You are on page 1of 13

The Case Study: Information collected Section 1: Curriculum and Intended Learning Outcome 1.

1 Subject The program can be used across all the Primary School Assessment Test (UPSR) core subjects which is Bahasa Melayu (Comprehension), English, Mathematics and Science. It contains bulk of questions provided by the program builder and all the questions are adhering to the UPSR Syllabus determined by the Ministry of Education. 1.2 Topic/Domain This program is an activity to support learning. Teacher can use it as worksheet, test or evaluation in the end of the topic taught. 1.3 Mode of Delivery. The activity is mostly tutor-supported learning. It can be delivered in blended mode of face-to-face or distance. The activity may be conducted in the class while pupils are face-to-face to with the teacher. It can also be worksheet to bring home as homework and have to complete it in the duration that the teacher had been set it up. After the duration ends, teacher can assess the task completed. In this condition, the teaching and learning can be distance. However, in this case study, the pupils only can learning online in the school. It is because their sources of computer and internet are very minimal outside the school.

14

1.4

Intended learning outcome

By using the program, learners will be able to: Use the knowledge and concept taught in the class in answering the questions. Get familiar to the exam questions and format. Increase their skills in computer and internet. Utilize the computer and internet wisely.

The program is exam-oriented. Thus, the brief learning outcome can be explained by the format of the test (UPSR). The UPSR will cover three years of learning from standard 4 to 6. The format is shown as follows: 1.4.1 Bahasa Melayu

Pemahaman (Comprehension)

The Pemahaman paper has 40 questions for 50 minutes. It consist the grammar (tatabahasa), use of vocabulary etc.

Penulisan (writing)

Each papers consists of three sections that are sections A, B and C. Candidates only have 1 hour and 15 minutes to answer all three sections.

Section A

For section A, a picture will be given. Then, pupils must build five compound sentences based on the picture. The suggested time to answer this section is 15 minutes. The marks allocated for this section is 10. Occasionally, however, pictures
15

might not be provided and to substitute that, candidates might be asked to write sentences on a graph, a pie chart, multiple images, or a time table.

Section B

Section B is similar to the previous format of the Penulisan paper. For this section, candidates must choose one of three karangan or essays to be written on the UPSR paper. The suggested time to answer this section is 35 minutes. The total marks allocated for this section is 30 marks.

Section C

For Section C, there is a short story that contains some moral values. The student must write a paragraph containing the moral values. Pupils who get SK (Sekolah Kebangsaan) paper must give at least 5 moral values. The suggested time to answer this section is 20 minutes. The total marks allocated for this section is 20 marks.

1.4.2 English

The English examination is divided into 2 papers. Paper 1 contains 40 objective questions and the student has 50 minutes to answer them. Each question is worth 1 mark. Usually, the questions should be in this placement:

Questions 1-4 - general questions Questions 5-7 - fill-in-the-blanks based on short paragraph with pictures Questions 8-15 - choose the best answer/question to a dialogue Questions 16-21 - grammar Questions 22-23 - punctuation Questions 24-25 - spelling
16

Questions 26-30 - similar to questions 1-4 Questions 31-40 - comprehension questions based on a story, label etc.

Paper 2, which has subjective questions, contains three sections. A total of 40 marks has been allocated for this whole paper.

Section 1 asks the students to describe a picture in 5 sentences. This question bears 10 points.

Section 2 has two questions. The student is given 3 choices of items, packages, etc., each with their own pros and cons. In the first question, the student has to correctly fill in the details of the items mentioned in a table. In the second question, the student is given a situation that involves the three items (birthday party, movie with friend, etc.) and has to pick one of the three items and write a paragraph about why he chose it. Question one bears 10 points and Question two bears 5 points. Section 2 can also have a notice/advertisement and another paragraph is given at the bottom, related to the notice/advertisement which the person must fill in the blanks given there by using the information from the notice/advertisement, which is why it is sometimes called "Information Transfer".

Section 3 contains 3 or 4 pictures that tell a story. Below each picture, words are given to guide the student. The student is to write an essay using all the words given in any order they like. This section is worth 15 points

17

1.4.3 Mathematics

The mathematics examination is one hour and thirty minutes long, and is divided into two sections, a "section A" and "section B". Sections A is multiple choices and consists of forty questions, all have a one point score value. Section B, like Science, is the subjective area of Maths. There are 20 questions here in total, the first five have a one point score value, questions 6-14 have a two-point score value, and the last five have a three point score value. Questions that are frequently asked in this exam are fractions, subtraction, multiplication, division, addition, area and volume, mass, perimeter, decimal points, average, data, digit numbers, percentage, money, time, date and duration.

1.4.4 Science

This exam is divided into two sections, A and B. For section A, students are given 30 multiple choice questions with a weight of one marks of each. For section B, students answer subjective questions. In the subjective paper, there are usually 35 questions and each question has 4 to 5 sub-questions which carry 1 to 3 marks depending on the question. Usually, the subjective questions will start with a diagram of an experiment and the questions are based on that diagram. The total weight that can be given here is 20.

1.5

Context / level of study

The context of the study is primary education. The primary education in Malaysia enrols children from 7 years old to 12 years old. The children id divided into standard 1 to 6. This program provides learning tools for upper primary levels which is standard 4 to 6.
18

1.6

Prerequisites

By reason of this activity in the form of exercises, the prerequisite knowledge of the program is the content of the subjects that they have learnt in class. The pupils have to know the basic skills to work with the computer and the internet. They must have been taught how to connect to the internet, putting the URL and running the program as instructed. The step-by-step instruction had been introduced earlier in introduction. Besides, the task they have to complete is set up by the teacher. So, they need to be informed the task name and some other information of the task that had published by the teacher, in case they got redundant activity from other teacher.

19

Section 2: Activity 2.1 General Approach The general approach in this program is exercise-based learning. 2.2 Learning task(s) Before begin the program, the pupils are asked to revise the content of learning. The revision can be made by them or conducted by teacher. It depends on the questions set up by the teachers. It might be formative or summative. As informed earlier, they had to perform the task in particular duration determined by the teacher. 2.3 Technique The technique is individual learning, but sometimes the learners can be put in pairs or collaborate in a group to perform the tasks. 2.4 Feedback After the duration of the task ends, the pupils will inform their marks to the teacher. The teacher will write the marks in the form of evaluation. Teacher can instruct the pupils to redo the tasks of maybe move to next task by considering the marks. If it is distance learning, actually, teacher can check it in their user profile to see the marks.

20

Section 3: People involved 3.1 Numbers of learners The study has been conducted to all Primary 6 students in Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Tampoi (Asli), who will sit UPSR examination in the end of the year. By statistic, they are using the program the most. 3.2 Learners characteristic All of the pupils have mastered reading, writing and arithmetic (3M). There are no issues of physical or mental disabilities. They are just mixed up with few quick learners and mostly weaker pupils. From the UPSR trial achievement, the percentage of pupils passed every subject is only 60.7%. Among themselves, they prefer to speak their language which is Bahasa Temuan. However, they can speak Bahasa Melayu with the teachers, although they are not very fluent. So far, there are no issues of physical and mental disabilities. Most of the pupils got very excited when learning involving technology such as computer, internet and etc. 3.3 Other people involved Besides the learners, the program also involving teacher or tutor, as this program is tutor-supported learning. In this case, all the teachers that teach UPSR subjects are involved. There are also a technician who responsible in monitoring the technical elements. The technician is really needed in the class when sometimes there are problems with the computer or the connection. The program also actually allows parents to assess and monitoring their childrens achievement. However, in

21

this case study, as said earlier, heir sources of computer and internet outside the school is very minimal.

Section 4: Environment for learning 4.1 Physical setting The learning activity took place in computer room. The computer room is located at first floor in the building.

Picture 3 : The computer room 4.2 Social Setting The activity mostly is individual activity. It is one-to-one monitoring session. However, sometimes the pupils can be paired or collaborated in group in performing their task.

22

4.3

Tools In preparing and carrying out the learning task, the learners and the teacher

need physical and virtual tools. The physical tools involved are computers, the server, internet cable, LCD and screen. Meanwhile, the virtual tools involved internet application such as Internet explorer or Mozilla Firefox, and also search engine such as Google, Yahoo and etc. 4.4 Resources In term of the content of the learning, the resources might include textbook, revision book or any other resources used by the teachers to deliver the lesson pertaining to the content. Meanwhile, for the Zoom A Program, the resources is Zoom A homepage and activity pages. 4.5 Support issues As mentioned earlier, there are a technician to set up the computers and the connection. The technician is also responsible to troubleshoot the technical problems during the lesson. Besides, there are also an IT teacher who is responsible to provide Zoom A program user ID and passwords to each teacher and each computer in the computer lab. The IT teacher also will deal with the Zoom A administration on whatever issues arise. 4.6 Access issues They have learned computer and Internet skills from a program in English Language subject which is Information and Communication Technology Literacy (ICTL). This program has been taught since they were in Standard 2.

23

Section 5: Outcomes for Learners 5.1 Learners feedback/ observations Learner does not carry out any evaluation for this program or activity. There is no evaluation form for this program. However, I had prepared an interview to know their perspectives on the Zoom A program. It will be discussed in the next Chapter, Data Collection. 5.2 Assessment scores The assessment scores are actually saved automatically whenever the task had been completed by the pupils. However, the teachers also recorded it on paper to see and analyze their performance from time to time.

24

Section 6: Reflections 6.1 Aims and Rationale The main aim to choose this activity is because this is one of formal interactive learning program provided for Primary School. The program is very simple and suitable for the pupils around the age. It can be the most suitable online learning program to be exposed to the early learners, especially to these aborigines pupils who is not too exposed to the technology. From the implementation of this Zoom A program, it will open their eyes to the technology, and hopefully they will understand how technology can be very helpful in the learning. 6.2 Benefits and Opportunities

Among the many advantages Zoom-A has to offer are as follows: Zoom-A, can enhance teaching and learning process in line with the motto of The Ministry of Education Pendidikan Berkualiti Generasi Bestari. Zoom-A can sustain the effort made by the government to strengthen National Schools through e-learning to meet globalisation. Zoom-A can optimise the use of computer labs and to narrow down the digital gap between the rich and the poor. Zoom-A can be the platform in creating an environment that deploys ICT, among teachers and students to face the new era of globalisation and challenging career world. Zoom-A upholds the National Education philosophy in moulding good values among the citizen of Malaysia.

25

6.3

Problems and Risks There are some problems that has been identified while implementing this

Zoom A program. Most of them are involving technical and connection problem. The good condition computers sometimes are not enough for every pupil. As the result, pupils will have the turn to complete the task. The connection was provided by TM School Internet program. However, sometimes, the connection is very slow due to the big number of users. It also same goes too Zoom A homepage. Sometimes, it will hang and slow to perform the task. There are no problems of misusing the internet, because the pupils are obeying to the teachers instruction. But some of the students just answer the questions quickly without thinking, perhaps their intention is they can do other activities, such as playing games if the task is completed early. 6.4 Advice The Zoom A program is very exam oriented. Maybe in the future, Zoom A administrator can modify the program to be more interactive and pupils-centered. Also, besides depending on Zoom A program, teachers should consider any interactive learning programs available in the internet that allows pupils to seek the knowledge themselves.

26

You might also like