Perceptions of learning mathematics among lower secondary students in Malaysia: study on students' engagement using fuzzy conjoint analysis

As Malaysia strives to embrace the Data Science & Big Data revolution, the need to produce graduates with higher mathematics competence grows accordingly. However, the nation's vision may face a threat due to the declining interest to learn mathematics among the younger generations. Although initiatives like STEM was undertaken to face this issue, the success rate was relatively low. Ultimately, the key driver of mathematics learning is students' interest; which can be described using their perceptions of learning mathematics. Accordingly, this paper evaluated the perceptions of learning mathematics among lower secondary school students in Malaysia. A descriptive survey study was conducted on 562 randomly selected students across Peninsular Malaysia. The instrument consisted of 54 attributes encompassing 3 constructs of classroom engagement. Ratings on attributes were analysed using Fuzzy Conjoint Analysis to identify the significant attributes and their in influence. The most significant attribute indicated that students tried multiple times if they were unable to tackle a given problem. The least significant attribute revealed that students were always afraid of getting poor results in mathematics tests. Results attested that students had varying perceptions, however, their overall perceptions of learning mathematics were positive. Negative and neutral perceptions mainly existed for affective engagement, particularly for students' anxiety and frustration in learning mathematics. This provides important information for education stakeholders to improve the affective component of engagement. In a nutshell, this study served as an initial attempt to investigate students' perceptions of learning mathematics with respect to their classroom engagement

DESIGNING MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST OF VOCABULARY FOR THE FIRST SEMESTER STUDENTS AT ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF ALAUDDIN STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF MAKASSAR

This study aims to develop and design Vocabulary Test in the first semester students at English Education Department of Alauddin State Islamic University of Makassar. The research design was Research and Development (R&D). It totally applied ADDIE Model. The steps of the model are Analysis, Design, Develop, Implementation and Evaluation. The type of data of this research was quantitative data. The research instrument was a rubric dealing the quality of the test produced. The findings showed that the content of material, language, and layout of the product were totally clear and understandable. The product was valid to be implemented in testing the students’ vocabulary mastery. It can be seen from the difficulty level, discrimination power, validity, and reliability of the product obtained from the score of the students’ answers

Designing Multiple Choise test of Vocabularry for The First Semester Students at English Education Department of Alauddin State Islamic University of Makassar

This study aims to develop and design Vocabulary Test in the first semester students at English Education Department of Alauddin State Islamic University of Makassar. The research design was Research and Development (R&D). It totally applied ADDIE Model. The steps of the model are Analysis, Design, Develop, Implementation and Evaluation. The type of data of this research was quantitative data. The research instrument was a rubric dealing the quality of the test produced. The findings showed that the content of material, language, and layout of the product were totally clear and understandable. The product was valid to be implemented in testing the students’ vocabulary mastery. It can be seen from the difficulty level, discrimination power, validity, and reliability of the product obtained from the score of the students’ answers

Relationship between mathematics statistics engagement and attitudes towards statistics among undergraduate students in Malaysia

This paper explored the relationship between the attitudes toward statistics and mathematics statistics engagement among undergraduate students taking the statistic course. A total of 293 undergraduate students from several programs at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) were the sample of the study. A structured, self-administered questionnaire was used to elicit responses from these students. Descriptive analyses showed the overall mean for students’ mathematics statistics engagement was 3.38 (SD = .36). The analysis on mathematics statistics engagement domains revealed behavioural engagement had the highest mean (M = 3.63, SD = .52), followed by affective engagement (M = 3.35, SD = .41) and cognitive engagement (M = 3.26, SD = .35). Inferential analysis indicated attitudes towards statistic were positively related to mathematics statistics engagement (p = .721**, p = .001). Further analysis on mathematics statistics engagement domain indicated attitudes towards statistics were positively related to the affective domain (p = .902**, p < 0.001), cognitive domain (p = .818**, p < 0.001) and behavioral domain (p = .855**, p < 0.001). These findings show attitudes are important for students to be engaged in mathematics statistics. Implications of the findings are discussed

Impact of experimenting computational statistics for data science in introductory statistics course: a Malaysian perspective

The conventional teaching methods for statistics, especially for introductory statistics course (precursor to data science) are not in accordance with the advancement and demand of today’s data-centric world. As the backbone of modern data science, computational statistics is deemed to revamp the learning of statistics to a large extent. As such, this study investigated the impact of experimenting computational statistics for data science in introductory statistics course from a Malaysian perspective. We employed a pre-, postand delayed post-test quasi-experimental design in this study. Our sample included 100 randomly selected students enrolled in an introductory course in a Malaysian public university. Students were equally separated into computational (followed computational statistics approach in learning statistics) and conventional (followed only conventional approach in learning statistics) groups. Students in both groups were assessed at three stages: initial, medial and final, respectively. Their performance (assessment marks) was used to measure the effectiveness of computational statistics approach in the learning process of introductory statistics. Results attested that computational group students performed significantly better than the conventional group students in both medial and final assessments. Furthermore, computational group students showed greater improvement from initial to medial assessment and sustained their performance from medial to final assessment, indicating that their knowledge acquisition was effective in the computational statistics approach. Our findings implied that computational statistics approach in introductory statistics course exerted a positive impact on students’ statistics learning and performance, leading towards effective knowledge and computing skills acquisition for data science

Effects of HOTS-based module approach on pupil's errors in the topic of measurement and geometry in urban and rural schools

This study was to investigate the effect of HOTS-based module approach on pupil's error in the topic of measurement and geometry year five. For the purpose of the study, a quasi- experimental research was conducted on two intact groups. It was conducted in two schools (School1 and School2) located in urban area and two schools (School3 and School4) located in rural area in one of the states in Malaysia. Sample in urban schools was a total of 40 pupils (20 pupils in the treatment group and 20 pupils in the control group) while, for rural schools, 37 pupils (19 pupils in the treatment group and 18 pupils in the control group) participated in this study. The data collection instrument used in this study was the four item problem-solving test on the topic of Measurement and Geometry developed by the researcher. Fong's Schematic Model was used to analyse levels of errors in solving word problem. The analysis of the result from the test showed that pupils in treatment groups in both schools made less errors compared with pupils in control group. This result indicated that pupils who used HOT-based module committed less errors in solving Measurement and Geometry problems

Impact of problem-based learning strategy on students' mathematical value among secondary school students

This study examined the effectiveness of implementing a problem-based learning (PBL) strategy on the mathematical values of the mathematics secondary school. A quasi-experimental nonrandomized control group post-test design was conducted, which consisted of 62 students in two intact groups. 35 students were placed in the experimental group, while 27 students in the control group participated in this study. Students in the experimental group received the PBL instruction strategy, while the control group learned mathematics using conventional instructional in a classroom for eight weeks. Students’ mathematical values were measured using a set of rubrics consisting of nine mathematics educational values. The results of this study showed the students from the PBL strategy group demonstrated significantly higher scores than the conventional instruction strategy group in the overall mathematical values and the subscales of accuracy, conjecturing, consistency, creativity, effective organization, efficient working/ strategies, flexibility,persistence, and systematic working. Therefore, it is recommended that the use of the PBL strategy would help students to understand mathematical values better compared to conventional instruction

Dynamic google SketchUp software and conventional teaching strategy of students’ conceptual knowledge and procedural knowledge in learning geometry

The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of using dynamic software Google SketchUp (GSU), without software on van Hiele’s theory and conventional teaching strategy of students’ conceptual and procedural knowledge in learning geometry among primary school students. The study was conducted using pre and post-test true experimental methods. This true experimental research involved 96 students from Year Five primary schools in Malaysia. The selection of site or school take into account as convenience and voluntary participation. The study's findings showed significant differences in student's conceptual knowledge and procedural knowledge based on the different types of the strategy group. The post hoc test indicated that using software showed better conceptual and procedural knowledge when compared to without using software on van Hiele’s theory and conventional teaching strategy

Differences in students' mathematics engagement between gender and between rural and urban schools

The purpose of this study was to explore secondary school students’ mathematics engagement focusing on the cognitive, affective and behavioural engagement domains. A total of 387 students (186 male and 201 female) from the urban and rural secondary schools in Pahang, Malaysia, were randomly selected. There were 158 students from the urban schools and 229 students from the rural schools. Descriptive analyses for mathematics engagement domains revealed behavioural engagement had the highest mean (M = 3.74, SD = .63), followed by cognitive engagement (M = 3.56, SD = .43) and affective engagement (M = 3.48, SD = .47). The mean for students’ overall mathematics engagement was 3.56 (SD = .46). Further analyses showed there were significant differences in each of the engagement domains in mathematics learning (affective, cognitive and behavioural), where students in the urban schools showed significantly better in the mean scores for affective, cognitive, behavioural domains and the overall mathematics engagement as compared to the students in the rural schools. Similar findings also showed there were significant differences in the overall mathematics engagement mean between the genders. The findings indicated girls were significantly better than boys in all (affective, cognitive and behavioural) of the engagement domains in mathematics learning. It was also shown girls had higher overall mathematics engagement mean as compared to boys. However, the study also indicated the overall students’ mathematics engagement was at a moderate level. Besides, the rural school students did not show high mathematics engagement as compared to the urban school students. Further analyses showed girls significantly had better mathematics engagement as compared to boys. Hence, it is recommended that in order to optimize students’ mathematics engagement, they should be actively engaged in more participative learning activities in mathematics classrooms. Focus should be given to rural schools and also among the boys

Effects of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen on Virus-specific and Global T Cells in Patients With Chronic HBV infection

10.1053/j.gastro.2020.04.019Gastroenterolog