Thursday, March 20, 2014

Reaction Paper: Mind Museum

Based on an article I have read (http://www.interaksyon.com/article/25983/filipino-students-lag-in-science-despite-putting-in-the-most-time), the Philippines in general allocate more time for science education in elementary compared with other South East Asian Countries. However, the thousand hours we spend has been proven insufficient. 1,100 hours is more than twice the number of hours Singapore commits for their elementary science education and yet, their students definitely performed better. The problem with the kind of science education may have come from the approach in teaching, lack of devices that aid in teaching, lack of books, and basically lack of all educational supplies.

The Mind Museum demonstrated how explaining concepts in science can be interesting even without fancy and expensive equipment. They used materials/things almost everyone have at home. It makes science easier to comprehend when you actually see the process happening using familiar things. I like Mind Museum's approach. Their 'mind movers' spark the children's curiosity which makes learning more interesting for them. And it is much better compared to typical classroom lectures which sometimes make students sleepy.

The only problem I see is that they only cater to a certain 'market', namely kids who have acceptable grounding with english. Most Filipino children with poor performance in science are mostly found in public schools and they are accustomed to use Filipino or their mother tongue as medium for lectures and explanations so they can easily comprehend. I see Mind Museum as more of an extension of private school classrooms because of their style or manner of speaking to children. I just hope that they will satisfactorily accommodate these children in their programs. Despite that, they are doing a very good job in helping improve science education in the Philippines.

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