Consequently, the issues and challenges are briefly discussed to deepen members of the public perceptions of the examination papers, examination, teaching and learning, school curriculum, memorisation and thinking strategies.
The problem has been and continues to be so and is an urgent and acute problem associated very much to Problem Solving or best described as Thinking.
Almost all high and secondary school education in Papua New Guinea failed to focus Problem Solving Strategies. And have limited teaching and learning strategies that address the scientific approach (of teaching thinking strategies) required to solve problems. Hence, its an apparent strategy and definite means to know the facts from knowledge and skills taught and learned in primary, high and secondary examinations.
Readers' note: The comments are by/from the former PNG Education Department Secretary Dr Michael Tapo in response to the new initiative we spearheaded - making online resources for teachers and students. We thank Dr Tapo for reaching out and for the comments below.
The math resource website is called Mathematics Examination Resources (MER). Here is why (The Reason) we created this Maths resource website. Take a look and let us know what you think.
An in-depth article from Dr Tapo was published on the PNG Insight parent website titled 'Thinking Strategies' Help Students Solve Problems' - read here.
An in-depth article from Dr Tapo was published on the PNG Insight parent website titled 'Thinking Strategies' Help Students Solve Problems' - read here.
Immediate challenges in educational approaches
Central to all of the approaches taken, the century-long learning phenomenon of Thinking versus Memorising of facts in the late 1960s -1980s is worth revisiting. Approaches such as:- students were routinised memorising of facts, and
- learn to remember and then display this in Grade 6, Grade 8, and Grade 10 examinations.
Problem Solving and Thinking Strategies
School education examination in Papua New Guinea (PNG) from 1975 to 2020 and beyond is all about Knowledge Gathering and Remembering and is significant and very much dependent on the quantity of teaching, quality of teaching, and teacher quality.The problem has been and continues to be so and is an urgent and acute problem associated very much to Problem Solving or best described as Thinking.
Almost all high and secondary school education in Papua New Guinea failed to focus Problem Solving Strategies. And have limited teaching and learning strategies that address the scientific approach (of teaching thinking strategies) required to solve problems. Hence, its an apparent strategy and definite means to know the facts from knowledge and skills taught and learned in primary, high and secondary examinations.
We know revising for exams is important because it helps to stop anxiety and stress. We created a Maths website where you can download Grade 8, Grade 10 and Grade 12 General Maths and Advanced Maths Exam Papers. GET THEM HERE.
The current culture of schooling and learning is dependent on schools and teachers must teach children more and make them work harder to increase their information on the level of knowledge and skills planned around the subject learning being learned.
Foremost, the level of individual child intelligence and termly achievements in a subject learning area must be corrected with the facts (knowledge and skills acquisition). Students primarily learn best if they can remember these facts.
Some questions can mislead students to select or choose to answer a question in future examinations because of a similar question and answer from the past examination papers and likely answer that is expected in the 2020 or 2021 examination papers.
The quest for high and secondary examinations is placing more emphasis on the thinking strategies which lead children to creativity, problem-solving, inquiry, and critical approach to thinking in a subject learning area being learned.
Quality of teaching and teacher quality needs major shifts towards thinking strategies and say goodbye to the current heavily dependent ideology of the 'chalk-talk and certainty principle which is central to the there is a right and wrong answer to every question!
Dr Michael F Tapo, EdD
Importance of teaching the syllabus
The amount of time spent in teaching and learning mathematics, Science and Grammar is interconnected to the number of multiple practices each child assumes in class in these subjects is significant to avoiding dependency on past and recent examination papers.The current culture of schooling and learning is dependent on schools and teachers must teach children more and make them work harder to increase their information on the level of knowledge and skills planned around the subject learning being learned.
Foremost, the level of individual child intelligence and termly achievements in a subject learning area must be corrected with the facts (knowledge and skills acquisition). Students primarily learn best if they can remember these facts.
Knowledge and skills being examined
The ambiguity of language and phrases used in the past and more recent examination papers indicate the facts of knowledge and skills being examined can or could lead to confusion.Some questions can mislead students to select or choose to answer a question in future examinations because of a similar question and answer from the past examination papers and likely answer that is expected in the 2020 or 2021 examination papers.
