2012

	Kajian Pembinaan dan Pentaksiran Kerangka Kepekaan Nombor Murid Sekolah Rendah Tahap 1 (25/2012) Prof. Munirah Ghazali, PM Sharifah Norhaidah Syed Idros, Prof. Zurida Ismail, Prof. Fatimah Saleh, Dr. Shafia Abdul Rahman
	Graduate Students’ Preparedness and Training Needs in Research and Statistics (26/2012) PM Dr. Ong Saw Lan, Teong Mee Mee Statistics is an integral part of quantitative educational research. A full understanding of available statistics tools is necessary for researcher to design and carry out sound quantitative educational research. Methodologists during the past century have produced a wealth of statistical techniques that can help to explore and understand research data. With the widespread availability of generic statistical software such as Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), Statistical Analysis Software (SAS), and Minitab, advanced statistical techniques such as factor analysis, multiple regressions, multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA), structural equation modelling (SEM), canonical correlation, and discriminant analysis can be utilized easily. These would appear to be especially important in educational settings where multiple dependent and multiple independent variables are analyzed simultaneously. Furthermore, advances in statistical techniques have changed the settings in which researchers can perform their research.  The natures of questions researchers investigate have become more complex and sophisticated. The knowledge of statistical techniques is the basic prerequisite knowledge needed especially for novice researchers (e.g., master and doctoral students) to assess the literature relevant to their work, to conduct research, to write and critically evaluate research literature. Generally, graduate curricula include statistical techniques course as part of educational research program to enable students to become critical consumers as well as producers of research literature. It is important to be aware of the type of statistical techniques commonly employed in the published literature (i.e., journals) and in unpublished literature (i.e., theses). Graduate statistics courses should focused on developing statistics techniques most commonly used in the published literature to enable graduate students or novice researchers to comprehend, to evaluate, and to interpret the statistical results. On the other hand, the identification of statistical techniques in unpublished literature can served as indicators of the baseline statistical knowledge of graduate students or an implication of the statistical training students received. The review of statistical techniques had appeared frequently in the published educational literature. However, theses, being unpublished literature, have received less attention among researchers. With this in mind, this research-based study was designed to seek reliable and valid information regarding the statistical techniques employed in education theses.  The results should be of interest to higher education professionals in general and to those responsible for higher education graduate training programs in particular.
	Hubungan antara Pengupayaan Psikologikal dan Faktor-Faktor Antesedennya dengan Perlakuan Inovatif Murid (27/2012) PM Dr. Tang Keow Ngang  Kajian ini berbentuk expost-facto ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji hubungan antara faktor-faktor anteseden (kepercayaan, akses terhadap maklumat, akses terhadap sokongan, akses terhadap sumber serta akses terhadap peluang belajar dan membangun) dengan pengupayaan psikologikal dan mengenal pasti pengaruh pengupayaan psikologikal terhadap perlakuan inovatif murid Tahun 5. Sejumlah 1485 orang murid Tahun 5 telah dipilih sebagai responden kajian menggunakan kaedah rawak bertujuan dari sekolah rendah di negeri Pulau Pinang, Perak, Johor, Terengganu, dan Sabah. Kajian ini mengesahkan pengupayaan psikologikal sebagai konstruk motivasi yang dimanifestasikan oleh empat dimensi kognitif (makna, kompetensi, kesungguhan kendiri, dan impak) dalam konteks bilik darjah Tahun 5. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa faktor-faktor anteseden mempunyai hubungan yang signifikan dengan perlakuan inovatif kecuali kepercayaan pada aras signifikan 0.01 (nilai r antara 0.369  hingga 0.427). Kajian ini juga mendapati akses terhadap sumber, akses terhadap peluang belajar dan membangun serta akses terhadap maklumat merupakan tiga peramal yang berjaya menyumbang sebanyak 30 peratus perubahan varians pengupayaan psikologikal. Pengupayaan psikologikal juga dibuktikan berfungsi sebagai  mediator dalam hubungan antara faktor-faktor anteseden dengan perlakuan inovatif. Sebuah model yang menggambarkan hubungan antara faktor-faktor anteseden dan pengupayaan psikologikal dengan perlakuan inovatif dicadangkan. Model yang dicadangkan ini dapat digunakan oleh para guru untuk mengenal pasti program intervensi yang berkesan bagi meningkatkan perlakuan inovatif dalam kalangan murid.
	Constructing a Superitam Test to Assess Students’ Pre-algebraic Thinking in Generalizing of Pattern (28/2012) Dr. Lim Hooi Lian, Dr. Chew Cheng Meng, Dr. Wun Thiam Yew This study aimed to construct and validate an instrument in order to identify the levels of Year Five and Form One students’ pre-algebraic thinking in generalizing growing pattern (pictorial), growing pattern (numerical), repeating pattern (pictorial) and repeating pattern (alphabetical). SOLO model, known as the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome, developed by Biggs and Collis was used as a framework to construct superitem test in assessing Year Five and Form One students’ pre-algebraic thinking in generalizing of pattern. This study was carried out by using survey method. The participants of this study consisted of 515 Year Five students and 567 Form One students, from two primary schools and two secondary schools in Penang and Kedah respectively. The instrument of data collection consisted of 24 superitems test. All items in each superitem are in open-ended format. Respondents were given two hours to response the test. The test paper results were analyzed by using rating scale analysis. WINSTEP software program version 3.66 was used to run the analysis. By using Rasch analysis, result showed that the developed instrument demonstrated sufficient evidence of psychometric properties. DIF analysis was subsequently conducted to determine if the item calibration were stable across language of the test. The value of DIF t tests (t ≥ 1.96) and the Mantel-Haenszel probability (less than 0.05) identified 4 (out of 24) items as displaying DIF. The difficulty level of items within each superitem followed the SOLO sequence of levels without exception. The number of Year Five Students was more than Form One student at prestructural and unistructural level. Nevertheless, the number of Form One students was more than Year Five students at two higher levels, namely multistructural level and relational level. It was found to be difficult by the students to respond at relational compared with multistructural level concerning all the growing pattern superitems except superitem 7 and 8. However, movement from unistructural level to multistructural level has the higher step difficulty compared to  the shift from multistructural level to relational level for all the repeating pattern superitems.
	Design, Development and Evaluation of an Online Multimedia Learning-Objects Repository for Special Education (29/2012) PM Dr. Lee Lay Wah This report describes the design, development and the evaluation of ePKhas ®, the first special education web repository for Malaysia which was developed due to a serious lack of multimedia resources for special needs in the Malay Language. The pedagogical and structural principles underlying the six types of reusable learning objects in the repository is explained. The learning objects include: Pedagogical Learning Resources Sets which comprise of lesson plans semantically-linked to supportive multimedia resources; Flash Worksheet Creators for customizing worksheets to individual needs; a Picture Gallery that reflects local culture; interactive Multimedia Stories that are responsive to special needs learning; and, short articles that explain special needs concepts. The development uses a combination of project-based learning with pre-service special educators as content producers and a technical team for the repository system. A multi-perspective approach is used to gather data for evaluation. The repository is evaluated for usability, quality of resources, and uptake. The ePKhas repository is located at http://epkhas.ses.usm.my