Electronic Proceedings
of the 12th Asian Technology Conference in Mathematics
Abstract for 12854
The Effectiveness of The Contextual Approach To The Teaching And
Learning Statistics In The Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia
(UTHM)
Authors: nafisah kamariah md kamaruddin, Assoc Prof Dr Wan Mohd
Rashid Wan Ahmad
Affiliations: Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Universiti Tun
Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM)
Keywords: Undergraduate Level, Contextual, statistics, mathematics
lab, video, pbl
In 1997, the Technical Education Department under the Ministry of
Education, Malaysia, introduced the contextual approach in teaching
and learning mathematics, additional mathematics, physics, chemistry
and biology in all Malaysian technical secondary schools. From 1998
to 2000 more than 80% of the UTHM intake was from Malaysian
Technical Secondary Schools. Thus it was UTHM’s obligation to
introduce this program as a continual process in higher learning
institutions, and thus in 2001, contextual approach in teaching and
learning mathematics was introduced in Centre of Science Studies in
UTHM. The implementation of contextual approach in UTHM is already
more than four years; however there is no proper module of teaching
and learning mathematics contextually and there is no experimental
research that has been done to study whether this method is
effective. Thus, this research is to study the effectiveness of the
contextual approach.
Contextual learning means learning that incorporate examples that
are drawn from everyday experiences in personal, societal and
occupational life and that provide concrete hands-on applications of
material to be learned (First Tech Prep National Convention, 1997).
The contextual learning key elements are to develop subject matter
content, to involve students in doing, to make the connection
between content and practice, to practice cooperative learning and
to carry out learning in workplace setting (First Tech Prep National
Convention, 1997). This research will focus on the contextual
approach in teaching and learning mathematics for the second year
degree technical students from the Faculty of Technical Education,
UTHM. The objectives of this research are as follow:
1. To determine whether using statistics video clips embedded in
power point presentations in learning statistics helps students to
understand the statistics concepts
2. To determine whether using mathematical lab using SPSS in
learning statistics helps students to understand the statistics
concepts
3. To determine whether there is a significant difference between
the test result of the contextual group with the non-contextual
group.
In this research, a quasi-experimental research design is used. The
research instruments will be the questionnaires. 3 quizzes and test.
Researchers will designed questionnaires which will consist of 5
main sections : Background, Teaching and learning approach, Video,
Class activities, Statistics lab. Likert scale was used as a form of
measurement. Solomon’s Four-Group Design will be used where the
students will be divided into four groups: 2 control groups and 2
treated groups as shown in the attachment. This design allows the
researcher to assess whether there is an interaction between the
treatment and the pretest. This design combines two basic
experimental designs.
This research will produce a proper implementation of contextual
approach in teaching and learning mathematics in higher learning
institutions. Hence it will help students to learn mathematics and
most importantly to apply it in their engineering subjects.