The aim of this study is to examine whether gender and ethnicity differences are manifested in chemistry achievement and self-regulated learning among a matriculation programme students in Malaysia. The result of students' midterm chemistry exam was used as the measure of chemistry achievement. The information of self-regulated learning was collected by using a survey questionnaire that was adapted from the Motivated Strategies and Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Random sampling method was utilized to select 358 students of Matriculation Science One-Year Programme. The results of gender differences showed that male students obtained significantly higher achievement in chemistry compared to female counterparts whereas there was no significant gender difference in self-regulated learning. The results of ethnicity differences confirmed that there was a significant difference in chemistry achievement between Malay and Chinese students, Malay and Indian students, respectively. In terms of self-regulated learning, however, a significant difference was found only between Malay and Indian students. The findings suggest that science instructors in higher education institutions utilize the MSLQ to get the information about students' self-regulatory level and motivational level, design a "gender-based initiative" to address the lower science achievement of female students, and be ready to having learning resources and pedagogical practices available for a learning condition with diverse groups of different ethnicities.

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In general, action research refers to any systematic inquiry conducted by teacher researchers or other stakeholders in the teaching/learning environment to gather information about how teachers teach and how well their students learn (Mills, 2011). By being involved in action research, teachers can experience the opportunities for reflection to observe, evaluate, and reflect systematically on their classroom practices in order to promote understanding and self-awareness and to make changes when necessary (McDonough, 2006). In this sense, reflection is a strategic activity and is believed to support teachers' understandings of pedagogy as well as their ability to think flexibly and objectively about problems and