With the milestone national examination barely 6 weeks away, many Primary 6 students islandwide should by now be geared up in their momentum in preparation for the D-day, 27th September. Preparing for PSLE, or for that matter the many more examinations that our children will go through, goes beyond the endless working on practice papers or workbooks. Click here to read more.
IN the wake of newspaper reports about the relative toughness of the recent PSLE maths paper, an onSponge workshop coach noted the critical need to first understand the problem context. Once that is achieved, applying the method (procedural learning) to derive the solution becomes relatively manageable, and would be similar to other problems tackled in the classroom.
So what makes a good story ? Read this 2-part essay to understand how students can become better writers and story-tellers. In this, they are advised to follow a narrative structure which all good stories possess, and how they can also find their personal voice to write with confidence and ease.
A snapshot by George Campbell, a freelance writer from Birmingham, England, UK. on the various options opened to parents in search of tuition services for their children. George has been a teacher for four years.
WHEN does my child require tuition? How to get a good tutor? These are important questions faced by anxious parents everywhere.
"IT just makes me feel that I have done my best to prepare my children for stressful examinations", says a parent. No matter whether it is mathematics or Mother Tongue or perhaps every other subject, parents want the best for their children, especially when it comes to' education. This feature story brings together perspectives on tuition from education stakeholders like the Ministry of Education, parents and tutors, why parents hire tutors, and what makes a good tutor. See also story on Tutor hunt: What can you do first as a parent.
Parents often lament that their children score poorly in composition examinations. Naturally, most of these parents are anxious to try to find out why their children are simply not scoring in their compositions despite the regular library trips or getting supplementary help through various writing workshops and tuition classes. There are several reasons which can account for the poor results suffered by these students.
IN A recent Singapore Straits Times story, ThinkingMath lead panelist Ammiel Wan shared how he wanted his two sons, aged five and seven, to think critically. This provided the inspiration for the 2006 teacher's guide, Challenging Maths Made Easy published by the Ministry of Education's Teacher's Network. Subsequently, in order to benefit students, onSponge collaborated with him and a panel of consultants to develop the ThinkingMath programme that came online in 2009. This programme for primary school students comprises hardcopy books, electronic and interactive learning.
MABEL Lim, directress of Kids' Playway Montessori, reviews Dr Porter's book. After researching behaviour management in childcare centres, Dr Porter concluded that the prevailing reward and punishment approach does not work, that it's not in children's, or parents', interests to overtly attempt to control children's behaviour.