The level of STEM knowledge, skills, and values among the students of bachelor’s degree of education in geography

The demand for individuals with educational background in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields has been rapidly growing. This paper presents the level of STEM education knowledge, skills and values among the students of Bachelor’s Degree of Education (B.Ed.) in Geography at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris. Research on STEM education study in geography involves assessing the STEM knowledge, skills and values. This article reports the findings from the survey conducted on 400 students of ISMP in Geography in the first to the eighth semester in 2018. The research instrument involves variables such as knowledge, skills and value. The items for each variable were constructed and modified based on the STEM implementation guide set by the Ministry of Education Malaysia and the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, and validated by the experts. Descriptive analysis was selected to evaluate the level of STEM knowledge, skills and values among the students. The findings show that the students indeed possess high level of STEM knowledge, skills and values. Overall, this study is important to examine the variables that influence the development in Geography and STEM. In a nutshell, this study will help the departments and faculties to further improve the development in Geography field at both national and international levels

Digital citizenship skills among undergraduate students in Malaysia: A preliminary study

The purpose of the study was to examine level of digital citizenship skills among undergraduate students at the Sultan Idris Education University, Perak, Malaysia. The study focused on three sub-variables of digital citizenship skills; online wellbeing, online learning and online safety. The paper present report from a questionnaire conducted on 1000 students from nine different faculties. Items for each variable were constructed based on literature highlights related to digital citizenship framework and through experts’ validation. A descriptive statistic was used in determined the level of digital citizenship skills among the undergraduate students. The findings of the study showed that the level of digital citizenship skills of students is at a high level. This study expected to help stakeholders to further emphasize the study of digital citizenship and digital citizenship education in Malaysia in more detail

The Prevalence of Limited Health Literacy and Its Associated Factors among Elderly Patients Attending an Urban Academic Primary Care Clinic in Malaysia

Limited health literacy (HL) is linked to many negative health outcomes, including poor self-management of chronic diseases and medication adherence among patients. There are a lack of data regarding HL in the elderly population in Malaysia. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of limited HL levels and its associated factors among elderly patients in an urban academic primary care clinic in Selangor, Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 413 elderly patients (≥60 years old) who attended this academic primary care clinic between January 2020 and January 2021. Sociodemographic data, clinical characteristics, and health literacy scores were collected. Descriptive statistics (median with interquartile ranges (IQR), frequency, and percentages) and multiple logistic regression were utilized. The prevalence of limited HL in our population was 19.1% (95% CI: 15.3, 23). The middle-old (70–79 years) and very-old (≥80 years) age groups were more likely to have limited HL (aOR 4.05; 95% CI: 2.19, 7.52 and aOR 4.36; 95% CI: 1.02, 18.63, respectively). Those with at least secondary school education (aOR 0.06; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.24) and those who found medical information via the internet/television (aOR 0.21; 95% CI: 0.05, 0.93) had lower odds of having limited HL. In conclusion, having limited HL levels was not common among elderly patients in this primary care clinic. Further studies involving rural and larger primary care clinics in Malaysia are required to support these findings

Enhancing the soil stability using biological and plastic waste materials integrated sustainable technique

Maintaining and enhancing soil stability for electrical pylon installation is very vital to provide an uninterrupted energy supply. Conventionally, the stability of soil is maintained using the chemical stabilization technique, which has its limitations, is not environmentally friendly, may not provide a stable soil condition in the longer term, is and prone to disruption. Therefore, in this work, a more sustainable approach is suggested where a bio-mediated technique where microbes from biological degradations of vegetables are used to integrate with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic waste as a soil stabilizer. The findings of the triaxial shear test showed that the treated soil enhanced the soil’s resistance to shearing forces by 33% due to the bridging effect and soil interlocking. The combination of 20% of fermented vegetables grout liquid and 1% of PET has improved the soil's cohesion significantly. The slope stability test also proved that the PET additions could improve the factor of safety (FOS) up to 81.47% and exceed the minimum requirement of a stable design slope as compared to the untreated slope. The results proved the influence of the bio-mediated technique with different variations of PET addition is an effective method to improve the engineering properties of the slope