Sunday, April 18, 2010

Reviewing School Mathematics.

A good review of current Malaysian research issues and problems in science teaching (basically same as with mathematics ) addressed by akademisains  report: www.akademisains.gov.my/download/relatednews/sci_math/Review.pdf

The report highlighted researches (very briefly...) finding on:
1. Urban and rural disparities
2. Implementation of PPSMI
3. TIMMS result -
4. Current education and policy

What I find  disturbing is that, despite almost 50 years of independence we are still looking out to other countries and trying to figure out what to do with our own education systems....

Despite huge amount of budget allocated in technology integrations, technology remains a little adopted in most Malaysian schools..We must realise that technology do not guarantee quality learning can occur,what is more important is how technology is adopted by teachers.
With rigid curricullum this is not easy to implement.
Training good teachers to do the job specifically in rural areas remains as a big problems..while exam orientated learning trend among schools are not getting any better.

I also find it disturbing that so many malaysian studies consistently try to compare betweeen Malay and Non malay students (logically, can we put Indian /Chinese in same group..?? i dont think so) or national school vs chinese schools..comparing for achievement. This is basically like trying to compare apple and oranges..!
Comparison must be fair..majority of malay students or national schools are in located in rural areas..similalry with indian schools..

Anyway why compare..what are this studies trying to conclude? In national school teachers factors remains a big problem (I know that many national school teachers who are trained to teach Bahasa but ends up teaching mathematics and sciences..so what kind of output can we expect? what about extra classes..?.. There are so many factors should be considered...Once and for all lets stop these type of studies..Yes may be are differences among different ethnicity/regions, but most important is that only those who hunger for success and are motivated enough will excell,while those with no appetite for knowledge will continue to be left behind.

So why not focus our time and money on more beneficial work such as motivating students and finding ways to improve each schools??

Kenalan

Chat with me