Malezya Form2 Project

In July 2003, Siemens Business Services was awarded the Form 2 (7 th grade) Mathematics and Science CD production tender by the Malaysia Ministry of Education. RtB Educational Solutions executed the educational design, information organisation and content production of these CDs.

In a short 8 months, digital content of 220 lessons and teacher's lesson guide product of approximately 200 pages were prepared.

These products which we prepared together with the experts of the Malaysian Ministry of Education are still in use by Malaysian teachers and students.

Educational Design and Content Organisation

In the Form 2 project, the product was prepared in constructivist structure per the requirements of the Malaysia Ministry of Education, for use by teachers in classrooms. The product consists of two basic parts. One part consists of subject expositions and activities where the lesson can be carried out by projection. The other consists of lesson plans, question, exam and supplementary exposition elements, which will be used by the teacher for lesson preparation.

According to constructivist theory, learning is an active process where new concepts and ideas are set up in a spiral structure. In this process, student selects the information, transforms or transcribes it into a form she can relate to, establishes a hypothesis and decides for herself on its validity.

RtB developed Form 2 with a constructivist understanding by giving primary importance to certain learning skills, using the spiral educational design structure. The constructivist structure of Form 2 can be illustrated as follows:

• At first, the student is reminded of any prerequisite knowledge needed to understand the subject.
• To stimulate the student, motivate-inducing activities are directed at the student. (Though the student can be motivated by many different methods, it is not the method that is important but the success in motivating the student to take an interest in the subject.)
• The subject is explained by making connections with daily life.
• The student is encouraged to improve his/her understanding by partaking in an activity within the range of personal interest.
• Students' knowledge and skills are assessed.
• If the knowledge and skills of students are not sufficient, the subject is explained to the students once again, but through different methods.
• If the student's skill or understanding is thought to be sufficient, learning activities are offered to the student to improve their knowledge or skill to a more proficient level (because learning is continual).