Memahami Pemelajaran Menerusi Penyelidikan Fenomenografi

This paper tries to focus attention to the fact that learning should be studied from the students' perspective. In this way the learning phenomena could be better described in detail and learning problems could probably be solved in a more meaningful manner. To achieve this objective, one research study on qualitative differences in learning outcome approach is cited to explain phenomenography

Metacognition and motivation in mathematical problem solving

otivation (O’Neil & Schacter, 1997). Based on the proposed model of problem solving, students’ content understanding and problem-solving strategies were identified through interviews. The other two elements were identified using a survey instrument. This paper reports findings of the survey instrument that focuses on determining (i) students’ level of motivation and level of metacognition in solving mathematical problems, (ii) relationship between level of motivation and level of metacognition with mathematics achievement and overall academic achievement, and (iii) determining relationship between motivation and metacognition. The subjects of this study were 195 final year students majoring in mathematics education. Metacognition refers to the ability of individuals to reflect, understandand control their own learning (Schraw & Dennison, 1994). Specific components of metacognitive processes were identified by Schraw & Dennison (1994) and these were the dimensions that they used in developing the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI). MAI that comprises of 52 items is a reliable measure of cognition and regulation of cognition (Sanchez-Alonso & Vovides, 2006). It measures eight specific components of metacognition; namely comprehension monitoring, procedural knowledge, declarative knowledge, conditional knowledge, evaluation, debugging strategies, information management strategies and planning. In O’Neil and Schacter’s (1997) study, metacognition was measured using three elements; planning, self-checking and cognitive strategy. MAI was used because it includes more elements that reflect one’s metacognitive strategies. Apart from MAI, subjects were also required to respond to the measurement used by O’Neil and Schacter’s (1997) to measure motivation. The elements in measuring motivation are effort, self-efficacy, and worry. Three dimensions of MAI; procedural, declarative and conditional knowledge were found to be significantly correlated with students’ performance in university mathematics courses. Declarative and conditional knowledge were also found to be significantly correlated with students’ overall performance in the university. All three dimensions of motivation were also found to be significantly correlated with performance in university mathematics courses. Significant correlation was also established between level of metacognition with level of motivation. In conclusion, this study reveals some of the factors that influence one’s performance in mathematical problem solving

Motivation in the learning of mathematics

This study focuses on students’ motivation in solving mathematical problems. Objectives of the study are to (i) identify students’ level of effort, self efficacy and worry in solving mathematical problems based on gender, current cumulative grade point average (CGPA)and year of study; (ii) students’ level of motivation in solving mathematical problems based on gender, current cumulative grade point average (CGPA) and year of study; and (iii)establish relationship between levels of motivation and students’ mathematics achievement. The subscales used in the measurement of motivation are effort, self-efficacy, and worry. Data was gathered through a descriptive survey using questionnaires. Overall, students’ motivations was found to be high and majority of the respondents were in the high level for effort but were only moderate for self efficacy. Significant difference was established in overall motivation scores between the female and male respondents, but not for the subscales effort, self-efficacy and worry. Respondents with higher CGPA obtained higher overall scores for motivation. Significant positive correlations were established between effort, self-efficacy, and overall motivation with students’ overall academic achievement. Likewise, significant positive correlations were established between effort, self-efficacy, worry, and overall motivation with students’ average mathematics achievement

Cause analysis of learning management system: role of moderator in improving students performance

One of the recent online learning platforms for delivering instruction being used by most universities is the Learning Management System (LMS). The LMS has shaped new ways of transferring information between moderators and learners. However, evidence suggests that the gap between actual and desired performance still exists among learners. Therefore, there is a need to probe the role of the moderator in improving the academic and technology-related performance of students. Three experienced LMS moderators were interviewed for this purpose. Fourteen categories were drawn from the interviews and were categorized into six themes. An additional factor labelled “publicise the usefulness” emerged from the study. The results draw parallels with the five factors of cause analysis in the Human Performance Technology (HPT) model

Form one students’ engagement with computer games and its effect on their academic achievement in a Malaysian secondary school

The main purpose of the study was to address the association between computer games and students’ academic achievement. The exceptional growth in numbers of children playing computer games, the uneasiness and incomplete understanding foundation when starting the discussion on computer games have stimulated this study to be conducted. From a survey conducted on 236 form one students in one of the Malaysian secondary school, 75.8 percent were gamers. Playing computer games seemed to be more stereotypically boy’s activity with 91.3 percent of the boys engaged in computer games compared to 54.1 percent among the girls. They spent an average of 8.47 hours per week playing computer games. Parents and teachers’ concern about computer games was not something that went unwarranted as an overall result was predicting computer games as having negative associations with students’ academic achievement. However, in-depth analyses by combinations of classes done step by step indicated that the initial results could be overruled by students from the last class, whom need extra attentions. As a conclusion, the findings in this study suggest some interesting yet ultimately weak associations between playing computer games and students’ academic achievement. Nevertheless, caution is warranted in making any generalization as looking at the population as a whole will be different from its components. The generalizability of this study’s findings is limited by the nature of the sample. Even so, blaming computer games for the students’ bad academic performance in school is unjustified as there are many more other factors to look into before finding computer games as the scapegoat

Comparing teachers’ aspiration towards change in teaching and learning and their actual classroom practices

This paper reports the findings of a study on teachers’ aspiration towards change in their teaching and learning and their actual practices in the classroom in the Malaysian Secondary Schools. An instrument consisting of 24 items was used to measure the perception of the teachers on the aspiration and the actual implementation towards teaching and learning in the classrooms of these schools. Findings of the study indicate that the mean score of their actual teaching practices is 3.88 and a standard deviation of 0.52, which is higher as compared to the score on the teachers’ aspiration towards change in teaching and learning, which obtained a mean of 3.13 and a standard deviation of 0.85. This study also reported that there are significant differences between the teachers’ aspiration towards change and their actual classroom practices based on gender, age, ethnic, professional qualification and types of school. Despite these differences, the general attitude of the teachers in this study was found to be rather positive towards their teaching and learning practices in the classrooms

Stability of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) for the use of Malaysian form one students in ICT literacy class.

The objective of the study is to determine the suitability of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) in assessing Malaysian form one students’ intrinsic motivation gained through the tasks engagement in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy class. 236 students completed the IMI in Bahasa Malaysia version. The reliability value of Cronbach Alpha for intrinsic motivation as a whole was .844. Cronbach Alpha values for the dimensions within IMI were in the range of .560 to .932. The two factors solution extracted from the factor analysis represented 66.85 percent of the total variance. All the dimensions in the initial IMI instrument were included in the two factors solution. Out of the 34 items, only item 13 was deemed to be unreliable as the factor loading generated was very low. The findings were further confirmed by using two incremental fit measurements, Tucker-Lewis Index and Normed Fit Index, generating values of .985 and .994 respectively. Although there were a few limitations in the study, researchers are cautiously optimistic that the findings will be both valuable and applicable for the assessment of intrinsic motivation gain through the ICT literacy class among Malaysian form one students

Computer games development class with appreciative learning approach: from the perspective of bloom’s taxonomy

Both computer games development and appreciative learning approach are still at the infancy stage of utilization at educational setting. The purpose of this study was to explore what lower secondary students learned from the application of appreciative learning approach in computer games development class. Triangulated data comprising of interviews, logbooks, visual captures, researchers’ observations, and games were produced. NVivo software was used to support data management. The compiled codes were clustered to create themes pertinent to Bloom’s taxonomy. As a result, computer games development within appreciative learning approach environment was found as positively related to students’ cognitive, affective, and psychomotor development. Nevertheless, caution is warranted in making inferences as different students gained different learning experiences and outcomes, analogous to different players generated different outcomes in computer games

Appreciative learning approach in computer games development class

The rationale of the study was to understand more about the appreciative learning approach being applied in educational settings, specifically in the computer games development class. The study explored the perception of eight out of the 36 form one students who had gone through computer games development with the appreciative learning approach as a teaching practice for four weeks. Qualitative method was used in the study. The findings indicated that students perceived positively about the environment created within the appreciative learning approach. Nevertheless, there are gaps in the approach being applied as indicated by the students. A few modifications on the approach are suggested in this article for further research in order to accommodate the students' needs and preferences in learning computer games development. Caution is warranted as this article is just part of an action research being carried out