Investigating SATS-36 for a Matriculation Sample

Students’ attitudes towards statistics have been more often negative due to many factors such as initial perception of the subject, low ability in mathematics and lack of motivation to study statistics. Studies involving SATS-36 included investigation of the different factors in relation to students’ attitude towards statistics. Other studies have investigated the structure of SATS-36 and the relationship between the different components of SATS-36. The research investigated the reliability and validity of SATS-36 for a sample of matriculation students. Results showed that while reliability and validity is maintained for the instrument, it is not the case for the sample of respondents

Students' Misconceptions About Hypothesis Test

Students’ misconceptions about hypothesis test have been discussed for decades by many researchers in the developed countries. However, documented studies in the non-developed countries are lacking. The purpose of this study is to fill the gap by identifying misconceptions about hypothesis test made by students in the higher education institutions in a developing country. Descriptive analysis namely percentages and pie charts have been used to analyze students’ responses to open-ended items. The misconceptions identified in this study are similar to those discussed in earlier literature implying that students in different educational settings are prone to similar misconceptions about hypothesis test

Using Partial Credit Model to Improve the Quality of an Instrument

In using the Rasch model to improve the quality of an instrument, analysis purports to determine if the sample collaborates well with the items in the instrument such that the results are measuring a single underlying variable. The relevant properties of Rasch analysis are reliability and validity which are key indicators of the quality of a measurement instrument. This paper discusses the use of one type of Rasch model that is the Partial Credit Model to investigate reliability and validity of an instrument. By removing or changing items in the instrument when conditions of reliability and validity are not met, the quality of the instrument is improved

Enhancing Malaysia’s human capital: a study of students’ preference and usage level of graphs in solving applied derivative problems

Developing countries such as Malaysia need to cultivate and harness the problem solving skills of their potential workforce in order to be economically competitive. Cartesian graphs are known to be effective tools for solving derivative problems. Although ‘sketching a graph’ is advocated as a useful strategy, generating an appropriate graph may pose difficulties and consequently cause the students to reluctantly employ them. This study examined the Malaysian students’ preference and usage levels of graphs in solving applied derivative problems. A 16-item Likertscale questionnaire consisting of four categories and two tasks on the application of derivative were distributed to 194 pre-university students in Selangor. The results showed a negative relationship between the students’ actual preference method and their usage level of graphs in solving derivative problems. This implied that teachers should be encouraged to motivate students to practically utilize graphs in their learning of mathematical concepts by increasing the use of graphs creatively. The design of the instructional materials and the questioning and examination tasks should gear towards the promoting of information displayed graphically. It was also recommended that the variations in the types and functions of graphs be highlighted so as to seek students’ skills and ability to sketch graphs and to read and interpret graphs efficiently and effectively

Kebolehan penyelesaian persamaan linear: satu kerangka dalam penaksiran bilik darjah

Purpose – This paper discussed the development of a framework based on SOLO model (Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome) to characterise students’ linear equation solving ability in arithmetic sequence domain. Method – This study is categorised as a case study. Data of this study was collected using clinical interview technique. Subjects of this study consisted of nine Form Four students. Two out of eight interview tasks constructed as instrument of this research involved the arithmetic sequence domain. Findings – Six levels of linear equation solving ability in solving arithmetic sequence tasks, namely prestructural level, unistructural level, multistructural level, lower relational level, upper relational level, and extended abstract level were identified. The validity related to the assessment and refinement of descriptors in the framework had shown the high consistency and correspondence between the framework and the subjects’ responses. Value – This study extends the mathematics education literature(especially in assessment field) about the effectiveness of SOLO model in developing an assessment framework to assess student’s solving ability in linear equation

Students' Misconceptions About Hypothesis Test

Students’ misconceptions about hypothesis test have been discussed for decades by many researchers in the developed countries. However, documented studies in the non-developed countries are lacking. The purpose of this study is to fill the gap by identifying misconceptions about hypothesis test made by students in the higher education institutions in a developing country. Descriptive analysis namely percentages and pie charts have been used to analyze students’ responses to open-ended items. The misconceptions identified in this study are similar to those discussed in earlier literature implying that students in different educational settings are prone to similar misconceptions about hypothesis test

A Study Of Technology Acceptance Model (Tam) Towards Continuous Professional Development (Cpd)

The purpose of this project was to determine the technology acceptance using Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) towards Continuous Professional Development (CPD) system among University A academic staffs. The dependency of System Usage of CPD system as the dependent variable was cross check with four independent variables namely, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Management Support, and System Quality. A total of fifty five correspondents replied the questionnaires and the data obtained were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Quality have positive relationships with System Usage of CPD while management support has negative relationships with CPD

Failure of woven fiber glass epoxy composite under charpy impact loading

Woven glass fiber reinforced epoxy composite at 55 vol% fiber content was fabricated using conventional hand lay-up method. The impact strength of the prepared samples were measured under Charpy impact test at +50oC and - 50oC temperature. The fractured surface of composite samples were investigated using scanning electron microscope. The impact energy for samples fractured at +50oC was at 380 KJm-2 whereas the low temperature of - 50oC showed impact energy of 178 KJm-2. The high plastic deformation from the sample tested at +50oC is the evidence from the high amount of absorbed energy compared to -50oC which revealed lower deformation. At this subzero temperature, the increased brittleness produced extensive matrix cracking and fiber splitting. However, scanning electron fractograph at +50oC showed mixed failure mode of large delaminations, fiber splitting and matrix cracking. The impact values of 380 KJm-2 and 178 KJm-2 tested at +50oC and -50oC respectively would suggest that this composite is suitable to replace steel for impact applications and is safe to be used at both high and low environmental temperatures

The Effect of Feeding Duration on Omega Fatty Acid Accumulation in Muscle of Village Chicken Fed Diet Supplemented with Flaxseed Oil

Village chicken is an indigenous chicken which is known to have lean meat and now becoming one of the important protein sources available in Malaysia. The demand for this chicken has also increased in recent years as people has become more health conscious, and value-adding the meat product may be an advantage to improve its functional properties. Thus, an experiment was conducted to determine the optimum feeding duration of village chicken fed with diet supplemented with flaxseed oil on the accumulation of omega fatty acids in the breast and thigh muscles. A total of 120 male village chickens were randomly assigned to 4 treatments with 5 replications and were fed omega supplemented feed for 3 different duration lengths. The chickens were fed isonitrogenous and isocaloric corn-soy based diets supplemented with 2% flaxseed oil as omega source for 5 weeks (T5), 3 weeks (T3), 1 week (T1), and a control diet (T0) without any supplementation of flaxseed oil for 5 weeks. The omega fatty acids, linoleic acid (omega-6) and alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3) were present in all breast and thigh muscles except for control breast muscle. Chickens fed with flaxseed oil for 5 weeks showed highest accumulation of alpha-linolenic acid in thigh muscle (85.74mg/100g). Longer duration of feeding with flaxseed oil resulted with higher accumulation of alpha-linolenic acid in thigh muscle. In the breast muscle however, accumulation of alpha-linolenic acid was found to be abundant in the 3 weeks (42.12mg/100g) and 5 weeks (40.39mg/100g) treatment. The linoleic acid content in both thigh (360.22–440.95mg/100g) and breast (177.78–221.55mg/100g) muscles however were higher in all feeding durations compared to alpha-linolenic acid. In this study, it was found that 3 weeks of flaxseed oil supplementation is sufficient to accumulate the alpha-linolenic acid into the breast and 5 weeks supplementation for thigh muscle of village chicken

Pollen characters of Firmiana Malayana Kostem. (Malvaceae: Sterculoideae) in Malaysia

Firmiana malayana also known as "Bullocks eye or Mata Lembu" in Malaysia and can be found along riverbanks and open forests in Peninsular Malaysia and seldom planted in populated areas. The flowers of the Firmiana malayana are vivid orange in colour, on tassels up to 12?cm long. Usually this species will shed its leaves after a dry period and remains bare for six to eight weeks. The objective of this study is to determine the pollen morphological characteristics of the Firmiana malayana in order to add more information on the species under the family of Sterculiaceae in Malaysia. Methods for this study includes acetolysis technique for the pollens and viewed under light microscope and scanning electron microscope. Results shown that the pollens of the species Firmiana malayana appeared to be monad and dyad with tricolporate class with both porate and colpus present. The shape of this species is prolate with P/E index of 1.49. This species was considered as medium-size pollens as the pollens ranges from 26-36?μm. The ornamentation of the pollen is reticulate where the ornamentation is network-like pattern formed by exine elements of lumen and murus. Based on the results obtained, pollen morphology is a great tool that can aid in plant identification and classification as well having taxonomic values