Juhazren Junaidi

Learning acids and bases through inquiry based website

Chemistry is not an easy subject to learn. Many people regard chemistry as being too hard, too abstract, too mathematical, and only for very bright students. As a result, a negative attitude has developed about chemistry with students claiming chemistry is boring. Besides, most of the chemical concepts articulated by macroscopic, microscopic, and symbolic. This led to conflict and confusion in learning chemistry. Thus, the purpose of this project is to develop a web based learning material on Chemistry Form 4 based on Integrated Curriculum for Secondary Schools (KBSM) syllabuses. This website enables users to learn on their own about the topic of Acids and Bases. Constructivism theory and inquiry based learning approach were integrated in the development of this website. The main subtopics contain in the website are “Concept and Chemical Properties of Acids and Bases”, “Role of Water to Show the Properties of Acids and Alkalis” and “Strength of Acids and Alkalis”. This website was developed using Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 as the main platform whereas Macromedia Flash 8, Adobe Photoshop CS2 as well as Sound Forge 7 were used as supportive software. Finally, it is hoped that this website will become as a reference for students to learn this subtopic and to overcome their misconception about Acids and Bases. Other than that, this website is also useful for teachers and other people to get information more about Acids and Bases.

The Roles of Non-State Actors in Eradicating Poverty in Malaysia

The economic crisis further affects those with low incomes. While the most affected are the indigents in rural areas, the poor in urban areas are also not spared. Those in the urban area face a challenging life even though the economic scenario favours those living in the city. The urbanization rate increased rapidly with 63 percent of the population now live in urban areas, while the rate of poverty in urban areas continues to rise as per the cost of living, low income and issues. To further eradicate poverty, the government has implemented several poverty eradication programs in cities, which include welfare assistance and house rental payment. Aid was also given from the government agencies and those in private to eradicate poverty further. Among the agencies involved in combating urban poverty is Ikhtiar Malaysia, Islamic Relief, Poverty Eradication Foundation (YBK), the Selangor Zakat Board (LZS) and so on. Thus, the role and mobilization efforts of the NGOs are significant in aiding and abetting the government to eradicate poverty in Malaysia.

The Implementation of the 21st Century Pedagogical Elements in Jawi Teaching: A Review Study

The skills to implement the 21st century pedagogy in teaching become a necessity for Islamic Studies teachers to produce effective Jawi teaching. This study aims to analyse the pedagogical elements of the 21st century in terms of pedagogical skills, knowledge acquisition, student-based learning, cooperative and collaborative learning as well as student-centered learning which have been implemented by the Islamic Studies teachers in Jawi teaching. This study is a quantitative study which used survey design. A five-point Likert scale questionnaire has been used to collect the data and was distributed to 217 Islamic Studies teachers who were selected as the sample of this study. A pilot study was conducted to show the reliability of 0.877 for the whole constructs. This study obtained the highest mean value for the following constructs; pedagogical skills (mean=4.063), knowledge acquisition (mean=3.900), student-based learning (mean=4.174), cooperative and collaborative learning (mean=4.038) and student-centered learning (mean=4.115). The overall mean value for all constructs was 4.875 and this concluded that the level of pedagogical elements of the 21st century by the Islamic Studies teachers in Jawi teaching was high and these elements have been implemented well in Jawi lessons. However, due to the rapid transformation of education in this globalization era, Islamic Studies teachers have to be more progressive in practicing the 21st century pedagogical skills in their teaching to become competent and dynamic educators in the 21st century.