KENINGAU: A team of three math teachers from Keningau Vocational College, Haidil Bin Sainal, Larry James and Mohd Akmal Bin Rosimun, have successfully presented their teaching innovation “Congkakmatik” at SEA-STEM International Conference virtually hosted by Universitas Syiah Kuala, Indonesia, on 20-22 October 2020.
They wanted to improve their project and presenting it to an international audience enabled them to gather constructive feedback from experienced educators. Their presentation can be viewed on this YouTube link: https://youtu.be/io9jncc55x4
These teachers found it challenging to help their students understand some mathematical concepts and subsequently, apply these concepts in classroom tasks and in real life.
They attempted to explore the concept of “THAMES” which is an acronym that refers to the interdisciplinary approach of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) along with Arts through “Hands-on” technique.
Hence, their teaching innovation “Congkakmatik” was designed based on the concept of Southeast Asian Mancala locally known as Congkak. This game can be used to familiarize students with several fundamental mathematical operations that might be challenging for some of them to fully grasp.
The usage of tangible items like marbles and wooden board as the platform for students to put these mathematical concepts into practice allows them to comprehend the formulas better.
In addition, the integration of game rules and scoring system into the experience motivates them to concentrate more on the math operations. This project earned a bronze medal at eCarnival of Research and Innovation (eCRI) 2020 organized by Universiti Malaysia Kelantan on 23 November 2020.
The three teachers also planned to develop more teaching techniques and aids from other traditional games. They believed traditional games can nurture the development of practical numeracy skills.
The director of the college, Mr. Johari @ Jaibet Bin Sabin, cited the teachers’ effort as an exemplary practice that he always encourages his teachers to do in order to improve themselves professionally. He expressed his delight with the team’s passion in helping their students to learn better.
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