Effect of incremental pattern transformation strategy on academic achievement, job task performance and learning satisfaction among vocational trainees

• Main Author: Yasak, Zurina
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English; English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: L Education (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/40/1/ZURINA%20%20YASAK%20COPYRIGHT%20DECLARATION.pdf; http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/40/2/24p%20ZURINA%20%20YASAK.pdf; http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/40/3/ZURINA%20%20YASAK%20WATERMARK.pdf; http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/40/

Acquisition of conceptual and procedural knowledge is often challenging especially when the content deals with symbolic representations whereas not limited to memorizing the symbol but also requires a learner to have multiple factual knowledge associated with the real representation. The aim of this study was to test the effect of using incremental pattern transformation materials (iOST) – theoretically grounded materials - on conceptual and procedural knowledge acquisition among vocational trainees. The iOST was designed to enhance trainees’ learning of symbolic representations in electrical circuit diagrams. The quasi-experimental design method was used with 110 vocational trainees who were taking the vehicle air conditioning course from two vocational training centres. Trainees were divided into three groups, two treatment groups (assigned to paper-based iOST and animation-based iOST) and one control group. The duration of study was six weeks. Pre-test and post-test were used for assessing academic achievement, while practical test and a questionnaire were used for job task performance and learning satisfaction respectively. The ANCOVA, Chi-Square Test and Mann-Whitney U Test were used to test for differences between groups on academic achievement, job task performance and learning satisfaction respectively while the Spearman's rank-order correlation method was used to assess associations between learning satisfaction, conceptual and procedural knowledge. The results show that the experimental groups are better on academic achievement (effect size = .329) and job task performance (effect size = .657) with both groups exhibiting high learning satisfaction. The findings indicate that the iOST materials (irrespective of media) are effective in promoting learning of symbolic representation and support the acquisition of conceptual and procedural knowledge for better task performance. The findings also suggest that, appropriately designed learning materials can support learning and job performance.