Teaching and Learning of Mathematics using ICT

ICT in My School

Teachers who are in the implementation of SPN21 or the new education system are the one who utilize ICT the most namely those who teaches Year 1 and Year 4 students. This is because they are being emphasized to use the provided facilities especially in the teaching of the subjects such as Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. The Brunei government especially the Ministry of Education has spends a fortune on the implementation of the new Mathematics and Science syllabus for the Primary schools on the textbooks, resources, resource persons, workshops and etc.

ICT Facilities that can be found in my school are two ICT laboratories, computers, 20 Mac books, four units of projectors, one interactive white board, internet connections, wireless internet connections for staff as well students.

There are also integrated ICT across the curriculum where the core subjects such as Mathematics, English, Science, Social Studies, Bahasa Melayu were given the opportunity to use ICT for allotted time for one hour for upper primary classes and 30 minutes for lower primary classes.

Teaching and Learning of Mathematics using ICT

Since mental computation was included in Mathematics and practiced in the PSR (Penilaian Sekolah Rendah) examinations starting last year (2008), students were given mental computation questions using power point presentation. The teachers who teach Year 4 mathematics just prepare the questions and later take the students to the ICT lab.

In this way, the teachers do not have to read the questions to the students because the students can read the questions that are shown on the white screen in front of the class. At first, the students were shown the questions for about 30 seconds for each question. They are required to give out the answer only and finally 8 seconds per questions for checking their answers.

Besides doing mental computation, the teachers also downloaded questions or activities from the websites that are related to the mathematics syllabus for the students to answer on their own as well as for class activities.

In addition, the recent advances in technology and the availability of technological devices have a radical change on the mathematics curriculum in terms of the content that can be covered and strategies for teaching and learning mathematics. It enables students explore and create patterns as well as solve problems for examples in the use of calculators, graphic calculators and etc. The mathematics curriculum supports these developments by placing clear emphasis on the sensible use of ICT in concept development as well as in technology assisted instruction, modeling and interactive learning.

Most popular software use by Mathematics teachers in their teaching:

1. Microsoft Words – preparing assessment papers
2. Microsoft excel – preparing assessment papers, computing marks, drawing tables, students’ name lists.
3. Microsoft power point – in teaching suitable topics

The disadvantages of using ICT are time, as it is time-consuming for the teachers to prepare for the lesson and also the availability of the ICT laboratory since there are about 24 classes from Year 1 to Year 6 levels.