Dear Editor,
As a child growing up, I remember using a paperback green book in primary school simply called Mental Ability in Schools. This book had both questions and answers and this helped me to study on my own in class and on holidays. This was bought and given to me in grade 4, and I believe it was the same book that carried me to grade 6 even though it was no longer the official text. This was 35 years ago.
Mental ability was a session in my class that gave the teacher the opportunity to help us students to reason. My teacher always said that we must use our common sense to get through life. She would use practical situations to reason. My mother, who was also a teacher in the same school I attended, was the queen of mental ability. Not only did she practise it with her grade one students, but our home became a classroom all season and "Mom" taught me how to reason while doing chores. The mental ability sessions that she and my grade 4 teacher created have carried me through school where I applied that skill to all my subjects and had to utilise it when I studied part-time over the last few years.
As a teacher myself I find that annually 75% of the students that I teach in first form are unable to reason. As soon as I give problem solving in any subject matter, the first thing that they would utter is, "Lord God, maths!" or "Me head a go buss!" (May I tell you that I do not teach maths.) Each time when I make each task simple, they would say: "Was it that easy?" I took it upon myself to check with some primary school teachers to investigate how many still use mental ability books in school. First, some grade 4 classes use it unofficially. Second, it is not on the book list in many of the schools, and at the grade 6 level many of the teachers do not see the need to use it because of the stress of getting them ready for GSAT and getting students passing that National Examination (what a stress!)
Today, with the situation of mathematics results being consistently dismal, why can't the Ministry of Education allow the formulation of a mental ability assessment programme in first form? Standardise this assessment according to a formula (levels of questions which are research-based) that can determine what level of reasoning students are utilising and provide an intervention programme to help students to think, rationalise, solve problems and write their own problem-solving questions and answers. Develop a mental ability question and answer bank (Q & A) so that teachers and students can use and add problem-solving questions that can help others with such a skill deficiency.
Appoint a teacher in each school who can be given such a programme one hour twice weekly and do follow-up assessments to track their mental development in reasoning skills. The teacher should present her findings which should be documented and published so as to provide best possible approaches to others who are in need. I believe that if this approach were to be developed both in the primary and high schools, it could assist in reducing the problem of non-thinking students. I also believe that this approach could improve mathematics and reasoning not only in grade 11 and 6th form but could also enhance life skills in general.
Let us bring back the mental ability books for the grades 4 - 6 in schools and improve the thought process of students. How about it? Let us reason!
Lyssette Hawthorne-Wilson
lysdave@yahoo.com
Mental ability and its place in schools
-->
As a child growing up, I remember using a paperback green book in primary school simply called Mental Ability in Schools. This book had both questions and answers and this helped me to study on my own in class and on holidays. This was bought and given to me in grade 4, and I believe it was the same book that carried me to grade 6 even though it was no longer the official text. This was 35 years ago.
Mental ability was a session in my class that gave the teacher the opportunity to help us students to reason. My teacher always said that we must use our common sense to get through life. She would use practical situations to reason. My mother, who was also a teacher in the same school I attended, was the queen of mental ability. Not only did she practise it with her grade one students, but our home became a classroom all season and "Mom" taught me how to reason while doing chores. The mental ability sessions that she and my grade 4 teacher created have carried me through school where I applied that skill to all my subjects and had to utilise it when I studied part-time over the last few years.
As a teacher myself I find that annually 75% of the students that I teach in first form are unable to reason. As soon as I give problem solving in any subject matter, the first thing that they would utter is, "Lord God, maths!" or "Me head a go buss!" (May I tell you that I do not teach maths.) Each time when I make each task simple, they would say: "Was it that easy?" I took it upon myself to check with some primary school teachers to investigate how many still use mental ability books in school. First, some grade 4 classes use it unofficially. Second, it is not on the book list in many of the schools, and at the grade 6 level many of the teachers do not see the need to use it because of the stress of getting them ready for GSAT and getting students passing that National Examination (what a stress!)
Today, with the situation of mathematics results being consistently dismal, why can't the Ministry of Education allow the formulation of a mental ability assessment programme in first form? Standardise this assessment according to a formula (levels of questions which are research-based) that can determine what level of reasoning students are utilising and provide an intervention programme to help students to think, rationalise, solve problems and write their own problem-solving questions and answers. Develop a mental ability question and answer bank (Q & A) so that teachers and students can use and add problem-solving questions that can help others with such a skill deficiency.
Appoint a teacher in each school who can be given such a programme one hour twice weekly and do follow-up assessments to track their mental development in reasoning skills. The teacher should present her findings which should be documented and published so as to provide best possible approaches to others who are in need. I believe that if this approach were to be developed both in the primary and high schools, it could assist in reducing the problem of non-thinking students. I also believe that this approach could improve mathematics and reasoning not only in grade 11 and 6th form but could also enhance life skills in general.
Let us bring back the mental ability books for the grades 4 - 6 in schools and improve the thought process of students. How about it? Let us reason!
Lyssette Hawthorne-Wilson
lysdave@yahoo.com
Mental ability and its place in schools
-->