The effect of maternal scaffolding on problem solving skills during early childhood

During early childhood years, children’s ability to solve complex and challenging problems is still limited.Therefore, they still need help and support from parents. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of maternal scaffolding on problem solving skills during early childhood. Participants (40 mother-child dyads)were randomly assigned tofour experimental groups thatapplied variousscaffolding techniques,either contingent, verbal, swing or demonstration. The data was analyzed using split-plot analysisof variance(SPANOVA). There were significant differencesin the mean scores of problem solving skills at pre-posttest[F= (2, 35) = 3.84, p≤ 0.05]. Children’s problem solving skills increased across the three testing times.Moreover, there wereno significant interaction between time (pre-posttest) and groups[(F= 6, 72) = 0.78, p> 0.05]. There were also no significant differences in the mean scores of problem solving skills among thefour groups[F(3, 36) = 0.56, p> 0.05)].Findings imply that children can internalize the learning processes during the scaffolding sessionover a longer period. Therefore, it is important for parents to give an appropriate support based on the children’s ability in helping them to increase their problem solving skills

Measurement of self-esteem: comparison between the constructs of West and Islam

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the results of a comparative study of constructs within the measurement of Western and Muslim construct. Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale has been used to analyze the sources of western civilization, and this construct is one of the tools most widely used in the local psychological studies in Malaysia. The study involved a sample of 490 youths, aged between 15 and 21 years, from rehabilitation centers of Peninsular Malaysia. By using content analysis and statistical approach, the measurement tool of self-esteem was compared with that of Islamic psychosocial where the construct derived from is based on the Qur'an and Sunnah. Through this content analysis, we found that the items contained in self-esteem are closer to the concept of 'ujub (pride), which is contrary to Islamic principles. With the statistical approach, although not significant, the measurement of self-esteem might have showed the presence of the negative index (r = -0.052) when correlated with the measurement of Islam psychosocial. This indicates that higher Islam psychosocial has reduced the level of individual self-esteem. In terms of types and levels of misconduct, the higher levels of adolescent delinquency trends are found to indicate that the self-esteem is higher. Different from the psychosocial measurement tool of Islam, the higher level of misconduct is found to be a tendency toward the lower level of teenage psychosocial. The findings are expected to be a psychological study of the movement among Muslims Islam, which should use the approach of Islam

Gaya kepimpinan Ketua Platun PALAPES Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia dan kepuasan kerja dalam fasa medan pertahanan: kajian kes di Mempaga, Bentong, Pahang

Gaya kepimpinan dilihat berperanan besar dalam usaha memperkembangkan dan meningkatkan tahap kemantapan PALAPES (Pasukan Latihan Pegawai Simpanan) Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia dalam fasa Medan Pertahanan di Mempaga, Bentong Pahang. Gaya kepimpinan yang berkesan seringkali dilihat menyumbang kepada tahap kemantapan yang tinggi dan sebaliknya. Selari dengan itu, kertas kerja ini akan melihat hubungan antara gaya kepimpinan dengan kepuasan kerja PALAPES UKM. Kajian dijalankan ke atas PALAPES Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Keputusan kajian menunjukkan tidak terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan dari aspek kepuasan kerja antara jantina. Hasil kajian juga menunjukkan gaya kepimpinan yang demokratik menyumbang kepada kepuasan kerja yang tinggi manakala gaya kepimpinan autokratik dan laisse faire menyumbang kepada kepuasan kerja yang rendah. Kertas kerja ini akan juga membincangkan beberapa intervensi yang boleh dilakukan dalam meningkatkan kepuasan kerja PALAPES UKM dalam usaha memperkembangkan dan meningkatkan keprofesionalisme PALAPES UKM

Stakeholders’ attitudes towards biobanks in Malaysia

The Malaysian Cabinet’s approval of MyCohort in 2005 was seen as the crucial step toward the country having its very first biobank to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Past studies have shown that public attitudes towards biobanking depend heavily upon several factors including public engagement with biobanks, trust in key actors, privacy and data security, perceived benefit, altruism and certain demographic variables. The objective of this paper is to assess and compare the attitude levels of the Malaysian stakeholders’ towards the application of biobanks across education levels and religion. A survey was carried out on 509 adult respondents in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia. Results of the study have substantiated that the Malaysian stakeholders’ attitudes towards biobank were classified as high. Despite their high levels of perceived benefit and religious acceptance, they also expressed moderately high levels of concern when it comes to issues of data and specimen protection; this suggests that the Malaysian stakeholders also tend to be critical upon expressing their views towards a complex system such as biobanks. One-way MANOVA initially has detected a significant difference of attitude towards biobanks across stakeholder groups, education level and religion. Series of univariate analysis following the MANOVA, as well as Post Hoc analysis, also confirm significant difference of attitude existing across stakeholders; however, no significant differences were detected across education level and religion. The research finding serves as a useful benchmark for scientists and government regulators to understand public attitudes to biobanks before they are set into use

Role of Conceptualisation as a Catalyst in Capturing Urban Issues within the Studio Learning Environment

AbstractThis study focuses on the role of conceptualisation in capturing the urban issues within the studio tutorial learning environment in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Essentially, it looks into how the conceptualisation process during design facilitates students’ problem solving ability in dealing with tasks in hand. Evidences of this come from students’ dynamic cognitive interactions with knowledge and experience as transpired through the studio environment. The study provides insight into the interactive role of experience as a key factor in facilitating design conceptualisation process and the course enables students to harness relevant problem-solving skills

Pendekatan Service-Learning dalam Kursus Kemahiran Insaniah: transformasi positif dalam kalangan pelajar perubatan UKM-UNPAD

Artikel ini bertujuan untuk melihat tahap keberkesanan pendekatan pembelajaran melalui kaedah Service- Learning (SL) berjaya dalam pembangunan Kemahiran insaniah (KI) pelajar secara langsung. Ia menganalisa dan menghuraikan pemupukan nilai kebertanggungjawaban di kalangan 37 orang pelajar Fakulti Perubatan UKM-UNPAD setelah selesai melengkapi keperluan Kursus KI. Dapatan dianalisis melalui pendekatan kualitatif dengan menghimpunkan perancangan, laporan aktiviti dan refleksi berstruktur yang dihasilkan oleh pelajar. Dapatan menunjukkan terdapat impak dan transformasi yang positif dalam konteks pembelajaran bermakna dan pembangunan diri para peserta melalui pendekatan SL terutama pemupukan nilai kebertanggungjawapan sosial yang merupakan salah satu atribut dan elemen penting yang ingin dicapai dalam aspek KI pelajar

The Remediation of Pass Cognitive Processing in Helping Children with Reading Difficulties

Abstract This study examined the effectiveness of Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) in measuring PASS cognitive functions of children with Reading Difficulties (RD). The PASS cognitive functions that represent human intelligence were based on the Luria's three functional units of brain which are Planning, Attention, Simultaneous and Successive (PASS). Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) was used to measure the PASS cognitive functions, while Wide Range Achievement Test-4 (WRAT-4) was used to determine reading processes Word Reading, Reading Comprehension and Spelling. CAS and WRAT-4 were administered individually to 50 normal readers and 50 children with RD from the primary Standard 3 English as the second language (ESL) learners. First part of this study aimed to obtain profiles of the CAS and WRAT-4, and to determine the specific weakness of cognitive functions and reading processes of children with RD. There were distinct PASS cognitive profiles among the children with RD, but gender was not the determinant. There were also significant differences for both PASS cognitive processing and reading processes between the normal readers and children with RD. There was no significant difference between girls and boys in term of cognitive functioning except one which female significantly outperformed male on Word Reading among children with RD. However, girls scored higher on Planning and Attention processing while boys scored higher on Simultaneous and Successive processing. Overall, the poor readers were significantly lower for Simultaneous processing. Result of WRAT-4 indicated that both groups of readers had low scores on reading comprehension. Besides, there was significant relationship between PASS cognitive functions and reading composite (r = 0.381, p < 0.01) among the children with RD and (r = 0.412, p < 0.01) among the normal readers. While, the simultaneous processing was significantly correlated with reading comprehension (r = 0.395, p < 0.01). Second part of this study was an experimental design that revealed the intervention of PREP program which had effectively enhanced the Simultaneous processing

Anti-Muslim campaign in Sri Lanka and responses of the Buddhists

Sri Lanka is a country where multi ethnic, multi language, multi religious people live. Buddhist is the predominant religious group in Sri Lanka, while the Muslims formed second biggest religious group, next to Tamils. The Buddhist-Muslim relationship has been prevailing and everlastingly for centuries, sbut for a couple of years, a disturbing trend has wide spread, between them. This conflictual nature has come to appear aftermath of the anti-Muslim campaign by few Buddhist Nationalist Groups (BNGs) in Sri Lanka. The basic purpose of the anti-Muslim campaign in Sri Lanka is to propagate bad image of Islam and the Muslims of Sri Lanka, to create a negative perspective among Buddhist public about Islam and Muslims and to distort the good relationship of Buddhists and Muslims in Sri Lanka. In recent past years, few Buddhist Nationalist Groups, campaigned against Halal certification on consumer goods, Hijab of Muslim women, cattle slaughtering, worship places and prayer services in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, they have spread out the idea, that the latest Muslim developments within the country; especially in terms of religion; is a notable threat to Buddhism and to the Buddhist people. These wrong perceptions, ideas and point of views are major factors in Muslim-Buddhist bad relationship, in recent past years. This research attempts to analyze the point of views of few Buddhists, on recent campaigns, against the Muslims, undertaken by the BNGs, in recent past years, by conducting a semi structured interviews in 14 selected Buddhist majority districts of Sri Lanka. Based on the results, it is clearly affirmed that, the recent anti-Muslim campaign, by the BNGs, have created a suspicious nature Muslim stereotype among a group of Buddhists in the society, over a fact that a Buddhist-Muslim relationship in recent past years has damaged a lot. However, these campaigns have not changed the whole Buddhist’s mood and point of views, in terms of maintaining a good relationship with Muslims in Sri Lanka, without any break, as the majority know and respect Muslim citizens of Sri Lanka, because of the behavior and support of Muslims towards the Sri Lankan state, during the civil war (1984-2009) and pre-war time in Sri Lanka

Post-Tension Relationship between Buddhists and Muslims in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a multi religious, multi cultural, multi lingual and multi ethnic country and Buddhists are the predominant ethnic group, constitutes 70.19%  of total population and the Muslims are second largest minority in this country. There are enormous records in the history to prove well the cordial relationship, longer than 1200 years, between the Buddhists and the Muslims since historical times onward. However, in recent past years, particularly, during the aftermath of civil war (1983-2009) it could be observable a tension on the relationship between these two societies. This is because of campaigns undertaken by a few Buddhist nationalist groups with the purpose of making a division between the respective societies. So these groups have been carrying protests against the Muslims’ social, cultural and religious aspects such as issuing Halal certification, slaughtering animals for meals, worship places and prayer services and so on. Also, they have disseminated the misinterpretations about the Muslims and their religion-Islam with derogatory speeches among the Buddhist public. Based on the above backdrop, this paper attempts to find the post-tension Buddhists’ relationship with the Muslims through the Buddhists’ point of view with a measure social interaction. According to the result, there is not remarkable fluctuation on the relationship line between the Buddhists and the Muslims, and the Buddhists did not concern the number of social, cultural and religious practices of the Muslims as the barriers of maintaining a better interaction among them. However, almost all of the Buddhists have pointed out here that the animal slaughtering is a mere problematic factor from the Muslims side in maintaining a better interaction with them due to having prohibition according to Buddhism philosophy. Keywords: Post-tension, relationship, Buddhists, Muslims, Sri Lanka

Hubungan di antara kesihatan mental dengan minat kerjaya dalam kalangan gelandangan di Kem Desa Bina Diri, Malaysia

Isu gelandangan dan kesihatan mental menjadi popular apabila disensasi oleh media walhal isu tersebut sudah lama wujud dalam masyarakat bandar. Namun, disebabkan kekurangan kajian-kajian tempatan menyebabkan wujudnya kekeliruan dari segi peranan dan keberkesanan perkhidmatan yang sedia ada. Kajian ini bertujuan meneroka isu kesihatan dalam kalangan gelandangan dan minat mereka terhadap kerjaya. Borang soal selidik yang mengandungi dua instrumen iaitu Mental Health Inventory dan Holland Occupational Types dibangunkan untuk mengupas isu gelandangan. Seramai seratus sebelas orang responden telah berjaya direkrut dalam kajian ini. Hasil kajian menunjukkan kebanyakkan gelandangan yang ditempatkan di institusi pemulihan mengalami tahap kebimbangan dan tahap kemurungan yang tinggi. Terdapat hubungan yang signifikan di antara tahap kebimbangan dan tahap kemurungan dengan minat kerjaya berbentuk realistik, penyiasat dan artistik. Manakala terdapat juga hubungan di antara kawalan tingkahlaku dengan minat kerjaya berbentuk sosial dan keusahawanan. Dapatan kajian ini diharap dapat digunakan dalam merangka program intervensi yang lebih bersesuaian kepada gelandangan di institusi pemulihan. Kajian lain yang berbentuk klinikal juga perlu dilakukan bagi mengenalpasti isu kesihatan mental dalam kalangan gelandangan supaya mereka boleh mendapat rawatan kesihatan mental yang lebih baik