A FOREIGN TECHNIQUE FITS LOCAL LEARNERS

People do things the way they are used to. The introduction of alternative ways will somehow affect the performance of its recipients. The effectiveness of a new method will depend on how it gives solutions to the difficulties encountered in doing the process.

Teachers in the Philippines struggle with helping children learn Mathematics. The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported on May 23, 2010 that in the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, the Philippines ranked near the bottom, third from the bottom among 25countries in the 4th grade and fifth from the bottom among 45 countries in the 8th grade.

This condition of mathematics education in the country was clearly highlighted in the 2009 National Education Testing and Research Center of the Philippines report. According to Trance (2013), among other subjects, it pointed out that Filipino students have not reached mastery in mathematics.

When it comes to Mathematics achievement, students from Singapore consistently outperform American students, and students from most other nations, on international tests of Mathematics, such as the Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) which show Singapore as a top performing nation for the past 15 years. And this success was attributed to their “model drawing” method. This method is also known as Block Model Method in which rectangular strips or blocks are used in solving problems.

Filipino learners show poor performance in international tests in Mathematics. This only proves that the present problem solving strategies/techniques which are being taught in class are not that effective. Based on the study of Mangulabnan (2013), one of the difficulties encountered by students in solving word-problems is translating statements or phrases into mathematical symbols. Students find it hard to visualize a given wordproblem.

Moreover, twenty-first century learners are visual learners. The use of visual strategies greatly motivates them. They understand better and gain interest in things which they see. One visual strategy of solving word-problems is the Block Model Method.

Based on the results of the study conducted bySagge Jr. (2012), there is a shift from "poor" to "high" performance of the students who have used the Block Model approach in problem solving. His study also showed that the students performbetter in the post-intervention test than that of the pre-intervention. This means that Block Model approach is indeed an effective strategy in mathematics problem solving.

According to Trina Tanjangco-Cruz, there are now many schools in the country which have adapted Singapore Math into their curriculum. Singapore Math is a term used to distinguish this novel method against the traditional way of teaching Math. Singapore’s Ministry of Education is in charge of developing the Math curriculum, framework and methods of teaching, which in turn is applied in their schools. The consistent top ranking results of Singapore students in various examinations was attributed by their government to their Math curriculum, and this is how many foreign countries took notice, including the Philippines.

LRobert OS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — When J. Oppenheimer invited top scientists, engineers and technicians to New Mexico in 1943 to build the world’s first nuclear weapon, no one really knew what the results would be.

--oOo— The author is HT I at Madapdap Resettlement High School

What they did know was that they had to succeed at all costs since intelligence reports indicated Germany and its allies were working toward the same goal.

The once-secret city of Los Alamos is marking 75 years of discovery at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which still plays a key role in maintaining the United States’ nuclear weapons cache. The facility also still conducts research on everything from renewable energy technology to public health concerns and the effects of insects on stressed forests.

The anniversary comes as the lab prepares for a shift in leadership. The U.S. Energy Department recently awarded the multibillion-dollar contract to manage Los Alamos to Triad National Security LLC, a company made up of the University of California, Texas A&M and Battelle Memorial Institute.

The University of California has played a management role since the beginning, and in late 2015 federal officials announced they would be putting the contract out to bid since the management team failed to earn high performance reviews.

Los Alamos lab has struggled with safety lapses involving the handling of plutonium and radioactive waste and was found responsible for a 2014 radiation release that forced the nation’s only underground nuclear waste repository to close for nearly three years.

The federal government recently tasked the lab with annually building at least 30 plutonium cores, which are used to trigger nuclear weapons.

The lab marked its anniversary earlier this month with a day of speeches and activities, the Los Alamos Monitor reported .

Just yards from where plans for the first nuclear bomb were developed, Los Alamos lab director Terry Wallace told a crowd about what Oppenheimer’s ideas meant to the world and New Mexico’s future.

“Over a series of lectures, they came up with a plan, and that plan was to do something they had never done before,” Wallace said.