The Strategies in Adapting Frugality in Science Education during the COVID-19’s School Closure
Keywords:
Frugal, Educator, Crisis, Innovative, COVID-19, Malaysia, Remote schoolingAbstract
During the Movement Control Order, the formal schooling routine was distrupted. Most of the time, the formal schooling involved blended learning in school, remote learning at home, or a combination of both. At the same time, the frequent school closures, as a response to the local number of COVID-19 cases, also limit access to educational resources such as materials and apparatus in science laboratories. Having a challenging situation, the possible idea of frugality in science education was explored. A teacher conducted action research to investigate the strategy for adapting frugality in science education. The qualitative data was collected through both concurrent and retrospective reflection to find the stratgeies for adapting to frugality in science education during the crisis. From the analysis, four strategies were identified, which are 1) lessons could be varied by utilising free resources; 2) flexible learning hours; 3) constructing or purchasing inexpensive lab materials and apparatus; and 4) engaging in scientific inquiry and integrated learning. This exploratory study was set with empirical limits as implied in any action research methodology in terms of high contextualisity and low generalizeability. Despite the challenges this methodology poses, this study is a critical instance built on the inquisitive and resourceful minds to explore more teaching and learning strategies while abiding by the order of restricted movement.
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