LITERATURE REVIEW ON CONFUCIAN HERITAGE CULTURE IDENTITY IN MALAYSIAN CHINESE PRE-UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

The words Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC) may bring to mind Confucianism. The words may also point to those of Chinese origin. Yes, although CHC evolved from Confucianism, yet it does not mean that it is the original Confucianism. CHC has evolved. Past literature has CHC related studies done mainly in the West and documents the achievements of CHC students (particularly Asian students). They have persistently performed well in international comparative studies of mathematics and science achievement. Nevertheless, these studies cannot be generalised, because globalisation and rapid social change has influenced and shaped the Chinese community in CHC countries, one of which is Malaysia. The present paper presents a literature review of CHC based on a larger study in search of a CHC identity among Malaysian Chinese pre-university students. The literature helped to uncover the underlying characteristics, namely respect, education and perseverance which were then incorporated within appropriate items in a survey instrument in the larger study to investigate CHC among a selected group of students. These underlying characteristics points towards a CHC identity inherent in these students. This paper will not discuss the instrument or the findings of the larger study

APPLYING INTERVENTIONS TO ENHANCE KNOWLEDGE OF MALAYSIAN CULTURAL ART FORMS

In graphic design education, students are trained for the industry through practising and applying graphic design principles in various classroom and real life projects. While possessing the knowledge of these principles is important, the researcher, through her experience as a graphic design educator in Malaysia, finds that Malaysian students also need to have some knowledge and understanding of their own local, cultural art forms. This is because it could open more doorways for a designer to produce creative ideas that would be more relevant to the local audience. Therefore, in order to enhance her students’ knowledge and understanding of some Malaysian cultural art forms, the researcher used a case study action research method and applied interventions in her classroom of 20 graphic design students, underpinned by Cultural Responsive Teaching pedagogy. Various activities were carried out to scaffold students’ learning of the selected Malaysian cultural art forms. The activities were, a visit to a contemporary Malaysian art exhibition; participation in a batik workshop; a visit and hands-on experience making some craft work at a Mah Meri cultural village, and attending a talk about wayangkulit, as well as viewing some wayangkulit exhibits. Upon the completion of all activities, the students produced a work of design based on a local social/environmental/health issue of their choice. The researcher sought to find out if the students applied their knowledge of Malaysian cultural art forms into their work of design. Findings from studying the students’ design work show that not all of them applied the knowledge that they had gained from the activities. However, through focus group interviews, most students express that their knowledge has been enriched by participating in those activities

Representational competence in chemistry: A comparison between students with different levels of understanding of basic chemical concepts and chemical representations

Representational competence is defined as “skills in interpreting and using representations”. This study attempted to compare students’ of high, medium, and low levels of understanding of (1) basic chemical concepts, and (2) chemical representations, in their representational competence. A total of 411 Form 4 science students (mean age = 16 years) from seven urban secondary schools in Malaysia participated in this study. Data were collected from three instruments namely the test of chemical concepts, the test of chemical representations, and the test of representational competence. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used to analyze the data. Findings showed students with a high level of understanding of (1) chemical concepts and (2) chemical representations had significantly higher overall level of representational competence compared to both the medium and the low groups, at p < 0.001. However, students with medium and low levels of understanding of (1) chemical concepts and (2) chemical representations showed no significant difference in their overall levels of representational competence. Findings also showed that students’ overall level of representational competence had a higher dependence on their level of understanding of chemical concepts than their level of understanding of chemical representations

Thinking about thinking: changes in first-year medical students’ metacognition and its relation to performance

Background: Studies have shown the importance of metacognition in medical education. Metacognitive skills consist of two dimensions: knowledge of metacognition and regulation of metacognition. Aim: This study hypothesizes that the knowledge and regulation of metacognition is significantly different at the beginning and end of the academic year, and a correlation exists between the two dimensions of metacognitive skills with academic performance. Methods: The Metacognitive Skills Inventory comprising 52 Likert-scale items was administered to 159 first-year medical students at the University of Malaya. Students’ year-end results were used to measure their academic performance. Results: A paired sample t-test indicated no significant difference for knowledge of metacognition at the beginning and end of the academic year. A paired sample t-test revealed significant difference for regulation of metacognition at the beginning and end of the academic year. A very strong correlation was found between the two dimensions of metacognition. The correlation between knowledge and regulation of metacognition with students’ academic result was moderate. Conclusions: The improvement in students’ metacognitive regulation and the moderate correlation between knowledge and regulation of metacognition with academic performance at the end of the academic year indicate the probable positive influence of the teaching and learning activities in the medical program

Creating interactive iBook for academic writing among undergraduate students in a Malaysian University

The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges to learning about and conducting research in academic writing projects in the field of education and then to determine the types of content and design most suitable for a local interactive iBook on research in education. This research applied quantitative approach within two phases of ADDEI model: Needs Analysis and Design Development (Bichelmeyer, 2005). The researcher selected 20 undergraduate students in the field of education whom were doing their academic writing within the University of Malaya. The respondents completed two questionnaires; Needs Analysis and iBook questionnaires to identify the challenges to learning and conducting research, and also the types of content and design most preferred in a local interactive iBook. The results of the study indicated that reviewing literature review was the most significant challenge for students in conducting research in education. Another problem was to identify a research problem in their research area. Findings also indicated that students significantly preferred the iBook in facilitating their learning in conducting research. Results suggested that the content of the iBook needed to be in a graphic manner with a clean layout, visible font size and attractive colours. The most preferred design of the iBook is keynotes with animation to convey content that are generally difficult to understand only through text. The aid of scrolling sidebar was found very effective when used in combination with video clips and interactive images in comprehension exercises for the learning process

Teachers’ perception of mobile edutainment for special needs learners: The Malaysian case

Study of Malaysian adoption of mobile learning (m-learning) is still in the early stages. However, there are numerous researchers in the country exploring the potential and application of m-learning in the Malaysian education system, including special education. A key question is whether teachers are prepared to incorporate mobile technology as part of their teaching tools or do teachers perceive mobile technology only as personal communication gadgets. This paper investigates teachers' perception of m-learning applications in special education classes. Interviews were conducted to collect related information on teachers' perceptions of m-learning in the selected schools. The teachers expressed that there are limited resources to cater to the attention of special needs learners and they believed edutainment technologies such as augmented reality, game-based educational software and animation projects could be the answer. The benefits and challenges of implementing blended learning for special education are also discussed. The paper concludes by summarising the current environment of m-learning in Malaysian special needs education, together with recommendations for future use of the technology