Science and Mathematics Should be Taught in English Debate

Science and Mathematics Should be Taught in English Debate Is it necessary for our government to implement learning Mathematics and Science in English? This has been a big issue among students lately because it is said to disturb their routine lifestyle of studying. Basically, we know that our Malaysias education system encompasses education beginning from pre-school to university. Pre-tertiary education (pre-school to secondary education) is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education (MOE) while tertiary or higher education is the responsibility of the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE). The vision of the Government is to make Malaysia a centre of educational excellence. The implementation of English language in Mathematics and Science has made a new aim in our education system now. Let us look back to our main point, which is why the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English has become a controversial issue, and several recommendations are made to resolve the issue. Malaysia is a multicultural and multilingual country with Malay as the official national language. In order to unify the nation, a national education system with Malay as the medium of instruction is being adopted for all primary and secondary schools. In 2002, the government announced the implementation of a new policy in the national education system; English is made the language of instruction in schools for the teaching of Mathematics, Science and technology subjects. These subjects had formerly been taught in the Malay language. English as the language of instruction for Mathematics and Science (ELIMS or PPSMI as it is known in Malay) was implemented in stages, starting in 2003 for standard one (first grade of primary school), form one (first year of lower secondary) and the lower six (first year of upper secondary school). The decision to use English was based on the rationale that mastery of English is regarded as an important mechanism for direct acquisition of knowledge in t he field of science and technology (Ainan, 2003). The first controversial issue is that learning English in a second language is seen as unsuitable when children encounter difficulty in interpreting the meaning of Mathematics and Science discourse. The purpose of teaching Science and Mathematics in English is to enable students to acquire proficiency in English while learning Science. Many educational issues are crucial when learning takes place in students second language. In Malaysia, most learners encounter English for the first time in school. They find it harder to adapt the new change in our education system. This inadvertently impairs students learning abilities since learning in these subjects may be compressed within a complex linguistic classroom. The problem of learning Science through a second language is compounded by other factors, such as teachers who are not proficient in English and the lack of good Science textbooks (Ong, 2004). The government cant come up with a good explanation when the issue of teachers who are not proficient in English were debated in the parliament because they were too busy in governing the economy of our country. The second most controversial issue in implementing English in teaching Mathematics and Science is that the non-Malay students who are the majority residence in urban areas indicated their preference of the use of English in learning Mathematics and Science while the rural students, were not supportive on the use of English language. Malaysian students and teachers are multicultural and have multilingual backgrounds. The implementation of PPSMI created great concern among parents and educators on the quality of Mathematics and Science education as both teachers and students are not proficient in the English language (The Star, 2006). This is expected as Malay language has been the language of instruction for more than four decades. Moreover, the teaching of non-science and Mathematics subjects in schools continue to use Malay language. In a study to provide some baseline data for this concern, Juriah Long and colleagues (The Star, 2006) found that 60% of Mathematics and Science teach ers were not fluent in the English language while only 45% said they are comfortable in using the language to teach. The students from the rural area find difficult to adapt and score in Mathematics and Science subject compare to the students from the urban areas especially the non-Malay student can do better as they are more suitable in the second language compare to Malay language. If these matter continue, it will create havoc among the people in our country and this time, it will be worse than the 13th May tragedy. The implementation of English in teaching Mathematics and Science should be carry out and the government have come up with some solutions in improving this policy to overcome these problems. In order to compensate for students weakness in English language, the teacher must take on the role of a translator in class. The teacher describe the teaching in the class as using first in the English, then repeat the explanation again in Malay for the benefits of those who have low English proficiency. More time will be needed to convey the same concept compared to when Malay language was used as the medium of instruction. Teaching time for Science and Mathematics may need to be increased. It is recommended that teachers continue to carry out code switching when conducting their Science and Mathematics lessons. In addition, teaching strategies may need to be modified so that students will not be denied a quality Science and Mathematics education. So far, much of the thrust of this policy has f ocused on upgrading the linguistic skills of teachers and providing them with technical support. Even extremely proficient and experienced teachers cannot teach their subjects entirely in English if the students are incapable of understanding them. This finding is supported by the information released by the Ministry of Education based on the mandated national level public examinations for all form three students (The Star, 2005). They found that despite learning Science and Mathematics in English for three years, only 33% of the Science candidates and 27% of the Mathematics candidates used English to answer questions. Most of the candidates, however, preferred to answer in either Malay or a mixture of both languages. For valid assessment of Science and Mathematics, the use of dual-language test-booklet as a language accommodation need to continue to ensure students are assess on their Science and Mathematics achievement and not their language ability. The government should be positive minded in enhancing the knowledge of our future students by implementing the policy of teaching Mathematics and Science in English so that our country can produce more efficient and dedicated students who are high in knowledge and good proficiency in English language. Thus, the linguistic abilities of their students are crucial in deciding to what extent teachers can implement PPSMI. All the teachers show their main concern when teaching in English, making sure that students could understand the lesson. It is almost a reflexive action among teachers that as soon as their students look lost or seem unable to comprehend, they resort to translating the terms or specific portion of that lesson. Therefore, in classes where the majority of the students are academically able and linguistically proficient, the teachers must teach their lessons entirely in English. Meanwhile, with weaker classes, these teachers should use more Malay in class, by way of transl ation. As a result, instead of teaching Mathematics and Science in English, many teachers will end up teaching these subjects in English and Malay. This pedagogical response has much to do with the pressure that teachers feel about covering the syllabus within specific timelines so that students will be ready for school exams and mandated public exams. These exams take place at set times during the school year. This being the case, on the spot translation offers them the fastest route to achieving their goal of increasing students comprehension.

Challange Faced by University Students Essay

Education is the most important aspect of learning for every generation established in every mode. In university there are different field of studies with different years of each program. It is obvious that new students are going to face further challenges in university. In this case, these challenges could be the burden which can pull them out of the school without completing their studies. This essay will discuss these challenges in condition of financial, social, and academic. To begin with, financial problems are a major challenge for university students includes tuition fee, rent expenses, and text books. Tuition fee is the most common challenge for these students. Though, for some they only take one or two units per semester because of financial problems. The high costs of fee causes many problems for those who are not sponsored. Besides, fee expenses for each semester cost of thousands of dollars. So, tuition fee is a great burden for the unsponsored students. Furthermore, text books are the most essential property students must have in university. First year students also suffered in buying text books regarding to financial problem. Those who are not sponsored are suffered the most on the high cost of these books. Another challenge is that some of them have not enough money in a pocket. But in this case, such challenges can create lot of troubles in their minds throughout their time in the university. Moreover, rent is also a challenge for these students. These students might live in different hostels where some are cheap but isolated from the campus, and some are nearby the campus but expensive. It is better to live nearby the campus for new students to avoid troubles. However, they have problem with monthly rent where it is expensive but must be cleared. Another reason is based on a small amount of their allowance which cannot meet their expenses on rent and others. However, these financial challenges make them concern the most. Another major†¦ [continues].

Academic Monitoring System using Android application Essay

ABSTRACT The portability, open source nature of smart phones and android OS for PC on android development platform has made the development of application software for various environments as handy. In this application are resulted in paper less work, easy to use and time saving in nature. The wireless communication technology of smart phone enables the information transfer from the current client to remote database server, where ever the network range is available. The Academic Monitoring System is a mobile computing software application, which focuses on an activity or function, which is based on management information system of academic institutions. Overall the system is acting as an effective tool, in assisting the smooth functions of the academic activities of an educational institution. The entire system development is proposed with Android development platform. Keywords: Academic Monitoring System, Mobile Computing, Android based Software Systems, Online Database Management System, We b Technology. 1. INTRODUCTION The nature of portability and handy use of smart phone led them in use of various applications where ever the personal computer is applied today. This project is about â€Å"Academic Activity Monitoring System (AAMS)† (every faculties posting attendance details can be easily traced out).The system will include the information about the attendance of the students credit system to keep a their performance record. This automation system is embedded into android application which runs in android OS for PC. In present system, every faculty posting attendance details can be easily traced out. The whole session is stored in the database and at the end of the semester or session report will be generated. The existing system is not user-friendly because the computer based attendance management and monitoring activities are handled with the help of manual and keying data to the database. The existing system functions with intranet and internet capability with off time data entry into th e database. The problem of real time data entry is proposed in this project work. The inter-related databases and tables provide a flexibility of none maintenance of specific records and avoids manual calculations. This monitoring system helps the management to handle their management activities with efficiency. More secured by means of information than traditional academic activity monitoring system. 2. HETEROGENEOUS COMPUING Mobile Computing & PC Computing Distributed Computing 3. EXISTING SYSTEM The faculty activities and functionalities are monitored in manual with the help of human. Collecting all attendance details of particular hour on real time is impossible task, when it is handled manual or semi computerized. Updating the database with the help of PC based computation is not a real time activity. Demerits: Lack of in-availability of information in real time. Time delay in data updating to the database. Consume large volume of paper work. Manual work 4. PROPOSED SYSTEM The entire system development is proposed with mobile computing concepts. The proposed system will easily handle all the data and the processes handled by this system is similar to the existing system with one variant as mobile computation instead of PC computation. The monitoring system proposed here is basically an integrated web project. The proposed project can be implemented using android. It allows the user to interact with the system in a graphical user friendly way. This system eliminates the drawbacks of the existing system and provides real time availability of information in the form of reports. Portability is one of the major key factors in this project. In this system fully online data server based application. Merits: Easily check whether for attendance post or not based on real time. The top level and middle management persons can monitor their management activities from their place and no need of manual or human physical monitoring. Per day attendance details are available to the management personals on his desktop. Time saving. It is user friendly. Details: 4.1. Modules: User Module – Administrator Attendance Posting Module – Faculty Update Database Module – Attendance Internet Connectivity Module – Android Client to Web Server based Online Database, PHP Scripts 4.2. Design & Development: User Module – Administrator Frontend: Android Design Backend: PHP Scripts Deployment in Web Server, Online Database Design Attendance Posting Module – Class Attendance Details with Time and Date (Theory & Laboratory) Update Database Module – Posting Attendance Details with Time and Date, Number of Students Present and Absent. Internet Connectivity Module – Android Client Connection with Campus WIFI, Retrieving the data to online database through webserver and PHP scripts 5. CONCLUSION This project will help the professor to post attendance or not time and calculations required to update the attendance manually. Administrator to identify for faculty activities in during class hour through web services. ` 6. FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS As soon as every faculty to posting attendance details such as class hall number, subject code, staff name, number of students present and absent details easily traced out. So easily monitoring every class details and staff activities through web server. 7. REFERENCES [1]www.android.developer.com [2]www.androidtutorial.com [3]www.w3schools.com [4]www.stackoverflow.com [5]www.mkyong.com [6]www.androidhive.info

Women and the Workplace Pregnancy Discrimination in the...

Women and the workplace: Pregnancy Discrimination in the United States I. Abstract With an increasing number of women entering the workforce, pregnancy discrimination has become a pervasive problem. This paper, which focuses on the United States (US), thus considers the underlying reasons and impacts of this biasness from the perspectives of both employee and employer. It then follows with a study on the legal protections in place to prevent such behaviour. And lastly, it will analyse various ethical issues involved in this unequal treatment of pregnant employees in the workplace using ethical frameworks such as Utilitarianism theory, Kantian Ethics and John Rawls’ Justice as Fairness. These ethical frameworks will help highlight†¦show more content†¦In fact, a study in the US showed that given identical credentials and interview performance of two individuals, the evidently pregnant applicant would be rated lower compared to a non-pregnant applicant. The negative mind-set of employers on pregnant employees plays an important role in causing discrimination. Women’s performance ratings were seen to decline after being pregnant, from â€Å"superb† to â€Å"terrible† as shared by one victim of pregnancy discrimination. This is because they are perceived as â€Å"overly emotional, often irrational, physically limited, and less than committed to their jobs† as compared to their non-pregnant woman counterparts and are hence â€Å"less valuable and dependable.† There is also the problem of additional workload for remaining staff or the potential need to hire temporary staff to tide over the maternity leave period. To compound the issue, employers suffer uncertainty as to when the employee will return to work, or worse, the employee leaves for good after their maternity leave period. In fact, a study done shows that only 60% of women go back to work within two years of their maternity leave. 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Women and the workplace: Pregnancy Discrimination in the United States I. Abstract With an increasing number of women entering the workforce, pregnancy discrimination has become a pervasive problem. This paper, which focuses on the United States (US), thus considers the underlying reasons and impacts of this biasness from the perspectives of both employee and employer. It then follows with a study on the legal protections in place to prevent such behaviour. And lastly, it will analyse various ethical issues involved in this unequal treatment of pregnant employees in the workplace using ethical frameworks such as Utilitarianism theory, Kantian Ethics and John Rawls’ Justice as Fairness. These ethical frameworks will help highlight†¦show more content†¦Should they be able to prove that the same action was to be taken immaterial of the pregnancy, it is not illegal. Furthermore, because of the legal fees involved, despite the numerous pregnancy discrimination cases published yearly, many cases have gone undetected, especially among low-wage workers. The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is another legal protection against pregnancy discrimination. Under FMLA, eligible employees are entitled up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave due to reasons such as the inability to work due to pregnancy, labour or childcare after birth. By legalizing reasonable unpaid leave for family or medical reasons, it aimed to promote the family-work life balance and gender equality in the workplace. Nevertheless, these laws work under the assumption that every pregnant woman will have the consistent ability to perform tasks like before. The PDA promotes equality in the workplace for these women based on merits, but fails to consider many cases where the temporary physical inabilities due to pregnancy hinder their full capacity to perform their roles in the same way. While the Americans with Disabilities Act ensures the workplace provides reasonable accommodation for any disabilities caused by pregnancy, most effects of pregnancy are minimal and hardly fall into its definition of disabilities. Laws are therefore needed to assist those with partial inabilities due to pregnancyShow MoreRelatedWomen and the Workplace: Pregnancy Discrimination in the United States3082 Words   |  13 PagesWomen and the workplace: Pregnancy Discrimination in the United States I. Abstract With an increasing number of women entering the workforce, pregnancy discrimination has become a pervasive problem. 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