A development of education technology for smart learning program

Abstract

The current education system in Malaysia has been of great concern to the society. The conventional methods of education currently being used do not allow students to be actively involved in the whole learning process. Many researches were conducted to find the best ways to enhance the quality of education and mostly with the help of technology. This study implemented science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as an integrated smart learning program for primary school students in Malaysia. A set of developed technologies were introduced to cope with the primary school syllabus. It consisted the heart diagnostic, modern agriculture, smart bicycle, monopoly game, speech technology and crocodile clip. In heart diagnostic, student learned how to capture the electrocardiography (ECG) signals, read the ECG graph, calculate the width of the graph and use mathematics to understand the characteristic of the ECG signals. In another technology that we have developed is named modern agriculture. Heat and water level sensors were used to measure the temperature and the water that is needed for healthy growth of plants. In the science subjects, they know that plants require light in order to secure and they are capable to quantify the amount of light in relationship to the temperature. Using the above concepts, several other technologies which we called smart bicycle, speech technology and crocodile clip software were used as a tools to assist learning for these primary school children. This project was implemented at Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Universiti 1, Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Eight teen students were selected to participate in the trial. Since the current evaluation system is based on exam oriented learning in order to evaluate the performance of the student. This created stress for teachers and students as the passing percentage of the school reflects the current status of the school as being a top notch or below average standing. In order to address this issue, we developed a monopoly like game based system, where students are actually being evaluated by playing this game. In the game the student has to answer sets of questions as they program in order to win the game. The result showed that the technology integration into the learning process had produced positive influence on the students’ interest towards STEM and thus enhanced their academic performance. Teachers have also becoming more innovative in teaching activities with the aid of technology.