Proper Fundamental Understanding on Science and Mathematics

aku_EnSeM

Hey, another topics that make you think.

Just ask ourself on how well we understand the nature of Science and Math... How do you study science? Do you need to paste small pieces of notes that contains three Newton's Law of motion to remember them? Or do we need to memorise the shape of orbitals of molecules containing 4 shared electrons?

Hmmm... In my opinion, (sorry if irritating) Malaysia's education system has been deteriorating Malaysians' understanding on science and mathematics. People practices a lot to get an A in addmath, not realising that they are not really understand about what they're doin... Honestly, I understand nothin about calculus throughout my 2 years of SPM preparation, yet I managed to get an A.. OMG, I was graded an A but then I understand nothin! How many people out there are just like me? In college, then I understand calculus. Widening the scope, I hardly understand addmath and physics in high school, but now I can. I begin to think further rather than just writin what my lecturers said. Id prefer to write down mathematical proves of every physical laws that they teach, as mathematics is the strongest fundamental of the universe...

Hmm... pointless perhaps, but I am worried if there are a lot of us dont undrstand science and math properly.

There are several texts that can help the public to understand science and math... Stephen Hawking is an excellent public science text writer... Self learning and building self understanding may be vital, but beware that we might misunderstand.... I'm concerned of this because my own parents look scientific theories as a mere fiction....

Thats it... hehehhe

mbhcsf

how would they inculcates the scientific thinking if a student has  this particular notion of " okay i do not understand but I WON"T ASK question becoz..."
The approach of teaching science needs to be revised, Teach concept, gives more analogy that the students could relate. And one driving force is how passionate a person is in teaching or educate people on science??

well, look around us?

How many scientific but still - public based magazines being sold to the public at the corner stores, convenience stores etc ? nadaa..zilch.
We are still lacking in everyways

The culture as well did not do much in instilling scientific thinking this could easily be seen when they are having  health issues etc...you would be atrociously shocked in knowing the underlying laid belief, attitudes etc on something so simple like pregnancy  etc..the logical thinking is prety much staggering.

But u know something, in my uni, i am quite surprise to even met a handful of student studying bio-related sciences who actually put the metaphysical causes as their first answer to an illness.

it's something to do with trying to realte of things that they learnt and the reality ....
I just could not fathom nor relate between what have they being studying thus far does ever make any  sense to them? well this is based on small scale observation jer.

mbhcsf

what makes u create this thread in the first place , then?

u mentioned about perceiving scientific  as fiction , how come ? on what topics?this surely be interesting.

wei_loon5063

Originally posted by aku_EnSeM at 26-2-2008 09:03 PM
Hey, another topics that make you think.

Just ask ourself on how well we understand the nature of Science and Math... How do you study science? Do you need to paste small pieces of notes that  ...

i see,hear, touch and feel newton`s three law in everything i saw, heard & felt as it is all around us

aku_EnSeM

hurm...

sorry if my words are insulting, but im disturbed to see people using 'tips' to learn science...

that just cant go lyk that....

mbhcsf

so as the tips to aswer any exam question anyway , let it be UPSR and  the rest lah...well

meitantei

I think the repercussions of Science and Math involves Philosophical issues and the Government do not want to 'poison' the mind of it's people... Perhaps the government fears that the students will deviate from the 'Eastern Ethics' or whatever...

Or perhaps it's not entirely essential to understand what is Math and Science in secondary school level. After all, you only really learn stuff once you get into university. I am more inclined to believe that secondary school is merely a platform to give students a taste of what Science and Math is about. If they are interested in them, they can do their own studies and perhaps pursue a science/math related course in university and get a job which is science/math related.

mbhcsf

Mei, i think it 's nothing wrong with the philosophy of education in M'sia. the JERI tu. I think it is good to keep the value system as a guidance. At least to me.Philosophy , religion are intertwined, but then one needs to have agood background of epistemology / ontology to discuss on this. Good statement though.

but it is the approach of bringing the science, the marvel of science to theyoung minds , that is till very much lacking. If u want to have anobel prize winner than the culture of learning must be fostered at the earliest stage ASAP.

Then why in earth in Malaysia we do not have the likes of Natural History Museum? or like i dunno fascinating stuffs?

aku_EnSeM

Originally posted by meitantei at 29-2-2008 10:57 PM
I think the repercussions of Science and Math involves Philosophical issues and the Government do not want to 'poison' the mind of it's people... Perhaps the government fears that the students wi ...

thats really nice mate...about the platform towards science and math in schools....

just wanna share when i started my differentiation class back in form 4, my teacher jumped the subtopics and we didnt even learn to differentiate using the first principle, which i think is very essential for us to understand calculus. We asked our teacher about that, then he said 'that topic isnt covered in SPM'... Okay, thats really amazing... Good for people who want to get an A, bad for people who seek for proper understanding...Throughout form 4 and 5, i'd been differentiating using formula without even knowing whats that about...

aku_EnSeM

testing.. testing...

aku_EnSeM

u ever seen the teaching systems in australia n usa? u can imagine 1 by searching for their exams paper in the net, pals...

i attended one of them, and even though the syllabus are not packed as in malaysia, i obtained deep understanding on particular subject... it goes lyk this... for every concepts, principles, theories, and laws, my lecturer rebuild the theories right in front of us as how ancient (not really ancient... ) did it.... It makes u say 'i didnt know that'......

n in their exams, u can even produce answers that are beyond their syllabus... Unlike in malaysia, examiners are given pieces of answer sheet to guide them throughout the marking process, and once ur answer isnt in it, u get an egg... To compare, in australia, they are also given an answer sheet, but if ur answer isnt in it, markers r REQUIRED to search for books and the nets to prove that ur answer is wrong... If ur answer r written in any texts, u got a full mark... Education should go lyk that, shouldnt it?

aku_EnSeM

Education system, for me, is sensitively related to our understanding in any subjects...

However, my concern is science and math... In my opinion, this is the major factor of why malaysian cant produce powerful thesis in uni...

i got a not very strong proof for this...
USA is able to invent almost everything, as well as Japan... And Australia is very popular for Nobel prize winner society... Our education system follows UK's... STPM is A-Level, SPM is O-Level, etc... No comment...

mbhcsf

well, our education system as a whole needs to revamp..just say this, In one of G7 countries, lecturer of a particular subject was the one that have  "been" the writer of so many books, vast experiences etc  and when they giving lectures they just delivered. U were made to understand in a way that you never realized that u are actually studying, it is so much fun back there. The debates between a tutor and a groupmate, say on cardiovascular system was so fascinating.

In Malaysia, haiyaa...still the same atmosphere but with the experienced Prof lah, who encouraged questioning, challenging and critical thinking...and this poses problem when a student is given a journal to appraise. No one put up their hands to even tell an  Australian lecturer who was giving a lecture on journal's critique.. that 1) they don't understand a thing b) a new approach of studying / looking at certain aspects of treament

And lastly the attitude of 1) i do not one to say anything when asked becoz tak nak tunjuk pandai 2) ntah tak tahu apa apa whocares 3) well, balik rumah nanti cover subjects lah 4) ntah ..

these are the attitudes , u see, let them be a student with position in the uni or not ( some are really good) and this culture of interactive learning still lacking in Malaysia. Students won't ask question even if they do not understand. Iam very much a student myself here but it is nice to compare and contrasts the way ours and theirs. it's prety much to do with policies, approaches, picking the right people for the job, competency etc.

and when these big/corporates companies seeing the kind of students like these during the interview , they were asking why should you opened up ur mouh and be opinionated? mind u during a carrer  seminar backat UNi a few months back, a COO was telling us that this student is brilliant , scoring 4.00 CGPA bit when asked a few questions somehow, this fella was very withdrawn,inconfident etc. And lastly cried! haiyaa..

wallahuallam.

[ Last edited by  mbhcsf at 1-3-2008 08:17 AM ]

mbhcsf

what would u consider as "the " powerul thesis ? cares to comment on that??

aku_EnSeM

Originally posted by mbhcsf at 1-3-2008 08:15 AM
what would u consider as "the " powerul thesis ? cares to comment on that??

i'd consider a powerful thesis as a research that gives malaysia major impacts....

de Broglie's thesis is super powerful, he got a Nobel for that...

Hey, talking about powerful thesis, where can I find texts on malaysians' researches?

aku_EnSeM

Originally posted by mbhcsf at 1-3-2008 08:14 AM
well, our education system as a whole needs to revamp..just say this, In one of G7 countries, lecturer of a particular subject was the one that have  "been" the writer of so many books, vast expe ...

i'd lyk to quote ur last paragraph, malaysia's CGPA 4.0 is very different with USA's CGPA 4.0...

Malaysia'a CGPA is on paper, so you only can see her/his talent on paper... Thats why she cried when asked to converse...

USA's CGPA is on their tongue's, u'll scared to see them talking...

mbhcsf

Originally posted by aku_EnSeM at 1-3-2008 08:23 AM


i'd consider a powerful thesis as a research that gives malaysia major impacts....

de Broglie's thesis is super powerful, he got a Nobel for that...

Hey, talking about powerful thesis,  ...

I supposed that you could go to the respected UNI websites, and u 'll will see the lists of  deans and the  profiles of the profs but in one of the websites u could even googled to find their subject of interests.Pilah ukm website dulu

aku_EnSeM

nice mate..............

mbhcsf

when you mentioned the word "proper" how exactly do mean it?

what is considered as proper?

and what is then the fundamental?

let us start with this befoire embarking on other main ideas


so audience please the game is afoot , join in!

tak kisah lah bahasa apa nak guna semua org boleh dwibahasa

BE OPINIONATED

aku_EnSeM

lets redefine the topic... Proper fundamental understanding...

Now, how well do we understand the fundamental of science.. Perhaps, some of us might think this is a philosophical issue as science was born out from astronomy, I suppose...

Understanding the Newton's law of motion isnt fundamental... Fundamental understanding, in my opinion, goes back to on how do we believe science... People may perceive science as a fact, others look it as a man-made theories... When we go back to the basis of science, people may argue each other... Of course, there is no point of arguing the amount of proton in a Hydrogen atom, coz thats not the fundamental of science...

I believe, understanding the basis of science isnt thought at school, we have to find it by ourselves, but proper teaching methods can be applied to help student understand the nature of science... And I see that SPM does not lead to this...

Proper understanding... When we go back to the construction of scientific theory, people might misunderstand them and look at them as mere theories... Thats not right, is it? This understanding needs to be changed..