Nur Atiqah Jalaludin

The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has emerged as a global education priority, many countries have printed their development strategies to national blueprints and recognized STEM education as a key role in the effective implementation of skills training in the21st-century. Project-based learning (PjBL) and problem-based learning (PrBL) or PBL is significant in cultivating students’ knowledge and skills, integrating PBL into STEM (PBL-STEM) education is a new attempt in recent years to integrate student-centered learning methods into the STEM learning process. This study aims to explore the development trends of PBL-STEM and provide recommendations to support talent cultivation in the digital era. Based on a systematic review of 1999 articles in SCOPUS database, this study uses content analysis to identify key themes in PBL-STEM. The findings indicate that the construction of student-centered PBL curriculum, the development of innovative teaching models, and interdisciplinary integration are central to the evaluation of PBL-STEM. Moreover, the integration of emerging technologies and multi-disciplinary approaches enhances STEM competency to cultivate 21st-century skills. PBL-STEM emphasize students’ higher-order abilities, positioning it as a strategic reform for future society. This study reveals the importance of curriculum innovation, instructional reform, evaluation mechanisms, and the professionalization of STEM educators are fundamental with the rapid technological advancement.

Environmental awareness is crucial for environmental preservation, and a wealth of information on this topic is available online. However, as English is a second or third language in Malaysia, many lower secondary pupils struggle to comprehend hypermedia content related to environment. To address this, the researchers conducted workshops to equip lower secondary school pupils with essential hypermedia reading strategies. After a series of workshops and a competition, the perceptions of these pupils’parents, and their ESL teachers was carried out to obtain their feedback. A qualitative research design was employed using semi-structured interviews. They were selected through purposive sampling; six teachers and ten parents who had participated in the E-STEM workshop and applied the learnt knowledge to their instructional practices and daily reading activities. The findings indicate that hypermedia tools substantially improve students’ engagement, comprehension, and retention of environmental science concepts, helping to simplify complex topics. However, challenges were identified, including variations in students’ technological proficiency and the need for more targeted professional development for teachers. Overall, the participants hold positive views toward the use of hypermedia tools for strengthening STEM-related reading comprehension in English. It further underscores the importance of addressing technological and pedagogical barriers to optimize the potential of hypermedia tools in fostering environmental awareness and enhancing language proficiency within the STEM education context.

Gender parity in education has improved in many countries alongside global and local efforts to promote gender equity. However, in Malaysia, male participation in related fields, especially science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), is increasingly at risk due to a subtle trend of a reversed gender parity index. This qualitative research aims to examine what makes up an inclusive STEM program, with specific foci on curriculum co-creation and gender responsiveness. Through purposive sampling of various stakeholders (n=47), several rounds of focus group discussions and interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis revealed key components of an inclusive STEM program, and strategies for promoting gender-responsiveness when co-creating this program. Moreover, these findings highlight the importance of enhancing students’ engagement in STEM through participatory decision-making and tailored interventions. The research contributes to both theory and practice by making recommendations for developing more inclusive, gender-responsive learning environments in STEM education.

The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) has intensified policy concerns regarding the capacity of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems to support future workforce development. While national strategies increasingly emphasize skills development for industry 4.0, less attention has been paid to the governance mechanisms that shape policy coherence and implementation. This study examines skills governance within Malaysia’s TVET system, focusing on how policy alignment, quality assurance (QA), institutional coordination, and industry engagement influence workforce readiness for the 4IR. Adopting a qualitative approach, data were collected through focus group discussions (FGD) with key stakeholders from government agencies, industry, and TVET institutions, and analyzed thematically. The findings identify four key governance dimensions which are security procedures and policies in managing skills data, QA and standards, collaboration policy between institution and industry, and strengthens curriculum developments. Despite strong policy commitments, fragmented governance arrangements continue to constrain the effectiveness of skills development initiatives. By reframing skills development as a governance challenge, this study contributes to policy futures debates and offers insights for strengthening integrated and future-ready TVET governance frameworks in developing economies undergoing rapid socio technical transformation.

The development of society has put forward higher requirements for K-12 talent cultivation. However, some situations are not optimistic, such as students’ low interest in mathematics, science and other disciplines, and the subject setting cannot match the needs of talent cultivation. Numerous studies confirmed that in the context of curriculum integration, further integration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum, learning methods and other aspects is needed, but there are still few summaries of the development direction and approaches of STEM in the context of STEM integration. This paper focuses on STEM integration, to clarify the development direction and approaches of STEM integration in the context of education reform, and then systematically summarize the development and existing problems of STEM integration education with a systematic literature review (SLR) method, 62 articles from 2013-2023 were finally selected from Web of Science (WoS). This study reveals the development of STEM curriculum, STEM pedagogy and models in STEM integration, attaches importance to the concept of interdisciplinary integration, advocates curriculum integration and improves students’ 21st century skills by integrating. In addition, there needs to be more research focusing on the internal impacts of learning outcomes, STEM literacy, and student STEM identity.

With the popularity of technology-supported blended learning (BL) in vocational colleges, students’ cognitive load (CL) caused by the increasing complexity of BL environments potentially impact the overall learning satisfaction (LS). In order to explore the effects of CL on students’ BL, this study investigates how different dimensions of learning engagement (LE) (emotional, cognitive, and behavioral) impact on students’ LS and whether CL can moderate these relationships. This quantitative study was conducted among 615 Chinese vocational students. Survey research was carried out by questionnaires that have been well-established that were taken and modified from previous studies. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the relationships among these variables. Findings revealed that emotional, cognitive, and behavioral engagement (BE) can positively predict LS. Additionally, BE mediates the relationship between psychological engagement (emotional and cognitive) and LS when CL is not at a low level. CL moderates the pathways from psychological engagement to BE and in turn changes the LE influence mechanism on LS. This study provides valuable insights for educators to stimulate students’ engagement by satisfying their psychological needs, and optimize teaching design to balance CL in order to maintain active LE and satisfaction levels.

This study investigates vocational students’ blended learning from the perspective of the extended Community of Inquiry framework (incorporating learning presence as the fourth presence), and examine the mediating role of academic self-efficacy and self-regulated learning (two constructs that we label ‘learning presence’) in the effect of teaching, social presences on cognitive presence in a blended learning environment. The research model is based on environmental factor (teaching presence and social presence), personal factor (learning presence) and cognitive presence as an outcome. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 538 students from 4 vocational colleges in Hebei province, China. Structural equation modelling results indicate that 1) teaching, social and learning presences are co-predictors of cognitive presence; 2) learning presence significantly mediates the effect of teaching, social presences on cognitive presence through self-regulated learning and academic self-efficacy; 3) academic self-efficacy positively influence self-regulated learning. The findings of this study revealed the critical role of learning presence in fostering cognitive development and positive interaction with the blended learning environments. Implications for interventions for blended teaching design are discussed with a focus on enhancing students’ presences and academic self-efficacy to facilitate students’ self-regulated learning and cognitive development.

HRMARS is well established journal publisher based in Pakistan. It is publishing prominent journals in social sciences since 2011.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the education field across the globe. This transformation has made education more accessible through the emergence of online distance learning. Therefore, this systematic literature review presents an extensive review and analysis of existing studies on online distance learning in the English as a Second Language context. The study’s main aim is to explore the effectiveness of online distance learning in the English as a Second Language context. The significance of the study lies in its potential to inform educational stakeholders about the advantages and areas for improvement in online distance learning for learners and teachers, thus enhancing educational practices and policies. The primary research question guiding this review is: What are the experiences and perceptions of teachers and students regarding online distance learning in the English as a Second Language context? The study follows the PRISMA 2020 statement guidelines for systematic literature reviews, investigating peer-reviewed articles from the SCOPUS and ERIC databases (2019 – 2023). Seventeen (17) studies were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The findings indicate growing research interest in online distance learning in the English as a Second Language context. Most of the studies employed qualitative design in which university students mainly were used as participants. The findings also provide invaluable insights regarding the benefits enjoyed by both students and teachers from online distance learning. Key benefits derived from students’ perceptions are comfort, enjoyable, time-saving, autonomous learning, improved communication, and collaborative skills. Teachers, on the other hand, stated that the benefits they enjoyed through online distance learning were time savings, a positive learning environment, improved teaching efficiency, money savings, and enhanced students’ psychological factors. To summarise, these findings suggest that stakeholders should take the appropriate measures to effectively implement online distance learning and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4), which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable education for all.