Select public grade schools to use tablet PCs

Grade one students of selected public schools will get a chance to study math and science on tablet computers next school year, an official of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) on Monday said. Engr. Roberto Dizon, DOST assistant secretary for strategic plans and programs, told GMA News Online that the agency will pilot-test at least 20 tablet computers in selected elementary schools in the National Capital Region and Regions IV-A, V, VIII, and X. He said the locally-produced computers will cost the government P5,000 each. “We want to find out the most effective way of using this new technology as a teaching tool," Dizon said at the sidelines of the launch of the DOST’s “Search for Innovative Practices in Managing Large Classes" held in Pasay City. Interactive math, science lessons Dr. Leticia Catris, deputy director and officer-in-charge of the DOST Science Education Institute, said the agency has prepared interactive lessons for math and science topics “that are rather difficult to teach." In another interview with GMA News Online, Catris said the DOST is preparing interactive packages for high school students after accomplishing the same for the elementary level. She said the interactive lessons will respond to constraints in teaching biology, for example. “You really can’t open up a human being to study the digestive system," Catris said. She explained that an interactive lesson – which students can click, watch, and perform activities with – will aid the modern crop of students whom she described as “audio-visual learners." Comparing interactivity with a plain traditional style of lecturing, Catris said, “What you hear, you easily forget. What you see, you remember. What you do, you easily understand." “In that manner, they will be more interested in science and math," she added. Computer shortages, illiteracy The DOST will implement the project in the face of computer shortages as well as computer illiteracy in public schools. Every 25,000 public elementary school students are forced to make do with one computer, 2006 data of the Department of Education show. In high school, one computer has to be shared by 111 students. Public school teachers are not spared from the computer shortage, with a computer-to-teacher ratio of 1:728 for elementary and 1:3 for high school. A survey conducted in 2002 by Victoria Tinio, director for e-Learning of the Foundation for Information Technology Education, also shows that most teachers do not possess the technical know-how to operate computers. Among the schools she surveyed, 13 percent said only a tenth of their teachers, at the most, have a grip on computer basics. In the survey, the most computer-literate teachers come from only 29 percent of the surveyed schools, which claim that over three-fourths of their teaching staff know their computer fundamentals. Without discounting these problems, however, Catris said the DOST will continue to implement their programs on interactive learning because “technology is a tool for teaching." “It will help the teacher," she said. Search for best practices In the contest that was launched earlier Monday, the DOST also called on schools to submit entries on best practices to teach science and math to large classes, or those that have 50 students or more. Schools that submit the top ten proposals will receive a P100,000-grant to implement their projects, which will then be monitored and evaluated. Addressing teachers at the launch, Catris said, “I know most of you have had and are still having difficulties in class management, interaction, communication, teaching styles, and learning styles in large classes." “We challenge you to ignite your minds and continue discovering new ways that can be wholly effective in terms of transferring knowledge and skills to students, and managing large science and mathematics classes," she said. — TJD, GMA News