THE EFFECTS OF MOBILE PROBLEM-BASED SCIENCE DICTIONARY APPLICATION DicScience PBL TOWARDS STUDENTS’ MASTERY OF SCIENTIFIC TERMS AND CRITICAL THINKING NURUL SYAZWANI BINTI ISMAIL, JAMALLUDIN BIN HARUN, MEGAT AMAN ZAHIRI BIN MEGAT ZAKARIA, SHAHARUDDIN BIN MD SALLEH Department of Educational Science, Mathematics and Creative Multimedia, Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia

INTRODUCTION The concept of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) is always discussed in the education world today. On the view of 21st century challenges, besides knowledge, students nowadays do not only need to have the skills to think but they should also need the skills to think in higher-order

INTRODUCTION To produce students who have a high intellect, the educators should play a role in providing teaching and learning resource materials that have the potential to engage students actively in learning One of the alternatives that can be used is to integrate mobile technology

INTRODUCTION Rich-technology activities will maximize the students’ engagement in learning, compared to the teaching that only focuses on activities but less technology (West, 2013) There is the need for mobile technology applications to be adopted in learning because these applications have the potentials to attract and motivate students and indirectly enhance their engagement to be actively involved in learning (Yu et al., 2015). Mobile technology itself will not promise that learning will happen, but its effectiveness is also determined through a learning process that takes place using mobile technology (Hussin, 2012)

BACKGROUND OF PROBLEM SCIENTIFIC TERM MASTERY One of the constraints in understanding science concepts . The lack of mastery in understanding scientific terms will make students unable to master a particular science concept, let alone to answer higher order science’s questions Meor et al. (2005) in his study, finds that the limited mastery in scientific term is a major factor affecting students’ achievement in the subject

BACKGROUND OF PROBLEM CRITICAL THINKING A must-have, important skill for a person to keep up with developments and changes in the new information age today (Alper, 2010; Ku et al. 2009) Mobile technology is seen as a medium that can be applied in teaching and learning to produce students with critical thinking skills, due to its flexibility, because the engagement of students in achieving all the information will affect their mind set and their minds The needs for teaching strategies that can actively engage students, particularly based on an active learning approach, constructivist and problem solving are important in order to produce students with Higher order thinking skills (HOTS)

BACKGROUND OF PROBLEM MOBILE TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION Education nowadays has shifted its focus from a computer technology to a technology that can be used anywhere and anytime. Mobile applications currently being developed for entertainment purposes can really get users engaged, those for teaching and learning are more direct to the point, using a tutorial or drill and practice approach support with multimedia elements but usually with less active engagement in learning among students Educators should grab this opportunity with the readily available technological devices, such as mobile gadgets, which have become a part of students’ life nowadays (Syed Ardi, Tasir 2008).

BACKGROUND OF PROBLEM Reference materials related to the terms that would normally be referred to by students is the dictionary With mobile technology becoming the in-thing among students today, mobile Science dictionaries have been developed for their reference

MOBILE SCIENCE DICTIONARY The Differences Between Conventional Dictionary and Innovated Dictionary Characteristics SCIENCE DICTIONARY Conventional Mobile Science Dictionary Mobile Problem-Based Science Dictionary   Definition Definition of the word Definition and how to use the word in the real context Multimedia Elements Text, Graphic Text, Graphic, Video, Audio, Animation Learning Strategy None Problem Based Learning HOTS HOTS elements Function For reference only For reference and learning tool

FOCUS This paper discussed the way to produce teaching aids that used mobile technology, developed based on problem-based learning approach, namely, Mobile Problem based Science Dictionary (DicScience PBL), aimed to help students not only in mastering scientific terms, but also improving their HOTS, especially critical thinking skills

Critical Thinking element DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT PBL Principle, Process and Critical Thinking Elements Integrated in The Application PBL Principle (Savery and Duffy, 2001) PBL Process (Hmelo-Silver, 2004) Critical Thinking element (Facione, 1990) C1 - Guiding learning activities and assignments towards broader issues C2 - Supporting students to develop proprietary nature of the tasks and problems given C3 - Designing a task that is very similar with real life problems C4 - Students may reflect at the end of the study C5 - Students get their ownership to design and complete the given assignments and problems C6 - Designing a learning environment that challenges students' thinking C7 - Promoting testing of views/opinions with alternative concepts C8 Providing opportunities to help students learn and reflect on the content of the learning process P1 - Problem Scenario P2 - Identify Facts P3 - Generate Hypothesis P4 - Knowledge Deficiencies P5 - Apply New Knowledge P6 - Abstraction E1 - Interpretation E2 - Analysis E3 - Evaluation E4 - Inference E5 - Explanation E6 - Self-Regulation

DESIGN CODE PBL Principles PBL Process CT Elements C1 P1 E1 C2 P2 E2   PBL Process CT Elements C1 P1 E1 C2 P2 E2 C3 P3 E3 C4 P4 E4 C5 P5 E5 C6 P6 E6 C7 C8 Design Code PBL and CT Characteristics I1 C3, P1 I2 C1, P2, E1 I3 C6,P3,E2 I4 C2,P4 I5 C7,P4, E3 I6 C5,P5,E4 I7 C5,P6,E5 I8 C4,C8, E6

SAMPLES OF INTERFACE DESIGN Main Page Main Menu List of Scientific Terms Reflection Page

SAMPLES OF INTERFACE DESIGN Identifying facts and Interpetation I2 Design Code Examples of Problem Situation Sample of Self Directed Learning I4 Design Code Sample of Identifying existing knowledge

RESEARCH QUESTIONS What are the effects of DicScience PBL application towards the levels of mastery of scientific terms and critical thinking among students? Is there a significant relationship between the levels of mastery of scientific terms and critical thinking?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Approach Pre-experimental study involving treatment groups. Sample . The samples in this study involved a total of 32 Form-2 students from one of the schools in Johor, Malaysia Instrument The instruments used in this study included 1 set of achievement tests (pre and post) and data from the interview sessions.

The effects of DicScience PBL DATA ANALYSIS application towards the levels of mastery of scientific terms and critical thinking among students The effects of DicScience PBL Paired Sample T-test Interview Is there a significant relationship between the levels of mastery of scientific terms and critical thinking Pearson Correlation

EFFECTS ON SCIENTIFIC TERM MASTERY PERFORMANCE FINDINGS Paired Samples Statistics   Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Pair 1 Post Mastering 66.94 32 18.217 3.220 Pre Mastering 18.78 8.735 1.544 EFFECTS ON SCIENTIFIC TERM MASTERY PERFORMANCE The result show a significant difference between the pre-test score (mean = 18.78, SD = 8.74) and the post-test score (M = 66.94, SD = 3.22)

EFFECTS ON STUDENT CRITICAL THINKING PERFORMANCE FINDINGS Paired Samples Statistics   Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Pair 1 Post Critical Thinking 29.34 32 11.189 1.978 Pre Critical Thinking 7.34 4.923 .870 EFFECTS ON STUDENT CRITICAL THINKING PERFORMANCE There was a significant difference between pre-test score (mean = 7.34, SD = 0.870) and post-test score (M = 29.34, SD = 1.978)

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). FINDINGS Correlations   Post Mastering Post Critical Thinking Pearson Correlation 1 .764** Sig. (2-tailed) N 32 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).   Is there significant relationship between students’ mastery of scientific terms and critical thinking? The r value indicator shows a strong positive relationship between the score of students’ mastery of scientific terms and critical thinking, r = 0764, n = 32, p<0.05.

Sample of Interview Transcript INTERVIEW ANALYSIS Sample of Interview Transcript Theme P3- It helps me to think more critical such as when I gave the hypothesis, I also need to assess to what extent I am confident with my answer.   P7- After reviewing the information and questions carefully I can give a perfect inference logically. After that, I can also give solutions to the questions given. Student engagement N=4 P1- This app helps me to think better because the question given is in HOTS level. I should be thinking on a higher level to answer the questions given by linking the problems stated. P3- The questions provided are HOTS characterized. I have to know a lot of knowledge to answer the question given. Higher Order Questions N=3 P1- Problem scenario given is in real situations and it needs me to think outside the box. P5- This application provides real problem in real life. Out of these activities I can think outside the box to solve the problem given. Problem in real situation P6 - All features in a position to help me master the terminology. Resources provided very important for me to study and answer the given. P4- All the information in the applications some of which I never knew even before. It really helped me to master the scientific term better. Learning sources P2-The application provides real answers at the end of the lesson, I can find out what and where my mistakes. I was also able to correct the mistakes I've made. P4-In my opinion, it really helped me because it gave me a chance to differentiate my opinion with a real answer. When I give my opinion, my opinion is not quite right, and I can think outside the box. Reflection opportunity The analysis of interview data to 8 respondents about whether the features found in the application were able to help them in mastering scientific terms and thinking better.

CONCLUSION The application was developed based on the characteristics required to produce students with high intellects. Even though it was just a dictionary of scientific terms, but if such application was innovated and integrated into an appropriate learning approach, it was expected to attract the students’ attention and indirectly improve their level of mastery of scientific terms and critical thinking skills. The integration of mobile technology could get students motivated to be actively engaged in learning. However, the technology alone will not help to produce students who are able to think in the higher level. Therefore, educators nowadays have to be more creative in producing more quality teaching aids that can attract student with optimal engagement in learning.

LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATION Time duration – longer (for critical thinking). More research should be replicated.

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