The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement has released the results of the quadrennial Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).
There was not much change in the results for Taiwan, as students scored high in learning achievement, but low in learning attitude toward mathematics and science, and their sense of alienation toward mathematics and science was higher than the average.
Faced with the results, the Ministry of Education’s K-12 Education Administration simply responded that “students in high-performing countries tend to feel a sense of alienation toward learning,” without offering any further background analysis, which was a pity.
Taiwan participated in the study six times between 1999 and last year. During these 20 years, the reforms in Taiwan’s curricula and educational system reached a climax. These involved reforms in the curriculum standards and guidelines, the replacement of the Nine-year Integrated Curriculum with new curriculum guidelines last year and switching the focus from “core competencies” to “competency-based instruction.”
The system for advancement to higher-level education progressed from a joint entrance examination to the Basic Competence Test and the Comprehensive Assessment Program for junior-high school students.
The integration of examination and enrollment has been replaced with the separation of examination and enrollment, as well as adaptive enrollment based on a student’s aptitude.
However, after making all these reform efforts, Taiwan has still failed to boost students’ motivation to learn mathematics and science, so there must be some blind spots in its K-12 policy.
The first blind spot is a matter of over-rectification, as the government places excessive emphasis on social sciences and humanities at the cost of mathematics and science.
It cannot be denied that residues of the past authoritarian rule still existed in Taiwan’s curriculum standards and textbooks at the end of the past century. As a result, in every reform of the curriculum, all sides focused mainly on the debate over social and language-related subjects.
Issues such as changes to the nation’s historical view, the proportional adjustment between classical and vernacular Chinese, and required elective courses for local languages have received greater attention than the subjects of mathematics and science.
As a new curriculum guideline review committee is about to start operating, hopefully the over-rectification of, or imbalances in, Taiwan’s curriculum reform will be reversed in a timely manner.
The second blind spot lies in outdated instruction, which has resulted in an inflexible response to a constantly changing situation, with the result that the government is stressing adjusting class hours over teaching innovation.
In every aspect of curriculum reform, there was not much change in the distribution of class hours for mathematics and science, and the only change was the adjustment of the required elective courses and the division of mathematics teaching materials.
For a course to meet its goal, it should prioritize efficacious teaching, diversified assessment and differentiated instruction.
However, no matter how the authorities adjust the curriculum guidelines for mathematics and science, they have continued to stick to traditional teaching methods. How will they boost learning motivation and competency using the same old tricks?
Taiwan’s adoption of the US’ “reform mathematics” teaching method, which sees mathematical calculations as a constructive activity, had failed due to bad communication skills, insufficient teacher training and poor learning efficiency.
What would the new model for teaching innovation be, and would it change outdated classroom instruction? Such factors are likely to be the keys to success.
The last blind spot lies in self-contentment, as the government emphasizes cognitive performance over affective education. Past TIMSS results showed that the country’s eighth-grade students’ confidence, interest and appreciation of mathematics and science ranked at the bottom of the list, and their average score was even lower than that of fourth-grade students, showing that the older they get, the worse their learning attitude became.
From the perspective of learning psychology, without strong motivation or interest, it is difficult to sustain a learning activity for long.
The TIMSS results reveal why Taiwanese teenagers come out on top in prestigious international mathematics and science competitions, only to lose their competitiveness once they enter college or graduate school.
If the nation’s students are self-contented with their academic performance without their passion for learning being awakened, students in other countries would quickly catch up, because self-contentment is the best sleeping pill.
Wang Yen-huang is a senior-high school principal.
Translated by Eddy Chang
Donald Trump’s return to the White House has offered Taiwan a paradoxical mix of reassurance and risk. Trump’s visceral hostility toward China could reinforce deterrence in the Taiwan Strait. Yet his disdain for alliances and penchant for transactional bargaining threaten to erode what Taiwan needs most: a reliable US commitment. Taiwan’s security depends less on US power than on US reliability, but Trump is undermining the latter. Deterrence without credibility is a hollow shield. Trump’s China policy in his second term has oscillated wildly between confrontation and conciliation. One day, he threatens Beijing with “massive” tariffs and calls China America’s “greatest geopolitical
On Sunday, 13 new urgent care centers (UCC) officially began operations across the six special municipalities. The purpose of the centers — which are open from 8am to midnight on Sundays and national holidays — is to reduce congestion in hospital emergency rooms, especially during the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year. It remains to be seen how effective these centers would be. For one, it is difficult for people to judge for themselves whether their condition warrants visiting a major hospital or a UCC — long-term public education and health promotions are necessary. Second, many emergency departments acknowledge
US President Donald Trump’s seemingly throwaway “Taiwan is Taiwan” statement has been appearing in headlines all over the media. Although it appears to have been made in passing, the comment nevertheless reveals something about Trump’s views and his understanding of Taiwan’s situation. In line with the Taiwan Relations Act, the US and Taiwan enjoy unofficial, but close economic, cultural and national defense ties. They lack official diplomatic relations, but maintain a partnership based on shared democratic values and strategic alignment. Excluding China, Taiwan maintains a level of diplomatic relations, official or otherwise, with many nations worldwide. It can be said that
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) made the astonishing assertion during an interview with Germany’s Deutsche Welle, published on Friday last week, that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not a dictator. She also essentially absolved Putin of blame for initiating the war in Ukraine. Commentators have since listed the reasons that Cheng’s assertion was not only absurd, but bordered on dangerous. Her claim is certainly absurd to the extent that there is no need to discuss the substance of it: It would be far more useful to assess what drove her to make the point and stick so
RSS