Assessing Learning Outcomes through Students’ Reflective Thinking

AbstractAssessing students’ reflective thinking could reveal learning outcomes which summative assessment could not. Therefore, the researcher as course instructor decided to look into students’ reflective writing for a more insightful feedback on their learning outcomes. One cohort of students in an environmental management course were requested to write reflection notes at the completion of each assignment, and towards the end of the course a piece of reflective essay. The students’ reflective writings were then analysed for snippets of evidence that purportedly meets the course learning outcomes. These evidences of students’ learning outcomes were gathered and examined for emerging patterns and trends in the students’ reflective thinking that relates to the course objectives. The document analysis method was applied to identify and match the students’ reflective writings with the learning objectives. Findings reveal students’ achievement of learning outcomes and higher order thinking skills, as outlined in the course objectives. It is hoped that findings from this research will further support the significance of reflective thinking on learning. Reflective notes provide meaningful feedback on learning to instructors that could be acted upon towards improvement of a course. Educators and educationists could look at students’ reflective writings as an effective form of assessment that would provide a more insightful assessment of students’ learning and thoughts

Progress and Methodological Approaches in Urban Trees and Forests Research in Africa

The numerous benefits of urban trees and forests are being increasingly recognised globally but grossly under studied in the developing world. This paper reviewed the methodological approaches to urban trees and forests assessments in Africa in relation to the growing number of publications in the field between 2012 and 2017. It adopted a comprehensive search of online publications related to urban trees and forests in the Google Scholar, Springer, Science Direct, Scopus, IEEE, Tailor and Francis and African Journals databases. Number of publications increased steadily from 2 in 2012 to a cumulative total of 44 in 2017, most of which were however, from South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana with little contributions from Kenya and Rwanda. Although remote sensing may facilitate detailed studies of urban trees, most researchers used the traditional and time-consuming field surveys and to some extent, interview and questionnaire surveys. African cities are highly diverse in both native and exotic tree species but the exotic species dominate in many areas. Urban trees in Africa provide both tangible and intangible benefits which include provision of income, fruits, medicines, fuelwood and recreation opportunities. Others are micro-climate modification, erosion and desertification control, pollutants removal, spirituality and aesthetics. Advances in urban tree assessments such as the use of i-Tree Eco and i-Tree Streets, high resolution remote sensing images and LiDAR should be explored. Governmental and private organizations need to be more committed to urban trees research and management through enhanced funding. Keywords: Africa; Urbanization; Urban Trees; Urban Forests; Diversity; Remote Sensing DOI: 10.7176/JEES/9-9-05 Publication date:September 30th 201

Arthropod diversity during vegetative growth phase of rice field at Kedah, Malaysia

Other than being wetland ecosystems that occupy the largest area of the agricultural land in Malaysia, rice field is also a home to numerous organisms. This study attempts to investigate the arthropod diversity during the vegetative growth phase of rice field at Kedah. Six sampling points has been chosen spreading across Kedah districts which are, Kubang Pasu, Kota Star, Padang Terap, Pendang, Sik, and Bandar Baharu. Sweeping net, yellow pan and light traps are the methods used for insect trapping. Arthropod diversity was calculated using Shanon-Wiener Diversity Index. The outcome of the study shows that, Kubang Pasu has the highest diversity index value with 3.218 and Pendang has the lowest diversity index value. A total of 2434 insect specimen had been collected consisting of 9 orders and 66 species. Among the 66 species collected, 23 species has been identified as a rice pest

Conservation of river terrapin (Batagur affinis) in Malaysia: status and challenges

With the steady declining of nesting river terrapin reported annually in Malaysia, it is just a matter of time before this species listed extinct in IUCN Red List of Endangered Animal. This paper attempts to develop an overview on the current status, conservation effort, and challenges in conservation of river terrapin (Batagur affinis) in Malaysia. Lack of knowledge and lack of enforcement of law and regulation is the two main factors contribute to the failure of conservation of wildlife in Malaysia. Overview on the existing conservation programme at Perak and Kedah show that the programme are not sustain and number of terrapin successfully being breed annually is decreasing. It was relevant to enhance proper approach in the management from wildlife conservation perspective. Despite the high potential and opportunities and successfulness at Terengganu in conserving river terrapin, we should try to replicate the programme in Terengganu to Perak and Kedah as well. The government should committed to significantly improve the facilities in Perak and Kedah to promote and enhance the programme. With issues and challenges in river terrapin conservation that were highlighted in this context especially from the, aspects of knowledge and awareness, availability and other loopholes within policies and, related wildlife conservation such as turtle within the country, the question on whether the goals in increasing the wild population of river terrapin remains unsure of but there is a possibility for a successful implementation of sustainable conservation programme

A qualitative analysis of the main threats to Asian elephant conservation

In this study we identified the main threats to the conservation of Asian elephants and discuss their causes and implications. Primary data from interviews and secondary data from published articles were gathered and analysed using inductive and deductive thematic content analysis assisted by NVivo 10. Our results indicate that the three main threats for the species are human-elephant conflict, habitat loss, and poaching. The conversion of forests into plantations and human-dominated areas, including infrastructure developments, are the primary causes for human-elephant conflict and habitat loss. Meanwhile, the high demand and monetary return from ivory trade are the primary causes to illegal poaching

Opportunities for household solid waste recycling and policy status in Malaysia

Malaysia provides ample opportunities for solid waste recycling due to their dependence on recyclable materials, which could be observed from the dominance of recyclables in the wastes disposed at the landfills. This paper attempts to develop an overview on the opportunities for solid waste recycling in Malaysia at the most basic level of a community or nation which is the household unit, besides reviewing on the Malaysian solid waste management and recycling policy status. Information on solid waste recycling is significantly underdeveloped, as most studies tend to focus more on general aspects of solid waste management in Malaysia. Substantial progress has been made by the government and related authorities in developing a more comprehensive solid waste management, recycling policies, awareness campaigns and relevant projects. Waste separation and recycling are part of the major changes in the current policy implementation. However the local participation has not been encouraging and the recycling rate falls back at merely 5 % that proves how uncommon recycling practice is. Households are not aware of proper waste recycling etiquette. Environmental considerations exist among households but space limitations and misconceptions hinder recycling practice. The role of monetary rewards seems to be overplayed and the influence of other reasons for recycling has been slightly underestimated when it comes to implementing recycling policy and programme strategies

Garbage enzyme as a solution to waste minimization

Garbage enzyme is obtained by fermenting fruit and vegetable wastes. This alternative method of biological recovery of organic waste may provide a solution to waste minimization and reduction since a large proportion of municipal solid waste consists of food waste. A study was conducted to assess the implementation of garbage enzyme making and usage as an initiative to reduce the amount of municipal solid waste generated by a hawker community. It was found that practical values, communal spirit and awareness of environmental consequences were among the factors that encourage the practice of garbage enzyme making, while ignorance, time and convenience factors hinder garbage enzyme making and usage. Taking these factors into consideration, municipalities could promote garbage enzyme as a viable method in reducing the amount of MSW generated

Recycling policy and program strategies from households' perspectives: a case study in Muar Royal City

This paper provides an introspective insight about households' expectations on recycling policy and program strategies at local community level via questionnaire survey conducted based on stratified random selection. Households strongly support strategies that provide them monetary benefit such as rebates (53.66%) and incentives (67.39%); convenience such as recycling drop-off centres (77.67%), recycling bins in housing areas (86.91%), and recycling collection points (84.18%); and knowledge gain such as environmental education on recycling (80.47%) and awareness campaign (81.45%). Based on the ranking, households prefer to be offered with recycling convenience and proper facilities, besides provided with knowledge, rather than purely receiving monetary rewards. It is unavoidable that there are individuals who are not susceptible to changes, especially when majority are most likely to make their own decision on whether to recycle. The success of recycling strategies depends on how these approaches are carried out to pave the way for households towards recycling behaviour. Positive results of households' contributions should be reported to quantify their effort into perspective. When majority starts to notice the trend, they would eventually start to recycle themselves. Based on the findings, this study discusses possible recommendations for implementations in the local municipalities to extend the potentials in achieving recycling community

Solid waste management transformation and future challenges of source separation and recycling practice in Malaysia

The mentality towards cleanliness, the sense of responsibility towards properly managing waste, as well as public concerns on the implications of not separating waste for recycling are critically lacking. Besides widespread of open dumping and illegal dumping, landfill sites in Malaysia are in dire state while source separation for recycling remain minimal despite the dominance of recyclable materials in the waste composition. The historical discussion on the solid waste management policy and plan strategies assesses Malaysian solid waste management needs to set realistic perspective for solid waste management particularly in source separation and recycling. Transformation of primitive solid waste management policy and plan strategies resulted to major changes in the system and rigorous implementation of mandatory source separation through Act 672. A two-pronged strategy of federalization and privatization is formally implemented in eight states of Peninsular Malaysia, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, and Putrajaya. In line with the government’s effort to promote sustainable solid waste management services, SWCorp Malaysia implemented SWCorp Strategic Plan 2014–2020, which focuses on (1) mindset, (2) behavior and culture, (3) collaboration and synergy, (4) policy and regulations, (5) organizational capacity, (6) technology system and facilities, (7) law enforcement, and (8) delivery system. One of the most critical challenges in source separation and recycling practice is the public attitude towards making source separation and recycling as a habit. Continuous commitment and participation from the government, private sector, and public are essential to achieve Malaysia’s targeted recycling rate of 22% by 2020, with greater advancement towards a zero waste nation