Science for Std 2 Challenge - Answer

Thank you for replying to the challenge. Here are the answers I got:

Kat:
Pix1 (left) matches with Pix2 (right)
2 = 4
3 = 1
4 = 3

I like Don's argument, so I will put it here:
Eat too much, you put on weight (1=2)

Don't eat at all, you end up skinny with sunken cheeks (2=4) -- though they should have drawn him looking a bit more cadaverous, IMHO.

Skip your veggies, you end up with constipation (3=1), though frankly they should have drawn the kid straining on the loo to make this clearer.

Prance about abstaining from a good, stiff drink after a good curry masala with sambal on the side on a hot, sunny day and you end up mugging someone and stealing their bag desperately looking for a drink while flapping your hand in front of your face to cool down your tongue, all in all looking like a loon (4=3).

Seriously though, what other possible conclusions could Laura have come to?! Given the scant clues provided by the artwork, those are the most logical choices. Kudos to her for figuring it out, considering the poor cartooning/art direction/editing of the book.

Sasha:
1 = 2
2 = 4
3 = 3
4 = 1

I so agree with Don. The answer can be anything! Here's the teacher's explanation and what she insists is the optimum answer:

1. Eat too much = become fat (Pic 2)

2. Picky eater/don't eat = become weak (Pic 3). Gee, and we all thought Pic 3 depicted someone who was constipated/feeling hot/bratty.

3. Don't eat veg = become skinny (Pic 4). This I do not agree with the teacher. If Pic 2 is picky eater, picky eater will also become skinny right?

4. Don't drink water = fall sick (Pic 1). Not Pic 3? Body heats up and can't deal with the heat?



As Don pointed out, the illustration is so badly done, it is difficult to say which is THE answer for which. Can be anything right? So I really do not think the teacher should have marked Laura's answers as wrong. I asked Laura's teacher if questions like this will appear in the test paper and she refused to confirm or say no. Even have the cheek to tell me it's quite alright to get it wrong in the workbook. As long as Laura learns to identify what is the optimum answer. How to reply to that??

Science for Std 2 - a challenge

This is a page from my daughter's std 2 science book. Match the picture on the left to the right. See if you can get the answers right.



I will like to know what answers I will get.

What I remember about primary school...

Playing with my friends before school, during recess and after school. Waking up when the sky was still dark, the air was chilly and fireflies darting about. Yes, fireflies in PJ! We didn't have to drive all the way to Kuala Selangor and jump on a boat to watch fire flies in the 70's!

We played Rounders, hop scotch, five stones and jump rope before school. Nobody told us off for being noisy. At recess, we wolfed down our food so we could have more time to play some more.

When waiting for the school bus, my friends and I would play "Catching" which always involve jumping across the drain. I usually got caught because I was too chicken shit to jump across. I remember my teacher Miss Angela Wong who taught us well, who was firm yet loving. She was concerned about us, made sure we understood what was taught even though there was almost 50 of us. I remember a little fold up cabinet which was opened once a week so we could borrow books to read. After Std 3, once a week we went to a small room filled with books and we could borrow any books we want. I learned later that that was the school library of sorts. I borrowed books by Enid Blyton. Started with Blue Dragon books, slowly moved to Green Dragon and finally Red Dragon. Read all about the Famous Five, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I looked forward to the day we could borrow books. I can't remember now which day it was when we could borrow books. It could have been a Friday.

At home, I hardly had any homework. That was usually dealt with pretty quickly so I could watch TV when transmission started at 5pm. Yes, this was before cable TV and TV broadcast wasn't 24 hours. Heck, this was before colour TV.

33 years later and my daughter is in primary school. Her school days are so different from mine. Her school is situated on one of the busiest road in KL, so no chance to play outside the school compound for sure. Girls her age have been kidnapped, are still missing or murdered so playing outside the school without supervision is not an option!

A schoolmate's mom and I carpool with our kids. Why not put her on a school bus? Just today, a motorcyclist squeezed between a parked lorry and my car which was on the left lane. Needless to say, he scratched my car! With the number of cars on the road and the reckless way people drive, put my kids on a bus where they are not secured with any seat belt? I love my children too much to put them through that risk!

A typical day in my daughter's school day...

Arrive in school and straight away they are to get themselves upstairs to the school hall to be lined up with their class. The time between arrival and the start of school, they are taught to sing by their vice principal and they recite classics. Sometimes, they watch cartoon on TV. They are not allowed to run around or make too much noise as the morning session is still on.

Time to start school, they proceed to their classes in an orderly manner. They settle in and lesson starts. Maths and Science taught in English and Mandarin. Bahasa Melayu to learn and workbooks to do. English as a subject twice a week. Moral in Mandarin. Two to three workbooks per subject. Physical Education textbook and workbook to go through. Textbook and workbook for PE???! WTF! PE meant going to the field and being outdoors when I was in primary school!

Every kid look forward to recess right? Recess time in Laura's school... Children go straight to the school canteen and are expected to stay there the entire time. There isn't much of a field to play in in the first place. If the entire Std 1 and Std 2 population were to converge at the field, they will all be standing shoulder to shoulder. Hey, just like being in the assembly hall!

Poor Laura is swamped with homework. Something is terribly wrong with our education system when 8-year-olds go to school for 5 1/2 hours each day and still have to sit through 5-8 homework each day! A neighbour of ours also send her daughter to the same school. E is in Std 5. When we bumped into her the other day, she told Laura, "You're lucky to be in Std 2. You only have maximum 8 homework a day. In Std 5, I have 10 homework on average". She had just gotten back from 2 tuition back to back. It was 7.00pm (E goes to the morning session) and she was still in her school uniform and hadn't started on her homework. What time does she go to bed?

My little girl has always had an early bedtime. Latest to bed 8.30pm. She's a growing girl so she needs her sleep. Since starting school, she's not had the chance to sleep early. Back home by 7.10pm, shower then dinner. By the time she finishes dinner, it's almost 8.30pm. She has to deal with homework. Plough through 5-8 homework, she's in bed by 10.30pm if she's lucky. The next morning, she's up by 8am so she can attend classes in Bao Bei. Laura doesn't attend any tuition class, only Bao Bei. She loves going to Bao Bei as children learn Mandarin in a fun way.

By the time Laura is done with homework, her eyes are half closed. She is exhausted. Dark circle under her eyes. No chance to unwind, no chance for some catch up time with her family, she is off to bed and falls asleep straight away.

Someone please remind me. What's the purpose of homework? My definition of homework is school work that can't be completed in time in school. Homework is a way to revise what was taught in school so that the students understand what they are taught. How is a 7+-year-old supposed to be able to concentrate on homework after having been in school for 5 1/2 hours? Can anyone sustain concentration for so long, whatever age they are?

What is the purpose of workbooks? Why is there such an emphasis on workbooks? One workbook per subject not good enough? Why the need for 2-3 workbooks? After Year 1, students who excel are placed in the first two classes. Laura made it to one of these two classes. I was actually hoping she wouldn't! I knew it would mean extra pressure on her and MORE WORKBOOKS! sigh

Laura was struggling with her homework 'coz she didn't understand what she was supposed to do. I helped her whenever I could by going through dictionary with her and guiding her but I get stumped too as I did not learn Mandarin in school. Several times I told her to ask her teacher the next day. She said she won't 'coz her teacher won't answer her questions, in fact will scold her for asking. A teacher who does not encourage her students to ask when they do not understand? Hmmm... Maybe something got lost in translation. After all, my daughter is 7 1/2 and may not convey fully what the teacher said or she chose the wrong time to ask. When I had a word with the teacher, I asked if Laura asked when she doesn't understand. Her teacher launched into a long explanation on her style of teaching.

She DOES NOT encourage her students to ask questions. There are 46 students in her class, so if everyone of them came up to her personally to ask questions, she does not have time to do much else. When she's teaching, her students are expected to give 100% attention and understand. Then they're given homework to do.

Hello, Ms Teacher. As you said, there are 46 students in your class. Do you expect every single one of them to be at the same level of understanding? They are 7-8 year olds and they are expected to pay full attention and be able to understand every single thing you teach? Wouldn't it be better if the students asked you questions so they learn better? They ask you questions so you can gauge how much you've taught is understood.

Laura has been known to wake up crying in the morning because she thought she had missed out on some homework. Any homework not done will result in marks deducted from her moral exams. Any students who skip school without a valid reason or MC will also have marks deducted. The teachers wield canes at the assembly hall to get the children to behave. The children are taught to fear their teachers. To do their homework or face punishment. Sit down, listen and shut up! That's the message being put across to these children. My daughter told me she's happy 'coz it's "the 5th day her teacher hadn't scolded her". Aiyooo!

I am very frustrated with the education system at the moment. Frustrated with how the children are so bogged down with homework they do not have time to be children. Frustrated at how Laura gets so stressed out when she thinks she's forgotten to do her homework. Frustrated that children's enthusiasm for learning is getting systematically squashed and replaced with learning through fear. Frustrated with the way languages is taught. That's another post! So much emphasis on passing examinations. I constantly remind Laura that examination is a way for the teachers to access how much the students understood what had been taught so far. Do the teachers and the school remember that?

Children and education

In March/April every year, I see splashed on the front page of the newspaper stories about outstanding students who have scored a string of As in the PMR and SPM. I was blinded by the number of As these students scored. When I was in school, scoring 10As in SPM was a big deal. Even then, my school mates and I have whispered amongst ourselves "How to study for 10 subjects ah?" Now, we have students who score up to 15 A1s! Why am I not jumping for joy for these people? Why am I not impressed?

What brought about thinking aloud about the state of education system? What I'm about to express is strictly from the point of view of a mother to a 7-year-old and a 4-year-old.

My daughter goes to a Chinese medium school in the city. It is a well-known school with a good reputation. Most days, I coach her on her homework. With Mandarin, I help her wherever I can as I have limited knowledge of Mandarin. With every subject, I encourage her to ask her teacher if she doesn't understand what is being taught. Laura seems to be coping well in school, getting A and stars for her homework done. However, when she couldn't do her Bahasa Melayu, I mean Bahasa Malaysia (can the Education Ministry please make up their mind??), I was shocked to discover she is VERY weak in BM, not being able to understand simple words and definitely not able to string a sentence without help. Doesn't help that the BM syllables for Std 1 is extremely difficult! They are already making sentences and using words like "pelawas". How many pupils in Std 1 know what "pelawas" is? Ironically, BM is a subject taught every day in school.

How does one learn languages? Laura is brilliant in English. She can read and understand story books, eg books by Enid Blyton (Blue Dragon categoery when I was a kid). Stories of elves, goblins and magical faraway lands which are written in simple English. Did she learn to read from school? Yes, she did. She learned phonics and very quickly was able to make out words and soon learned to read books and such. Why? Because she grew up speaking English. Laura is coping well with Mandarin, having learned a lot of words and able to make simple sentences in Mandarin. She speaks to her schoolmates in Mandarin, even though her first language is English. Why? Because everyone speaks Mandarin in school. So what is established here? Laura is strong in the two languages which she has heard being spoken and which she speaks. She has learned subconsciously the language structure and also what word means what. How is BM taught in school?

Every day, she brings back stacks of workbooks - Maths and Science in English, Maths and Science in Mandarin, English, BM, Mandarin. Some subjects have two workbooks. On top of that, she writes pages and pages of words. Eg of what's in her workbook, make a sentence from jumbled words:

buaya tajam Gigi sangat

She didn't know what buaya means. She also didn't know what tajam means. How did she know how to do her homework? In class, her teacher gets them to pull out their workbook. This is the same workbook she'll be facing at home. The teacher asks them to read out the words, which presumably everyone can. Then asks if anyone knows how to make the sentence. The students who know raise their hand, those who don't keep quiet. Student who gets picked makes the correct sentence. So the teacher writes down numbers on top of the words. Gigi = 1, buaya = 2, sangat = 3, tajam = 4. Viola, even weak students know their homework now. Alright, everyone knows how to do their homework. Nobody said anything about them UNDERSTANDING what they're doing.

This applies not just to BM but also English. So with this method of teaching children, the obsession with workbooks, the students just aren't learning anything at all! What happens to families who do not use the languages regularly? The same applies to non-English speaking students who studies in the school. Do the teachers speak to the students in BM and English? Do the students hear stories in these languages so they know the flow of the language? Do the teachers encourage the children to interact in these languages so the children get to practise what they hear? Do the teachers make the lessons fun by playing games so that what is taught is memorable to little 7-year-olds? Obviously not!

What is the solution most parents choose when faced with kids who are weak in school? Send to tuition! So the poor kids spend hours in school, get home and have to face homework, rush to tuition and then deal with homework from tuition.

(school + homework) + (tuition + tuition homework) = exhaution, frustration and still not understand

Something is wrong with this equation...

Some people may argue with me that more students are scoring 10As and above then when I was in school. How many of these people actually understand what they learned? Did they go through years and years and years of past year exam papers to spot the questions that are coming out? Then muck and memorize what they need to score?

I can't help thinking that Einstein, Newton, Franklin, Curie will not have achieved anything if they had gone to school with this education system. In the first place, they wouldn't have had time to explore and experiment. Also, they wouldn't have had the time! And there isn't any space at home with postage stamp-sized land with 4 walls and a roof which we call houses here. But that's another post. Here's what could have happened:

Newton sits under an apple tree (or if you prefer a mangosteen tree). His mother comes out and shouts, "Isaac, come in here to finish your homework now! You have to get to your Science tuition at 3pm, then swimming at 4pm and art class at 5pm!"

or...

Benjamin Franklin takes out his kite (alright he was already a grown up by then but play along with me here) and he heads out the door. His father hears him and asks, "Ben, where do you think you're going?"

Franklin: "I'm going out to fly a kite"

Franklin Sr: "Fly kite? You finish your homework already ah? No need to go to Maths tuition meh? Is that thunder I hear?"

Franklin: "I've finished my homework and my Maths tuition changed to Sat morning already"

Franklin Sr: "Eh, I hear thunder lah. You better not go fly the kite lah. If it rains you'll fall sick and you will have to miss school. How to catch up?"