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| January 2000 Student panic Research raises concerns about local math education By To Shum Kei RELATED
ARTICLE: Article
from the same section: Local students’ interest in mathematics is significantly weakened when they proceed from Primary 3 to Primary 6, research reveals. A research project entitled “An Analysis of Views of Various Sectors on the Mathematics Curriculum”, involving interviews with about 9,000 students and 6,000 parents, was jointly conducted by the Education Department and The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1999. According to Prof. Wong Ngai Ying, principal investigator, the phenomenon may be due to examination pressures exerted by the students themselves or by their parents, as well as the result of overemphasis of model answers. He said public examinations have limited the students’ scope of learning. Students are forced to recite mathematics formulae without understanding how they can be applied in different ways. Mr. Carto Wong Chun Wai, a Form 7 student at Choi Hung Estate Catholic Secondary School, thinks most local students consider the answers as the sole things to learn from the questions. “Many of them just ignore how those answers can be reached. Once they get the answer, they lack spontaneity to seek other approaches,” he said. Mr. Andy Chan Kin Hang, a Form 6 student at Bishop Hall Jubilee School, said this learning behavior has narrowed students’ ways of thinking. “If we change the question a bit, most students may not be able to tackle it,” Andy said. According to Prof. Wong, textbooks in Hong Kong focus much of their attention on asking the students to get the answer, rather than bettering the students’ skills in problem solving. Mr. Mak Cheung Fu, a mathematics teacher at PLK Leung Chow Shun Kum Primary School, said textbooks using complicated combinations of numbers might frighten students away from mathematics. According to the research, Hong Kong students came fourth among 26 countries in mathematical achievement. However, the study showed that students in Hong Kong did not think they did well in mathematics. Mr. Chan Ka Wai, a Form 5 student of Shun Lee Catholic Secondary School, thinks that his ability in dealing with numbers is low when compared with classmates. Said Prof. Wong: “Local students lack confidence in their mathematics performance. “When they get correct answers to questions or use correct methods to solve problems, very few teachers will praise them.” Another research project, entitled “Conception of Mathematics”, which was also conducted by Prof. Wong, showed that most local students think mathematics is related to numbers and calculations only. They do not regard graphs, curves and daily examples of logic, such as the probability of a man taking umbrella on raining days, as parts of mathematics. Said Prof. Wong: “The results show that local students have a narrow conception of mathematics.” He said the Hong Kong mathematics curriculum should attempt to strike a balance between “processing abilities” and “basic skills and contents”. Likewise, Prof. Shum Kar Ping of the Department of Mathematics at the The Chinese University of Hong Kong, said local teachers should not only tell the students to get the answer, but also should encourage them to understand the steps in getting the answers. A mathematics teacher at SKH Bishop Baker Secondary School, Mr. Frankie Chan Chi Sing, has organized a “Mathematics Competition Training Class” to help boost students’ interest in mathematics. Apart from attending normal lessons, students in the training class are required to do experiments and projects about mathematics, such as to discuss how great 2100 is by comparing the weight of rice and the moon. “Through these experiments, students can think over the problems more thoroughly and try to solve them.” |
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