Fostering higher order thinking skills among primary students through Iskandar Malaysia ecolife challenge

Abstract

Iskandar Malaysia Ecolife Challenge (IMELC) is one of the 10 implementation actions to create a low carbon society in Iskandar Malaysia region by 2025 under the "Low Carbon Society Blueprint for Iskandar Malaysia 2025". In 2013, the action was carried out in 23 primary schools followed by an increase to 80 schools in 2014, and in 2015, it was scaled up to all 228 primary schools in the region due to the success in inculcating low carbon awareness among the participating students and teachers. IMELC is conducted through a competition format which has four modules, namely workbook module, recycling module, water and electricity saving module and final oral presentation module. All primary six students completed the workbook, collected and sold recycling items at schools, conducted various initiatives to reduce the usage of water and electricity of the schools. After one month, the top 15 schools were selected to participate in the final oral presentation to select three winners. The workbook is designed by researchers from UniversitiTeknologi Malaysia to foster higher order thinking skills (HOTS) besides low carbon awareness. A mapping of the contents and activities to HOTS was produced. The workbooks were marked and analysed to identify the achievement of HOTS among the students. From the analysis of 8,347 workbooks, findings showed that the achievement of HOTS is at a moderate level with an average percentage of 55.3%. The workbook is a tool to enhance HOTS but further improvements need to be made to increase the effectiveness of IMELC in instilling HOTS among primary students through environmental educational activities.