作者: choi 时间: 11-27-2015 13:14
(1) Nick Gibb, The Maths Teachers of Shanghai Have the Perfect Formula for Learning; Those who try to dismiss their methods using crude national stereotypes should instead consider what UK educators could learn. The Guardian, Nov 26, 2015 (opinion). http://www.theguardian.com/comme ... s-shanghai-china-uk
(All [Shanghai] schools follow the same textbook, which is published by the Shanghai education commission and refined and revised on an annual basis. Compare this with English schools, where, according to the Timss international survey, only 10% of mathematics teachers used textbooks as a basis for their teaching”)
Note:
(a)
(i) Click the author "Nick Gibb" to learn something about him.
(ii) Nick Gibb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Gibb
(1960- ; Gibb was reappointed [on May 12, 2015; incumbent] as Minister of State for Schools after the 2015 general election by Prime Minister David Cameron, having held the same post beforehand between May 2010 and September 2012)
(b) "At the age of 15, Shanghai pupils are studying work equivalent to the second year of A-level, while our pupils are still studying for their GCSE. What’s more, the children of the poorest 30% of Shanghai’s population are outstripping at mathematics the children of our wealthiest 10% in England."
(i) GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GCE_Advanced_Level_(United_Kingdom)
(The General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level, or A Level, is a secondary school leaving qualification in the United Kingdom)
Quote: "In the United States of America (USA) the US high school diploma is the required qualification for entry into College (US equivalent of UK University). In the United Kingdom, the high school diploma is considered to be at the level of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), which is awarded at Year 11. For college and university admissions, the high school diploma may be accepted in lieu of the GCSE if an average grade of C is obtained in subjects with a GCSE counterpart. As the more academically rigorous A Levels awarded at Year 13 are expected for university admission, the high school diploma alone is generally not considered to meet university requirements
(ii) Education in the United Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_United_Kingdom
(section 1 Key Stages: Key Stage (KS) 4 final exams GCSEs, Key Stage 5 Sixth Form, final exams A-Levels etc; section 2 Stages: since 1997 compulsory school age (CSA): age 5 (year 1) to 18 (year 13) in England)
(iii) I know little about England’s education system. For the term “college,” there seems to be many uses--eg, Eton College. But the “college” in quotation(b)(i) appears to be a sixth form college. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_form_college
(c) "I recently met Jun Yang-Williams 杨军, the science teacher from the programme [BBC documentary Chinese School, aired over the summer], who (though the producers neglected to mention this fact) has taught in English schools for the past 10 years." 作者: choi 时间: 11-27-2015 13:14
(2) Sally Weale, Shanghai teaching method 'could improve UK results within four years.' The Guardian, Nov 26, 2015. www.theguardian.com/education/20 ... s-within-four-years
Quote:
"The [UK] Department for Education (DfE) is in the second year of a Shanghai-England teacher exchange which aims to raise English pupils’ maths skills.
"The Shanghai approach is to shape each maths lesson so it concentrates on a single mathematical concept, which is covered methodically and in great depth. The class does not move on until every child has mastered the lesson.
"This month nearly 70 Shanghai maths teachers are working in English secondary schools, demonstrating their teacher-led 'mastery method' to English counterparts. It involves whole-class, interactive teaching to an all-ability group [not the best, that is].
"A key difference is that her [Miss Chen] students in Shanghai get homework every day, with a test every week. (In England pupils can expect maths homework once or twice a week.)
"The St Mark’s [Catholic school in Hounslow, west London] pupils seem to have enjoyed their Shanghai lessons and have found them relatively easy.
" 'To their credit, the DfE are going about this in a reasonable way. They are doing a proper evaluation through an independent group.' He ['John Jerrim, of the UCL Institute of Education,' where UCL stands for University College London] added, however: 'The minister may want to wait for the results of that evaluation to see what they say before jumping to any strong conclusions.' * * * Jerrim’s research focussed on the Singaporean mastery method - similar to that of Shanghai - which has been adopted in a number of primary and secondary schools in the Ark academy chain. 'What we know from that is that it [Singaporean method as practiced in Ark schools] leads to a small positive gain in maths test scores, but the emphasis should be on small. It’s not a silver bullet. It’s not game changing.'
Note:
(a) "David Reynolds, professor of education at Southampton University"
University of Southampton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Southampton
(public; 1962- ; at City of Southampton, County of Hampshire)
(b) "Miss Li Chen from Shanghai is trying to impart the commutative law of multiplication to a class of year 7 pupils. English pupils would not ordinarily be aware they are learning the law of commutativity. They would learn the maths, without being taught the law behind it - a sort of 'dumbing down' we favour here, one teacher observing the lesson commented."