Engineering Technology Students' Perception towards Promoting Interaction for the Classroom Social Environment

Abstract

Classroom social environment is very important in academic life because it can affect students' lifestyle in terms of their studies. One of the important elements in getting positive classroom social environment is interaction amongst the students. The objective of this study is to understand and examine the engineering technology students' perceptions towards promoting interaction for the classroom social environment at the Faculty of Engineering Technology (FTK), Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka. This study investigated the perceptions of 177 second year students from four different departments taking mathematics subject. A set of questionnaire that covers questions regarding students' perceptions towards promoting interaction by mathematics lecturers and also their classmates was distributed to the students. From the findings, a conclusion was drawn regarding their perceptions towards promoting interaction for the classroom social environment. The result shows that students have a very good perception in increasing a positive social environment where both parties, which are lecturers and classmates, play an important role in promoting interaction.