for children from six to sixteen years old or until
they have completed three years of second level of education. In Ireland, the education system
consists of primary, secondary, third and further level. It show a little bit difference with our
education, where the compulsory education in Malaysia start from 7 years old. There is a little
bit different between education in Malaysia and Ireland.
Chemistry usually taught by school at age 16 year old and above. In Malaysia this phase
called Upper Secondary Level and the introduction to chemistry started at Form 4. Meanwhile in
Ireland the students were introduced to chemistry in Junior Certificate Level equivalent to Lower
Secondary Level in Malaysia but the introduction of chemistry was taught in form of Science
subject. Education in Malaysia was under the accountable of Ministry of Education while in
Ireland it was under the Department of Education and Skills. The compulsory schooling in
Ireland started at age 6 year old until 16 compared to Malaysia which started at age 7 year old
until 17. The reason why we chose Ireland as a benchmark was because Irelands TIMSS
results in science is one of the highest in the world with 30 number above us. In term of theme,
Malaysia curriculum specification stated their theme on each topic but Ireland does not has any
theme in their curriculum syllabus and this can be hard for students and teachers to divide their
topic under what group, without theme all topics seem in general form. In Form 4, chemistry text
book has 4 themes which are introducing chemistry, matter around us, interaction between
chemicals and production and management of manufactured chemicals and if we compare it
with Form 5 text book the theme are interaction between chemicals and production and
management of manufactured chemicals which are the continuation from Form 4 text book.
Both of themes are same but it have more difficult topics because introducing chemistry and
matter around us themes are only the themes to introduce students to chemistry. Meanwhile, in
Form 4 text book it has 9 topics which is more than Form 5 topics containing only 5 topics which
are reasonable as Form 5 students need to prepare themselves for major exam, SPM,
moreover, the topics in Form 5 are more difficult and have more topic with calculation which
learning it ,may consuming some time. In ordinary level, students also need to learn 9 topic but
they also need to choose one optional topic. As we can see the topic in ordinary level are more
advanced than in Form 4 topics and this happen because the students were already introduced
to introduction chemistry in Junior Level Certificate.

Learning objective is the brief statement that describe what students will be expected to
learn by the end of school course or class period. Learning outcome is the statement that
describe significant and essential learning that learner have achieved and can reliably
demonstrate at the end of the course. A good learning outcome should have these elements
which are audience, behavior, condition and standards. From this presentation, based on the
specification of curriculum in Malaysia, the learning outcome has been mention for every subtopic in that specification but not clearly stated. In Ireland, there is no specific learning outcome
stated. Besides, learning objective has been stated clearly for each sub-topic while in Ireland,
there is no specific learning objective that mentioned. Its shows that, Malaysia is more
systematic than Ireland in structure of specification of curriculum. In Malaysia, the learning
outcome and the learning objective have been stated for each topic to help the teachers and
students. From my opinion, the curriculum specification in Malaysia is good compared to
Ireland. Although the curriculum specification of Ireland is not systematic as Malaysia, we still
can use it as our reference to improve our education system. For an example, in Ireland, the
time allocation has been stated for each topic so that the teacher can organize their teaching
time. So, we can apply it to our education system by stating the time allocation for each topic so
that the education system will be more systematic. Thus, improve the writing style for learning
outcome also can help to improve our education level since the learning outcome stated is not
completely followed the characteristic of good learning outcome.
In our chemistry text book, the learning objectives are aligned with the curriculum aims
which have been stated in Malaysian curriculum specification, development of concept is about
further information being stated or relate in chemistry text book form 5 ,there are also
development

of cognitive skills, and inclusion of learning activities in which exercises are

provided for students to apply what they understand about the topic, level of difficulty is also
appropriate to age as form 4 students already able to think theoretically and able to understand
scientific terms , reference and self-directed-learning also been stated at the side of text books
for students to explore more about the topic outside the classroom session, positive values and
attitudes also been fostered in each topic for students apply and students also being facilitated
to integrate or apply new knowledge which they can relate what they have learnt in their daily
life.
Misconceptions are erroneous perceptions of what is universally accepted as physical
laws that have been experimentally tested to date, (Chu & Hong, 2010). There are many
sources of misconceptions in the teaching of Chemistry such as from textbooks itself, from

students previous knowledge, from the way the teachers deliver their teaching methods and
contents, and others. According to (Chu & Hong, 2010), The sources of misconceptions can be
categorized into the following which are; i) Present understanding of chemical knowledge is
inadequate to explain concepts, ii) Over-simplifications of concepts to facilitate understanding,
iii) Bad chemistry and iv) Vernacular misinterpretations of concepts. Students cannot
understand well the concept is because the explanations were purely based on the observations
without experiment. Teachers also mistakenly do some over-simplifications of the concepts to
facilitate students understanding but it may lead to the diversions of the actual concept.
Students who do not have good understanding in chemistry may exposed to the massive
misconceptions as they did not even understand its basic concepts. According to (OConnell,
2001), Vernacular misinterpretations of concepts is about a result of misinterpretation of text,
beliefs or vernacular translations; the latter is relevant to Asian countries where English is not
the mother tongue and having a more diverse cultural background compared to the western
culture. The switch from English to Bahasa Malaysia and back to English has indeed produced
much confusion to the students in Malaysia.
In conclusion, in term of contents Ireland have much exposure regarding to chemistry as
they have teach chemistry in ordinary level (15 years old) while Malaysian students only get
exposed to

the contents only when they entered upper secondary level (16 years old).

However, in term of stating the learning objectives, Malaysian education system is more detail
and precise as they have state the learning objective in each topic while in Ireland text book,
there is no learning objective being stated. Overall in our text book, the curriculum aims and
objectives are conform to each other, there are development of concepts, cognitive skills and
inclusion of learning activities, reference and self-directed-learning section, positive values and
attitudes also been fostered and students also being facilitated to integrate or apply new
knowledge. Misconception might occurred when using the textbook as the knowledge is new
and hard to explain to someone with zero knowledge, some information is just too simple which
cause the students confuse in how does it actually all about. As the conclusion, some
improvement can be added in other to have a simple but compact of textbook.

References

Chu, C. K., & Hong, K. Y. (2010). Misconceptions of teaching chemistry in secondary schools in
Singapore & Malaysia. Retrieved from http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/76/1/PDF__DR_CHU_FINAL_FOR_PRINTING_231209_Pg_1-10.pdf
Government of Ireland (2008). Leaving Certificate Chemistry Syllabus. Dublin, Ireland.
Government of Ireland (2008). Junior Certificate Chemistry Syllabus. Dublin, Ireland.
Key Concept. Retrieved on November 12 from
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl201/modules/meaning/terms.html
Key Concept and Definition. Retrieved on November 12 from

http://www.afd.fr/lang/en/home/recherche/evaluation-capitalisation/Evaluationimpacts/concepts-definition
OConnell, Joe. (2001). Salt Myths and Urban Legends.
Retrieved on November 14 from http://www.scbbqa.com/myths/Salt.html%3E