GOOD CHANGE

Program pushes pupils to higher thinking level
By Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:12:00 01/07/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- There will be no more boring lectures, stifling chalk dust and schoolchildren falling asleep in class.

All these are expected to be eliminated when public school teachers soon incorporate in their daily teaching grind an IT-based pedagogy that would engage students in a “higher level” of thinking.

Called microLESSONs, they are “easy-to-develop” student-centered instructional units pioneered by Singapore’s National Institute of Education (NIE) in 1998, which focus on a small section of a topic in the school curriculum.

The instructional packages may include simulations, games and problem-solving that see students “pulling” information rather than teachers “pushing” theories, principles and facts, said Dr. Philip Wong, division director of the NIE’s Academic Computing and Information Service.

They are so entertaining and versatile that students could be weather forecasters for an hour and learn about the different types of clouds, or movie buyers versed in expository texts, or elfin financial analysts for popular fairytale character Jack, who didn’t know what to do with his “magic beans” and later learned algebraic expressions.

Adopting these instructional materials will draw teachers away from the blackboard and actually help keep students awake and responsive in class, Wong told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

“We will do away with the tutorial mode where teachers talk and talk and talk while students listen, listen and listen until they fall asleep,” Wong said at the launch of the Leaders and Educators in Asia Program (LEAP) at Ateneo de Manila University on Friday.

Compact discs containing templates of these instructional materials -- particularly lessons in Math, Science and English -- were distributed to participating teachers during the launch, which they could forthwith use in their classes, Wong added.

Real-life situation
With microLESSONs, teachers will have a more interesting way of presenting their lessons for the day by engaging students in case studies, scenarios or real-life situations pertaining to the topics.

“This is one way of encouraging a higher level of thinking among students. We don’t just let them memorize what is being taught,” he said.

A joint project of NIE, Temasek Foundation and Ateneo, the LEAP is expected to encourage the growth of and innovations in Philippine education through the training of public school teachers.
NIE, an autonomous institute of Nanyang Technological University, is the sole teacher-preparation institute in Singapore.

Temasek, which shelled out P60 million for the project, is a Singapore-based nonprofit organization.

9 public schools
Under the program, over 80 teachers and principals from nine pilot public schools in Quezon City will undergo a six-week training beginning this month. This will include a workshop on creating and designing their own microLESSONs -- one of the many components of the program.

The pilot schools, which were selected by Ateneo, are Sauyo Elementary School, Pasong Tamo Elementary School, Mines Elementary School, Tandang Sora Elementary School, Culiat Elementary School, San Bartolome High School, Ernesto Rondon High School, Ramon Magsaysay High School and Ismael Mathay Sr. High School.

The schools’ population, performance and potential were among the factors considered in the selection.

The teachers and principals who will excel in the training will receive scholarships to postgraduate diploma, leadership and other professional development programs conducted either at NIE or Ateneo, said NIE director Lee Sing Kong.

Ripple effect
“The initial ripple effect from this first group will potentially bring benefit to more than 30,000 students, when the LEAP participants return to their schools and communities to help and facilitate the professional development of fellow educators,” Lee said.

During the three-year program, the university will seek out other schools and tap more government sources so teachers and students in far-flung provinces in the country could benefit from the program, said Ateneo president Fr. Bienvenido Nebres.

“One of the realities we face today in [our education system] is that we are rather behind top countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, China and Taiwan. That’s why we are trying to catch up,” Nebres told reporters.

from Inq7.net