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Oumh1103 e Module
Oumh1103 e Module
LEARNING SKILLS
FOR OPEN DISTANCE
LEARNERS
Dr Wirawani Kamarulzaman
Dr Thirumeni Subramaniam
Oo Cheng Kiat
Assoc Prof Dr Nantha Kumar Subramaniam
Dr Harvinder Kaur Dharam Singh
Dr Gurcharan Singh Bishen Singh
Dr Raziana Che Aziz
Majumin Hanum Abdul Samad
Noor Zuleika Zulkipli
Project Directors: Prof Dr Mansor Fadzil
Prof Dr Widad Othman
Open University Malaysia
3.3.2 Patterns 48
3.3.3 Fractions, Decimal Numbers and Percentages 49
3.3.4 Interpreting Statistical Information 50
3.3.5 Measurement 51
3.3.6 Multiples, Factors and Primes 52
Summary 55
Key Terms 55
References 56
INTRODUCTION
OUMH1103
OUMH1103 Learning Skills for Open Distance Learners is one of the courses
offered by the Cluster of Education and Social Sciences at Open University
Malaysia (OUM). This course is worth 3 credit hours and should be covered over
8 to 15 weeks.
COURSE AUDIENCE
This course is offered to all students undertaking any programme with OUM
As an open and distance learner, you should be able to learn independently and
optimise the learning modes and environment available to you. Before you begin
this course, please confirm the course material, the course requirements and how
the course is conducted.
STUDY SCHEDULE
It is a standard OUM practice that learners accumulate 40 study hours for every
credit hour. As such, for a three-credit hour course, you are expected to spend
120 study hours. Table 1 gives an estimation of how the 120 study hours could be
accumulated.
x COURSE GUIDE
COURSE OUTCOMES
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
COURSE SYNOPSIS
This course is divided into nine topics. The synopsis for each topic is listed as
follows:
Topic 1 discusses the skills expected for 21st century, roles of 21st century
learner, their learning environment and characteristics that make learners a 21st
century learner.
Topic 2 provides tips and strategies that will help learners write better essay in
assignments and exams. In this topic also learners will be guided on how they
can apply their critical thinking, creative, communication and collaborative skills
in completing the assignment and preparing for the exams.
COURSE GUIDE ⊳ xi
Topic 3 introduces the definition of numeracy skills and discuss the importance
of numeracy in todayÊs world. Besides, the relation between numeracy and
mathematics will also be discussed in this topic. Nevertheless, learners will be
introduced to the term innumeracy and exposed to the three fundamental aspects
of numeracy; mathematical reasoning, problem solving and decision making.
Learners will learn to discover the numeracy continuum and discuss some ideas
on everyday life practices on numeracy. Finally, the word problems in
mathematics everyday life and ways to solve it will also be covered at the end of
this topic.
Topic
Topic 4.begins
4 with the description of the meaning of digital literacy and how
learners may develop their digital proficiency. In addition, the topic provides
better proficiencies in digital literacy. Furthermore, learners are expected to
adopt and apply all the best practices and expectations highlighted in each of the
proficiencies.
Topic 6 starts with the definition of critical thinking and followed by explaining
on how critical thinking skills can be improved. Besides, in this topic, learners
will also be exposed to the skills of critical thinking as well as the knowledge to
distinguish between deductive and inductive reasoning. Through this topic also,
learners will be able to classify the ways to assess critical thinking skills.
Topic 7 assists learners to gain communication skills and also how to become an
effective communicator. Learners will learn the essence and barriers of effective
communication.
Topic 9 discusses on Global Citizenship Education and its importance in the 21st
century. Next, this topic will focus on the roles of the state in globalisation.
Nonetheless, international conflicts in the post-Cold War era will also be
explained in this topic. Gender equality in the 21st century from the political and
economic aspects will mark the end of this topic that relating to themes of the
Global Citizenship Education.
xii COURSE GUIDE
Topic 10 begins by discovering the environment, its benefits and the importance
of conserving it. Moreover, in this topic, learners will learn about the concepts of
„green‰ and „green technology‰ which are needed in order to make informed
decisions. In addition, learners will have the opportunity to explore the concept
of sustainability and the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Learning Outcomes: This section refers to what you should achieve after you
have completely covered a topic. As you go through each topic, you should
frequently refer to these learning outcomes. By doing this, you can continuously
gauge your understanding of the topic.
Self-
Self-Check: This component of the module is inserted at strategic locations
throughout the module. It may be inserted after one sub-section or a few sub-
sections. It usually comes in the form of a question. When you come across this
component, try to reflect on what you have already learnt thus far. By attempting
to answer the question, you should be able to gauge how well you have
understood the sub-section(s). Most of the time, the answers to the questions can
be found directly from the module itself.
Summary: You will find this component at the end of each topic. This component
helps you to recap the whole topic. By going through the summary, you should
be able to gauge your knowledge retention level. Should you find points in the
summary that you do not fully understand, it would be a good idea for you to
revisit the details in the module.
COURSE GUIDE ⊳ xiii
Key Terms: This component can be found at the end of each topic. You should go
through this component to remind yourself of important terms or jargon used
throughout the module. Should you find terms here that you are not able to
explain, you should look for the terms in the module.
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
This is an introductory course. There is no prior knowledge needed.
ASSESSMENT METHOD
Please refer to myINSPIRE.
REFERENCES
Cabral, L. (2006). Twenty‐first century skills for students: Hands‐on learning after
school builds school and life success. New Directions for Youth
Development, 2006(110), 155-161
Dietrich, A. (2015) How Creativity Happens in the Brain. (1st ed) Palgrave
Macmillan UK.
de Bono, E. (1994). Teach your child how to think: Help them survive and thrive.
London: Penguin Book.
Eunson, Baden. (2016). Communicating in the 21st Century. Qld, Australian:
John Wiley & Sons.
Moore, S. (2010). The Ultimate Study Skills Handbook. England : McGraw-Hill
Education. (Available in EBSCOhost Database, OUM Digital Library)
Rachel, S & Graham, G. (2013). Teaching Adult Numeracy: Principles and
Practice. Maidenhead, Berkshire : McGraw-Hill Education
xiv COURSE GUIDE
INTRODUCTION
Do you know that you are living in the 21st century in accordance to Gregorian
calendar? It started on January 1, 2001 and will end on December 31, 2100. So what
is the big deal about this century? It is in this era that digital revolution is
continuously taking place with instantaneous and infinite ways of using Internet.
The Internet access is expanding widely. Majority of people in the developed
world are having access to the Internet. A large number of world’s population
owns mobile phones. With the surge of smart phones getting more affordable,
there are emerging trends of social media networking. I am sure you had at least
used WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram, Pinterest and/or
YouTube, which are among the popular social media apps for modern form of
digital communication.
2 TOPIC 1 BEING 21ST CENTURY LEARNER
The advancement of technology has impacted our lives. The world is increasingly
living in a globalised society through the digital social networking. There is an
accelerating change in economy and technology in the society we live in.
Technology has penetrated at our work place, learning institutions, social circles,
and many varied ways. As such, government, educators and major employers
realised this and identified key skills that are needed by learners for meeting the
demands of the changing workplace and society.
It is necessary that we equip ourselves with the right skills that will eventually help
us in meeting the demands of the 21st century. In the following sections of this
chapter we will discuss the skills expected for 21st century, roles of 21st century
learner, their learning environment and characteristics that make you a 21st century
learner.
In the previous section we have discussed briefly the way technology influenced
our lives. With the changes taking place in the employment market, it necessitates
us to be flexible and adaptable to fit in the different roles of career fields. In view of
that, education institutions are rapidly innovating and designing their learning
spaces and content in the digital era. Instructors have also changed their
instructional deliveries with the support of the educational technologies.
In the past, teachers presented information and learners absorbed the information
as part of their knowledge. Today, these assumptions are wrong as learners will
not be viable employees in the digital era. So, what should todayÊs learners do?
Learners must take active role in creating their knowledge and learning
experiences. Technology has influenced the way we learn, acquire information,
think and interconnect. As a learner, you are expected to have competencies of
how to acquire, integrate and use the new knowledge for solving problems and
able to apply the new knowledge in different context. In a nutshell, you must have
21st century learning skills.
What are the 21st century learning skills? 21st century skills comprise skills, abilities
and qualities to be successful in 21st century society and workplaces. Many of these
skills are also associated with higher order thinking skills, which is based on
analytic reasoning, complex problem solving and teamwork. These skills are useful
in mastering knowledge in your academic content.
TOPIC 1 BEING 21ST CENTURY LEARNER ⊳ 3
There are several frameworks discussing 21st century skills, but for the purpose of
this chapter, we will focus on four dominant categories of 21st century skills
which is partially adapted from “Framework for 21st Century Learning”
(http://www.p21.org/our-work/p21-framework). These categories are Learning
and Innovation
Innovation,
nnovation Digital Literacy
Literacy,
iteracy Career and Life Skills
Skills and Metacognitive
etacognitive Skills as
shown in Figure 1.1. Metacognitive skills were not present in the said framework
but it is included in our discussion because it is important for the learners to be
mindfully thinking of their own thinking process. And, this skill can be acquired
through reflective thinking exercises and practicing self-directed learning
strategies. Each of these caegories has various types of skills as listed in Table 1.1.
Technology literacy
Digital literacy Information literacy
Media literacy
A quick search on the Internet on 21st century skills often shows greater
importance given on the four core competencies, popularly known as 4Cs of 21st
century skills which include, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and
communication. A simple understanding of these skills are:
(b) Creativity: you are able to innovate ingeniously or think outside the box.
(c) Collaboration: you are able to work together and interact to achieve a
common goal.
(d) Communication: you are able to convey ideas in the best manner.
Basically, these skills are intended to help you keep up with the 21st century pace.
Each skill is unique in how it helps you, but they all are essential in the age of the
Internet. You will be using most of these skills while doing the learning activities of
your academic courses. However in reality, there is no one skill that could be
applied in solo. You will soon notice that in order to solve a particular problem,
you will be applying a conglomeration of multiple sets of skills. In addition, certain
sets of skills will help you develop other skills as well. We will discuss more on
how you can develop and apply some of these skills in the coming chapters of this
course. It will be meaningless to be informed about the skills and not applying it in
your learning.
6 TOPIC 1 BEING 21ST CENTURY LEARNER
ACTIVITY 1.1
Explain how each of the 21st century skills will benefit you in today’s
calssroom.
It is clear that due to the demands of technology and societal changes, 21st
century classroom has to be different than in 20th century. Your instructors or
teachers are facilitators of your learning and will not be the sole knowledge
source. This means that your role as learner will be different in this century. You
are required to develop skills that you may need at present or in future. In
addition, the right skills will help you to carry out your roles effectively as a 21st
century learner. LetÊs find out how many of the following roles do you fit in:
(f) Be Independent
Do you learn autonomously? You are totally responsible for your decisions
concerned on your learning process. As an independent learner, you should
be aware of what strategies work, how to get resources and assistance in
your learning.
and diet. And, while our earth environment is mutually cared for , we
should also have awareness of political and economical globalisation
through creating shared future that appreciates common values for
humankind.
These roles but defintely not limited will equip you to obtain educational benefits
in the 21st century.You are most likely to be involved with more than one of these
roles at any point of time during your learning. LetÊs reflect on the possible roles
you have taken while reading this chapter. Can you identify it?
ACTIVITY 1.2
What are the roles a 21st century learner should be practicing? Can you
think of other roles other than that is listed above?
Past teaching environments such as lecture are not effective anymore in meeting
the above roles. We need 21st century learning environment that will help todayÊs
learners to learn and improve themselves. What is a 21st century learning
environment? The term learning environment suggests place and space such as a
school, a classroom, virtual, online learning management system, etc. Learning
environments will inspire us to attain the knowledge and skills that are
demanded by the 21st century.
environment in which they will enter as modern day workers. They need to
develop their problem solving, thinking skills, creativity and innovation skills,
effective communication skills and collaborative skills, while being proficient in
digital literacy and other skills that they will need in the 21st century workforce.
Our society is a mixture of many different beliefs and cultures. Globalisation has
opened up the world and allowed us to connect in new ways. We view the world
and create our beliefs through our life experiences. Learning is about discovery,
not memorising facts.
For these reasons, our learning environment should provide the platform that is
more centred on learners. An environment that excites learners to explore,
understand, experiment, develop and express their knowledge and beliefs.
As such, your instructor will be facilitating your learning by creating effective
learning environment. Often, Internet and educational technological tools will be
used in the teaching and learning. The 21st century learning environment will:
(a) Help to create learning practices in achieving learning outcomes through 21st
century skills.
(b) Facilitate application of 21st century skills into classroom or online learning.
(c) Integrate technology tools and media rich resources for teaching
instructions, learning activities and assessment.
(d) Support learning communities that enable you to collaborate with your
peers and teacher.
(e) Enable you to learn in a real world context through projects or case studies.
ACTIVITY 1.3
How do you learn? How do you think deeply about your learning? Is your
learning enduring and continuous? These are some questions that will make you
think of the qualities or characteristics that you need to own and carry out to be
an effective learner.
You may wonder why it is important to know about the kind of actions that you
will be taking for learning. Well, as briefly introduced to you earlier in this topic,
this course will create awareness of the kind of skills that are essential for your
academic and lifelong success in the 21st century. Table 1.2 lists some of the key
characteristics of 21st century learner. To make learning happen, you will take
responsibility and ownership of your learning while harnessing your capabilities
academicaly, socially and emotionally.
Do you consider yourself as the 21st century learner? Let’s find out by ticking on
some of the key characteristics of 21st century learner in Table 1.2.
TOPIC 1 BEING 21ST CENTURY LEARNER ⊳ 11
20. I think about what I really need to learn before I begin a task.
These 21 characteristics of 21st century learner, certainly not limited to, will
somewhat make you be aware of your attitude towards learning. Be mindful of
your strengths and weaknesses and take appropriate actions to maximise your
learning. In addition, distance learners are encouraged to carry out these
characteristics, as it will definitely be vital for their success.
(a) Explain the various types of skills a 21st century learner is expected
to have.
(b) What are the roles of 21st century learners?
(c) Describe the 21st century learning environment by relating it to
your learning activities.
(d) What characterisitics should you have to be considered as 21st
century learner?
• There are four dominant categories of 21st century skills, which include (i)
Learning Skills and Innovation Skills, (ii) Digital Literacy, (iii) Career and
Life Skills, and (iv) Metacognitive Skills.
• As the 21st century learner you need to understand and fulfill your roles in
order to obtain educational benefits. However, you can only effectively play
your roles by applying the unique 21st century learning skills.
Cabral, L. (2006). Twenty-first century skills for students: Hands-on learning after
school builds school and life success. New Directions for Youth Development,
2006(110), 155-161.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
1. apply essay writing skills; and
2. apply the tips and strategies of studying for examinations.
INTRODUCTION
As a 21st century learner, you are bound to get coursework, assignments, and
exams. Do you know why they are given to you? Well, because it will allow your
instructors know whether you have mastered or not the intended learning
outcomes of the course. Usually, your assignments and exams are marked and
graded.
There are many forms of assessments besides assignments and exams. Most
courses will require you to write an essay for assignment. Writing essays and
sitting for exams can be challenging for many learners. Some learners have
difficulties in completing a good essay. They are not sure what is to be written in
the essay and they are not aware of the importance of including references in the
essay. Besides that, there are times, when some learners think that they have
studied well but still perform poorly in exams. Despite of doing the assessments
every semester, learners still do feel the anxiety in facing it.
In view of that, this chapter aims to provide tips and strategies that will help you
do better in essay writing and exams. You will be guided on how you can apply
your critical thinking, creative, communication and collaborative skills in
TOPIC 2 STUDY SKILLS: ESSAY AND EXAMS ⊳ 15
completing the assignment and preparing for the exams. In the following sections
of this chapter, we will discuss the strategies of writing essay and preparing for
exams.
Majority of your courses may require you to write essays for assignment. Writing
the essays can be dreaded by many learners. Do you feel the same? LetÊs change
this mind set through these tips and skills.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
FgsHJdFoXvY&feature=youtu.be
ACTIVITY 2.1
(a) Introduction
Your essay should start with an Introduction. Under Introduction paragraph,
you should provide an overview or a brief background on the topic of the
essay. Then, state the purpose of the essay and also the scope. The purpose
will provide the reader the objective of your essay. And, the scope will briefly
tell the reader what you have written in the Main Content. An example of an
Introduction is shown in Figure 2.1.
18 TOPIC 2 STUDY SKILLS: ESSAY AND EXAMS
these issues.
Figure 2.1:
2.1 Sample for Introduction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
kgV_zjnWpBU&feature=youtu.be
TOPIC 2 STUDY SKILLS: ESSAY AND EXAMS ⊳ 19
The writing process of the essay will involve many of the 21st century skills
that you will learn in the coming chapters. You will be required to think
critically on issues that you would like to address in the essay. Most likely,
you will need to search for information and review the content critically. You
will also need creative elements in the presentation, perhaps, through writing
style and graphics. The way the message is conveyed will involve
communication skills.
20 TOPIC 2 STUDY SKILLS: ESSAY AND EXAMS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
YzhGYHxmsa0&feature=youtu.be
(c) Conclusion
The Conclusion should be the summary of your essay. Do not write new
ideas under Conclusion. A good conclusion should provide the reader with a
TOPIC 2 STUDY SKILLS: ESSAY AND EXAMS ⊳ 21
sense of completion or closure of the essay topic. The conclusion must show
progress in the development of the topic from the introduction and through
the main content. An example of a Conclusion is shown in Figure 2.3.
Heading for
conclusion
Conclusion
Summary on all
High cost of living can result numerous social issues and key points
economical issues such as low competitiveness in producing (issues &
goods and services, high ….. However, there are some possible solutions)
ways or measures can be taken to cope with the ever changing discussed in the
increase of living cost. Some of the suggested solutions were essay
….
In short, spending wisely and responsibly of one’s income can Concluding
help in financial stability and somewhat face the challenges of remarks or
the rising cost of living. your stand on
the issue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
rgyeAeE3DGI&feature=youtu.be
22 TOPIC 2 STUDY SKILLS: ESSAY AND EXAMS
(d) References
References that are cited in the text should also be written in the Reference list and
vice-versa. Both in-text citation and reference list should be written according to
APA (American Psychological Association) citation style. Besides APA citation
style, the other referencing styles are: MLA (Modern Language Association),
Oxford, Harvard and Chicago.
In-text
citation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
qzKlb7E7ERc&feature=youtu.be
Figure 2.5:
2.5 Sample for Reference list in APA Style
24 TOPIC 2 STUDY SKILLS: ESSAY AND EXAMS
In the Internet age, there are lots of information available in the Internet which
can be accessed easily and freely. Unfortunately, some learners misuse it and
copy other authorÊs writing in their essay. Copying another studentÊs essay is
also called plagiarism. Now that you know what plagiarism is, how can you
avoid it? Plagiarism can be avoided by:
(a) Paraphrasing
Re-writing the ideas using your own words and acknowledge the author
for the ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
0X3iqxWr47s
You may use systems that automatically generate APA citation for your
references, such as:
Citation Machine;
bibMe; and
Microsoft Word > References > Insert Citation> Bibliography.
26 TOPIC 2 STUDY SKILLS: ESSAY AND EXAMS
TOPIC 2 STUDY SKILLS: ESSAY AND EXAMS ⊳ 27
https://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com/APA
6th/referencelist
ACTIVITY 2.2
Cite the APA referencing style for the following book.
Book Title : The 21st century learner
Book Author : Beverly Sheppard
Book Publisher : Institute of Museum and Library Services
Publication Year : 2001
28 TOPIC 2 STUDY SKILLS: ESSAY AND EXAMS
(b) Mnemonics
A mnemonics is a device such as formula, rhyme or acronym to help you
remember facts or ideas. For example, the mnemonic of the rainbowÊs seven
colours (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet) could be written
as: Read Out Your Good Book In Verse.
TOPIC 2 STUDY SKILLS: ESSAY AND EXAMS ⊳ 31
ACTIVITY 2.3
Explains five ways of memorising facts that are effective for you.
The exam paper format includes parts in the paper and number of questions to
be answered under each part. For example, a particular courseÊs exam paper may
contain 3 parts: Part A (Answer all questions), Part B (There are 5 questions,
answer only 3 questions) and Part C (There are 2 questions, answer only 1
question). Each part will have its own instructions.
There are several types of questions which can be categorised into (a) Objective
Questions and (b) Subjective Questions as shown in Table 2.1.
32 TOPIC 2 STUDY SKILLS: ESSAY AND EXAMS
Table 2.1:
2.1 Objective and Subjective Questions
Some exam papers may have a combination of different types of questions. For
example, Part A contains short answer questions and Part B contains essay type
questions.
How will you know what is your course format and what type of questions will
be asked? Check the course information on assessment available in myInspire or
ask your tutor.
The common types of questions are Short Answer Question, Essay Type
Question and Multiple-Choice Question. Both short answer and essay question
are referred as subjective questions and multiple-choice question is classified as
objective question.
(c) Multiple-
Multiple-Choice Question
Question
Multiple-choice question consists of a question (stem), and a number of
possible answers (options). Usually, each question will have 3 or 4 options.
You have to choose one correct answer from these options.
34 TOPIC 2 STUDY SKILLS: ESSAY AND EXAMS
Select the best answer. Read the question and all the options. All the
answers might be right, but there is only one best answer.
Eliminate the wrong answer. Start by identifying the wrong answer
rather than looking for the right one.
Look out for negatives. For example, „Which of these ⁄. is NOT ⁄.?‰
Be caution of „All the Above‰ and „None of the Above‰. If you can
find one wrong answer, you can immediately eliminate the „All the
Above‰. If you think at least one of the answers is correct, then you
can eliminate „None of the Above‰.
Mark the question that you are not sure and re-visit the question later.
Answer all questions. Do not leave any question unanswered.
(a) What are the mistakes you should avoid in your essay writing?
(b) How will you prepare for the various types of examination
questions?
• It is important for 21st century learners master essay writing skills and
prepare well for exams.
• There are several strategies that can help you do well for examinations,
such as know how to prepare yourself, apply effective memorising methods
and be familiar with the exam formats and type of questions.
• As a learner you need to know how to study for and answer the 3 common
exam types of questions namely, short answer question, essay type
question and multiple-choice question.
Exam Questions: Types, Characteristics, and Suggestions (n.d). Centre for Teaching
Excellence, University of Waterloo. Retrieved from https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-
for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/developing-
assignments/exams/questions-types-characteristics-suggestions
Manoukian, J. & Chubb, J. (2013, November 20). Study Tips: Top 5 Memeorisation
Techniques. Retrieved from https://www.dal.ca/news/2013/11/20/study-tips--
top-5-memorization-techniques.html
INTRODUCTION
The topic on numeracy skills is introduced to adult learners with the aim to
provide quality numeracy instruction and help them achieve the mathematical
knowledge and skills that will enable them to adjust to this growing societal
demand. All facets of adult life including family, education, employment and
community has made numeracy as an essential skill for 21st century success.
Adults with good numeracy skills are able to function responsibly in everyday
life and contribute effectively to the society. The current high level of interest in
promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) has also
raised awareness of the importance of developing numeracy skills in the
population. We begin this topic by introducing the definition of numeracy and
discuss the importance of numeracy in todayÊs world. Later, we will discuss the
relation between numeracy and mathematics. Learners will be introduced to the
term innumeracy and exposed to the fundamental aspects of numeracy;
mathematical reasoning, problem solving and decision making. Learners will be
TOPIC 3 NUMERACY SKILLS ⊳ 37
SELF-CHECK 3.1
3.1 NUMERACY
Numeracy is a way of connecting literary and scientific principles. It is also
known as „the mirror image of literacy‰. Numeracy is defined as the ability to
understand and work with numbers ("Numeracy | Definition of numeracy in
English by Oxford Dictionaries"). Numeracy is considered as fundamental
mathematical skills which include the ability to understand and analyse
numerical information, express ideas based on numerical information and to
make the right conclusions and decisions. Fundamental arithmetics including
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are considered as the basic
skills in numeracy. The important aspects numeracy also include numbers and
operations, computation, measurement, geometry, statistics and probability.
The concept of numeracy and its relation with mathematics is depicted in Figure
3.1. Numeracy does overlap significantly with a subsection of what is taught in
school, but it also includes the ability to use numbers in real life.
38 TOPIC 3 NUMERACY SKILLS
ACTIVITY 3.1
Figure 3.1:
3.1 Numeracy and Mathematics
[Source
Source:
Source https://www.thinknpc.org]
ACTIVITY 3.1
Do you know that numeracy skills are useful not only for children in the
school but also for your job application? Discuss with your friends the
importance of numeracy skills and list 5 occupations (excluding
mathematics teachers) that definitely need at least some basic numeracy
skills.
Working with numbers trains our mind to think logically and critically. Basic
numeracy by fact, is a logically derived system. When you are learning to
manipulate basic numbers, it will give you an entry into the thought processes
that critical thinking are built upon. Numeracy allows people to make
comparisons in their everyday life. "Did unplugging appliances when you are
not using them can reduce your utility bill?
3.1.2 Innumeracy
Innumeracy is defined as a lack of ability to understand and use numbers in
calculations ("INNUMERACY|meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary").
The effect of innumeracy has on peopleÊs lives is much less self evident than not
being able to illiteracy. Poor numeracy has a negative impact on many people
and their families. It affects peopleÊs confidence and self-esteem. Innumeracy has
been seen in those suffering from poverty, poor education experience and
childhood deprivation of numeracy. Patterns of innumeracy have been perceived
depending on age, gender and race. Older adults have been associated with
lower numeracy skills than younger adults. Improving the numeracy skills
among adults will directly contributes to growth in personal and social
confidence.
Figure 3.2:
3.2 Fundamental skills in numeracy
[Source
Source:
Source https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/essentials-numeracy]
Figure 3.3:
3.3 Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
Deductive
Deductive reasoning is a basic form of valid reasoning and involves making a
logical argument, drawing conclusions, and applying generalizations to specific
situations. For example, „All OUMH1103 students pass the exam. Amy is
OUMH1103 students. Therefore, Amy pass the exam.‰ In deductive reasoning, if
something is true of a class of things in general, it is also true for all members of
that class.
SELF-CHECK 3.2
Devise a plan
Identify the pattern
Study the related problem to apply the same technique
Create table/diagram/ equation
Looking back
Check the results of the original problem
Interpret the solution in terms if the original problem
Determine whether there is another method of finding the solution
Figure 3.4:
3.4 PólyaÊs four stages of problem solving
TOPIC 3 NUMERACY SKILLS ⊳ 43
Example 3.1
Afiq, Zila and Maria were picking strawberries. Afiq picked twice as much
strawberries than Zila and Maria picked 2 kg more than Zila. Together the three
of them picked 30 kg of strawberries. How many kilograms did each of them
pick?
Solution:
We can translate the wording into numeric notation like the following table
44 TOPIC 3 NUMERACY SKILLS
Zila x
To know how many strawberries picked by each of them, we need to find the
value of x first,
2x + x + (x+2) = 30
4x+2 = 30
4x = 28
x=7
SELF-CHECK 3.3
2. Emilia and Alicia are comparing their heights. Emilia is 1.5 metres
tall and Alicia is 15 centimetres taller than Emilia. What is Alicia’s
height in centimetre (cm)?
TOPIC 3 NUMERACY SKILLS ⊳ 45
There are seven steps involved in the decision making process, shown in Figure
3.5. Using a step-by-step decision making process can help you make more
deliberative, thoughful decisions by organising relevant information and
defining alternatives.
Figure 3.5:
3.5 Decision Making Process
ACTIVITY 3.2
You want to buy some cereals in the supermarket. A small box of cereals
has 500g and costs RM8.50. Whole larger box has 1,000g cereals and
costs RM15. Which box should you buy?
46 TOPIC 3 NUMERACY SKILLS
Now let us consider this situation. You are organising a birthday party for your
son and ten people are invited to attend the party. All of your guests must get
enough of each food item. You need to calculate number of people and serve
equally by slicing a cake into the same portions. In this case, you are using
natural numbers and division to ensure all people get enough food. As an
another example, when you do budgeting for your household, numbers and
operations are very essential in adding and subtracting income and expenses.
Example 3.2
Solution:
From the information, En Zamri increased his honey harvest by 2,385 kilograms
this year.
Example 3.3
Solution:
Example 3.4
Zainal filled 50 plates with cookies. He put 5 cookies on each plate. How many
cookies did Zainal use?
Solution:
Example 3.5
Pak Ali picked 350 guavas from his farm. He needs to divide the guavas into
bags to sell at the market. Pak Ali wants to put the same number of guava in 70
bags. How many guavas could Pak Ali put in each bag?
Solution:
3.3.2 Patterns
Patterns and number patterns are the foundation in mathematics because it is
considered as the building block in understanding numbers. Recognising and
understanding number sequences helps us to generate algebraic formulae. With
patterns, you can learn to predict the future and discover new things and hence
better understand the world around us.
Example 3.6
Consider that you are going to play paintball with your friends. It costs RM15 for
admission and an additional RM5 for every round of balls. This relationship can
be represented by the expression 5b + 20. Use this pattern rule to complete the
table of values below.
Solution:
Since the relationship can be represented by the expression 5b + 20, we verify
first the total cost for round 1 as follow:
Round 1 : 5 (1) + 20 = 25
Now using expression 5b + 20, we calculate the total cost for each round as
presented in the following table:
TOPIC 3 NUMERACY SKILLS ⊳ 49
What doest percent mean? The word percent comes from the phrase “per cent”.
Cent is a root that means one hundred, so “per cent” literally means per one
hundred. It is used in a various contexts in everyday ife. You can see special
deals in supermarket such as 50% discount or 25% mark down. The capability of
interchanging between a fraction, decimal number and percentage is a skill that
allows different ways in problem solving.
Example 3.7
Solution:
Commision = 4% of RM 300,000.00
= _4 x RM 300,000.00
100
= RM12, 000.00
SELF-CHECK 3.4
1. Imagine you bought four items costing RM36.99, RM22.99,
RM16.85 and RM 8.25 from an online shop and the postage is
RM10.90. Start rounding these prices to the nearest RM and
estimate for the total cost.
Example 3.8
Source:
Source https://www.dosm.gov.my
Calculate the population of Malaysia citizens in the year 2017 and 2018?
Comments on the difference.
Solution:
The difference between 2018 and 2017 = 28.77 million – 28.74 million
= 0.03 million
= 30000
Thus, the population increased by 0.03 million in 2018 as compared to 2017.
3.3.5 Measurement
Measurement provides a standard for things and processes in everyday life. It is
essential in science and technical fields and to almost all everyday activities.
Calculations involving weight, height, area, volume, time are required in real life
contexts and enable us to work out accurate amounts. If you want to bake a cake,
you need to know how many grams of butter required in the recipe and
definitely you will use kitchen scale to measure it accurately. When you are
52 TOPIC 3 NUMERACY SKILLS
monitoring your body mass index (BMI), you need to measure your own body
weight and height using measurement tools accurately.
Example 3.9
Mary buys a reel of thread for sewing. There are 10 metres of thread on the reel.
She uses 210 centimetres. How much is left on the reel in centimetres?
Solution:
ACTIVITY 3.3
Waist circumference is an indicator of health risk associated with excess
body fat around the waist. LetÊs measure our waist circumference using
this simple steps:
1. Find the top of your hip bone and the bottom of your ribs
2. Place the tape measure midway between these points and wrap
it around your waist
3. Check your measurement
Your health is at risk if your waist size is
Men Over 94 cm (about 37 inches)
Women Over 80 cm (about 31.5 inches)
[Source
Source:
Source https://www.heartfoundation.org]
amount of a loan. You also can use factors in travelling by calculating how many
hours it would take to the destination.
A prime number is a whole number greater than 1 whose only factors are 1 and
itself. It is considered as the building blocks of the number system. In real life
application, it often used to encrypt information via communication networks by
mobile, to encode information that is sent wirelessly when making transactions
on our credit cards, debit cards, computers and many more.
Example 3.10
Florence the florist has 24 white, 42 red and 36 yellow roses. What is the greatest
number of identical bunches she can make that uses all of the flowers?
Solution:
Thus, Florence can make 6 identical bunches by using all the flowers.
54 TOPIC 3 NUMERACY SKILLS
SELF-CHECK 3.5
2. Alina’s weight is 65kg and her height is 146cm. Calculate her body
mass index (BMI) and state whether Alina’s BMI is in healthy
range or not? Given that the healthy range is in between
18.5kg/m2 - 24.9kg/m2.
1. Describe the meaning of digital literacy and how you may develop
your digital proficiency;
3. Adopt and apply all the best practices and expectations highlighted in
each of the proficiencies.
INTRODUCTION
Computing and communication technologies are now
b becoming an increasingly important part of our daily life.
This has created a digital world where all are available at
the touch of a screen. As a student, are you confident enough to deal
with digital technologies in your learning? As a student, how would
you enhance your proficiency to use the digital technologies in an
effective manner?
https://youtu.be/E_2pVrl87Nc
You need to have a good digital literacy or proficiency level in order to survive in
this digital world as depicted in the following video.
https://youtu.be/p2k3C-iB88w
The term Âdigital literacyÊ was first introduced by Paul Gilster, way back
in 1997. Gilster has defined digital literary as „ability to understand and
use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it
is presented via computers‰ (Gilster 1997).
Recent definitions on „digital literacy‰ may have some variations as
compared to the above definition. For example, Cornell University
defines digital literacy as „the ability to find, evaluate, utilize, share, and
create content using information technologies and the Internet.‰
(https://digitalliteracy.cornell.edu/).
Remember that true digital literacy goes beyond these fundamental skills. It is
interesting to note that the term „literacy‰ is about development. Thus,
TOPIC 4 DIGITAL LITERACY ⊳ 59
Figure 4.1: Digital Literacy Development Framework by Beetham and Sharpe (2010)
This framework has four levels in which the lower portion of the hierarchy must
be satisfied before individuals can attend to the higher up needs. Thus, as a
student, you must develop from the base of the pyramid to its peak. In fact, you
may treat this development model as Maslow's „Hierarchy of Needs‰.
All of the above proficiencies will help you to reach the upper portion of the
digital literacy development framework (refer to Fig. 4.1).
60 TOPIC 4 DIGITAL LITERACY
The components shown in Figure 4.3 are the foundational tasks that will lead to
ICT literacy. The International ICT Literacy Panel has further expanded this
model to more fully represent the complexity of ICT literacy as shown in Figure
4.4. Figure 4.4 depicts the basic set of skills and knowledge that form the basis of
ICT literacy: ICT,
ICT cognitive and technical proficiencies.
proficiencies
Figure 4.4: The basic set of skills and knowledge that form the basis of ICT literacy
Source:
Source Digital Transformation A Framework for ICT Literacy,
A Report of the International ICT Literacy Panel
TOPIC 4 DIGITAL LITERACY ⊳ 63
Basic skills to operate a computer. You may refer to the link below for
more information on computer:
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Computers_for_Beginners/The_Basics
*You may use any other suitable applications besides the above. There are many
open source applications that can perform the above tasks. The choice is yours!
We may expect that individuals with low cognitive proficiency but with high
technical proficiency would be able to perform particular technical tasks in which
they had been trained. However, they would probably not possess the kind of
generalizable skills or knowledge that could help them work with new
applications or perform novel tasks and they would most likely not be able to
acquire such skills independently.
On the other hand, people with high cognitive proficiency but low technical
proficiency would require technical training in order to develop ICT proficiency
but would be expected to do so and once engaged with ICT would be able to
acquire new skills and knowledge in a rather short time and independently.
Are you confused? DonÊt worry. Information about ICT literacy and the five
components of ICT literacy described earlier is given in the following video with
examples.
https://youtu.be/Io2A6dVsHVQ
ACTIVITY 4.1
Some of the figures in this chapter have QR codes that enable you to
watch the videos or to view the external resources directly from your
phone. If you are yet to experience this, then please explore on how
you can use it through your phone. Remember that this will contribute
to your technical proficiency of the ICT Literacy.
„Information‰ is the result of data that has been given a meaning. New Oxford
American Dictionary defines information as "facts provided or learned about
something or someone". According to Li (2014):
Which tools should you use to discover whether the library has the
articles or books that you need?
Do you know the methods that you can use to search for the articles?
What would be your options if the library does not have the articles or
books that you are looking for?
If you have no clue or answers for the above questions, then you really have to
improve your information literacy level. Information Literacy is a type of fluency
that you need to master – not only by the student but everyone. The Presidential
Committee of the American Library Association (ALA; http://www.ala.org/)
pointed out that "Information Literacy is a survival skill in the Information Age"
(ALA, 1989). This shows the importance of information literacy in this 21st
century. Now let us see the definition of information literacy.
Information literacy relates to information not just print, but also spoken word,
digital content, images and data. Information Literacy may be deployed in
everyday life without you knowing that you are making use of it – for instance,
by checking hotel reviews or travel review websites.
https://youtu.be/1ronp6Iue9w
that are needed to make the best use of information and to interpret it
thoughtfully. It has critical thinking and awareness, as well as an understanding
of both the ethical and political issues associated with using information.
Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong learning. It enables learners to
master content, become more self-directed, and takes greater control over their
own learning. Information literacy is also related to information technology
skills. Information technology skills enable an individual to use computers,
applications software, databases, and other technologies to achieve a wide
variety of academic, work-related, and personal goals. It is interesting to note
that information literate individuals tend to develop some technological skills.
This is because information literacy activities such as understanding, finding,
evaluating, and using information may be accomplished effectively through
information technology tools or applications. Information literacy initiates,
sustains, and extends lifelong learning through abilities which may use
technologies but are ultimately independent of them.
Figure 4.5: The Internet through web is full of information. However, merely using the
Internet to access information does not make you an information literate.
In higher education, information literacy is not just about learning how to search
for an information using search engine or search information in a library
database. In fact, the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher
Education, created by the Association of College and Research Libraries in 2015,
listed SIX frames that act as gateway to understanding, thinking about and
practicing information literacy by students like you. These frames are the critical
gateway through which students like you must use to develop genuine expertise
within a knowledge domain or discipline. The SIX frames are listed below in
alphabetical order:
https://youtu.be/hbe6xBibOL4
Each frame has TWO sections, namely knowledge practices and dispositions.
Knowledge practices demonstrates on how learners can increase their
understanding of these information literacy concepts. On the other hand,
dispositions address the affective or valuing dimension of learning. The
following web resource highlights the knowledge practices and dispositions for
each of the frames.
https://view.genial.ly/5bd9148f621f1111d30d1c06
ACTIVITY 4.2
The 21st century education is all about application of technology in teaching and
learning. The influence of technology on teaching and learning is remarkable
(just observe around you!). The video below highlights how technology has
shaped teaching and learning.
https://youtu.be/nA1Aqp0sPQo
Nowadays, many lessons are delivered in digital format including the online
learning via Web/Internet. You, as a learner at Open University Malaysia that
uses technology heavily in teaching and learning, need to have confidence and
motivation in order to engage in online learning or online classroom.
TEL is often used as a synonym for e-learning or digital learning. When TEL is
applied in web environment, then it becomes online learning. Technology
enhanced learning can provide learning opportunities that are unconstrained by
time or location, support wider and more relevant learning experiences and
provide opportunities for students to take greater control of their own learning.
Nowadays, TEL is delivered primarily as online learning. The use of technology
can add value to your learning by enabling:
Figure 4.7 shows how some of the ever growing learning technologies that
can support the various aspects of learning, teaching and assessment via TEL.
As a student at Open University Malaysia (OUM), you will soon start using
or applying some of these tools.
Figure 4.7
4.7: Ever growing learning technologies that support the various aspects of
learning
Source:
ource https://tel4dt.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/what-is-tel
72 TOPIC 4 DIGITAL LITERACY
Technology-
Technology-enhanced Learning is very much related to
ICT literacy.
literacy Do you know why? Refer to Figure 4.4 for the clue. You have
learnt that ICT literacy is influenced by cognitive, technical and ICT
proficiencies. You need to have a good technical proficiency such as using the
computer and the learning applications. You may use this technical
proficiency to enhance your cognitive proficiency. For example, you may use
the forum system to ask questions in order to clear your doubts or to gain
understanding on the subject matter. If you already have a good cognitive
proficiency on certain concepts of the subject matter, then you may help your
coursemates by engaging in the discussion. You may create „community of
inquiry‰ or „community of practice‰ in order to raise cognitive proficiency of
yours or your coursemates.
TOPIC 4 DIGITAL LITERACY ⊳ 73
Figure 4.8
4.8: Homepage of OUMÊs myINSPIRE LMS (inspire.oum.edu.my)
74 TOPIC 4 DIGITAL LITERACY
Figure 4.10:
10: Benefits of using myINSPIRE
Forum
Forum is an online discussion board where people can hold conversations in the
form of posted messages. A discussion forum is hierarchical or tree-like in
structure: a forum can contain a number of subforums, each of which may have
several topics. Within a forum's topic, each new discussion created or started is
called a thread, and can be replied to by many people. Forum is in the
asynchronous format (not real time), meaning it enables users to review and
participate in discussions with others at times convenient to them. OUMÊs
myINSPIRE has its own forum system that you can use to interact with your
coursemates and online tutor.
Figure 4.1
4.11: Forum system in OUMÊs myINSPIRE LMS
e-book
An electronic book (or e-book or eBook) is a book publication made available in
digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display
of computers or other electronic devices such as iPad or tablets. At OUM, e-book
is provided in the form of e-module through portable document format (pdf)
format and accessible from various devices. The e-module can be viewed online
or downloaded into your device for offline viewing and printing.
76 TOPIC 4 DIGITAL LITERACY
Figure 4.12:
4.12: e-module is accessible and downloadable from myINSPIRE LMS
Video Lectures
A video lecture is a recorded educational lecture posted in the course page of
myINSPIRE. Students may view the lecture online at a time which is convenient
for them.
Figure 4.13:
4.13: Video lecture delivered via OUMÊs myINSPIRE LMS
TOPIC 4 DIGITAL LITERACY ⊳ 77
Figure 4.14
4.14: Mobile learning has now become an important element in higher education
The terms "M-Learning" and "Mobile Learning" are usually used to refer to
teaching and learning with mobile technologies. Lately it has gained prominence
in the teaching and learning at the higher education.
O'Malley et al. (2003) have defined mobile learning as learning that take
place when the learner is not at a fixed, predetermined location, or when
the learner takes advantage of the learning opportunities offered by
mobile technologies.
Learner mobility:
mobility learners are able to engage in educational activities
without the constraints of having to do so in a tightly delimited physical
location. It requires nothing more than the motivation to do so wherever
the opportunity arises – from books, electronic resources, places and
people; and
Mobile devices:
devices portable, lightweight devices that are sometimes small
enough to fit in a pocket or in the palm of one's hand. Typical examples
are mobile phones, smartphones (like the iPhone), palmtops, and
handheld computers like the iPad or PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants).
78 TOPIC 4 DIGITAL LITERACY
Figure 4.15
4.15: myINSPIRE viewed from the phoneÊs mobile browser
Figure
Figure 4.16
4.16: myINSPIRE mobile app that supports both iOS and Android platforms
Mobile learning via myINSPIRE supports the „learner mobility‰ through the
learnersÊ mobile devices.
ACTIVITY 4.3
Figure 4.17
4.17: Media comes in various formats
There are FOUR important skills that help the viewer or reader to understand the
meaning of media literacy:
Accessing media;
Analyzing content;
Being able to evaluate messages; and
Being able to create media for self-expression and communication.
Media literacy typically lends itself to a deeper meaning and analysis of the
work, not necessarily just a direct understanding of fact represented in the work.
Media Literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a
variety of forms. Why media literacy is important? Watch the following video for
the answer.
82 TOPIC 4 DIGITAL LITERACY
https://youtu.be/ZaMzYDe0taY
The classroom (be it physical or online) is a place where active production in all
media is a natural way to learn. It is a place where learners solve problems, not
only through reading and writing, but also through producing media contents
through digital means. The world that we live in requires new competence in old
communication skills, as well as in merging various media.
3. Nowadays, social media are flooded with “fake news”. What are the
reasons for this and how could we minimise this phenomena?
TOPIC 4 DIGITAL LITERACY ⊳ 83
ACTIVITY 4.4
Record yourself giving talk of no more than 3 minutes in length about the
importance of “media literacy”. You may use any devices to record your
talk, namely phone, desktop or laptop. Share your video with your
coursemates in myINSPIRE.
ACTIVITY 4.5
You have learned all the proficiencies of digital literacy, namely ICT,
information, digital learning and media proficiencies. With all these
knowledge that you have gained, explain how you would achieve the
higher levels of digital literacy development framework (refer to Figure
4.1)?
Beetham, H. & Sharpe, R. 2010. Digital literacy framework. JISC - The Design
Studio. Retrieved from
http://jiscdesignstudio.pbworks.com/w/page/46740204/Digital%20literacy%
20framework
Llida Review (2009): Thriving in the 21st century: Learning Literacies for the
Digital Age. The Caledonian Academy, Glasgow Caledonian University for
JISC.
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/projects/llidaexecsumjune2009.pdf
O'Malley, C., Vavoula, G., Glew, J. P., Taylor, J., & Sharples, M. (2005). Guidelines
for Learning/Teaching/Tutoring in a Mobile Environment.
`
INTRODUCTION
This topic provides an introduction to creativity, innovation and design thinking.
We will learn the meaning of these words in the context of this module, how they
fit together, and introduce some useful approaches and tools relevant for the
subjects.
Do you know that educators today consider creativity as among the highest form
of learning? Creativity has moved up in the world. Psychologists consider it
among the highest forms of self actualization. Business executives consider it
among the most critical characteristics of modern leaderships. And most
importantly, creativity is one of the 4 CÊs (collaboration, communication,
creativity and critical thinking) of the 21st century survival skills. It is now more
important than ever that we start cultivating creative thinking among our
learners, our employees, our families, our societies and of course ourselves.
TOPIC 5 CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION ⊳ 87
Today creative thinking is becoming a necessity in every job. A recent study from
Oxford university economists Dr Carl Frey and Dr Michael Osborne (2015),
predicted the future impact of technology on nearly seven hundred jobs. The
analysis showed that computers will be taking over any job that does not require
a personal touch. This means just to hold a job, everyone will rely on their
creative intelligence – their ability to think flexibly and deliver solutions outside
of standard operating procedures.
A new study from Adobe (2018) also showed that, compared to other job skills,
problem solving and creativity have gained the most value in driving salary
increases in the last five years.
The good news for us is that since its inception as an instructional paradigm,
distance learning institutions like OUM has been characterized by creativity on
the part of the educators and administrators who strive to provide creative and
innovative learning experiences for their learners. At OUM, myINSPIRE LMS is
an example that technology can be influential in developing creativity amongst
learners and educators.
88 TOPIC 5 CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Before we proceed any further, letÊs just take a brief look at what creativity,
innovation and design thinking are all about. In a nutshell, creativity is related to
ÂimaginationÊ and innovation is related to ÂimplementationÊ.. You can also say that
creativity is the ability to produce and innovation is the introduction of new
things.
How about Design Thinking? Have you heard about this term before? Chances
are most of you have not heard about it. If you have, kudos to you, meaning
youÊve been keeping abreast with the latest technology and thinking skills. In
short,, Design Thinking is a solutions-based process that uses creativity to solve
complex or poorly-defined problems, validated by real-world learning.
Still confused? Need more clarity? Another take of these concepts as shown in
the box below.
We will delve deeper into each of these fascinating concepts in the subsequent
sub topics. But before that, let me entice you with a few quotes about the
importance of creativity as a 21st century skill. A lot of inspiring quotes, short
stories from artists, philopsophers, scholars etc are shared throughout this topic
to promote new ways of thinking about creativity and innovation among us the
learners of OUM.
„President Obama has also recognized the critical need to measure twenty-first
century skills, calling on the nationÊs governors to: . . . develop standards and
assessments that donÊt simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on
a test, but whether they possess 21st century skills like problem-solving and
critical thinking and entrepreneurship and creativity
creativity.‰
Obama 2009
(Source:
Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obamas-remarks-on-education/)
TOPIC 5 CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION ⊳ 89
„Ensuring that all people have a solid foundation of knowledge and skills must
therefore be the central aim of the post 2015 education agenda. This is not
primarily about providing more people with more years of schooling; in fact,
thatÊs only the first step. It is most critically about making sure that individuals
acquire a solid foundation of knowledge in key disciplines, that they develop
creative,
creative critical thinking and collaborative skills, and that they build character
attributes, such as mindfulness, curiosity, courage and resilience.‰
Andreas Schleicher and Qian Tang
Universal Basic Skills: What Countries Stand to Gain (2015, p.9)
(Source:
Source: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/universal-basic-
skills_5js32nmfrb8q.pdf)
You may also visit the link below to view a short video on Creativity in
Education (21st Century Education). You may scan the QR code below with your
mobile device OR just click at the hyperlink.
Figure 5.2:
5.2: Concept of Creativity, Innovation, Vision, Creative Process.
Source: https://stock.adobe.com/images/concept-of-creativity-innovation-vision-
creative-process/120500947
innovator in those days? The term Innovator was once considered as an insult!
Thankfully, things changed in the 19th Century with the industrial revolution
and today, innovation is often associated with enthusiasm and all things positive.
In the 21st century, both creativity and innovation are given prominence as a
must have skills of the future and fundamental to all academic disciplines and
educational activities.
„The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a very creative
mind to spot wrong questions‰.
Anthony Jay
(Source:
Source: http://creatingminds.org/quotes/being_uncreative.htm)
If youÊre curious to know why the word Innovator was once considered as an
insult in the early days, check out the link below:
Source: http://www.quotemaster.org/Creativity
92 TOPIC 5 CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Creative Differences
Ludwig van Beethoven is certainly one of the most creative composers who ever
lived with his most well-known creation, the Ninth Symphony. Another example
of creativity in action in recent years is Steve Jobs. Before his untimely demise in
2011, his passion for computers and connectivity led to the creation of Mac
computers and the iPhone. What about Marie Kondo? Have you heard about
her? She is the world-renowned tidying expert and famous for her KonMari
Method and ÂSpark JoyÊ catchphrase. She was selected as one of the Most
Creative People in Business for 2015!
These are three different individuals with three different types of creativity. You
might think before this, if you're creative in one area, youÊll be creative in all
areas too. However, thatÊs not how it works. According to Arne Dietrich, a
professor of cognitive neuroscience, in his research published in 2004 in
the Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, he described four different types of
creativity with corresponding different brain activities. Think of it like a matrix
(Figure 5.4)
Once you know about the Âcreativity matrixÊ as explained in details in the
following Table 5.1, it will bring your understanding of the concept of creativity
to a whole new level. As such, please take your time to read and understand the
the Creativity Matrix provided.
Figure 5.3:
5.3: Three different individuals with three different types of creativity.
Source:
https://media.wnyc.org/i/800/0/c/85/1/Ludwig_van_Beethoven-square.jpg
https://fineartamerica.com/art/drawings/steve+jobs
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/422142165051113335
TOPIC 5 CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION ⊳ 93
Types of Creativity
Why do you think is important for us to know the different types of creativity as
identified by Dietrich? In order to foster creativity in all aspects of our daily life,
it is important for us to understand the different types of creativity.
According to Dietrich, creativity can be either emotionally, cognitively,
spontaneous or deliberate. Hence, he created 4 quadrants or matrix of creativity
to discuss the four types of creativity based on which part of the brains it comes
from. The visual representation of the matrix is shown in Figure 5.4 with
corresponding description for your easier understanding in Table 5.1
Innovation
Without it, many good ideas will remain a good idea, never follow through and
never developed into something substantial.
Source:
https://www.pioneermilitaryloans.com/blog
https://www.diygenius.com/innovation-is-doing-new-things-theodore-levitt/
Creativity vs Innovation
Do you agree with me that Creativity and Innovation are two words that we get
easily confused? We have a tendency to use both words interchangeably.
Despite relying on each other, there are fundamental differences between
creativity and innovation. They are similar but not the same thing.
Shawn Hunter, author of "Out Think: How Innovative Leaders Drive Exceptional
Outcomes," (Wiley, 2013) defines creativity as the capability or act of conceiving
something original or unusual, while innovation is the implementation or
creation of something new that has realized the value to others.
Creativity vs Innovation
Creativity is the bravery to try something new. Innovation is the
implementation of something new.
Creativity is related to imagination and innovation is related to
implementation..
Creativity is the ability to produce and innovation is the introduction of new
things.
Creativity is bringing into existence an idea that is new to you. Innovation is
the practical application of creative ideas.
Figure 5.5:
5.5: Creativity vs Innovation
Source: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1388687
98 TOPIC 5 CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Adapted from:
from: https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-creativity-and-
innovation.html
If you feel the Comparison Chart in Table 5.2 is incomplete, still missing a few
salient points, you can add for yourself more basis for comparison. You may
discuss with your course mates and expand the table above to include your own
findings.
Figure 5.6:
5.6: Innovation and Imagination: 12 Benefits of Creativity
Source:
Source: https://www.teachthought.com/learning/innovation-imagination-12-benefits-
creativity
Creativity is about seeing the world in new ways, finding hidden patterns,
making connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and generating
solutions. It is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality.
People who are good at having creative ideas are good at seeing connections.
By practicing yourselves to see connections, you enhance your ability to think
creatively. In short, creativity is about connecting the dots. Creative people
collect more dots, so they can connect them later.
100 TOPIC 5 CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Dots are new experiences, ideas, information, people, environments and ways of
thinking. You can collect dots by reading, enrol in a course, going to musuems,
traveling, experimenting, meeting new people, watching movies, listening to
music, or taking up a new skill. In short, dots are brain food. You want to feed
your brain with as much information and inputs as possible. The best part of
creativity is that no experience, learning, insight is ever wasted. Even watching
movies at home or meeting up old friends during weekend might be the very link
you need to inspire a new idea.
Be a Dot Collector
Think of yourself as a dot collector. Be open. Be a risk taker. Be bold. Collect as
many dots as possible, then push you outside your comfort zone and collect even
more. As ODL Learner you should never ever stop growing your collection of
dots. You never know the magical ways youÊll connect them later.
„You canÊt connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them
looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect
in your future. You have to trust in something–your gut, destiny, life, karma,
whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the
difference in my life.‰
(Source:
Source: https://news.stanford.edu/2005/06/14/jobs-061505/)
Dorte Nielsen
(Source: Nielsen, D. & Thurber, S. (2016). The Secret of the Highly Creative Thinker)
Figure 5.7:
5.7: Information Versus Knowledge remix by Ron Letkeman
Source: https://blog.elearnerengaged.com/dots/
If youÊre interested to know more about what Steve Jobs thinks about creativity,
do check out the video below.
One summer morning in the early 1970s, Bill and Barbara Bowerman were fixing
waffles for breakfast. Bill, the head running coach at the University of Oregon, was
bemoaning
bemoaning the fact that his runners didnÊt have track shoes that could grip the new
artificial turf.
At that moment, Barbara pulled a waffle off the hot waffle iron. Staring at the waffle.
Bill suddenly made a connection. The grid pattern on the waffle might just create the
perfect grip for the sole of a running shoe. He grabbed the waffle iron and ran to his
lab. By the end of the day, he had prototyped the shoe
shoe that would earn him his first
patent and launch his company to international fame: The Nike Waffle Trainer.
The story is a perfect example of what happens at the moment a creative idea is
conceived. Coach Bowerman has been puzzling over his challenge fo forr weeks when
an unexpected connection at the breakfast table unlocked it. In an instant, the DNA
of the waffle and the DNA of the running shoe combined in his mind to bring
something entirely new into being.
Source: Nielsen, D. & Thurber, S. (2016). The Secret of the Highly Creative Thinker.
Amsterdam: BIS Publishers.
4. What would you improve when you train your ability to see
connections?
TOPIC 5 CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION ⊳ 103
ACTIVITY 5.1
ACTIVITY 5.2
One of the benefits of Creativity as shown in Figure 5.6 above is No.12 -
Creativity encourages us to be lifelong learners. As an adult learner, it
would be if good if you could share your experience with your course
mates the role creativity plays in encouraging you to be a lifelong
learner.
Have you ever looked at a friendÊs drawing in art classes during school days and
said, „Oh, my - youÊre so creative! Knowing fully well that your own talent were
rather limited to drawing stick figures! Or have you ever been to a concert and
marveled at the melodious voice of the singer. Silently you wish you can sing
just as good in front of a large audience and not just confined to singing in a
shower!
The two scenarios above, like the ability to sing or draw makes it sound as if
creativity is a natural skill or talent.
Other times, you heard some of your friends are attending local art classes or
going for singing lessons over the weekend. That makes it sound as if creativity
is a skill that anyone can learn.
Confused? What do you think, learners? Do you think creativity can be learned,
practiced and developed or creativity is a natural gift, an innate talent? You can
have a healthy debate with your course mates to argue both sides. But, even
when accepting that creativity can be learned, there are some people who are just
more creative than others, and much research has been undertaken to identify
what their characteristics are.
104 TOPIC 5 CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Among the most extensive list of characteristics of creative people was developed
by Robert Alan Black (1990/2008). Take a look at the list by him in Table 5.3,
wouldnÊt you say that these characteristics are also applicable for innovative
people. The fact that it might be quite difficult to find all these characteristics in
one person makes teamwork such an important aspect of creativity and
innovation.
Do you have all the characteristics or traits of creativity listed in the Table 5.3? If
you do, wow, you are highly creative person and deserved an award! IÊm joking
of course. Sense of Humor (No. 19) is also one of the characteristics or traits of
Creativity!
Table 5.3: Characteristics of creative people (1990/2008 Robert Alan Black, Ph.D)
Source: https://numerons.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/01-32-traits-of-highly-creative-
people.pdf
TOPIC 5 CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION ⊳ 105
If you are not too pleased with yourself that you only have a handful of creativity
traits above, dontÊt feel bad, the truth is all of us have a tremendous creative
capacities! Do check out Table 5.4, for tips to be highly creative individuals.
Source: https://medium.com/the-mission/if-you-want-to-be-highly-creative-do-these-8-
things-390b81845b0a
Before we move on to the following topic, do take some time to view the
following videos as well as clicking the link provided below to read a good topic
on creativity as appeared on our local newspaper, not too long ago.
ACTIVITY 5.3
„As with all the learner attributes, cultural perspectives are also very
important when considering creativity. Confucian heritage cultures, for
example, tend to see creativity more as a collective exercise.‰ Do you
agree with this statement? Explain.
OUM learners today are the OUM graduates of the future. As a graduate of the
future, you shouldnÊt be pigeonholed by your degree subject. You should be
adaptable, flexible and confident with your directions and career choices. For
these to happen, studentÊs learning must go beyond mastery of core subjects and
include 21st century knowledge skills like creativity.
The Foundation for Young Australians (2016) reported that based on their study
of analysing job advertisements for three years, the demand for creativity has
increased by 65% (among the key skills with the biggest increase in demand!)
Innovative companies and organizations of the 21st century seek
TOPIC 5 CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION ⊳ 107
graduates/potential employees that can think creatively and are able to solve
problem confidently.
Therefore, we need to develop learners who can generate ideas and think
critically and equipped them with the essential skills for their future
employment. We need to develop creative and innovative thinkers in schools and
higher institutions today. For this to happen, we need creativity to be embedded
in our education curriculum. Being able to think creatively opens the door to
opportunity.
In OUM, we need to incorporate creative thinking into our teaching and learning
environment (refer to Activity 5.4) and develop creative and innovative ODL
learners who not only can generate ideas and think critically but who persevere
in the face of difficulty. We need to develop curious learners who have a zest for
learning and relish real-world challenges.
ÂOne cannot think creatively unless one has the knowledge with which to think
creatively. Creativity represents a balance between knowledge and freeing
oneself of that knowledgeÊ
Robert J. Sternberg
(Source:
Source:
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/02/22/24sternberg.h25.html)
ACTIVITY 5.4
Potential Areas of Innovation in the ODL System are given below:
Innovative Programme
Innovative application of ICT in delivery mechanism
Innovations in admission procedures and learner support
Innovations in evaluation methodologies and practices
Innovations supporting convergence of systems
Quality management and benchmarking
(Source: https://careerfoundry.com/en/blog/ux-design/what-is-design-thinking-
everything-you-need-to-know-to-get-started/)
Design Thinking gives you confidence in your creative abilities and a process for
transforming difficult challenges into opportunities for design. Design Thinking
is a powerful and reliable tool for innovation as shown in Figure 5.9. The basic
process of design thinking as a Strategy for Innovation is explained in Table 5.5.
Table 5.5: The basic process of design thinking as a Strategy for Innovation
Stages
Stages Process Description
Stage 1 Empathise Understand by empathizing to help define the problem
Stage 2 Define Re-framing and defining the problem in human-centric
ways.
Stage 3 Ideate Employ various idea-generating methods in ideation
sessions
Stage 4 Prototype Adopt a hands-on approach in prototyping by
producing simple and inexpensive versions of multiple
possible solutions.
Stage 5 Test Test the various prototypes thoroughly to determine
which is best
Figure 5.1
5.10
.10: Tools for Creativity and Innovation
Source: https://www.edx.org/course/creative-thinking-techniques-0
We are coming to the end of this topic. I hope this topic has shed some lights to
the concepts of creativity, innovation and design thinking. Fortunately for us,
there are various creativity, innovation and even design thinking tools and
techniques out there that can be used to generate new ideas and strengthen your
creativity.
Tools/Techniques
Tools/Techniques Description
I-CREATE A full set of creativity tools and techniques from I-CREATE library.
Check out their creativity technique search engine!
Read more at: http://icreate-project.eu/
Creative A lot of exercises about creative thinking can be found at
Thinking.net Creativethinking.net.
Read more at: http://creativethinking.net/exercises/
Human Centered Design-thinking based toolkits for creative problem solving.
Design by Ideo Read more at: http://www.designkit.org/
Koozai.com 8 creative thinking techniques and the tools to use.
Read more at:
https://www.koozai.com/blog/content-marketing-seo/eight-
awesome-creative-thinking-techniques-plus-tools/
112 TOPIC 5 CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Creative Tools Used Every Day By Google, IDEO, and Other Top Innovation Firms.
Here's 5 creativity tools from some of the top firms in the world, to stay above the fray
and keep those creative juices flowing.
“You canÊt use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have‰
Maya Angelou
(Source: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou)
People who are good at having creative ideas are good at seeing connections.
By training your ability to see connections, you improve your capacity to
think creatively.
Adobe & Econsultancy (2018). Digital Intelligence Briefing: 2018 Digital Trends.
(2018). [pdf]
https://wwwimages2.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/au/landing
/DT18/Econsultancy-2018-Digital-Trends.pdf
Black, Robert Alan. (1998). Broken Crayons: Break Your Crayons and Draw
Outside the Lines. Cre8ng Places Press.
114 TOPIC 5 CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
Foundation for Young Australians (2016). The New Work Mindset. [pdf].
https://www.fya.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/The-New-Work-
Mindset.pdf
Frey, C. and Osborne, M. (2016). Technology at Work v2.0: The Future Is Not What It
Used to Be. [pdf]. Oxford Martin School and Citi.
https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/reports/Citi_GPS_Technolo
gy_Work_2.pdf
Hunter, S. (2013). Out Think: How Innovative Leaders Drive Exceptional Outcomes.
Mississauga, ON: John Wiley & Sons Canada.
Raines, S. (2012). Creativity and the Arts with Young Children. Cengage Learning.
Topic Critical
Thinking and
6 Reasoning Skills
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
1. Define critical thinking;
2. Explain how critical thinking skills can be improved;
3. Elaborate the skills of critical thinking;
4. Distinguish between deductive and inductive reasoning; and
5. Classify the ways to assess critical thinking skills.
INTRODUCTION
Many people would sooner die than think. in fact, they do.
-Bertrand Russel (1989)
What do you think the above quote means? Is it that difficult to think?
We are living in the information age where the Internet has become a crucial and
integral part in many peopleÊs lives. The quest for information has become so all-
consuming that many people find that they are continuously multitasking – on
Facebook while in class or checking emails while eating lunch, etc. With so much
multitasking, we are on system overload that we tend to do worse on each task
when we do them concurrently compared to doing one task at a time.
ACTIVITY 6.1
Think of situations when you are awake and you do not have to
think at all, list them out. Discuss in your forum.
(b) Thoughts do not have anything to do with the truth of the present moment; it
is just what a person is thinking and not necessarily related to facts and truth.
(c) Knowing, on the other hand, does not actually entail thought. For instance,
when someone asks your name, you instantly know your name and you do
not require thinking for that.
(d) Thoughts are the origin of doubts while knowledge can only be either true or
false.
TOPIC 6 CRITICAL THINKING AND REASONING SKILLS ⊳ 117
Both are needed in critical thinking. With knowing, it will invite thinking. For
some of us, it may initiate critical thinking. Previously, proficiency in reading,
writing and arithmetic were essential for entry-level to the job market. However, in
todayÊs world, employers require more from employees, they require those who
can solve problems, innovate, collaborate, and communicate more effectively.
ACTIVITY 6.2
Take a few minutes and think about your own definition of critical
thinking. Discuss with your classmates.
We can find many definitions on critical thinking and they tend to be similar with
considerable overlap. Fisher and Spiker (2000, as cited in Halpern, 2014) found that
the terms, which are mostly used to define critical thinking, include judgement,
reasoning/logic, reflection, questioning, metacognition and mental process. Here is
a list of some generic skills of a critical thinker (Halpern, 2014):
d) Give reasons for choices as well as varying the style and amount of detail in
explanations depending on who is receiving the information;
The critical part about critical thinking denotes the component of evaluation, and it
is sometimes conveyed as something negative, for example, when we say, „Karim
is a critical person‰. However, the evaluation should and can be a constructive
reflection of positive and negative attributes.
118 TOPIC 6 CRITICAL THINKING AND REASONING SKILLS
There are countless examples of the need for critical thinking; some are as follows:
We have to be mindful of the need to educate people to think critically since their
early age. Being critical thinkers will enable us to be more evaluative and make
better decisions.
ACTIVITY 6.3
Are you a critical thinker? Why do you say so? How to become a better
thinker? Discuss with your course mates.
A number of research has also been done to measure change in thinking among
students in Malaysia. You can find those articles from the links below:
In Malaysia, there are also various products that claims to have significant impact
on peopleÊs mind. These products are increasingly bought by the masses since they
believe that it can improve their mind or their childrenÊs mind when consumed.
Some parents even claim that these pills can make their children to be well
behaved. These are some perceptions people have indicating we can become better
thinkers in a quick and easy way.
System 1 Thinking
Let us try a simple exercise to have a better understanding of this system.
How did you do? Did you answer 100 minutes? An intuitive response would be
that „5=5=5 so 100=100=100„. However, if it takes a single machine 5 minutes to
make a single widget, even a million machines can make a million widgets in 5
minutes. The correct answer is therefore 5 minutes.
A study found that respondents who gave intuitive, fast and in this case, wrong
responses were less likely to delay rewards; for instance, that person will agree to
receive RM200 today than RM300 next week, hence proposing that people who
rely more on intuitive and quick thinking are different from people of slow
thinking in other important ways.
Intuitions are like visual illusions in some ways. They can sometimes assist us to
understand the world, however they are often misleading and it is a challenge
not to pay attention to intuitions. Look at the picture in Figure 6.3.
122 TOPIC 6 CRITICAL THINKING AND REASONING SKILLS
Figure 6.3
6.3 Illusions of two table
Source:
Source Shepard (1990).
The two table tops appear to be very different in their size and shape, however, if
you take a piece of paper and cut it to fit one of the table tops, you will find that
the same piece fits well on the other table as well. This is a common visual
illusion, which is similar to thinking illusion. We must be aware that our
intuition is sometimes wrong and we can learn to correct it through repeated
experience.
System 2 Thinking
Critical thinking is System 2 thinking; which is deliberate, slow and effortful. It is
also seen as the engine that drives System 1 thinking since the originality of that
fast recognition processes in System 1 started in a deliberate and effortful way.
System 2 involves considering evidence, evaluating risks, calculating
probabilities, and judging credibility. People can learn to think rationally as
thinking can be rational. We can learn from our mistakes, and by keeping track of
them, we can control and make them less likely to reoccur in the future.
ACTIVITY 6.4
Learning to think allows us to take control of our lives since we can think how to
reason, solve problems, make decisions, and not let ourselves to be pushed
around by circumstances, emotions and other people.
In the next sections, we will be exploring some skills of critical thinking and
reasoning.
Jennifer is looking around a used-car lot and suddenly she spots her
favourite make of sports car. She asks the salesperson about the condition
of the car, and she finds that the condition is good, mileage is just right, the
colour is her favourite shining red and the price is affordable. She drives
with delight. However, when she reaches home, the car does not fit her
garage. She has forgotten to do a CAF.
Although there is a difference between important and less important factors, the
focus should be on finding out the factors to consider before a decision is made.
Most of the time we go ahead with our thinking without doing a proper CAF.
ACTIVITY 6.5
a) You are going for a job interview. What things do you have to keep
in mind? Do a CAF.
At times, the traditional way does not work and we are forced to look for
alternatives. Sometimes we want to look for better ways in doing our work or
solving a problem, thus, we will look for alternatives. If we are told that there are
only two possible solutions for a problem, we might take a few moments to think
of other alternatives and we might find the alternatives. On the other hand, we
might not. However, it is always worth taking time to look for them.
ACTIVITY 6.6
There are three main characteristics in this skill of thinking (de Bono, 1994):
a) Key questions:
questions thinking habits should be started with a key question. For
focus and purpose thinking skill, we have to ask ourselves
i. What am I looking at (thinking about) right now?
ii. What am I trying to do?
c) Types of thinking:
thinking There are five broad types of thinking that we should be
aware of and the focus of each will lead us to be purposive in our thinking.
i) Exploring
Expl oring: looking around, increasing our knowledge and being
aware of our surroundings or objects.
ii) Seeking: it is when we want something or have a definite need. It is
when we want to end up with something specific.
iii) Choosing: there are a number of alternatives that we wish to choose
from. To some extent, choosing comes into most thinking.
iv) Organising: we are putting pieces of information or things together
in the most effective way.
v) Checking: Is it correct? Is that right? Is it safe? Is it acceptable? These
are the questions we ask when we need to judge whether what we
have decided or done is correct.
ACTIVITY 6.7
You are going to prepare a meal for three of your friends. List five
things that you might focus on.
126 TOPIC 6 CRITICAL THINKING AND REASONING SKILLS
We have been talking for an hour but I still do not know what we are trying
to achieve. Can we, please, do an AGO?
de Bono (1994)
AGO is related to the thinking habit of wanting to know the focus and purpose of
thinking at every moment, but the focus is more of the overall purpose or
objective and not moment-to-moment focus.
We do not have to make a distinction between aims, goals and objectives since
such distinction is not helpful and confusing in this sense. But as soon as we are
clear with the ideal outcome of our thinking effort, then we are clear of our AGO.
We can ask ourselves „what is the objective of our thinking?‰ or „what do we
want to end up with?‰.
There are two aspects that we can consider when we acquire this skill:
b) Sub-
Sub-objectives
We may also need to set sub-objectives in the pursuit of solving the overall
problem. This is related to breaking down the problem into smaller ones
and picking out focus areas.
Figure 6.3:
6.3 Deductive reasoning
Source:
Source http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/
TOPIC 6 CRITICAL THINKING AND REASONING SKILLS ⊳ 127
From the theory that „all fish fly‰, we narrow it down to collect observations to
address the hypotheses of Âall guppies are fish‰ This ultimately leads us to be
able to test the hypotheses with specific data -- a confirmation (or not) that is „all
guppies fly‰ which is our original theory.
In deductive reasoning, if the premises are true, then the conclusion must be true.
However, we must take note that for deductive reasoning to be correct, the
hypotheses or premises must be correct.
Figure 6.4:
6.4 Inductive reasoning
Source: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/
Inductive reasoning works the other way around, moving from some specific
observations about the world to broader generalisations and theories. Informally,
we sometimes call this a "bottom-up" approach. In inductive reasoning, we begin
128 TOPIC 6 CRITICAL THINKING AND REASONING SKILLS
1) Generalis
Generalised · Draws a conclusion from a generalization. For example, „All
the swans I have seen are white; therefore, all swans are probably white.‰
2) Statistical · Draws a conclusion based on statistics. For example, „95
percent of swans are white‰ (an arbitrary figure, of course); „therefore, a
randomly selected swan will probably be white.‰
3) Sample · Draws a conclusion about one group based on a different sample
group. For example, „There are ten swans in this pond and all are white;
therefore, the swans in my neighbourÊs pond are probably also white.‰
4) Analogous · Draws a conclusion based on shared properties of two
groups. For example, „All Aylesbury ducks are white. Swans are similar to
Aylesbury ducks. Therefore, all swans are probably white.‰
5) Predictive · Draws a conclusion based on a prediction made using a past
sample. For example, „I visited this pond last year and all the swans were
white. Therefore, when I visit again, all the swans will probably be white.‰
6) Causal inference · Draws a conclusion based on a causal connection. For
example, „All the swans in this pond are white. I just saw a white bird in
the pond. The bird was probably a swan.‰
In inductive reasoning, if the premises are true, the conclusion is probably true.
How do we know if we can think critically? There are several ways to assess our
critical thinking skills. If you are a teacher or a manager, you could also use the
same method to assess your students or subordinates’ critical thinking abilities.
TOPIC 6 CRITICAL THINKING AND REASONING SKILLS ⊳ 129
de Bono, E. (1994). Teach your child how to think: Help them survive and thrive.
London: Penguin Book.
Nooraini, O., & Khairul Azmi, M. (2014). Thinking skill education and
transformational progress in Malaysia. International Education Studies,
7(4). https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v7n4p27
INTRODUCTION
Most people mistook speaking fluently as an effective communication. Many
people did not realise that to be an effective communicator, one must not just
know how to speak, but also to listen. Also, communication has become one of
the key component to acquire in 21st century learning. According to P21
(www.p21.org/index.php), communication involves mediated and digital
communication, interpersonal, written and oral communication. This topic will
assist you to gain communication skills and also how to become an effective
communicator.
TOPIC 7 COMMUNICATION SKILLS ⊳ 133
ACTIVITY 1.1
Have you ever played a game called „The Telephone Game‰? This is
how it goes; as many people as possible will stand in a straight line. All
the players must be close enough as the player in front has to whisper a
„message‰ to next person behind him/her, but no too close that players
can hear each other whisper. The whispering will continue until the last
player in line, and the last player will say the message out loud so
everyone can hear how much it has changed from the first message
uttered at the beginning.
Imagine you are alone in your room. You are not sleeping, but yet you are still
thinking about what you are going to do next. You are still recalling about the last
conversation last night, and also news that you have read from The Star
newspaper in the afternoon. You are not going to stop there, it will continue and
keep continuing the moment you are out of the bed. Without even noticing, we are
always involved in a communication process.
The situation above is best to describe „One cannot not communicate‰. This axiom
was coined by Paul Watzlawick in his theory of interpersonal communication,
called Interactional View. This axiom basically says that even if you are not
actually talking, or perhaps not doing anything, you are still communicating.
Communicating, including non-verbal communication plays a huge part and even
when you are not speaking, you are still expressing non-verbal ques, such as facial
expressions, the way you are standing and also your silence.
Maybe we are aware that we are communicating, but do your realise that you are
actually going through a process? One of the best ways to understand
communication process is through its model. Figure 7.1 shows the process of
communication.
134 TOPIC 7 COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Figure 7.1:
7.1 A Communication Process (Eunson, 2016)
From this model, there are several elements that need to be introduced to you as
follows:
Table 7.1:
7.1 Receivers of Different Communication Field
b. Messages: what are the information that the senders want to deliver to . the
receivers. Messages could be written, spoken, non-verbal, graphics or visual.
ACTIVITY 7.2
(a) Sender/Receiver
(b) Encoding/Decoding
(c) Noise
(d) Context
Table 7. 1:
1 Types of Communication
Source:
Source Hybels and Weaver II, 2015
Once you understood the process of communication, and also which types of
communication, you can begin to understand why communication does or does
not work. Now, we must also discuss the functions of communication in our daily
life.
TOPIC 7 COMMUNICATION SKILLS ⊳ 137
realities. We make choices about what to focus on and how to define what
we experience and its impact on how we understand and live in our world.
ACTIVITY 7.3
Figure 7.2:
7.2 Elements of Communication in Our Daily Lives
140 TOPIC 7 COMMUNICATION SKILLS
There are a few types of nonverbal communication but we are not going to
discuss it with details here, as you will learn in other modules throughout your
study, such as ABCC1103 Introduction to Communication and OUMH1303
English for Oral Communication.
Paynton & Hahn (2018) has listed seven types of nonverbal communication such
as follows;
a. Kinesics
The study of how we use body movement, facial expressions and eye
contact. Facial expressions are a primary method of sharing emotions and
feelings, and in some countries, eye contacts shows respect and honesty
while interacting or delivering messages.
Figure 7.4:
7.4 Kinesics
Source https://com322kinesics.wordpress.com/
Source:
b. Haptics
Touch is the first type of nonverbal communication we experience as
humans and is vital to our development and health. We use touch to share
feelings and relational meanings such as hugs, handshakes or while
kidding or playful.
d. Proxemics
The study of how our use of space influences the ways we relate with
others. Have you realised in some workplace, they provide big rooms for
top management positions while, middle and low positions workers are
placed in cubicles or compartments? It shows power and hierarchial
structure within the companies. On the other hand, there are also spaces we
use to form and maintain relationships. We use intimate space with those
whom we are close (family members, close friends and intimate partners)
which consists of spaces that ranges from touch to eighteen inches. Other
than intimate space is personal space, social space and public space.
Figure 7.5:
7.5 The use of Space
Source:
Source https://blogonlinguistics.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/proxemics-personal-
space/
e. Chronemics
The study of how people use time. Are you a type of person that give high
value to time or not? Are you always punctual or really cherished someone
who are punctual to deal with? The way you use time actually depicted the
person you really are.
f. Paralanguage
Involves vocal qualities such as pitch, volume, inflection, rate of speech and
rhythm. How we say words often expresses greater meaning than the
actual words themselves.
g. Silence
When we do not use words or utterances to convey meanings. Silence is
powerful because the person using silence may be refusing to engage in
communication with you.
142 TOPIC 7 COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Listening, is one of the important skills that a person must have. Listening and
hearing are not necessarily the same thing. According to Eunson (2016), a person
with impaired hearing but excellent concentration, high motivation and good
interpersonal skills could well be a better listener that someone with perfect
hearing but wandering concentration, poor motivation and weak interpersonal
skills.
30%
45% Listening
Reading
Writing
Talking
9%
16%
However, these skills of listening is becoming more important every day because
nowadays, we rarely listen and talk anymore, since the advancement of social
media and most of the communication processes focused around it (refer to
Figure 7.7 for Global Time Spent on Media, reported by World Economic Forum).
Figure 7.7:
7.7 Global Time Spent on Media Per Day, 2014
Source GlobalWebIndex, 2014;Global Social Media Trends 2015, European Publishers
Source:
Council
144 TOPIC 7 COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Referring to the chart above, a total of 61% of social media usage recorded
involving 15% of it through social networking. Social media also included talking
and listening online. Various quality of verbal, nonverbal and listening skills are
not there when experiencing through online.
Source:
Source thequotes.com
time, because the solution to their problems is pretty clear to us, but this is
may be a serious misconception that need to be changed.
f. Listening
istening can give us an unfair advantages over others
Just as listening compels us to keep quiet and sometimes saves us from
embarassing ourselves, patient listening can encourage speakers to insert
both feet in their mouth.
The more communication skills and knowledge you master, the more versatile
you will become as a communicator, and the greater will be the likelihood that
you will be able to communicate effectively in a range of situations.
Communicating differently not only gives you the opportunity to reinforce you
message, but also demonstrates your versatility and competence (Eunson, 2016).
ACTIVITY 7.4
Do you know that you are free to access Open Educational Resources
(OER) in Communication? You can search in www.google.com and it
will show you thousands of such access provided by various
universities around the globe.
2. Semantic Barriers:
Language and vocabulary that is used in communication should be
understandable to the persons involved. Two or more persons when they
are communicating with each other should use common language, so that
everyone can understand it well.
3. Cultural Barriers:
Communication also takes place between people belonging to different
nationalities, religions, castes, creeds, races, ethnicities etc. It is crucial to
make people aware of ones own culture with whom they are
communicating.
148 TOPIC 7 COMMUNICATION SKILLS
4. Psychological Barriers:
In the process of communication, it is important to understand each otherÊs
mindsets and mental capacities. Among the barriers are attitudes towards
speakers or topic of speech, also the audiencesÊ own attitude that are not
interested or unwilling to be in the communication.
5. Perception of Reality:
It is important for a communicator to understand various perceptions of a
situation or an issue. There are different level of perceptions that are
involved when communicating about a particular topic, condition,
problem, issue, situation,, dilemma, stress or a concept. In order to
implement effective communication, it is crucial to obtain „perception
reality‰ which means information about facts, knowledge, figures, actuality
and what is true.
• There are five questions that you must asked yourself in order to be an
effective communicator. It is also important to identify the barriers that
affect effective communication.
Fluer, M. H., DeFluer, M. L., Kearney, P. & Plax, Timothy, G. (2014). Fundamentals
of Human Communication: Social Sciences in Everyday Life. 4th eds. NY:
McGraw-Hill Education.
Hybels, S. & Weaver II, R. L. (2015). Communicating Effectively. 11th eds. NY:
McGraw-Hill Education.
INTRODUCTION
Let us start this topic with a question. How do you accomplish any task given to you?
You might be doing it alone and you might also sometimes do it with other people.
You might need some skills in order to work effectively with others. Collaborative
skill is one such skill.
Collaborative skill is an important learning skill for the 21st century learning. Today
there is more emphasis on working collaboratively as compared to working alone, in
order to achieve more. Working with others in collaboration creates synergy which
means that we could potentially achieve more when working collaboratively. This
synergistic work through collaboration not only helps us in completing the work but
also enhance our productivity.
Dede in his observation states that we do not only work with others through face-to-
face interaction but we can also work with others who are not physically near us. The
collaborative skill is therefore important as a 21st century skill.
learning flourishes in a social environment which allows the learners to engage with
each other. This helps the learner create his or her own framework from the learning.
In order to work with others in a collaborative setting, we must be able to
demonstrate the ability to work effectively with various groups which are diverse. To
be able to achieve this, there must be willingness to make necessary compromises so
as to fit in the group and accomplish a common goal. A team member who is
working collaboratively with other members should contribute as much as possible in
assuming shared responsibility and should value the contributions by other team
members. In other words, we will only be able to get the best out of working with
others when we contribute to the group and respect othersÊ contributions.
ACTIVITY 8.1
1. Try to recall your own involvement with tasks done with others,
whether in school, work place or other context.
2. How did you find working with others?
3. Was it easier to work yourself rather than with others?
4. What were your challenges in working with others?
Dillenbourg, Baker, Blaye & OÊMalley (1995) describe three conceptual approaches
which benefits the individuals – social constructivist, socio-cultural and shared
cognition.
The first approach is the social constructivist approach which stems from PiagetÊs
work. In this approach, collaboration is viewed as a catalyst for individual studentÊs
cognitive development (Chi & Wylie, 2014; Ernest, 1998; Handal, 2003). The second
approach is the socio-cultural approach which is inspired by Vygotsky that sees social
interactions become internalized as the individual learns (Rogoff, 1991; Wertsch, del
Rio & Alvarez, 1995; Wegerif, Mercer & Daweset, 1999). An instance of this concept is
the Zone of Proximal Development whereby there is a gap between what an
individual can learn by himself or herself versus what he or she could learn under the
guidance of an adult or group of peers. The third approach is the shared cognition (or
TOPIC 8 COLLABORATIVE SKILLS ⊳ 153
In collaborative learning, we are expected to cooperate with group members and not
compete with them (Laal & Ghodsi, 2012). This is an underlying principle which the
collaborative learning practitioners apply at various settings, including classroom, in
community groups, in committees, in families and generally as a way of living with
and dealing with other people.
According to Johnson and Johnson (2009), there are three ways when individuals take
action in relation to the actions of others. An individual may be:
i. Working together to accomplish shared goals;
ii. Working against each other in a competitive setting to achieve goal that is
scarce and only attainable by one or a few;
iii. Working individualistically by oneself to achieve goals set by self and
unrelated to goals of others.
If we reflect on our own actions, we could be doing either one of these in our
interactions with others. We could be working with others, working in competition
with them or just working on our own.
These researchers (Johnson & Johnson, 2009) found through a survey they conducted
that collaborative learning results in;
Higher achievement and greater productivity;
Better relationships through a more caring and supportive behaviour;
Improved psychological health, social competence and self esteem.
Johnson and Johnson (1989) and Panitz (1999) list over 50 benefits for collaborative
learning. Laal and Ghodsi (2012) summarizes these benefits into four major
categories, as follows:
Social benefits;
o Collaborative learning helps to develop a social support system for
learners;
o Collaborative learning leads to build diversity understanding among
students and staff;
o Collaborative learning establishes a positive atmosphere for modelling
and practicing cooperation;
o Collaborative learning develops learning communities.
154 TOPIC 8 COLLABORATION SKILLS
Psychological benefits:
o Student-centred instruction increases studentsÊ self esteem;
o Cooperation reduces anxiety;
o Collaborative learning develops positive attitudes towards teachers.
Academic benefits:
o Collaborative learning promotes critical thinking skills;
o Involves students actively in the learning process;
o Classroom results are improved
o Models appropriate student problem solving techniques
o Large lectures can be personalised
o Collaborative learning is especially helpful in motivating students in
specific curriculum
Alternate student and teacher assessment techniques;
o Collaborative teaching techniques utilize a variety of assessments.
The simplest way to see the difference in both these learning is that
cooperative learning involves each member using their skills and knowledge to help
each other and work together whilst in collaborative learning each member work
separately and come together for a common goal for the team as a whole. In
collaborative learning, the students organise and divide work among them. Each
member will then perform the task given and the sum of all the work will be brought
together as the team effort. In cooperative learning, each member is assigned a
specific role in the activities. Work is done together and that entails the overall team
effort.
In collaborative learning, team members search for their own materials while
in cooperative learning, the facilitator supplies the information or help to direct the
members to where the sources can be acquired. The team as well as the members of
collaborative learning approach are more independent as compared to team members
of cooperative learning approach. The teacher is involved as the facilitator in both
these learning modes. However there is a difference on how actively involved the
facilitator is. The facilitator is generally more actively involved in cooperative
learning compared to collaborative learning. In cooperative learning, the facilitator is
heavily involved in listening and observing the discussion and work being carried
out. In fact, the facilitator also intervenes as and when the need arises. In
collaborative learning, the activities are generally not monitored by the teacher. The
students are left to make their own decisions but they could get assistance if they
request from the facilitator.
In cooperative learning, the work done by the group is submitted for the
teacher or facilitator to review and assess. The facilitator reviews and awards marks
to each member according to their efforts but generally the whole team will enjoy the
same marks. In collaborative learning, the members are involved in the assessment.
They do their own assessment as well as the assessment of their team members. The
facilitator plays a part in awarding the marks to the individual member and also the
team, taking into account the assessments done within the team amongst its
members. In short, the fundamental approach in cooperative learning is teacher-
centredness whereas collaborative learning is more student-centred.
ACTIVITY 8.2
There have been numerous studies on the effects of collaborative learning on learners.
However, Kuhn (2015) through his review of research on collaboration found that not
many experimental studies have been conducted. He also found that collaboration
does not appear to benefit every student in every learning situation. Some students
seem to benefit more when they are working individually rather than working in a
group. Another problem is that the collective performance of the team is hard to
determine because some highly competent members might dominate the group
activities. Furthermore, most of the research focused on individual learning in the
group and not on the accomplishments of the groups.
Research has also been done on the relationship of collaborative learning with the
other skills of the 21st century, particularly creativity and critical thinking skills. There
have been studies to investigate whether working in groups create more creativity
than individuals working alone. The findings are generally negative, with most
studies suggesting that people who work in groups tend to be less creative than those
individuals working alone on similar tasks (Diehl & Stroebe, 1987; Larey & Paulus,
1999; Thompson, 2003; West, Borrill and Unsworth, 1998).
Research found that critical thinking skill, which is another 21st century skill when
combined with collaboration shows that collaboration can help in the enhancement of
critical thinking skills. Gokhale (1995) compared individual student performance and
group performance. Students performed factual knowledge recall tasks and critical
TOPIC 8 COLLABORATIVE SKILLS ⊳ 157
thinking tasks as individuals and also as a group. Both the individual and group
approaches were found to be effective in increasing factual knowledge. On the other
hand, it was found that collaborative learning was significantly more beneficial to
enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Research on collaboration and critical thinking is important as it shows that the same
type of activity may not yield the same effects when it is done in a group and when
students are collaborating. This simply means that even when students are working
in a group, it may not necessarily mean that they are collaborating. On the contrary,
students may be working collaboratively but not together in the same place.
The assessment of collaboration learning is an important process but it also has some
challenges. A few questions crop up regarding the assessment of collaborative
learning. In the assessment, is it the individual or the group outcomes which is more
important as a result of collaboration? What about the individualÊs ability to work
with others in the group? Webb (1997) asserted that the assessments traditionally
have been interested in either the individual or group outcomes. However, there have
been more emphasis and focus recently on the ability of individuals to work with
other members in the group.
Knowledge
Interact effectively with others
o Know when it is appropriate to listen and when to speak
Work effectively in diverse teams
o Know and recognize the individual roles of a successful team and
know own strengths and weaknesses, and recognizing and accepting
them in others
Manage projects
o Know how to plan, set, and meet goals and to monitor and re-plan in
the light of unforeseen developments
158 TOPIC 8 COLLABORATION SKILLS
Skills
Interact effectively with others
o Speak with clarity and awareness of audience and purpose. Listen
with care, patience, and honesty
o Conduct themselves in a respectable, professional manner
Work effectively in diverse teams
o Leverage social and cultural differences to create new ideas and
increase both innovation and quality of work
Manage projects
o Prioritise, plan, and manage work to achieve the intended group result
Guide and lead others
o Use interpersonal and problem-solving skills to influence and guide
others toward a goal
o Leverage strengths of others to accomplish a common goal
o Inspire others to reach their very best via example and selflessness
o Demonstrate integrity and ethical behaviour in using influence and
power
Attitudes/values/ethics
Interact effectively with others
o Know when it is appropriate to listen and when to speak
o Conduct themselves in a respectable, professional manner
Work effectively in diverse teams
o Show respect for cultural differences and be prepared to work
effectively with people from a range of social and cultural
backgrounds
o Respond open-mindedly to different ideas and values
Manage projects
o Persevere to achieve goals, even in the face of obstacles and competing
pressures
Be responsible to others
o Act responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind
In 2015, for the first time, the Programme for International Student Assessment
(PISA), included a collaborative problem-solving component in the assessment.
Previously, in 2012, PISA only assessed individual studentÊs ability to solve
problems. The shift is made to address the growing emphasis on collaborative
learning and students who are able to work more effectively in team environments.
TOPIC 8 COLLABORATIVE SKILLS ⊳ 159
ACTIVITY 8.3
The Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21) which is a national nonprofit
organisation in The United States that advocates for 21st century readiness for every
student, presented six education levels for collaborative learning initiatives. Each of
the levels is discussed with focus on three important aspects – intervention,
assessment and evaluation. This section will discuss these aspects on the six levels,
namely; classroom, school, out-of-school, school district, state and national.
The first level is the classroom. The classroom intervention determines the extent to
which collaboration is being developed and modelled in classroom environment. This
should be supported by embedding opportunities for collaboration into the
classroom culture. For the assessment, collaboration should be embedded into all
aspects of student learning, curriculum and instruction. The classroom facilitator
should also address the diverse abilities of the students and ways of collaboration.
Evaluation in the classroom should focus on both the student collaboration and team
building skills. Results from regular assessment of studentÊs growth should be
reported to the parents.
The second level is the school. The school level intervention should examine how
collaboration is taught and demonstrated across classrooms and grades. The school
should focus its educational goals on collaboration as both, a process and an outcome.
The assessment of collaboration skills should be given high priority. The school
should develop a common vision, plan and strategy to be included in teaching and
learning.
160 TOPIC 8 COLLABORATION SKILLS
The fourth level is the school district. At the school district level, the intervention
should include determining how resources are used to promote collaboration in
learning spaces and culture. Resources should be allocated as needed and there
should be encouragement of mediated interactions and blended learning
opportunities. As for the assessment, resources should be provided to schools to
incorporate collaboration into teaching and learning. Evaluation at this level will
include efforts to develop and support 21st century assessment data systems for
educators, parents and students.
The fifth level is the state. At the state level, there should be promotion of teaching
practices and learning environments that promote collaboration. As for the
assessment, the state should provide the districts with curricular and instructional
resources as well as professional development initiatives. The evaluation at the state
level should include the development of collaboration rubrics to assess student
growth. There should be efforts to incorporate evaluation of collaboration skills in all
assessments and promote collaboration as a critical student outcome.
The sixth level is the national level. At this level, there should be continuous support
for the ongoing research on effective collaboration. Resources should be developed to
help promotion of collaboration for learning. For the assessment, there should be
efforts towards funding of research and development projects on interventions which
will increase the studentsÊ collaboration skills. The evaluation effort at this level
should support the development of high quality collaboration assessments and
rubrics.
ACTIVITY 8.4
Discuss on the role you could play in enhancing the collaborative
learning at the various levels discussed above. Who else could play a
role in doing the initiatives?
TOPIC 8 COLLABORATIVE SKILLS ⊳ 161
In collaborative learning, the learners actively use their prior learning to acquire
more knowledge and benefit from the diverse viewpoints of others working
with them.
In cooperative learning, each individual plays his or her role in part of the task
and work is done together while in collaborative learning, each individual
works on a part but may work separately. The parts are then brought together
to form the whole.
Students might be working in a group but that does not necessarily mean that
they are collaborating. On the other hand students may be working
collaboratively but not together in the same place.
The P21 proposes six education levels for collaborative learning initiatives,
namely; classroom, school, out-of-school, school district, state and national.
Collaboration skills will be an important asset in any learner of the 21st century.
Binkley M. et al. (2012) Defining Twenty-First Century Skills. In: Griffin P.,
McGaw B., Care E. (eds) Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills.
Springer, Dordrecht
Chatman, J., Polzer, J., Barsade, S., & Neale, M. (1998). Being Different Yet Feeling
Similar: The Influence of Demographic Composition and Organizational
Culture on Work Processes and Outcomes. Administrative Science
Quarterly, 43(4), 749-780.
Diehl, M., & Stroebe, W. (1987). Productivity loss in brainstorming groups: Toward
the solution of a riddle. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(3), 497-509.
Gerlach, J. M. (1994). Is this collaboration?. New Directions for Teaching and Learning,
Fall, 5-14.
Hesse, F., Care, E., Buder, J., Sassenberg, K. & Griffin, P. (2015). A framework for
teachable collaborative problem solving skills. In P. Griffin & E. Care (Eds.),
Assessment and teaching of 21st century skills: Methods and approach (pp. 37-
56). Dordrecht, NL: Spriinger.
Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T. & Holubec, E.J. ( 2008). Cooperation in the classroom
(8th Ed.). Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.
Johnson, D.W. & Johnson, R.T. (2009). An educational psychology success story:
Social interdependence theory and cooperative learning. Journal of Educational
Researcher, 38(5), 365-379.
Johnson, D.W. & Johnson, R.T. (1989). Cooperation and competition theory and
research. Edina, Minnesota: Interaction Book Co. Publishing.
Kuhn, D. (2015). Thinking together and alone. Educational Researcher, 44, 46-53.
Kyndt, E., Raes, E., Lismont, B., Timmers, F., Cascallar, E. and Dochy, F. (2013) A
Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Face-to-Face Cooperative Learning. Do Recent
Studies Falsify or Verify Earlier Findings? Educational Research Review, 10,
133-149.
Laal, M. & Ghodsi, S.M. (2012). Benefits of collaborative learning. Procedia - Social and
Behavioral Sciences, 31, 486-490.
Larey, T.S. & Paulus, P. B. (1999) Group preference and convergent tendencies in
small groups: A content analysis of group brainstorming
performance. Creativity Research Journal, 12(3), 175-184.
Maher, M.R. and Tinto, V. (Eds.) Collaborative learning: A sourcebook for higher
education. National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning & Assessment,
Syracuse University.
Michelene T. H. Chi & Ruth Wylie (2014) The ICAP Framework: Linking Cognitive
Engagement to Active Learning Outcomes, Educational Psychologist, 49:4, 219-
243.
Noroozi, O., Weinberger, a., Biemans, H.J., Mulder, M. & Chirazi, M. (2012).
Argumentation-based computer supported collaborative learning (ABCSCL): A
synthesis of 15 years of research. Educational Research Review, 7(2), 79-106.
164 TOPIC 8 COLLABORATION SKILLS
Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2009). A. framework for 21st century
learning P21.Tucson, AZ. Available at: www.21stcenturyskills.org.
Plucker, J., & Barab, S. A. (2005). The importance of contexts in theories of giftedness:
Learning to embrace the messy joys of subjectivity. In R. J. Sternberg & J. A.
Davidson (Eds.), Conceptions of giftedness (2nd ed.) (pp. 201-216). New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Smith, B.L. & MacGregor, J.T. (1992). What is collaborative learning? In Goodsell,
A.S.,
Van den Bossche, Gijselaers, Segers, Wottjer & Kirschner, 2011). Team Learning:
Building shared mental models. Instructional Science: An International Journal of
the Learning Sciences, 39 (3), 283-301.
Wegerif, R., Mercer, N. and Dawes, L. (1999) From Social Interaction to Individual
Reasoning: An Empirical Investigation of a Possible Socio-Cultural Model of
Cognitive Development. Learning and Instruction, 9(6), 493-516.
Wertsch, J.V., del Rio, P. & Alvarez, A. (Eds.) (1995). Sociocultural Studies of Mind.
New York: Cambridge University Press.
INTRODUCTION
The more global citizens there are, and the more ctive and effective they
are, the more progress the world will make.
Bill Gates,
(Founder of Microsoft)
Welcome to Topic 9. This topic will be divided into four parts. Firstly, this topic
will discuss on Global Citizenship Education and its importance in the 21st
century. In the subtopic, learners will be exposed to the definition of Global
Citizenship Education, the objectives and lastly its importance. Next, this topic
will focus on the roles of the state in globalisation. The question to ponder is
whether the role of the state will be more powerful or the other way round due to
globalisation.
166 TOPIC 9 GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION
Equally important in this topic is international conflicts in the post-Cold War era
in particular the conflict between Iraq and Kuwait that occcurred in the early
1990s as well as the Libya Civil War that has happened in 2012. These two
conflicts are selected for the purpose of discussion because the former happened
right after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, followed by the political and economic
instabilities in Soviet Union which signified the road to the end of the Cold War.
Meanwhile, the latter was the democratic uprising by the people that began in
late December 2010 in Tunisia and spread to many other Arab countries
including in Libya as a result of long-term suffering by the oppressive regimes
and discrimination and low standard of living. This democratic uprising is also
known as the Arab Spring. Finally, this topic will delve into gender equality in
the 21st century from the political and economic aspects.
After that, in 2013, two main UNESCO events which are the Technical
Consultation on Global Citizenship Education and the first UNESCO Forum on
Global Citizenship Education held in Seoul, Republic of Korea and Bangkok,
Thailand respectively. These two documents provided foundation works for
GCED and in support of GEFI. For further details of these documents, you may
refer to these website
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002241/224115E.pdf and
http://www.unescobkk.org/education/news/article/unesco-forum-on-global-
citizenship-education/.
Two years later in May, in Incheon, Republic of Korea, the Incheon Declaration
was adopted at the World Education Forum (WEF). The Incheon Declaration has
emphasised the commitment of the education community to Education 2030 and
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to recognise the important role
TOPIC 9 GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION ⊳ 167
The next milestone of the emergence of GCED can be traced back to the adoption
of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) during UN General Assembly on September 2015 as
the UN celebrates its seven decades of establishment. The 2030 Agenda constitutes
17 goals. For instance, Goal 4 „Quality EducationÊ. There are seven targets under
this goal and three means of implementation. In target 4.7:
ÂBy 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to
promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education
for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender
equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and
appreciation of cultural diversity and of cultureÊs contribution to sustainable
development‰
This goal apparently highlights the importance of GCED and its strategies for the
next fifteen years.
Figure 9.1:
9.1 Sustainable Development Goals
Source:
Source http://www.peace-ed-campaign.org/17-ways-education-influences-the-un-
sustainable-development-goals/
168 TOPIC 9 GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION
So, based on the above definitions, it can be said that GCED empowers learners to
think, share and act for a more just, peaceful, inclusive and sustainable world.
The fundamental objective of GCED is to nurture respect for all, build a sense of
belonging to a common humanity and help learners to become responsible and
active global citizens. Nevertheless, the other aims of GCED are to empower
learners so that they can engage and assume active roles, both locally and globally;
to face and resolve global challenges and ultimately to become proactive
contributors to a more just, peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, secure and sustainable
world (UNESCO, 2014). The GCED has three main conceptual dimensions which
are cognitive, socio-emotional and behaviour. The details of these three main
conceptual dimensions are explained in Table 9.1 below.
Importance of GCED
You may ask why the GCED is important when there are so many issues
happening locally and at the same time global issues concentrated mainly in the
developing world. Well, the importance of the GCED is due to increasing pressure
to expand the role of education to address global problems. Hence, the role of
education in the 21st century should go beyond standard topics traditionally that
has been taught in the classrooms or lecture halls. Nevertheless, an education that
goes beyond the classroom or lecture hall is what our „educated‰ societies should
be focused on in the 21st century. The theories, concepts or even models that have
been taught in the classrooms or lecture halls provide us with the knowledge, yet
these are not sufficient. It is time for us as a global citizen to live with these
theories, concepts or models in our daily life. For instance, the education of the
sustainable development should not be taught per se, but it should focus on how
people should react and practice in their daily life. In fact, we were taught a long
time ago on the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) of the environment. However, it
is 5Rs or even 6Rs now. The correct order of 5Rs are Refuse, Reduce, Reuse,
Repurpose, Recycle. Meanwhile, the 6Rs are Reduce, Rethink, Refuse, Recycle,
Reuse and Repair.
Evidently, it shows the world that we are living in now is more complex and
challenging. The world has become more interdependent and interconnected. Any
actions that happen locally will have effects not only on our community, our city,
but on all of us, the world itself. Therefore, we must understand each other, live as
one global citizen and prepare our younger generation to find the solutions for the
challenges in this interconnected world.
170 TOPIC 9 GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION
Source:
Source Photo from the authorÊs file
Nevertheless, according to Toh Swee-Hin, Laureate of the UNESCO Prize for Peace
Education in 2000: „Important entry points for GCED are peace education, human
rights education, education for international understanding, education for
sustainable development. They are like a river with many tributaries; in this river
we can mix and learn from each other.‰ (UNESCO, 2014). Thus, the GCED will
help us to develop the attitudes to care and empathy for others in this mutual
environment. For instance, human rights issues in Palestine conflict has yet to be
resolved since the establishment of the „Israel‰ on 14 May 1948. This conflict is not
about ÂtheirÊ conflict. It is „our‰ conflict. The systematic oppression and
discrimination are happening daily against the Palestinians. As a global citizen and
through GCED, we can play our roles to create awareness and make our
community aware of this issue.
Without a doubt, literacy and numeracy are important, but we must not only
emphasise on education that can be measured, but equally important to delve into
the issues like, change, interdependence, identity and diversity, rights and
responsibilities, peace building, poverty and wealth, diversity, sustainability and
global justice which contribute to, contemporary global issues at local, national and
global levels as informed, engaged, responsible and responsive global citizens.
Every year, we have more architects, accountants, engineers, dentists and many
others, but how many of these people are the agents of the positive change in this
world. How many of them are aware of the trade war between China and the US,
the Syrian Crisis, the ethnic conflicts in Yemen that are resulting in the food crisis,
global warming and many others? Hence, through GCED, we will be more
emphatic, compassionate, adaptable, tolerance of what is happening be it locally or
internationally.
TOPIC 9 GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION ⊳ 171
SELF-CHECK 9.1
ACTIVITY 9.1
Definition of globalisation
The word ÂglobalisationÊ is widely used, but what does it mean? First of all,
globalisation can be referred to as the growing interconnectedness of
governments, non-state actors and populations throughout the world through a
variety of political, economic, technological, cultural, environment and other
interactions (Klesner,2014).
Globalisation has been around for centuries and it is not something new in the
world. Government policymakers, party leaders, business and industry,
academia, trade union leaders and the mass media all talk about the impact of
globalisation and how it can change our lives. Many people see international
trade and investment growth as globalisation in the past two decades.
Globalisation is pushing down national borders and integrating the global
economy. Some people refer to globalisation as a "global village." The perception
of whether"globalisation" is good or bad, is still a matter of opinion.
The original state role was created from the Westphalian Model, portraying the
state as the highest power with complete sovereignty, with an internal role to
provide to and govern for the people of the state and an external role as an actor
in world politics; the current role of the state is different politically, socially,
technologically and economically (Buchanan, 2012). However, globalisation has
altered the function of the state politically as it has strengthened the relationship
between the states and resulted to the dependency among one another. States
were created to be sovereign but now, due to globalisation, often give their
sovereignty away to ÂpoolingÊ (Shaw, 2000, 185) in conventions, contracting,
coercion and imposition (Krasner, 1995/6).
Globalisation has resulted in the state that has to encounter the challenges
beyond their geographical boundaries. For instance, the Syrian Civil War which
originated starting with peaceful demonstration by the Syrian pro-democracy
activists on March 2011 after one of the 15 boys that were arrested was killed
because the Syrian armies brutally tortured him. President Syria, Bashar al-Assad
has responded to the mass protest by killing hundreds of demonstrators and
imprisoning others involved in the mass demonstrations. Due to globalisation,
this incident has spread across the world. Foreign interventions like Hezbollah,
the majority of Shia in Iraq and Iran has rented the support to Bashar al-AssadÊs
regime, while, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have backed the insurgent groups
against the Assad government. These foreign interventions have caused the state
not only have to delve with the pressure of the internal civilians, but also external
intervention. The war itself excited European Muslims and led many to
volunteer, often seeing themselves as would-be freedom fighters rather than
clandestine terrorists. (Byman February 27, 2018). Inevitably, it started as the civil
war, but now with the backing of foreign interventions, this internal war has
lasted for almost nine years and there is still no sign that this civil war will end
anytime soon.
Today, there are many non-state actors like the United Nations (UN), World
Bank (WB), Multinational Corporations (MNCs) besides the state are affecting
international politics due to the globalisation. The state remains central and
important in the international system, but its role is clearly transforming. The
role of the state has been transformed from the controller to the protector. This
174 TOPIC 9 GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION
can be seen especially in the political and economic sector. Politically, the state
will protect its political system, while economically, the state will have to
diversify its economic activities in order to attract the foreign direct investor at
the same time not jeopardising its infant economy activities. For instance, China
was once on its own land, but in 1979, it has implemented Open Door Policy to
attract foreign investors to invest and expand their businesses in China to speed
up the growth of the economy. At the same time, the political system is
remaining as it is since the independence in 1949 which are a unitary state with a
one-party system controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CPC).
Globalisation has created imbalances between the states. Certain states become so
powerful and vice-versa. In fact, "in recent decades an imbalance has emerged
between successful efforts to craft strong and well-enforced rules facilitating the
expansion of global markets, while support for equally valid social objectives, be
they labour standards, the environment, human rights or poverty reduction, has
lagged behind" (UN, 2000, Millennium Report, A/54/2000). Consequently,
globalisation has opened up developing countryÊs markets to skew competition
with multinationals which has ensured that most of the wealth of such countries
end up in the developed world. In exchange, the developing country is left with
more unemployment, poverty and diseases.
The states can become powerful if the citizens of the states can seize the
opportunities of globalisation. The citizens are required to access to higher
quality education system, information and communication technologies (ICT),
social security nets and many others. Meanwhile, the role of the government is
equally important too. The government can provide affordable access and good
coverages to these services to the citizens. Although it will be a daunting task for
the developing states due to lack of the facilities and accessibility, but the
government can minimise the cost of globalisation by strengthening the state
institutions and social welfare policies for its citizens.
The negative impact that globalisation brings also cannot be neglected at all.
Globalisation increased the risk of the various countries' economies, particularly
the developing countries where the economic sovereignty and economic security
are faced with the new challenges. The South-North economic gap further
widens. Even if in developed country, because of the change of economic
structure, the application of sophisticated technology leads to the lesser use of
labour in the production line. Consequently, it has resulted in a higher
unemployment rate. The trade protectionism of all forms has been on the rise.
Some countries also take the opportunity of globalisation, to promote their own
values, the economic regime and social systems to other country forcefully and
thus erode the values of the receiving countries. If these issues cannot be solved,
globalisation can be perceived as an unhealthy development to the state.
TOPIC 9 GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION ⊳ 175
In conclusion, the phenomenon of globalisation did not make the state becomes
powerless, but it actually expands and strengthen the roles of the state itself. The
state is still remain central in the international system despite the challenges from
non-state actors as well as the phenomenon of globalisation. This is because, in
world of global enmeshment, simply to achieve domestic objectives national
governments are forced to engage in extensive multilateral collaboration and
cooperation. (Baylis, Smith & Owens, 2016). Undeniably, the roles of the state
have transformed, but no means to become ÂpowerlessÊ. The state has to become
more proactive and dynamics or else the sovereignty of the state is at stake.
SELF-CHECK 9.2
ACTIVITY 9.2
nationwide uprising against the more than four decades (1969–2011) ruling of the
autocratic regime of Gaddafi began in January 2011. Initially, it started as
nonviolent protests simultaneously with other protests in the Arab Spring. It had
taken weeks before violence broke out in clashes between the police and the
protesters on the streets of Libya beginning from 17 February 2011 (Danahar,
2013). Consequently, Libyan oppositions started to form what became known as
the National Transitional Council to unite efforts to bring about a change of
ruling in Libya. This was achieved by bringing down the regime through civil
disobedience in February 2011. Due to the extensive opposition and uprising of
the people – even amongst officials who used to serve in the government –
GaddafiÊs forces started losing its control of several cities in eastern Libya,
starting with Benghazi (Danahar, 2013).
In March 2011 GaddafiÊs army began to counter the uprising by using force
which resulted in regaining many territories which had been previously lost to
the opposition. Gaddafi intensified its campaign against the remaining main
bastion of the opposition forces in Benghazi with a stronger force. The
involvement of foreign powers such as the US, UN and also NATO not only
ended Muammar GaddafiÊs 42-year rule over Libya but also caused him to be
killed in the battle of Sirte. He was the only leader who was murdered in the
Arab Spring.
SELF-CHECK 9.3
ACTIVITY 9.3
(a) What are the differences between conflict, war and crisis? Provide
examples to support your understanding.
(b) Based on the case study on „Iraq and the Persian Gulf War 1990-
1991‰, do you think the intervention of the US in the Persian Gulf
War 1990–1991 was legitimate? Discuss.
(c) Do you think the current condition in Iraq is better than when it was
under the administration of Saddam Hussein? Discuss your answer
with your coursemates in myINSPIRE online forum.
(d) Select any TWO (2) academic journal articles regarding the intra-
state conflicts that occurred after the Cold War era, then write a
review for both the articles in less than 200 words.
„For me, a better democracy is a democracy where women do not only have the
right to vote and to elect but to be elected.‰·Michelle Bachelet, former head of
UN Women, former president and defence minister of Chile, in The New York
Times
(Torregrosa, 2012)
According to the Demographic Statistics Second Quarter (Q2) 2018, Malaysia has
a population of 15,663.4 million women equivalent to 48.37 percent of the total
population, which stands at 32,385.0 million (Demographic Statistics Second
Quarter (Q2) 2018, Malaysia). However, womenÊs representation in party
leadership, especially in the Parliament of Malaysia, is very low. Even after the
New Malaysia is formed after May 2018 under Tun Dr MahathirÊs leadership,
there are only 32 women or 16.36 per cent has been elected into the House of
Representative (Dewan Rakyat) though there is an increase of nine women as
compared to DatoÊ Sri Najib RazakÊs administration. Also, for the first time in the
history of Malaysia, we have the female Deputy Prime Minister which is Dato'
Seri Dr Wan Azizah binti Dato' Dr Wan Ismail. Undoubtedly, the level of
women's formal political representation in Malaysia is low and does not reach
the 30 percent quota as endorsed by the Economic and Social Council during the
United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in
September 1995. Logically, if women make up 48% of the total population in
Malaysia, by right, it should have 48% of representation in all policymaking
levels. In the international arena, according to Inter-Parliamentary Union, as of
1st October 2018, there are 48 countries in the world that have more than 30%
female representation in the Lower or single house with Rwanda on the top of
table which has 49 women or 61.3 per cent, followed by Cuba, Bolivia, Mexico
and Grena. Timor Leste is the only AsiaÊ country that surpassed the 30% quota of
women representation in the Lower House. (For further info,
http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm).
180 TOPIC 9 GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION
Political aspect aside, the economic aspect of gender equality should be taken
seriously. In most of the countries, women are discriminated. They are not
allowed to work. Even, if they are allowed to work, their salary is underpaid
compared to the amount of work given to them. This fact is not understated.
According to the Institute for WomenÊs Policy Research, in 2017, female full-time,
year-round workers made only 80.5 cents for every dollar earned by men, a
gender wage gap of 20 percent (Pay equity & discrimination). However, there is a
light at the end of every tunnel. Beginning 1 January 2018, Iceland is the first
country in the world that enforces equal payment of salary between men and
women. In the event that the employer pays women less than men, they are
risked to get fine by the government. Evidently, Iceland has been ranked by the
World Economic Forum (WEF) as the world's most gender-equal country for the
last nine years (In Iceland, it's now illegal to pay men more than women, 2018).
In conclusion, the advocacy of gender equality is about the human rights and
inclusiveness. The equal rights regardless of gender, whether male or female in
all spheres of life. How can a country develop when the society is discriminated
and marginalised economically, politically and socially?
ACTIVITY 9.4
(a) Recently, you were asked to give a talk on „Gender Equality of the
work place in the 21st Century‰. Prepare the draft of the talk and
share it with your classmates in myINSPIRE.
(b) Design an interactive activity in myINSPIRE that emphasise on the
importance of gender equality
SELF-CHECK 9.4
Baylis, J., Smith, S., & Owens, P. (2016). The globalisation of world politics: An
introduction to international relations. (6th ed.). New York, N.Y: Oxford
University Press.
Buchanan. S. (2012). Has globalisation altered the role of the state? https://www.e-
ir.info/2012/11/24/has-globalisation-altered-the-role-of-states/
Byman. D. February 27, 2018. Six Counterterrorism Lessons From the Syrian Civil
War https://www.lawfareblog.com/six-counterterrorism-lessons-syrian-
civil-war
D'Anieri, Paul J. (2010). International politics: Power and purpose in global affairs.
Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Belmont, USA.
Danahar, P. (2013). The new Middle East: The world after the Arab spring . London:
Bloomsburry.
Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity: Self and society in the late modern
age: Cambridge Polity Press and Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
TOPIC 9 GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION ⊳ 183
Global Citizenship Education: Topics and Learning Objectives. (2015). United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7, place de Fontenoy,
75352 Paris 07 SP, France
Global Citizenship Education: Preparing learners for the challenges of the 21st century.
(2014). UNESCO. Published in 2014 by the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation, 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07
SP, France
Gvosdev. N. (2016). What follows the “Post-Cold War” era? Retrieved from
https://www.ethicsandinternationalaffairs.org/2016/follows-post-cold-war-
era/
In Iceland, it's now illegal to pay men more than women, (2018). Wowen’s Right.
Aljazeera Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/01/iceland-
country-legalise-equal-pay-180101150054329.html
McGrew, A. (2017). Globalization and global politics. In Baylis, J., Smith, S., &
Owens, P. (2011). The globalisation of world politics: An introduction to
international relations. (5th ed.). (pp. 15-36). Oxford, United Kingdom
Spotlight on Sustainable Development Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all
women and girls (5 July 2017). Retrieved from
http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-
library/multimedia/2017/7/infographic-spotlight-on-sdg-5
Tickner. (2017). “Gender in world politics”. In p. 264-278 Baylis, J., Smith, S., &
Owens, P. (2017). The globalisation of world politics: An introduction to
international relations (6th ed.). New York, N.Y: Oxford University Press.
Torregrosa. L. L., (2012). Evaluating challenges women face. The New York
Times, 6 March. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/us/07iht-letter07.html
Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved
from
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld
United Nations (2000), Millennium Report of the Secretary-General, “We, the Peoples:
The Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century", A/54/2000.
World Bank. 2011. World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development.
Washington, DC: World Bank.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
1. State reasons for conserving the environment;
2. Describe major global environmental issues;
3. Explain the concept of green technology and its importance;
4. Discuss the concept of sustainability; and
5. Demonstrate ways to improve your ecological footprint.
INTRODUCTION
This topic ÂThe Environment and UsÊ, aims to introduce key concepts and prompt
discussions which allow us to re-evaluate our position in the environment. We
begin by discovering the environment, its benefits and the importance of
conserving it. We need to appreciate the intricate inter-relations among various
components within the environment. We need to expand our view from an
individual perspective that is confined to us and our home to a collective
perspective that concerns the global world as our surroundings. We have to
expand our responsibilities to play a part in conserving the environment. We
must identify the factors that affect the environment. What are the major
environmental issues that we are facing today? Immediate collective actions are
needed to address them.
186 TOPIC 10 THE ENVIRONMENT AND US
Can we turn to technology for solution? What is green technology? You will
learn about the concepts of „green‰ and „green technology‰ which are needed in
order to make informed decisions. We shall also explore the concept of
sustainability and the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). You may recall a
few SDGs from Topic 9. What do we hope to achieve by 2030? What can be done
from an individual perspective to protect and conserve our environment? Do you
know your own ecological footprint? Let us explore these questions and do our
part in creating a better environment.
Ecology is the branch of science which studies how living things interact with one
another and with the surrounding physical environment. For convenience, a
segment of the biosphere is often identified as an ecosystem and is studied by
observing and analysing various interactions that exist within the system. An
ecosystem is a defined area where a community of living things (micro
organisms, plants and animals known as biotic components) interact with one
another and with non-living components (sunlight, temperature, water and
others that are referred to as abiotic components). An ecosystem:
(a) has a community that lives and interacts with one another in a locale. The
term community in biology refers to an interacting group of various
organisms within a common location. A community can be broken down to
smaller groups by referring to populations which are characterised by the
number of organisms of a particular species.
TOPIC 10 THE ENVIRONMENT AND US ⊳ 187
(b) has an arbitrary boundary that is defined according to the nature of the study
being conducted. A well-defined or sharp boundary is not possible in reality.
Nevertheless, there is a classification of major communities called biome.
(c) is referred to by its type of biomes. There are various biome classifications. You
may view attractive visuals of biomes at the following sites:
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/biome/; and
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/world_biomes.htm (Biomes mapping
(Schaffner, 2010) at West Tisbury Elementary School, Massachusetts,
United States).
(d) are analysed by tracing the movement of energy and matter. The rule of
nature where matter and energy are conserved are:
(i) Matter is recycled
Matter may move from one ecosystem to another but is never
destroyed. It is recycled from one form to another.
(ii) Flow of energy
The incoming energy is absorbed by the ecosystem never diminishes.
The form of energy changes and eventually dissipates as heat and
radiation.
The cycle of matter and energy is best understood by analysing how the
solar energy that is absorbed by producers (plants including trees) is taken
up by primary consumers (herbivores and omnivores) and secondary and
tertiary consumers (carnivores). Energy in the form of heat is produced
during the cycles. Another group that has a significant role is detritivores
(consumers that feed on dead plants and animals). Figure 10.1 shows an
image depicting the Food Web.
Figure 10.1:
10.1 Flow of energy among producer, consumer and decomposer (detritivores)
[Source: https://ubisafe.org/explore/discomposition-clipart-food-
web/#gal_post_2175_discomposition-clipart-food-web-4.jpg]
188 TOPIC 10 THE ENVIRONMENT AND US
How about us, the human population? Where do we belong in the food web?
ACTIVITY 10.1
A tree interacts with other biotic components and abiotic components.
Consider the interactions of a tree in your garden. Suppose your
neighbour sprays insecticide in his garden, will it affect the tree in
your garden? Discuss this problem with your peers in the online
forum. Extend your discussion to consider the pollution caused by the
use of chemical pesticides at a farm in your neighbourhood. Discuss
whether you should be concerned about activities and development
projects in your city, municipality or district.
Ecological services include provision of necessary resources such as the air that
we breathe
breathe, drinking water,
water and food.
food A large number of herbs and plants are
also useful as medicinal resources.
resources Another important provision from our natural
ecosystem is raw materials such as timber. There are many other services that
may not be obvious to us. In addition to these Provisioning Services,
Services The
Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) („Ecosystem Services‰, n.d.)
lists three other ecosystem service categories: Regulating, Supporting and
Cultural Services. TEEB is hosted by the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP). According to TEEB,
Land cover changes are classified as either: (i) land conversion involving
complete alteration such as deforestation to facilitate agriculture expansion; or
(ii) land modification whereby changes occur but do not alter the type of land
cover due to activities such as logging. Much of the worldÊs natural and semi-
natural vegetated land cover (81%) was turned into cropland between 1992 and
2015 (OECD, 2018). Deforestation is the term used to describe the clearing of
forest cover for other uses. Visit the Global Forest Watch website to discover the
current state of deforestation. You will learn that Malaysia for example, has lost
25% of its tree cover (equivalent to 7.29 Mha) since 2000.
Urbanisation (see sub-section 10.2.6) and Water Surface Changes are two other
drivers that cause land cover changes. We have lost our natural land and water
surfaces; and gained artificial land and water surfaces. Apart from the changes to
water surface caused by development of water dam (artificial water surfaces) and
land reclamation, the change in sea-
sea-level is also an alarming environmental issue.
What causes the sea-level to rise? An in-depth coverage on this issue can be
found in Global Environmental Issues (2004). Can there be a global action to
mitigate the issue of the changing land cover?
The world has warmed since 1860 from the period of the Industrial Revolution
(Harris, 2004). It is unlikely that the unusual rise in global average temperature is
due to natural forces alone. The global average temperature is expected to
increase at a much higher rate over the following decades along with other
climatic variables. Global warming is a symptom of climate change. Other signs
of climate change include droughts, storms and flash floods, snow melts and
rising sea levels. The sign of climate change are different from region to region.
Climate change and accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere bring
about direct and indirect impacts which include:
TOPIC 10 THE ENVIRONMENT AND US ⊳ 191
• Heat waves, cold waves and other extreme weather events such as flash
floods, droughts, landslides and wildfires;
• Increased morbidity and mortality rates;
Water contamination and other natural biophysical disruptions;
Disruption and contamination of food; and
Disruption of energy and other human socio-economic systems.
https://www.oecd.org/env/resources/Global%20Forum%20on%20Environmen
t%20-%20Background%20Note%20-%2019%20Nov%202014.pdf.
Development of the human society has led to the change in land cover and land
use, especially from natural forest to cropland, in particular to support our food
demand. Buildings and artificial surfaces have grown vertically and horizontally
(see the next sub-section on Urbanisation). Artificial water zones such as water
dams have been built to support our increasing demand for water. Our coastal
zones are overdeveloped. These have resulted in other environmental problem:
soil erosion and degradation.
degradation Discuss the steep, unbalanced, and wide disparity
of our socio-economic development. A good read for this sub-topic is Chapter 2
from Environment and Society: A Critical Introduction (2014).
10.2.5 Pollution
Pollution refers to the introduction of substances by humans that causes harmful
effects. Apart from air, water and soil pollution, we are also concerned about
pollution in the form of excessive heat, radiation, noise, and light. Human beings
are largely responsible for causing severe environmental pollution worldwide.
Why do we pollute our environment?
Pollution is pervasive and affects every being on earth, from the carbon dioxide
(CO2) in our atmosphere, to polychlorinated biphenyl (PCP) in our bodies to acid
on our land (Speth & Haas, 2006). Extensive use of chemicals is a major problem
in our environment. The sources of chemical pollutants vary from agriculture snd
industries to transportation and households. For example, emissions from coal-
fired power plants pollute the air, and transforms into acid rain which pollutes
the water and the soil. Acid rain is an example of transboundary pollution.
pollution Air
TOPIC 10 THE ENVIRONMENT AND US ⊳ 193
10.2.6 Urbanisation
Urbanisation refers to the process of changing social and environmental
landscapes („Urbanization and health‰, 2012). It is primarily driven by rural-
urban migration leading to the vertical and horizontal expansion of urban space
into buildings and artificial surfaces. Globally, an area in the size of the United
Kingdom (244 000 km2) has been converted into built-up areas since 1990 (OECD,
2018). It might be difficult for some to see urban space (with clean and green
spaces) as an environmental issue. According to McGranahan and Satterthwaite
(2004), environmental burdens for maintaining such cities may well be in distant
locations, and displaced rather than eliminated. They highlighted the fact that
„the poorest urban population in the poorest countries tend to have the worst
environmental health conditions in and around their homes and also among the
lowest level of greenhouse gas emissions per person. The ambient environments
of heavily industrialised and motorised cities in the middle-income countries
tend to be highly distressed environmentally, with worst ambient air pollution
problems. And it is the populations of the wealthiest cities that have the largest
footprints, and that are the biggest per capita drivers of
global environmental footprints
climate change‰.
ACTIVITY 10.2
Select one global environmental issue that you are concerned about.
Describe the issue, its causes, its implications for the environment and
human beings, and global policy responses. Propose an initiative that
your peers and you can do to mitigate the issue. Working in a group can
allow for sharing of resources and enable you to cover more issues.
194 TOPIC 10 THE ENVIRONMENT AND US
Table 10.1:
10.1 Trends in Green Technology and Sustainable Solutions by Sector
ACTIVITY 10.3
Read about extended producer responsibility (you may refer to Chapter 5
of Environment and Society: A Critical Introduction (2014). Discuss
among your colleagues how green technology can emerge as a solution
for an improved environment.
Table 10.2:
10.2 Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nation
Goal 1 End poverty in all forms everywhere
Goal 2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote
sustainable agriculture
Goal 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well being for all at all ages
Goal 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
opportunities for all
Goal 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Goal 7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Goal 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and
productive employment and decent work for all
Goal 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable
industrialization and foster innovation
Goal 10 Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Goal 12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Note: Acknowledging that the UNFCCC is the primary international,
intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change.
Goal 14 Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for
sustainable development
Goal 15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems,
sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land
degradation and halt biodiversity loss
TOPIC 10 THE ENVIRONMENT AND US ⊳ 197
Goal 16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide
access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions
at all levels
Goal 17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership
for Sustainable Development
[Source
Source:
Source United Nations
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld/publication]
What do these goals mean to you? What are the causes of the unsustainable
global society that we live in today? Are we part of the problem? How can we be
part of the solution? These are some of the questions you must ask yourself.
The term „sustainable development‰ was defined in the 1987 Brundtland Report
as „development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of the future generations to meet their own needs‰ (The World
Commission of Environment and Development). The SDGs represent these
aspirations in various interconnected areas. The sustainability revolution
connects communities (livelihood, education and culture), ecology/environment,
and economy. The need for a collective action is embedded in SDG17. There are
numerous movements all around the world that promotes awareness,
knowledge, and support for the revolution towards a sustainable global society.
The Natural Step is an example of a Non-Profit Organisation with such a
commitment (see https://thenatutalstep.org).
We need to act. We must take the steps needed to change, and to become an
advocate for the change.
ACTIVITY 10.4
Select one SGD,
SGD, identify its targets,
targets, and discuss how you can take
community. List
collective actions towards realising the goal in your community
relevant stakeholders.
stakeholders You may use any of the targets to plan and carry
out a project for the Khidmat Masyarakat course.
There are many Internet resources that provide suggestions or measures that you
can take to reduce your ecological footprint and improve our eco-management
efforts. An example of a good resource may be studied at:
http://myfootprint.org/en/take_action/reduce_your_footprint/
‘A community is a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm’ – Henrik Ibsen
• Environment refers to our surrounding which consist of the land, water and
air that we share with other living things.
• The biosphere is a thin layer around the earth occupied by living and non-
living things. It consists of lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere.
• An ecosystem is an area where a community of living things (micro
organisms, plants and animals which are referred to as biotic components)
interact with one another along with non-living components (such as
sunlight, temperature, water and others that are referred to abiotic
components).
TOPIC 10 THE ENVIRONMENT AND US ⊳ 199
• Land cover is the earth’s surface covering, which ranges from bare to
mosses, lichens, grasses, scrublands, and evergreen forests.
Climate change refers to changes in regional and global climate patterns.
Biodiversity is the variability of all living things including genetic
variability within a species.
Populations are characterised by the number of organism of a particular
species. The human population is an example.
Pollution is the introduction of substances by humans that cause harmful
effects.
Urbanisation is the process of changing social and environmental landscape
in urban areas (“Urbanization and health”, 2012).
Green technology is the use of science and technology to conserve and
protect the environment.
Sustainable development was defined as the development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their needs (Brundtland Report, 1987)
Global ecological footprint measures the demand on and supply of nature.
Cracknell H. & Tam, R., (2013, Jan 10) Environmental Issues: Global Warming (PSA)
Retrieved at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MVvnj-tS-s
Federal Office for Spatial Development ARE. (n.d.). 1987: Brundtland Report.
Retrieved from https://www.are.admin.ch/are/en/home/sustainable-
development/international-cooperation/2030agenda/un-_-milestones-in-
sustainable-development/1987--brundtland-report.html
Harris, F. (ed.) (2004). Global Environmental Issues. West Sussex: John Wiley &
Sons Ltd.
Robbins, J., Hintz, J., & Moore, S. A. (2014). Environment and Society: A Critical
Introduction. 2nd. ed. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.