Using Prefix Kits to Enhance Students’ Competency in Conversion of Units

Abstrak

Engineering Science is a compulsory course taken by Semester 1
engineering students at the polytechnic. There are six main topics in
the Engineering Science syllabus. A total of 10 students from DTP1A
class were taken as the sample group. The general objective through
this study is to overcome students' problems in memorising the Base
Quantity and Prefix table. Specifically, we want to help students in
solving questions related to basic quantities and unit conversions through the Prefix-Kit method. Observations and pre-tests were done
as an initial survey while post-tests were used to measure students'
mastery levels after the intervention of this study. The results of the
preliminary survey show that students are not good at unit conversion
because it is difficult to remember the Prefix and Base Quantity table.
Therefore, the Prefix-Kit method was introduced. Prefix-kit contains a
set of flashcard decks that are loaded into the Ankidroid application.
This application has 22 flashcards that contain questions and answers
related to prefix and base quantity. After the Prefix-Kit method was
used, the results of the post test showed that the students'
performance had improved. The findings of the study show that the
students' level of mastery in memorizing the Base Quantity and Prefix
table was also increased. These students were able to solve basic
quantity and unit conversion questions accurately without using any
references. Overall, the Prefix-Kit method succeeded in producing an
intervention that had a positive effect on teaching and learning for the
topic being studied. This is proven that the introduction of unit
conversion skills using the Prefix-Kit method can improve students’
achievement compared to traditional teaching and learning method
(chalk and talk).