I AGREE with Ms Ashley Chan Kway Lan that there shouldn't be model answers for science ("Science shouldn't have 'model' answers"; last Saturday).
My son is in Primary 6 this year. At this level, the volume of "model" answers he and his peers have to memorise is tremendous, as the Primary 6 syllabus comprises all that has been taught since Primary 3.
Science has become a subject that tests the number of correct answers with the necessary key words that a child can memorise, and not the degree of understanding a child has grasped of its concepts.
A child who answers correctly, but whose answers do not have the "correct" key words, will be penalised, even though his answer, semantically, means the same as the "model" answer.
Science has also become a form of word play, as many questions are phrased in a manner meant to trick pupils.
Very often, pupils have to guess the intent of the question and then recall the "correct" key words to phrase the answer.
This system of assessing a child's grasp of science is flawed. Shouldn't science be a subject that emphasises increasing a child's inquisitiveness, and not one that overemphasises the memorisation of "model" answers?
Elizabeth Tan Boon Kwan (Ms)
My son is in Primary 6 this year. At this level, the volume of "model" answers he and his peers have to memorise is tremendous, as the Primary 6 syllabus comprises all that has been taught since Primary 3.
Science has become a subject that tests the number of correct answers with the necessary key words that a child can memorise, and not the degree of understanding a child has grasped of its concepts.
A child who answers correctly, but whose answers do not have the "correct" key words, will be penalised, even though his answer, semantically, means the same as the "model" answer.
Science has also become a form of word play, as many questions are phrased in a manner meant to trick pupils.
Very often, pupils have to guess the intent of the question and then recall the "correct" key words to phrase the answer.
This system of assessing a child's grasp of science is flawed. Shouldn't science be a subject that emphasises increasing a child's inquisitiveness, and not one that overemphasises the memorisation of "model" answers?
Elizabeth Tan Boon Kwan (Ms)
