PAKAD holds workshop to help SPM students master Science subjects

By: ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DR. FATMAWATI ADAM, FACULTY OF CHEMICAL AND 
       PROCESS ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

Lecturers from the Academic Association (PAKAD) of Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) recently held an academic intensive workshop to help Form Five students at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Pahang (SMKAP) in Muadzam Shah prepare for their Sijil Peperiksaan Malaysia (SPM) examination this year.

Dubbed the “CSR Akademik PAKAD 2019”, the programme also aimed to boost students’ comprehension and mastery of the science subjects, like Physics, Chemistry and Biology, as well as Mathematics.

Held for two consecutive days on August 6 and 7 at the university’s Gambang Campus, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme saw 50 UMP lecturers and 11 postgraduate students mentor 33 students under the supervision of 12 teachers from SMKAP. 
 
According to PAKAD President, Mohd Hairul Ab Rahim, such CSR programme was conducted in line with the Association’s objective of encouraging academic staff to be more proactive in community services.

“We also hope such programme will help establish a cordial working relationship between UMP academic staff and SMKAP teachers, in terms of sharing and transfering of knowledge and expertise in the teaching and learning of science-based subject matters,” said Mohd Hairul. 

Programme Director, Associate Professor Dr. Fatmawati Adam of the Faculty of Chemical & Process Engineering Technology, concurred, saying the final year secondary school students will also be opportuned to reinforce their understanding of proactive learning as well as their comprehension of the concepts of Chemistry in a real-world laboratory.

“Furthermore, these students will get to experience campus life with an overnight stay at the university residences,” she highlighted. 

One of the academic staff-participants, Dean of Centre of Science Mathematics, Associate Professor Dr. Mohd Zuki Salleh, said his team of lecturer-mentors came up with several creative activities, including games and techniques, to inculcate interest and boost students’ understanding of the potentially difficult four subject matters.

“We had Mathematical games as well as demonstrations on the Laws of Ohm and Latent Heat to illustrate the concepts of electric resistance & conductance, and thermodynamics, respectively,” exuded the Associate Professor.
  
Meanwhile, SMKAP Headmaster, Ustaz Abdul Rahim Mohamad, extended his gratitude and appreciation to UMP for the latter’s creative contributions, which have significantly helped instill interest in the secondary school students to understand concepts and reinforce their comprehension of the SPM examination subjects.

The “CSR Akademik PAKAD 2019” programme also saw the students attending a motivational workshop entitled “Learning of Science in line with Quranic Teachings (Sunnatullah)”, conducted by Ustaz Ahmad Irfan Ikmal Hisham from UMP’s Centre of Human Sciences.