Academic Publication (SHBIE)

This article examines the requirements for quality learning in Islam from the perspective of al-Zarnūjī and according to his book, Ta‘līm al-Muta‘allim. This book has been a source of reference for both students and teachers in many educational institutions in Muslim countries, particularly, the Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia. The article attempts to understand the students’ learning requirements proposed by al-Zarnūjī in the above treatise. It is, therefore, a library-based research. The research tackles many issues. It addresses the need for a broad-based learning process and analyzes the requirements in the light of the modern day learning circumstances. It was found that al-Zarnūjī’s theory of quality learning is conditional on six main principles which are, indeed, determinants of quality student outcomes. These are intelligence or high learning ability; high motivation for learning; patience, emotional stability, and commitment to the learning process; availability of financial support; inspiration of the teachers; and disposition to time management in the learning process. The notion of quality education is fundamental to the classical perspective of learning in Islam.

This study examined the use of flipped classroom in geography lessons in one of the pre-university colleges in Brunei Darussalam. The benefits and challenges of using the flipped classroom as a pedagogical tool in geography were also investigated. Data were collected through action research adopting the use of a flipped classroom approach. This meant that learning geography as subject content was done outside the classroom. The findings of this study revealed that it was not necessary to apply flipped classroom for every lessons. Yet, this study found that flipped classroom was most beneficial when students worked on the application of geographical concepts where they learned to analyse and evaluate given scenarios. A significant improvement in the students’ academic achievement was also observed where through the interactive classroom activities, students developed a deeper understanding of the subject concepts. On the other hand, there were challenges in conducting a flipped classroom, for instance, some students had problems in accessing the lessons outside the classroom. This was one of the crucial elements conveyed in order to successfully implement a flipped classroom and to create an active learning environment during the class time. Without learning the concepts before the class time, the students reported the feeling of being lost, and thus could not fully participate in the classroom activities. Furthermore, a significant amount of time was wasted during the class time in teaching the students the concepts since they were supposed to have learned them prior to the lesson itself. Finally, the flipped classroom was also found to be a challenge to implement in a classroom known to have a passive learning environment.

This action research studied on how the use of manipulative in the teaching and learning of integers could affect students’ performances in adding and subtracting integers, involving Year 9 students from two mixed ability classes of the same government secondary school in Brunei. The intervention lessons used different colored counters to represent different signs of integers, followed by the adding and removal actions of these counters to mirror the addition and subtraction operations, with the added concept of zero-pair. Any improvement or beneficial outcome of the prior lesson was used to adapt the initially prepared following lesson as part of the Design Research process. The data collection consisted of pretest and post-test. With the use of descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon Signed Ranked Test, this study concluded that there was the significant improvement on students’ performances in the post-test and the effect size showed that the intervention gave big impact towards students’ learning. Item analysis indicated that the intervention improved correct attempts in questions involving both addition and subtraction, with the more significant increase in the latter. The overall mean scores of correct attempts in the post-tests also showed that students scored higher on the addition of integers (89.7%) compared to subtraction of integers (81.0%).

Comic books can be and are produced mainly for science communication. Comics are more favorable to be read by the students as comics engaged students in reading compared to thick science textbooks. This study explored the role of comics as an aid in teaching elementary school science on the topic of ‘Plant Systems’ using an action research approach. A total of 18 Grade 5 students from one of the elementary schools in Brunei Darussalam participated in the study. A 15-page fully colored comic featuring a leaf fairy character called ‘Nym’ was utilized to teach the students alongside various activities about plants during the intervention lessons. A pre-test was administered before the lesson to establish their existing knowledge of the topic, and then a post-test administered after all the intervention lessons were completed. The results from the achievement scores analyzed between the pre- and post-tests indicated that the students’ knowledge on ‘Plant Systems’ improved significantly. The students were found to be interested, engaged and enthusiastic in the use of comics as revealed from the thematic analysis of the interviews. There are also vast potentials for comics to be used regularly to support learning in science-related classrooms.

This study explored how mathematics content is carried through by means of the problems presented during lessons. Following the definitions and the coding criteria from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study, a total of 163 mathematics problems were identified in the videorecorded lesson sequences of four Bruneian mathematics teachers teaching at the Year 8 level. These problems were classified according to the four basic kinds of relationships: mathematically related, thematically related, repetition and unrelated. Drawing on the mathematical content of the teachers‟ lesson sequences, the findings revealed variations among the mathematical problems coded as repetition and thematically related, between the four Brunei classes. The aggregated results obtained from the four classes highlighted several points of discussion, such as the relatively higher proportion of repetition problems (52%) from one teacher in particular; the percentage similarities of thematically related problems for all four classes (ranging from 26% to 33%); and the incredibly varied results for mathematically related problems across the four Brunei classes.