Article 4:
Calculators to be allowed for Primary 5 & 6 maths exams

This will start in 2008, in line with the revised syllabuses.

Apr 27, 2007
AsiaOne

Primary 5 and 6 students will be allowed to use calculators for their maths exams, as part of the revised syllabuses to enhance the teaching and learning of the subject at the primary level.

Calculators will be introduced at Primary 5 in 2008 and Primary 6 in 2009, said a joint statement from the Ministry of Education and Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) today.

To align assessment with the curriculum, calculators will be allowed for Paper 2 of the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) mathematics and foundation mathematics examinations from 2009. These exams will be revised from the current single paper to a two-paper format from 2009.

On allowing the use of calculators, the statement said: "The introduction of calculators at Primary 5 and 6 aims to enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics at the primary level in two ways.

"First, calculators facilitate the use of more exploratory approaches in learning mathematical concepts, some of which may require repeated computations, or computations with large numbers or decimals. With a calculator, pupils can perform these tasks and better focus on discovering patterns and making generalisations without worrying about computational accuracy.

"Second, the use of calculators also enables teachers to use resources from everyday life, such as supermarket advertisements, to set real-life problems with real-life numbers that may be difficult for pupils to work with without a calculator. Pupils would hence be better able to see the connection between mathematics and the world around them."

To equip teachers with the knowledge and skills in integrating calculators into the primary maths curriculum, workshops have been conducted since 2006. By the end of this year, all Primary 6 and 6 teachers would have been trained, said the Ministry.

The new textbooks for these students, and the teaching and learning resources provided to schools, will also reflect the use of calculators in the syllabus.

Stressing the importance of developing basic numeracy skills, including mental computation and estimation, early in students, the statement said these life skills will continue to be taught and will remain relevant even as computers and calculators become more accessible.

"Even with the introduction of calculators... pupils will continue to learn, practise and assessed on computational skills without the use of a calculator," said the statement.

On the revised PSLE format from 2009, the ministry says Paper 1 does not allow the use of a calculator so that important computational skills will continue to be emphasised and be assessed. But calculators will be allowed in Paper 2 to solve problems.

"The calculator is a tool to help pupils with their computations. There will be no change in the question types, the number of questions for each type, or the level of difficulty of the questions," said the statement.

Only calculators approved by the SEAB will be allowed for use in examinations. The list of approved calculators, which can be used at the secondary level, is available on the SEAB website http://www.seab.gov.sg/.

The use of calculators was one of the recommendations made by a review committee, which comprised academics and practitioners, in 2004.

Personal Response 4:
This news came as a shock to me. Introduction of the use of calculators has never been done before secondary school education and indeed I did not touch a calculator till I completed my PSLE. This change of policy is very significant as the standard of Math in Singapore could go to both extremes with the implementation of it. Those who can cope with the commands of this policy will be able to benefit while those who are unable to will suffer from it.

When I first saw this article, I pondered over the need for this policy. This policy seems to be suggesting that the primary school students nowadays are getting better, and it is suitable to introduce the use of the calculator at an earlier stage. However, are we ignoring the fundamentals? Math is a very practical subject; you either know it or you don’t. It is critical to have strong fundamental skills. Without the use of calculators, we can train students to calculate independently and confidently. It is only with such skills can we begin to learn more advanced stuff.

However, just like in any other policy, there has to be advantages.

Firstly, we can now introduce real-life usage of math. Calculations in the real-world are usually tedious and the numbers that are used are usually not very friendly. With the introduction of the calculator, students can start to use Mathematics in his everyday world and understand how they are inter-related. I feel that this is very important especially in our modern-day world where practicality is the key to success. No point being a genius without helping the society in any way. There is a common misconception that Math is useless but that is not true. Math is being used in many ways. In science, there are calculations. In economics, there are calculations. Even in architecture, design and engineering, calculations are also involved. Therefore, to teach Math in a practical way rather than a theoretical way would aid the students in linking Math to the world.

Also, introducing calculators will reduce certain uncertainty in answers which have been present for quite a long time. Even I myself have faced this problem before. Whenever I solve a problem, I expect the answer to be a whole number or at least one with a small fraction. If not, I would doubt whether I got the correct answer and begin to think that my calculations have been wrong. This is yet another misconception as in Math, especially in real-life, there are many cases where the numbers are just not nice but they are still correct.

However, I do know my limitations in discussing this topic. Although I am a student and I have experienced PSLE first-hand, I have had no experience whatsoever in educating. I do know the big picture of how math teachers tend to teach, but as for the details, I am rather doubtful. Therefore, I admit that I am in no position to criticize this policy.