This study investigated student teachers_ (ST) level of reflection during teacher clinical experience (TCE). It sought to analyse the level of reflection among STs from a Malaysian university in the current practice of reflective writing and after given exposure to the critical reflection manual (CRM) during TCE. This study used Van Manen_s (1977) three-stage model (technical, practical and critical) to determine the level of reflection based on STs_ self-reflection notes in their daily lesson plan books (for the current practice of reflective writing) and weekly reflective journal writings (for STs who were given exposure to the CRM). The participants consisted of seven STs who were undergoing TCE from February to June 2014 (for the current practice) and eleven STs who were undergoing TCE from July to October 2015 (for those given exposure to the CRM). Each participant_s level of reflection was analysed based on Van Manen_s (1977) categorisation of levels of reflection. Results of the.....

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Professional Education Course (PEC) and Teaching Practice (TP) are two main components in teacher education program. This paper discusses findings of a study to identify the relationship between students' achievement in PEC and their achievement in TP. Grades achieved by the students in PEC and their grades achieved in TP were used and analyzed with permission from the Academic Department of a selected university. The data of 1,888 students were from 28 programs conducted at the university. Spearman's rho correlation via SPSS version 23 was used for data analysis. There were five sub courses under PEC that were analyzed in this study. The analysis found that, only students_ achievement in three courses of PEC showed significant correlation with their achievement in TP with correlation indexes in a range of .046 < r < .088 at p _ .05. It showed that there was a weak significant correlation between students_ achievement in PEC and the students_ achievement in TP. Students_ achievement in.....

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This study aimed to statistically compare preservice teachers_ assessment knowledge in crafting assessment task and selecting assessment method in relation to their teaching experience. This study involved 397 preservice teachers_ who were final year undergraduate students in a local university. The instrument of data collection consisted of eight superitems test. Data collected was analysed by using statistical method (SPSS version 22.0). The result showed that preservice teachers for all categories of teaching experience performed better in the selecting assessment method than crafting assessment task. However, there was no significant differences existed between the three categories of teaching experience of preservice teachers for both standards of assessment knowledge assessed. Keywords: Assessment knowledge, preservice teacher, selecting assessment method, crafting assessment task...

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Among the objectives of this study was to identify and explain matriculation college science student_s mental models generated from self-visualisation of the concept of the carbon cycle. Five students were purposively sampled and the study was carried out in a naturalistic setting qualitative approach. Data was collected through a visualisation task and followed by interviews. The constant comparative qualitative technique was used to analyse differences and similarities that led to patterns in their mental visualisation. Findings showed two patterns of mental models; namely pictorial and graphical mental models. These students visualised themselves from their own experiences and made relationships to their prior and new knowledge. Keyword selection coincided with the concept used for the generation of visualisation. This study expects to help formulate a framework for teaching and learning to guide students to generate a significant mental visualisation of abstract science concepts. .....

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Perkembangan Teknologi Maklumat dan Komunikasi (ICT) telah banyak mempengaruhi budaya kehidupan masa kini. Teknologi ini mempengaruhi cara anak-anak muda bermain, bersosial dan berkomunikasi serta telah memberi impak yang besar di dalam sistem pendidikan. Menyedari keadaan ini, Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia (KPM) telah mengambil langkah proaktif dalam merangka perubahan baru dalam sistem pendidikan selari dengan perkembangan teknologi semasa. Inisiatif baharu bagi memastikan kejayaan konsep pembestarian sekolah ini, KPM telah memperkenalkan satu platform Pembelajaran Teradun yang di kenali sebagai Persekitaran Pembelajaran Maya-Frog (Frog VLE). Sehubungan itu, hampir kesemua sekolah di Malaysia iaitu hampir 10,000 buah sekolah telah dibekalkan dengan kemudahan ICT (Projek 1BestariNet) bagi merealisasikan konsep pembestarian ini. Penulisan ini akan menerangkan pandangan dan pelaksanaan Frog VLE dalam pengajaran dan pembelajaran di bilik darjah dalam kalangan guru. Kata kunci: Frog VL.....

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The school administrators in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Putrajaya Presint 11(1) (SMKPP) took the initiatives of doing differently from what they had been doing. Sample of this study consisted of 89 secondary school teachers from SMKPP. Malaysian Education Standards Quality (Standard 4) instrument was used to evaluate teachers_ performance during teaching and learning (T&L) process in the classroom. Pairedsamples t-test analyses on teachers_ performance were carried out at .05 level of confidence, between years. Although teachers_ performance was in the range of excellence with the mean score beyond 90 in year 2015, yet there were significant decline within the dimensions of delivery methods, enhancement of mastery learning among students, communication skills, resource application, assessment conducted, questioning skills and overall performance. With the initiatives taken by the school_s administrators through continuous teachers_ education process and renewal practices in school, by.....

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This study aimed at exploring the strategies adopted by preschool teachers in promoting pro-social behavior among preschool children. In this regard the researcher examined the activities conducted by preschool teachers. Four preschool case studies were completed in Homagama Education division. The sample consisted of one preschool under government control, two privately owned preschools and one preschool functioning under a religious organization. Both quantitative and qualitative research techniques were used, including observations. The aim of the observation was to study classroom activities which promoted pro-social behaviors among children. Following pre- planned observation scheme the researcher spent five days in each preschool as an observer. It was revealed that preschool teachers of Sri Lanka take action to promote pro-social behavior among children through their classroom activities through sharing, helping each other, encouraging pro-social behavior and use of collaborativ.....

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The study sought to investigate the dropout trends and patterns among the secondary school students by district in Perak. The study employed a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods involving cohort flow analysis of student enrolment, interviews and document analysis. In the first part, student enrolment by grade level in 2000-2010 in all the nine districts in Perak from the database provided by the Ministry of Education was analyzed. In the second part, data were gathered through interviews from Batang Padang District that demonstrated highest dropout rate so as to further understand why secondary school students dropped out from schools, what are those students doing after leaving schools and explore their views on what could have been done to keep them in schools. Results showed that average of total loss between Form 1 and Form 5 in Perak State was 8.11 percent. The highest percentage of dropout was in Batang Padang (16.52%), followed by Manjung (11.9%), Hilir Perak (1.....

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The purpose of this research was to compare the Omani and Malaysian students' motivation toward science learning in secondary schools. Motivation is an important component from any teaching and learning process. The results of previous studies revealed that students with better motivation usually perform better in school grades. The sample size is 359 students: 37.6% of them were Malaysian (135 students) while 62.4% were Omani (224 students). The 30-item Science Motivation Questionnaire (SMQ) was used in this research. It was developed by Glynn, Taasoobshirazi and Brickman. The results showed that the students had a _moderate_ motivation in general. Regarding the subcategories, the students had _high Extrinsically Motivation_ while they had a _moderate_ level of motivation in the other subcategories or motivational factors. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare the motivation towards science scores of Omani and Malaysians. This finding implied that the Omani students w.....

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The integration of ICT in the higher education setting has progressed tremendously for the past 15 years. Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) provides Myguru2 as a platform to meet the demand. The study investigated the postgraduate students_ experiences about the online group forum which is one of the features in Myguru2. Sixteen postgraduate students participated in the study to identify the issues and challenges in the online group forum. Results of the study showed that most of the postgraduate students perceived the online group forum as followed: 1) the online group forum was flexible, 2) it developed knowledge and thinking skills, 3) it provided a platform for students to exchange ideas and 4) it promoted active participation. Technical issues, poor internet connection, uninteresting discussion and time limitations were challenges in participating in the online group forum. Based on the results, suggestions for improvement were provided. Keywords: MyGuru2, online portal, .....

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