Cooperative Learning: Student Teams-Achievement Division (STAD)

There are various activities that can be conducted to engage students’ team work and motivation.  In cooperative learning, we can use Student Teams-Achievement Division (STAD) where a small groups of students with different levels of ability work together to accomplish a shared learning goal.  In my case, I combine jigsaw activity with STAD.  So, the instruction that I give for jigsaw activity would also include instruction for STAD.

Cooperative learning: Jigsaw activity

I have done jigsaw activity for my class for several semesters.  At first, I just gave verbal instruction to the students on how to do the jigsaw activity.  But later on, I realise that it is better for me to give the students written instruction that they can refer to.  In this case, they can have a copy of the written instruction so that they refer to it when they want to conduct jigsaw activity in their class when they undergo Teaching Practicum (or after they graduate) for the undergraduate and for PG students who are teachers, they can use this activity in their class as well and they can share it with their colleagues at school through Latihan Dalam Perkhidmatan (LDP).  

So, HERE is the written instruction that I give to students when I do Jigsaw activity in my class.  

Pengsan nak menanda

Pengsan nak menanda.  That was commonly uttered by me when I was undergoing my Latihan Ikhtisas.  I was often frustrated with their English proficiency but what can I say.  They do not like reading even though there is Nilam program and whatsnot in school.  This student will take SPM in few months time.  I don’t know how she will perform in SPM for her English paper.  I hope she would get a better grade than now.  


Domestic cats know their names

My cats, Robyn and Batman know their names.  But Robyn rarely will reply back when I call her name.  Batman would always reply back by meowing loudly.  I miss him badly.  Every time I come back home, without fail (unless he is asleep inside the house), the moment he saw my car, he would run and start to meowing to welcome me back.  Such moment would be something that I miss now since he went missing.  Robyn is such a princess.  She would only meow when I pet her.  Not when I call her name.  A research which has been published in Nature found that domestic cats know their names.  Indeed

This is Robyn

This is Batman

I searched JASTIP grant and found your page instead

One of my junior was attending a special course known as BC4DCP (Baseline Competencies for Differentiated Career Path).  She searched for JASTIP but found my webpage instead.  Indeed.  JASTIP is more for science based field, so I am no eligible to apply.  It does not mean that I should keep this information to myself.   Dr Fatin shared the information via WhatsApp and I just transfer it to my webpage.  This webpage is just a means to disseminate the information to many people as I could.   I hope it would benefit those who could apply the grant based on their specialisation.  

Dunning-Kruger Effect: What is that?

A senior colleague and I were discussing about an issue relating how people overestimate their ability level.  Meaning, sometimes we might find people who think they know a lot but in reality, they do not know much and they do not even realize it.  Ironic, isn’t it?  But this is the reality.  Incompetent people think that they are amazing, genius (and the list goes on)

The cartoon strip is taken from The Business Times

This is dangerous in academia when you think that you know a lot and thus there is no need for you to learn or relearn something to upgrade what you already know.  There is always new thing that we can learn from one another or through reading or doing research.   Look at the diagram (taken from Marketcall), 

In psychology, it is called as Dunning-Kruger Effect,

“People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it.” Excerpt from Justin Kruger and David Dunning (1999) article published in Journal of personality and social psychology.  

This is the opposite effect of Impostor syndrome.