Enhancing Persistence on Mastery Tasks Among Young Preschool Children by Implementing the “I Can” Mastery Motivation Classroom Program

Task persistence plays important role in school readiness and helps to enhance young children’s cognitive development and academic skills; thus, designing and implementing programs to enhance it is vital. The objective of the present research was to assess the effectiveness of the “I Can” mastery motivation classroom program in enhancing young children’s persistence on mastery tasks. Altogether, forty-four (n = 44) children between the ages of two to three years selected from three kindergartens in Malaysia participated in the research, which was conducted by using a randomized pretest and posttest experimental-control group design. Persistence on three mastery tasks and mastery pleasure were assessed by using the Individualized Assessment of Mastery Motivation manual. The experimental group (n = 25) was exposed to the “I Can” mastery motivation classroom program, while the control group (n = 19) attended regular classroom lessons. There was a significant gain score difference between the experimental and control groups on task persistence for puzzles but not for shape sorters, cause and effect toys, and mastery pleasure. Thus, the program was effective in enhancing persistence on some mastery tasks. The content and findings of the intervention should help policy makers understand this important aspect of early childhood education

Sumber-sumber stres pekerjaan di tiga jabatan kerajaan negeri Sabah

Menurut ILO (1993) dalam World Labour Report fenomena sires merupakan satu isu kesihatan yang paling serius bagi abad yang ke-20, iaitu satu zaman yang dan yak mengalami pelbagai cabaran dan perubahan dalam struktur ekonomi dan pembangunan. Kesan negatif akibat daripada stres bukan lagi merupakan masalah peribadi yang harus dipertanggungjawabkan kepada pekerja itu sahaja, tetapi ia juga merupakan satu masalah kepada majikan, organisasi ataupun kerajaan. Pekerja-pekerja mungkin akan menyalurkan masalah peribadi dan keluarga kepada pekerjaan mereka, begitu juga masalah kerja mungkin dibawa balik ke rumah. Akibat daripada itu, pelbagai masalah sampingan telah timbul, misalnya peningkatan dalam kes penderaan kanak-kanak dan isteri, remaja lari dari rumah, remaja terlibat dengan penagihan dadah dan sebagainya (Elder, George & Shanahan,l996)

Neurofeedback (NFB) Training in Aspergers

The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is increasing globally. Due to its high incidence rate reported globally, ASD should be considered as a public health emergency that requires immediate attention to the process of screening, diagnosis, and intervention. This is a preliminary case study to test the efficacy of the neurofeedback technique in helping an Asperger’s child to reduce his pathological symptoms (e.g., sociability, sensory/cognitive awareness, communication/ speech/ language, and physical behaviour). Neurofeedback is brain training based on the operant conditioning concept to regulate brainwave activities voluntarily using audio or visual feedback (real-time). In this study, we conducted neurofeedback training on an eight-year-old boy diagnosed with Aspergers aimed to enhance Sensorimotor Rhythm (SMR) wave (12 to 15 Hz) and at the same time inhibiting theta wave (4-8 Hz) and high beta wave (22-36Hz) at C4 over the right motor area, with the reference electrode placed on A2 and ground electrode placed on A1. Twenty (20) sessions of neurofeedback training were conducted on the boy’s aims to improve his behaviour and emotional expression, language comprehension. The participant showed observable improvement after 20 sessions of neurofeedback training in sociability and speech/ language or communication subscale of the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC), and parent’s report. This study provided important evidence that neurofeedback training can be employed to improve the child’s Asperger’s symptoms

Challenge-Hindrance Appraisal Job and Work-Life Balance Among Teachers: A Conceptual Paper

Work-life balance is a prerequisite, in the choice of contemporary work styles, but allegedly has deteriorated in the teaching profession. Affected work-life quality causes serious impacts including work-life conflict, decreased job ability and affects an individual’s psychological state. This distress wave affects on a global scale, due to extreme workloads which cause high job stress that eventually affect quality of life. In the Malaysian context, job stress is currently at a medium level, but workloads are expected to increase, hence, work-life balance is potentially at risk. Investigations into work-life balance among teachers in Sabah is scarce. In addition, studies have not adequately examined the issue with positive integration. Balancing is about strengthening the known gains, and overcoming the identified strains. Thus, present conceptual paper discussed about the relationship of workload, eustress and distress towards work-life balance. Ultimately, a conceptual framework is developed based on the reviewed literature

Psychological Capital Scale: A Study on the Psychometric Properties of Employees in Malaysia

Since its inception in 2007, psychological capital has been gaining more and more attention. Nonetheless, zero studies had been done on the psychometric properties of the 24-item Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ) in Malaysia. Therefore, the present study examined the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. A total of 420 Malaysian government employees participated in this study. Findings revealed that the PCQ demonstrated a satisfactory level of psychometric properties in Malaysia after five items were excluded. Hence, the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ) could be used for Malaysian employees to discover positive contributions to psychological capital in the Malaysian workplace setting.

Exploring the Role of Malaysian Student’s Intrapreneurial Self-Capital in the Relationship between Satisfaction with Life, Academic Performance, and Flourishing

Intrapreneurial self-capital is the construct coined by Di Fabio as a core of individual resources used to cope with career and life construction challenges. In this study, we used the model of Individual Differences in Evaluating Life Satisfaction (IDELS) to examine the mediating role of intrapreneurial self-capital in the relationship between life satisfaction and flourishing among Malaysian undergraduate students. The Intrapreneurial Self-Capital Scale (ISCS), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), and Flourishing Scale were administered to 665 undergraduate students from one of the public universities in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. The results reported a significant direct effect of student satisfaction with life to flourishing. A significant path coefficient was also found from satisfaction with life and student academic performance to intrapreneurial self-concept providing the support that student satisfaction with life and academic performance has a positive effect on their intrapreneurial self-concept. The coefficients from intrapreneurial self-concept to flourishing was also significant. This provides initial support that an intrapreneurial self-concept may have a positive mediating effect on the relationship between satisfaction with life, academic performance, and flourishing. We found that the indirect effects of satisfaction with life and academic performance on flourishing through intrapreneurial self-concept were significant. These results provided further support for the mediating effect of intrapreneurial self-concept. The analysis also that revealed satisfaction with life was significantly and positively related to flourishing. However, the finding showed no significant direct effect of student academic performance on flourishing

Perceived social support and global self-worth in adolescents

This study aims to determine whether adolescents’ global self-worth can be predicted through perceived social support from the parents, peers, and teachers. A self-report survey was administrated to a group of adolescents (N=100) with age ranging from 13 to 18 years; selected using the purposive sampling technique. Two scales were used for data collection: the Social Support Scale for Children and Adolescent (SSSCA) and Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents (SPPA), developed by Harter (2012). Multiple Regressions predicting adolescents’ global self-worth from perceived social support (parents, peers and teachers) were conducted. The results indicated that the combination of perceived social support significantly predicted the adolescents’ global self-worth, F (3, 96) = 5.97, p < 0.01. Surprisingly, the finding revealed that increased social support from peers predicted improved global self-worth, (β = .322, p < 0.01), whilst there was no significant contribution from the parents and teachers support towards global self-worth among adolescents. Results are discussed with respect to potential mechanisms through which social support and global self-worth may operate. The implications of the study and recommendation for future research are presented

Does gadget usage hamper the psychological aspects of pre-schoolers?

The society is keen to rely on gadgets in everyday life due to versatile gadgets that help them to connect with the world in the 21st century. On the flip side of using gadgets, several researches argued that screen time is affecting children's psychosocial, behavioural and health problems. The present study interviewed 14 preschool teachers to perceive their knowledge in gadget usage, sedentary behaviour and social skills among preschoolers. Besides that, teaching methods and teachers' opinions on gadget usage were also discussed. Inductive analysis (IA) revealed that parents habitually offer children gadgets at home. Also, the teachers expressed a positive opinion on gadget usage where preschoolers simply learn from media and gadget's applications. However, the teachers asserted that usage time needs to be controlled and the amount of usage depends on the role of parents and teachers. Teachers' attitude and habits were found to be moderate in lesson planning and improving the social skills of preschoolers but minimal for addressing their sedentary behaviour

Malaysian Multi-Ethnic Discrimination Scale: preliminary factor and psychometric analysis

—The aims of this study were to determine the factor structure and psychometric properties (i.e., reliability and convergent validity) of the Malaysian Multi-Ethnic Discrimination Scale (MMEDS). It consists of 71-items measure experience, strategies used and consequences of ethnic discrimination. A sample of 649 university students from one of the higher education institution in Malaysia was asked to complete MMEDS, as well as Perceived Ethnic and Racial Discrimination. The exploratory factor analysis on ethnic discrimination experience extracted two factors labeled ‘unfair treatment’ (15 items) and ‘Denial of the ethnic right’ (12 items) which accounted for 60.92% of the total variance. The two sub scales demonstrated clear reliability with internal consistency above .70. The convergent validity of the Scale was supported by an expected pattern of correlations (positive and significant correlation) between the score of unfair treatment and denial of the ethnic right and the score of Perceived Ethnic and Racial Discrimination by Peers Scale. The results suggest that the MMEDS is a reliable and valid measure. However, further studies need to be carried out in other groups of sample as to validate the Scale