Profesor Turun Padang: Empowering Mathematical Mastery via “Perkongsian Konsep Asas (Peka) Matematik Dan Matematik Tambahan”
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The subjects of Mathematics and Additional Mathematics are among the two crucial and important subjects at the secondary school level. These two subjects are often considered challenging and difficult to master by students in Form Four and Form Five. Therefore, schools need to formulate and implement various initiatives to empower the understanding and mastery of basic mathematical knowledge among students, thereby increasing the pass rates in the examinations for Mathematics and Additional Mathematics.
Recognizing the importance of this, a progressive approach has been taken by the educators at Sekolah Sains Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Pekan in collaboration with lecturers from the Centre for Mathematical Sciences (PSM), Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah (UMPSA), to help improve the performance of students in Mathematics and Additional Mathematics among Form Four students. A total of 121 Form Four students from this school have successfully participated in the Program Profesor Turun Padang: Perkongsian Konsep Asas (PEKA) Matematik dan Matematik Tambahan, held in three sessions on September 23, 2023, November 4, 2023, and December 9, 2023. This program has also received cooperation from the Urusetia Ibu bapa dan Alumni (USIA) Sekolah Sains Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Pekan.
The main objective of this program is to provide knowledge consultation from the perspective of teaching the Form Four in Mathematics and Additional Mathematics syllabus as an early preparation for facing the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM). It aims to instil self-motivation into students regarding the importance of mathematical knowledge focused on the studied syllabus and help enhance the students' skills in mastering mathematical knowledge through continuous monitoring of student performance based on school assessment results.
The program is conducted in the form of small group discussions between students and PSM lecturers. Three series of knowledge sharing sessions have been successfully conducted, consisting of two meetings for discussion on Additional Mathematics and one meeting for Mathematics. In each session, PSM lecturers, acting as facilitators, share techniques for understanding questions and explain the essential steps that students must write when answering Mathematics and Additional Mathematics questions. The discussed question and exercises are in line with the format used by teachers in this school.
Analysis of student mastery feedback for each program session indicates that the majority of these Form Four students have a good understanding of mathematical fundamentals and are able to solve mathematical problems efficiently and systematically. This finding is assessed from the facilitator's observations during group discussion sessions and student response reviews. At the same time, facilitators always emphasize students to refer to their teachers on the marks scheme formatting given in each assessment.
Therefore, this collaborative effort has achieved positive impacts, including the improvement of learning skills as well as mastery of mathematical knowledge, providing direct awareness to students to be more adept at the basics of mathematics and encouraging the analytical thinking of students in devising strategies and mastering easy techniques for solving Mathematics and Additional Mathematics questions. Hopefully, the Program Profesor Turun Padang: Perkongsian Konsep Asas (PEKA) Matematik dan Matematik Tambahan will benefit in producing a generation that is adept and loves mathematics.
