SVT Södertälje has previously reported that the carpet result drops in the municipality's schools.
But in Wasaskolan class 4, students seem to find it fun and easy with Mathematics. In a quick hand-raising, it turns out that few think math is difficult and almost everyone thinks the subject is fun. Perhaps the reason is a whole new pedagogy that is currently being tested in class - the so-called Singapore model.
- Actually, it comes from the learning theories that have been researched for a long time, but which we may have been a bit cumbersome to use. It is about learning oneself, talking and discovering. The students learn themselves and it is not me who speaks about something, says teacher and promoter Ditte Lind, who became curious about the new model when she read about it.
She says that many students find that math starts to be difficult, difficult and boring when they reach middle school level.
- Well, it shouldn't be. Math is great fun, says Ditte Lind, who got her colleagues to test the Singapore model at the low and middle stages.
Based on success from SingaporeThe method is based on Singapore's syllabus which has made the country a top nation in the world in terms of student math skills. The pedagogy, which has spread throughout the world in recent years, is based on modern research on learning and a strong focus on problem solving.
- When we talk about problem solving in Sweden, there are often clearings. But we always start with an everyday problem every lesson. We never start by talking about “how to do this” but we have a problem and talk about how we solve it, then we come to the learning, says Ditte Lind.
Old multiplication tables then, are they completely demolished or?
- No, they need you to figure things out. But then maybe a problem is that you have four bowls with the same number of candies in each. It's the same math that you have to learn, it's just about how to do it.
The part of the lesson where the students sit and count alone in the book has also been significantly shortened. This is because conversations are instead a major cornerstone of pedagogy and during a lesson, students collaborate and discuss a lot in smaller groups. (See more about this in the clip above)
Teach children to visualize
Another important difference to traditional Swedish mathematics education is how to work with the process from concrete to abstract mathematics.
- Each lesson should start in the concrete where the students are allowed to pick something with their hands, then go to a picture and at the end of the lesson the student should be able to do it in his head by visualizing, says DitteLind.
How have the students received the new lessons?
- They think it's pretty easy, quite fun and they think they're pretty good. I think it is more fun to teach, I develop and the students develop. Everything is more fun for everyone involved.
In what way does it differ for you?
- I need to think much more about what I give out and exactly what they need to learn. I think more about how I can help them and what will happen in a lesson. Now I need to pilot the students more because they control the lesson themselves, says Ditte Lind.
What happens in the students' heads?
- This is where the understanding arises. They will explain to me instead and I can more easily see where the difficulties are and meet them. It's really fun. Above all, to see the students so engaged. There is less stress and calmer on the lessons now. In the past I could feel that I was running around and extinguishing fires, now I can be on hand where I need to be. In addition, I am constantly developing and it is great fun to plan the lesson, says Ditte Lind, who now hopes that the pedagogy will spread to the rest of Södertälje's schools.
- I think that all students should discover that math is fun. They should talk, work and think that math is as fun as it actually is. I think all schools can start with something small and build from it.
SVT participated in a lesson. See the clip above!