An overview of research on experts and novice problem solvers in physics

Problem solving is regarded as one of the most important cognitive activities in our daily life and in professional contexts. There are differences between expert and novice in terms of their behaviour and knowledge organisation in solving physics problem. In terms of behaviour, usually experts employ planning, monitoring, evaluating and making qualitative analysis in their solution as compared to novices. Studies in problem solving usually compare behaviour between the two groups to see how these two groups performed. There were three criteria uses to select the group such as experiences, performances and background knowledge

Impact of forest rehabilitation using Eucalyptus spp. on soil properties at Sg. Betis Forest Reserve, Lojing, Kelantan

The forest reserve of Sg. Betis, Lojing, Kelantan is one of the earliest plots to utilize Eucalyptusfor forest rehabilitation purposes, due to the tree’s fast-growing characteristic that is able to accelerate soil restoration for degraded forest.Eucalyptushas a deep root system that can help to hold the soil and is able to reach moisture deep in the ground, in order to survive droughts.This study was conducted to determine the impact of forest rehabilitation on degraded land using Eucalyptusspp.The soil properties were determined prior to planting (October 2017) and after planting (August 2018). Soil analyses showed that there is improvement in selected soil properties after a year of planting

Transnational Marriage in Malaysia: Case Study and a Critical Review Based on Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and Narrative Analysis of Topical Stories

This chapter examines child citizenship in transnational marriages involving Malaysian women and foreign spouses. The discussion is based on the critical reviews of the Malaysian laws in regard to transnational marriages and its adherence to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). In Malaysia, most marriages are endogamous (within the same ethnic group), but mixed marriages between diverse backgrounds are on the rise. The federal constitution shows differing citizenship provisions for children of transnational marriages based on the gender of the Malaysian spouse, indicating potential gender inequality in the legislation. Therefore, this chapter discusses the importance of addressing transnational marriage issues in line with the ratified CEDAW, which Malaysia adopted in August 1995. The review focuses on Malaysian mothers with non-Malaysian citizen children and identifies five themes from the data: divorce-related emotional distress, lack of awareness of child citizenship status, unresponsiveness from authorities, prioritizing child welfare, and uncertainty about the future. Gender inequality in legislative provisions impacting mothers and children with different nationalities is highlighted. The review urges the government to take decisive action to comply with the convention and ensure justice for affected mothers and their children

Effects of different mulching materials and planting distance on selected soil properties of organic farms planted with Orthosiphon stamineus

A field study was carried out to determine the impact of mulching and planting distance on the growth of Orthosiphon stamineus, soil properties and also to observe the changes in pH and EC of soil in response to mulching and planting distance. The experiment was carried out at Ladang 16, Faculty of Agriculture UPM. Factorial Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was incorporated with four replicates for each of the four treatments. The four treatments consisted of mulching, non-mulching, planting distance of 30 cm × 30 cm and planting distance of 45 cm × 45 cm. After eight weeks of planting, the plants were harvested while soil pH and EC were measured on a weekly basis throughout the planting period. Results showed that application of biochar and usage of mulching materials and suitable planting distance does helps to maintain the soil pH and electrical conductivity (EC) at the suitable range for crop growth. The level of the acidity of the soil is in the range of 5.3 to 6.61 which is considered appropriate for O. stamineus. As for influence of planting distance, it is best to give longer time for O. stamineus grows. It is recommended that more planting distance and types of mulching materials to be used to grow O. stamineus

Stem interest-ignition program by school of education and Sultan Ismail library, Kg Melayu

STEM activities at PSI Kg Melayu provides a platform to work with students to help them learn and be curious about STEM. The program also gives PSI staff the opportunity to learn from UTM how STEM activities are carried out and they will be able to continue this activity in the library in the future. It was found that students who came to the Sultan Ismail library (PSI) Kg Melayu branch to study was very few even though the facilities available at the Library were very good. Students in that area do not seem to see the presence of the library as beneficial. If this problem persists, the PSI branch in Kg Melayu will be shut down. Thus, FP UTM's Learning Club will collaborate with the Johor Bahru Foundation to carry out STEM activities at PSI Kg Melayu branches. It aims to promote libraries and also foster student interest in STEM subjects in schools. Students from around Kg. Malay Majidi was selected to participate in the STEM activities held once a month at PSI Kg Melayu branch. Various activities will be organized throughout the year to ensure the program objective is achieved. The Education School of UTM with the cooperation of the Sultan Ismail Library will create profiling students to explore the effectiveness of STEM PSI Kg Melayu activities on the interests, career options, and achievement of students in Science and Mathematics subjects. The selected students will follow various activities planned by UTM and PSI every month. All activities involve hands on and require students to use their thinking skills. Student achievement before joining the program and after following the program will also be recorded and monitored. Based on the observation, all students were actively involved and showed an interest in STEM activities. This activities is hoped to produce training module and also copyright for the survey and program

The differences in solutions to context rich physics problems between more and less successful students

The differentiation from the metacognitive perspective between more successful and less successful groups of students in solving a physics " car on the hill " question should give an insight into how to help less successful students improve their ability in solving problems typically encountered in a university physics course. This portion of the research centred on using context-rich physics problems to identify the differences in metacognition between more successful (MS) and less successful (LS) students. A qualitative research design was used and the data was collected and analyzed using the Verbal Protocol Analysis (VPA). A total of 21 students with a physics background at the university level were used. Two field studies were set up, with ten students participating in the first and eleven in the second. The first had the purpose of verifying the difficulty level of the physics task (Physics Problem Solving Achievement Test, PPSAT) and to refine the coding schemes (Coding Metacognitive in the Thinking Aloud Protocol, CMBTAP). All of the respondents solved four pencil and paper problems while they were allowed to " talk themselves through. " No time limitation were given for the respondents to answer the problems, right after the test each one was videotaped during interviews. During these, the written answers to each of the problems were shown to them and they were asked to recollect their thinking as they worked on the problems. According to Polya's problem solving strategy, the phases; early, middle and end were assigned and the observations during each phase were classified accordingly. In conclusion, this study showed that context rich problems required students to engage in metacognitive skill such as planning, monitoring and evaluating even if the student did not have the structure or knowledge to derive the correct numerical solution