Return to the emergence of an early man civilization : thinking skills approach

Abstract

Learning history involves learning thought processes as well as historical content. This is frequently not accomplished as students often do not understand that history is interpretive and that historians deal with conflicting sources. Frequently, they cannot distinguish between primary and secondary sources. An effective history instruction requires students to think cognitively about the contents rather than merely reproduce them. Furthermore, teaching and learning history subject in Malaysia continually the same unattractive approach and focus on mesmerizes facts and chronology events that requires human high determination, times and attentions. This multimedia courseware, KETAM-KB was designed and developed to handle the related problems and was equipped with six main modules such as introduction & objectives, learning, enhancement, evaluation, content mapping and help modules. The thinking skills concept or approach is introduced in the enhancement module that consists of three sub-nodules; mind mapping, graphic management and brief notes sub modules. The usability study was conducted to test the effectiveness, efficiency and perception of the user towards the courseware. The effectiveness is measured through the performance observation of the students before and after the courseware was used