My 3rd Reflection – Our sharing on Math initiatives

25 September 2010

After a week of surfing the net to gather information on the current initiatives in Singapore Primary Mathematics Curriculum and reading up on the initiatives, my coursemates, Rini, Anom and I met again at Anom’s place to share our findings. We used the cooperative learning strategy “jigsaw” to learn more about the initiatives. Each of us would read up and learn more about the initiatives that had been allocated to us and then meet up again as a group to share what we have learnt with one another. In this way, we could better internalise our understanding of the current initiatives and the philosophies behind them.

 I have learnt about TSLN,I&E, NE, SEED,TLLM  that were shared by Rini and Anom. I had read up on IT Masterplan and the PERI report and here are some of the things I have learnt about the 2 initiatives.

IT Masterplan 1 - (1997 – 2002) - use IT in education in order to build an information-rich community and to stay ahead, to equip our students with the necessary skills and dispositions to stimulate creativity and thinking skills that will prepare them better for the future.

IT Masterplan 2 - ( 2003 – 2008) - greater interactivity and engagement in the learning process;  strengthening the integration of ICT into the curriculum, establishing baseline ICT standards for students, and seeding innovative use of ICT among schools.

IT Masterplan 3- (2009 -2014) - a continuum of the vision of the first and second Masterplans i.e. to enrich and transform the learning environments of students and to

equip students with the critical competencies and dispositions to succeed in a knowledge economy.  

PERI -Primary Education Review and Implementation and the 5 examples of  pedagogies are- learning by inquiry ,learning by interacting, learning by doing learning in and of the real world, learning by reflection. I think it is important that we know the different initiatives in our education system and the philosophies behind them so that we can align our lessons according to them. Thus, we will have a good grasp of effective pedagogical approaches, plan effective lessons, develop skills and inculcate values in our pupils.

My 2nd reflection

My 2^nd Reflection

Rini, Anom and I met up on the 15^th September to discuss our first assignment. We surfed the net to find information on the current initiatives in Primary Mathematics Curriculum from 1997 to 2010. We listed down several initiatives we had come across and distributed the workload equally. Each of us would have to locate documents related to the educational initiatives in Singapore. We have to read up on the initiatives and the philosophy behind them. We also discussed on where to get the documents and who to help us in coming up with the electronic package. We planned to use the cooperative learning strategy- the jigsaw where each of us would then share the information on what we have read on at our next group discussion. We constantly communicate and keep one another updated through smses and phone calls.

My First Reflection

My 1^st Reflection

It was an interesting and fruitful first lesson with Dr Yeap. He demonstrated how to carry out an effective and engaging Math lesson. He showed how to use the name cards to manage students’ attendance. He motivated the students to try out the activities in class through the use of the graph.

During the hands-on activity, the students learnt about area and making squares by putting the pieces together. Even though the students were seated in groups, each of them was given the opportunity to try out the different ways of making squares with the tangram set. They shared what they had learnt and help one another in their groups. They were encouraged to ask questions, jot down notes and even draw out the squares in order to help them learn better. Dr Yeap gave guiding questions and differentiated instructions to encourage the students to try using more pieces to create the square and help them learn about the area of square. Throughout the lesson, he also provided a lot of motivation and encouragement for the students. He further explained the different ways of teaching students and a teacher could do teach by telling, modelling, coaching and providing opportunities for the learners. Dr Yeap also talked about the Mathematical Problem Solving Curriculum Framework model which encompasses the 5 components namely the skills, concepts, attitude, metacognition and process. He shared on the 2 reports – An Agenda for Action and the Cockcroft Report which influenced the Mathematics Curriculum Framework in Singapore He also reminded the students to read more on the current initiatives for example the TSLN (Thinking Schools, Learning Nation) which was introduced in 1997. He briefed them on the PERI report and the 5 ways of learning and they are :- learning by inquiry, by interacting, by doing, in and out of the real world and by reflecting.   

The students were to reflect on what they had learnt after the lesson.