Schoolchildren lose interest in science and mathematics because of poor teaching methods, says a university lecturer.
Anuar said the teaching method was uninteresting and focused more on the goal of getting high marks, correct and accurate answers, resulting in primary school pupils being afraid of making mistakes.“This is not science. It’s a form of rote learning. But science is a process of trial and error, observation and testing,” he said. “The key objective of science and mathematics is to instill experimenting until they get the answer.
Anuar said the stigma of science and mathematics being difficult subjects to learn had made secondary school pupils in Forms 1 to 3 less interested in the subjects, which they still have to take because they are compulsory subjects. “Primary school students should not have such a heavy syllabus. It should emphasise on children conducting exploratory activities, scientific investigations and observations outside the classroom, for example to see how flowers grow, how photosynthesis works and how water is formed from the combination of two gases,” he said.
“In the end, many students are left behind when it comes to understanding the meaning and purpose of a scientific phenomenon they are studying,” he said.