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Mengenali Sains Bahagian B: Teknik Asas Menjawab


Sains merupakan salah satu daripada lima subjek yang diuji semasa Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) dengan kod 018, seperti yang telah ditetapkan oleh Lembaga Peperiksaan Malaysia. Secara amnya, kertas Sains UPSR adalah kertas soalan yang menguji kemahiran Sains yang telah mereka pelajari sewaktu di Tahun 4, 5 dan 6. Sebuah kertas peperiksaan Sains dengan format UPSR mempunyai 2 bahagian iaitu Bahagian A (soalan objektif dengan aneka pilihan jawapan) dan Bahagian B (soalan berstruktur). Pelajar diberi 75 minit (1 jam 15 minit) untuk menjawab kesemua soalan yang diberikan semasa ujian tersebut. Dari segi pemarkahan secara umumnya, Bahagian A memberikan 60 markah (30 soalan x 2 markah setiap satu soalan) manakala Bahagian B menyumbang 40 markah (20 soalan x 2 markah setiap satu sub-soalan).

Seringkali menjadi desas-desus di kalangan murid Tahun 6 bahawa Sains merupakan salah satu "subject killer" UPSR. Selain itu, subjek Sains juga dikatakan sebagai "subjek yang senang lulus tapi susah nak score A". Hasil daripada pemerhatian saya selama 8 tahun sebagai seorang guru Sains, kebanyakan murid memberitahu (dan adakalanya merungut) kepada saya bahawa Bahagian B adalah bahagian yang paling susah untuk dijawab dalam kertas Sains. Persoalannya, mengapa pelajar berfikir demikian? Pada pendapat saya, saya gunakan konsep relativiti sedemikian.

"Anda mahu berbasikal tetapi anda tidak tahu caranya. Sememangnya, anda akan katakan berbasikal adalah satu aktiviti yang susah, Namun, jika anda diajar teknik mengimbangkan diri semasa duduk atas basikal, teknik memberhentikan basikal, teknik "menongkatkan" basikal menggunakan kaki dan sebagainya, adakah anda masih mengatakan bahawa berbasikal itu susah? Sudah tentu tidak, bukan? :) .. "

Sebenarnya, untuk menguasai Sains Bahagian B, terdapat beberapa teknik yang perlu dikuasai oleh murid-murid agar dapat menjawab soalan dengan lebih mudah. Terdapat 3 teknik asas yang perlu dikuasai oleh murid iaitu:

1. Mengenal Pasti Pembolehubah
Ini adalah teknik asas yang mesti dikuasai oleh semua murid. Semasa menjawab soalan Sains Bahagian B, perkara pertama yang perlu dilakukan sebelum menjawab sub-soalannya adalah mengenal pasti ketiga-tiga pembolehubah iaitu pembolehubah dimanipulasi, pembolehubah bergerakbalas dan pembolehubah dimalarkan. Di dalam satu eksperimen (soalan), hanya boleh ada satu pembolehubah dimanipulasi (WTC) dan satu pembolehubah bergerakbalas (WTO) dan kedua-dua pembolehubah ini boleh dibezakan dengan pernyataan berikut.

" WTO bergantung kepada WTC "

Contohnya: "Panjang bayang-bayang bergantung kepada kedudukan Matahari"

Pada pendapat anda, sekiranya ayat diatas diterbalikkan, adakah ia masih logik seperti pernyataan di atas?

Contoh yang diterbalikkan: "Kedudukan Matahari bergantung kepada panjang bayang-bayang.

Bagi pembolehubah dimalarkan, cara untuk mengenal pasti pembolehubah ini adalah dengan melihat keadaan bahan / objek yang sentiasa disamakan @ tidak berubah sepanjang eksperimen @ situasi tersebut diperhatikan. Biasanya, ia mudah dikenal pasti dengan adanya perkataan "sama", seperti contoh di bawah.
Perhatikan jadual di atas. Anda dapat lihat bahawa Jarak B mempunyai nilai yang sama iaitu 15cm. Maka, kita boleh katakan bahawa "Jarak objek daripada skrin (Jarak B) adalah pembolehubah dimalarkan).

*NOTA: Penulisan jawapan pembolehubah haruslah mengandungi dua elemen iaitu "Parameter" + "Objek".
  • Parameter: Keadaan sesuatu bahan/situasi yang ingin diperhatikan. Contohnya: bilangan, masa, kedudukan, panjang, isipadu, saiz, bacaan awal dsb.
  • Objek: Bahan yang diperhatikan. Contohnya, baju, air, lengan, Matahari, pendidihan air dsb.
2. Mengenal Pasti KUNCI SOALAN dan SKRIP CARA JAWAB
Terdapat 8 kunci soalan dalam Sains Bahagian B iaitu:
  1. Tujuan = Untuk menyiasat hubungan di antara WTC dengan WTO
  2. Pembolehubah/Maklumat/Apa yang diubah/diukur/ditetapkan = merujuk kepada WTC, WTO dan WTK
  3. Sebab (Inferens)
  4. Hubungan
  5. Kesimpulan
  6. Pemerhatian
  7. Corak/Pola perubahan = bertambah/meningkat @ berkurang/menurun @ tidak berubah
  8. Ramal
Post saya yang seterusnya akan cuba terangkan cara jawab bagi setiap kunci soalan yang dinyatakan.

3. Memperuntukkan masa jawab soalan-soalan Bahagian B.
Boleh rujuk semula artikel ini. Di sini

Ok. Nak bergerak ke sekolah untuk sesi Kem Motivasi UPSR. Sila beri komen jika ada pertanyaan atau boleh email soalan anda ke nickjinidu@gmail.com

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Science UPSR: General Tips During Exam


As I write this post, it will be another sixty days before the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) commences. Year 6 students will be very busy making their preparation for this and no doubt, some may even get stressed up. Being a teacher myself, I always try my best to motivate students not only by moral support, but by giving them a handful of tips to boost their confidence to face their Science UPSR exam.


On this post, I'll be focusing on tips when undergoing Science UPSR paper.



1. Time management

Being a chess player myself, I find this as a crucial element for every aspect that are time-bound. For instance, if I am to play a game of 5 mins blitz chess with Jon, I have to do it in five minutes or less if I were to beat him, or else it will be the other way around. So, what does this got to do with exam?

I'll break a few points here.
  • You are only given 75 minutes to answer Science UPSR paper, both Section A and B.
  • After 75 minutes, whether finished or not, you need to submit the papers to the invigilators. Remember, no extra time are given. (And don't ask for it. It will only show how BAD you manage your time)
Q: So, how can time management help me?
A: Time management ensures you have enough time to answer ALL the questions. With that mindset, you will able to give better and proper answers. Most students give WRONG answers although the question is easy is because they are panicked. According to Wikipedia.com, being panicked or panic attack can cause fear or sense of dying, "going crazy", "flashing vision", nausea, fainted feeling etc. (Refer here)

Q: How do I apply time management for Science UPSR paper?
A: Break your 75 minutes time into three parts.
  1. Section A = 30 minutes (allocate 1 minute or less for one question and answer. If you find it difficult to understand the question after 30 - 40 seconds, circle the question number in your OMR paper, not on your question paper. This will help you to identify which question has no answers yet easily).
  2. Section B = 40 minutes (allocate 8 minutes or less for 5 main questions and 10 minutes for 4 main questions. For 5 main questions, allocate 4 minutes or less reading the questions and identifying all the variables (manipulated, responding, and fixed) and 4 minutes to answer the sub-questions (1 minute for each sub question). For 4 main questions, allocate 5 minutes for question reading and identifying variables and 5 minutes to answer sub-questions (1 minute for each sub-question). If no time wasting occurred, you should have enough time to answer all.
  3. Last check = 5 minutes (check for any misspelled words and unanswered questions in Section A or B and make necessary adjustments. Remember, just stick into adjustment. If you come across a question with 2 possible answers, always opt-in your first choice.

2. Well Equipped
You need to put all your stationery on the table and NOT inside your pencil case/box. Be sure to have extra pencils that are ready-to-use, so you don't waste time sharpening them during exam in case it gets broken!

3. Take Gulps of Water Regularly and Deep Breaths
Water is essential for our body. It keeps our body cooled down and regulates our body temperature. Engaging in a high thinking activity like exam will cause your body, especially your brain to "heat up" due to active movement in your body system. Getting "overheated" is the last thing you want to get yourself into. So, always have a gulp of water when you start to feel "jammed". Deep breaths are also useful as it helps to recirculate your oxygen flow inside your body.


4. Always Engage Your Thinking on the Subject by Being The Subject Master
Although it seldom occurs, but there are students who are able to "daydream" during exams! Mostly because they feel it's hard to connect their mental ability to the subject. For some cases, it's best if you "act" yourself like a "master" on the subject, even though you're not! This will help you to get better connection or even ideas with the subject you are taking.

On my next post, I could be focusing on Science Section B answering techniques. Hopefully these few general tips will come in as handy as to my students.
Cheers ^^

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Are You Ready or Not? Getting Kids Involved In Learning

Do you ever come across a situation when you feel energize to teach your class but all of the the students does not show the enthusiasm to learn?


Let's hear this one make-up story about his students' attitude during class.

" ... I was enraged. I had to calm myself down outside the class after their unresponsive act. I prepared all night making learning aids just to make sure they will get attracted of what I'm going to teach them today. All I want is for them to give a response. Yesterday, I already lectured them their purpose of going to school and they need to focus on that purpose only... I wish a had a better way to make them understand my goal..."

There could be a lot of factors that caused the student to be "unresponsive" during class. Some of the reasons could be:

Lack of oxygen for the brain
Our brain needs oxygen to function well and focus puts up a lot of brain power to work. Without sufficient supply of oxygen to the brain, the tendency to "rest" is probable. In this situation, the only possible and temporary solution is to ask your student to have a drink of water. As mentioned by Sposato (2007), the brain needs to get hydrated to keep you thinking clearly. (Read her full article here)

Not mentally prepared to learn
As weird as it may sound, most of us didn't really emphasize students' preparation in learning on subject that we are going to teach due to the reason that we always put assumptions that they can manage and know what will they learn next. This is truly a mistake. According to Thorndike's Law Of Effect, one of the crucial process in behavioral learning is the law of readiness. This process refers to an act that a meaningful learning is only achievable if they have a general idea of knowledge of what they are learning. Unable to follow the lesson due to lack of student's preparation will cause frustration to them thus becoming "unresponsive". One possible suggestion to tackle this problem is to ensure your student know what they are going to learn on the next class. I've been trying myself to practice this method for my Year 5 Science class. I hope I can share the outcome on my next post.

Inconducive learning environment (extreme hot/cold weather, noises etc)
These are also known as "distractions". Students easily get distracted by their five sensory. One way to get back their attention is to let them have the "distraction" and make a statement about it. For instance, if the gardener is cutting the grass with the lawnmower during class, you can tell the student, "I know you all fell uneasy about the noise, and so do I. But, I hope just because of this it stops our lesson. What do you think?" They can share their thoughts for awhile but try not to let them engage too long on that discussion. 

Simply have no interest to learn at the moment
I've experienced teaching a class on the final hour after they sat a mock exam in my class. They are mentally drained from all the thinking. I assume that if I try to give them the lesson I already planned, they will either hear it and just nod at everything I said or they simply ignore you. In this situation, what I have done is I play a game with them, yet interestingly, I brought them to play a game about the topic I was going to teach. By putting a different approach of teaching at that time, I have managed to bring them to learn in a fun way, although the result should be higher than expected, but more importantly, you done the teaching and the students done their learning too!

I hope you will have an insight on how you can help your students to get prepared for the next lesson. Cheers ^^.


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