Analysis of students’ errors in solving Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) problems for the topic of fraction

Problem-solving is an activity that can generate Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) among students. However, only some of the students are capable of solving problems and some are having difficulties. The difficulties have caused students to make various kinds of errors. Hence, this study conducted is to identify and analyze students’ errors in solving problems that involve HOTS in the topic of Fraction. The samples consisted of 96 Form One students of a secondary school in Johor. The instrument of the study consisted of a set of test questions that contained four HOTS questions. The errors were analyzed according to Newman’s Error Analysis Model consisting of reading, comprehension, transformation, process skills and encoding. The results showed that students frequently made errors in encoding (27.58%), followed by process skills (27.33%), transformation (24.17%) and comprehension (20.92%). The findings showed that students faced problems to correlate the information and implementation of strategies used in solving mathematical problems involving HOTS

Hibiscus sabdariffa Linn. (Roselle) polyphenols-rich extract prevents hyperglycemia-induced cardiac oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage in diabetic rats

Cardiac mitochondrial damage plays a crucial role in the initiation of diabetic cardiomyopathy. Hibiscus sabdariffa Linn. (roselle) has been proven to prevent various pathological conditions, however it remains unclear whether roselle extract can attenuate diabetes-induced mitochondrial damage. This study aimed to investigate whether roselle polyphenol-rich extract (HPE) is able to ameliorate hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage in diabetic rats. Diabetes was induced by a single dose of streptozotocin (55 mg kg-1, intraperitoneally); and diabetic rats were then orally fed with 100 mg kg-1 of HPE (DM+Roselle) or 150 mg kg-1 of Metformin (DM+MET) daily for 4 weeks. Meanwhile, the control and untreated diabetic (DM) groups were only orally given normal saline. After 4 weeks of treatment, the results showed that DM+Roselle group significantly improved blood glucose level and lipid profile status (p<0.05) compared to the DM group. DM+Roselle group also had significantly (p<0.05) lower the level of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and advanced oxidation protein product (AOPP) in cardiac homogenate than the DM group. HPE supplementation also significantly improved activities of total superoxide dismutase (SOD), SOD-2, catalase (CAT) and level of reduced glutathione (GSH) of the cardiac homogenate. Complex I activity of mitochondria respiratory chain also decreased significantly (p<0.05) in DM+Roselle group as compared to the DM group. Observations using electron microscope showed that mitochondria in the DM+Roselle group appeared more organized compared to the DM group. In conclusion, these results highlight the potential of HPE as a protective agent against oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage in diabetic condition

Investigation of capabilities of electromagnetic tomography for pipeline imaging

In industrial process, pipeline leakage often only noticeable pipe condition is critical henceforth causing damages to its internal content. Therefore, pipeline inspection and monitoring work is highly demanding to take early precautions. Electromagnetic Tomography (EMT) is capable to produce images of the internal structure of an object by using external sensors without disrupting it. The coil sensors are placed around the object where the source coil transmits an oscillating magnetic field while the rest acts as receiver and measure the received signals. The measured signal provides the magnetic field distribution of the pipe, and will differ according to the materials’ passive electrical properties. In this paper, we investigate the capability of using EMT to identify metallic pipe openings by conducting a finite element analysis simulation study. The design and parameters of the EMT system, as well as the results of using the EMT model to detect various degree of metallic pipe openings is presented. The results confirm that the EMT imaging as a promising tool for inspection of metallic pipelines where the magnetic field of the investigated region differs according to the pipe opening and material of the pipeline

Analisis kesilapan pelajar dalam menyelesaikan masalah kemahiran berfikir aras tinggi (KBAT) untuk topik pecahan

Penyelesaian masalah merupakan aktiviti yang dapat menjana Kemahiran Berfikir Aras Tinggi (KBAT) dalam kalangan pelajar. Bagaimanapun hanya sebahagian pelajar sahaja yang berkemampuan untuk menyelesaikan masalah dan sebahagian lagi menghadapi kesukaran. Kesukaran tersebut menyebabkan pelajar melakukan pelbagai kesilapan. Justeru kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengenalpasti dan menganalisis kesilapan pelajar dalam menyelesaikan masalah yang melibatkan KBAT dalam tajuk Pecahan. Sampel kajian terdiri daripada 96 orang pelajar tingkatan satu dari sebuah sekolah menengah di Johor. Instrumen kajian terdiri daripada set soalan ujian yang mengandungi empat soalan KBAT. Kesilapan dianalisis berpandukan Model Analisis Kesilapan Newman yang terdiri daripada membaca, kefahaman, transformasi, kemahiran proses dan pengekodan. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa pelajar kerap untuk melakukan kesilapan dalam pengekodan (27.58%), diikuti dengan kemahiran proses (27.33%), transformasi (24.17%) dan kefahaman (20.92%). Kajian turut mendapati pelajar berhadapan masalah untuk menghubungkait maklumat dan pelaksanaan strategi yang digunakan dalam menyelesaikan masalah matematik yang melibatkan KBAT dalam topik Pecahan

An educational portal to facilitate statistical literacy for the Malaysian community

In the last decades, a considerable number of studies investigated the teaching and learning of statistics. The implications of these studies have changed the content and structure of statistics. Hence, the applications of statistics to understand the world around us should be followed by the learning of statistical concepts so that the students are aware that statistics is an important tool to solve practical life problems. There must be some platform such as materials or articles that discuss explicitly the applications of statistics in various area that reach of students. An educational web portal by the name of Dunia Matematik has been delegated to meet this need. Apart from the sections which provide numerous articles that portray statistics in real life, the portal also provides articles on history in mathematics, popular mathematicians, online quizzes, technology in mathematics education and arts in mathematics. Based on ARCS model on motivation, the four components of the model, namely attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction are integrated in the design of the articles and activities. A rich collection of such resources which present authentic data could supplement text book materials which heavily focus onto statistical concepts and procedures. Besides motivating learning, it is expected that the web portal has the potential to develop statistical literacy, an ability to comprehend and infer the data. The final part of the paper will describe some resources that have been developed

Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi penggunaan Fintech dalam kalangan pengguna di Malaysia

Kajian ini dijalankan bertujuan menganalpasti tahap pengetahuan dan faktor-faktor yang menjadi keutamaan dalam penggunaan Fintech dikalangan penduduk disekitar Lembah Klang, Selangor. Fokus kajian adalah kepada pembolehubah kebolehcapaian internet, kebolehpercayaan, keselesaan dan kos. Kajian ini dijalankan keatas 410 orang responden daripada kalangan kakitangan awam , kakitangan swasta, perniaga dan pelajar. Reka bentuk kajian adalah berbentuk kuantitatif dengan menggunakan analisis kebolehpercayaan, analisis deskriptif, analisis korelasi Pearson dan analisis regresi berbilang. Data yang terkumpul akan diuji dalam Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). Dapatan hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa kesemua pembolehubah, mempunyai hubungan yang signifikan dengan kepuasan pengguna Fintech

Using thinking blocks to encourage the use of higher order thinking skills among students when solving problems on fractions

Problem-solving is an activity which can encourage students to use Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). Learning fractions can be challenging for students since empirical evidence shows that students experience difficulties in solving the fraction problems. However, visual methods can help students to overcome the difficulties since the methods help students to make meaningful visual representations and link abstract concepts in Mathematics. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether there were any changes in students’ HOTS at the four highest levels when learning the fractions by using Thinking Blocks. 54 students participated in a quasi-experiment using pre-tests and post-tests. Students were divided into two groups. The experimental group (n=32) received a treatment to improve the students’ HOTS and the other group acted as the control group (n=22) which used a traditional method. Data were analysed by using Mann-Whitney test. The results indicated that during post-test, students who used Thinking Blocks showed significant improvement in their HOTS level (p=0.000). In addition, the results of post-test also showed that the students’ performance improved significantly at the four highest levels of HOTS; namely, application (p=0.001), analyse (p=0.000), evaluate (p=0.000), and create (p=0.000). Therefore, it can be concluded that Thinking Blocks can effectively encourage students to use the four highest levels of HOTS which consequently enable them to solve fractions problems successfully

Synergistic Effect of Partial Replacement of Carbon Black by Palm Kernel Shell Biochar in Carboxylated Nitrile Butadiene Rubber Composites

With the rapid development of the palm oil-related industry, this has resulted in the high production of palm oil waste. The increasing amount of palm oil waste has become an alarming issue in which researchers have carried out studies that this palm oil waste has the potential to be used as a biomass source. Carbon black (CB) is the most preferred reinforcing filler in the rubber industry but it has a disadvantage where CB is carcinogenic and a petroleum-based product. Hence CB is less sustainable. Palm kernel shell (PKS) derived from palm oil waste can be turned into palm kernel shell biochar (PKSBc) which can potentially be a value-added, sustainable biofiller as reinforcement in rubber composites. In this study, PKSBc is hybridized with CB (N660) at different loading ratios to be filled in carboxylated nitrile butadiene rubber (XNBR). This study aims to elucidate the effect of the varying ratios of hybrid CB/PKSBc on the rheological properties, abrasion resistance, and hardness of XNBR composites. In this study, both CB and PKSBc are incorporated into XNBR and were then cured with sulphur. The composites were prepared by using a two-roll mill. Different compositions of hybrid CB/PKSBc were incorporated. The rheological properties and physicomechanical properties, such as abrasion resistance and hardness of the vulcanizates, were investigated. Based on the results, as the loading ratio of PKSBc in hybrid CB/PKSBc increases, the cure time decreases, and the cure rate index increases. The abrasion resistance and hardness values of vulcanizates were maintained by the high loading of PKSBc which was due to the porous structure of PKSBc as shown in the morphological analysis of PKSBc. The pores of PKSBc provided mechanical interlocking to reduce volume loss and maintain the hardness of vulcanizates when subjected to force. With this, PKSBc is proven to be a semi-reinforcing filler that could not only act as a co-filler to existing commercialized CB, but PKSBc could also fully substitute CB as reinforcement in rubber, specifically XNBR as it is able to provide high abrasion resistance and hardness to the rubber composites. This would mean the performance of PKSBc is comparable with CB (N660) when it comes to maintaining the physicomechanical properties of XNBR composites in terms of abrasion resistance and hardness. Therefore, this approach of using eco-friendly filler derived from palm oil agricultural waste (PKSBc) can reduce the abundance of palm oil waste, be a sustainable alternative to act as a co-filler in hybrid CB/PKSBc to decrease the usage of CB, and helps to enhance the quality of existing rubber-based products

Thinking blocks: Solving fraction problems involving higher order thinking skills

A fraction is a complex topic in mathematics. Some literature indicates that students made mistakes in solving mathematical problems involving higher order thinking skills which are related to Number domain. The Number domain includes Whole Numbers, Sequences and Patterns of Numbers, Fractions, Decimals, Percentages and Integers. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of Thinking Blocks in order to help students solve fraction problems involving higher order thinking skills. By incorporating a pre-post quasi-experimental design, students were divided into two groups. The experimental group (n = 32) were exposed to treatment to improve higher order thinking skills. Whereas, the other group acted as a control group (n = 22) and were taught in a conventional way. Samples involved in this study were Form One students in Johor. The instrument used in identifying the level of higher order thinking skills consists of twelve higher order thinking questions. The gathered data were then analyzed using inferential statistics. The finding of this study revealed that to the control group the experimental group showed a statistically significant improvement on higher order thinking skills group compared. As a conclusion, if teachers consistently practice the strategies of higher order thinking, there is a high chance to develop and nurture higher order thinking skills among students when learning Fractions

Curing and thermal properties of co-polymerized tannin phenol–formaldehyde resin for bonding wood veneers

The aim of this study is to assess the curing behaviour and thermal properties of phenol–formaldehyde (PF) adhesives with different degree of tannin substitution using several thermal analysis techniques. Tannin from Acacia mearnsii bark was copolymerized with PF to form a bonding agent for plywood. The resin mixture was heated at 50 °C prior to adding 40% w/w tannin solution, followed by a continuous stirring for 2 h. The amounts of tannin substitution were 20%, 30% and 40% (w/w of PF solids) and 100% PF were used as control. The study shows that the addition of tannin quickened the gel time of the resin notably, parallel with the increase in viscosity of the resin. The dry shear bond strength of the tannin phenol–formaldehyde (TPF) co-polymer ranged between 1.71 and 2.58 MPa as compared to 3.41 MPa for PF. At higher addition of tannin, the shear bond strength reduced significantly predominantly the 40% tannin substitution. Formulation containing 20% tannin was found comparable to that of neat PF. Thermal test revealed that TPF starts to degrade at a lower temperature than PF resin. All TPF resins started to cure at about 125 °C and peaked at 160 °C compared to PF that began to cure at 145 °. The DMA of the resin showed an increase in the resin stiffness with an addition of tannin. These results imply that even though TPF starts to degrade at lower temperature, the cured TPF is relatively stronger than pure PF