#sofielosophies

A bit too deep all of a sudden, I know. But I attended an academic seminar as part of my internship duties and it got me thinking.

The seminar was organized by the National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development (NISMED), the institute I work for, and it was done in partnership with the University of Tsukuba’s Center for Research on International Cooperation in Educational Development (CRICED). It was basically about teaching educators how to deviate from the traditional rote teaching methods.

This is what I realized:

The main reason why the students are afraid of math, or a mentality that math is a hard subject is because the way it is being taught is very linear. This is the problem, these are the given, and this is how you solve it. Formulas, formulas, formulas. Memorization, memorization, memorization all the time. Rote learning. Some would call it traditional. I am not saying this is not the right way of teaching math. But there are better ways on how to do it. New, innovative methods that basically just comes from the creativity and better judgement of the teacher.

The question that came up was, why are teachers not deviating from the traditional teaching. I discovered this is because they are scared, and probably unequipped to do so.

To be able to improvise teaching math, the educator must be very proficient  in the subject. He must know the subject by heart, and not just by memorization to be able to devise new techniques to help the students understand math more and love the subject.

Guest professors from Japan demonstrated how math is just about patterns and basically just logic. I realized math is not hard. Math actually stimulates your creative thinking. There’re more ways to solve a problem than just by formulas. Math is fun.

I wish I was able to attend this seminar during my formative years. I wish my math teachers were able to attend the seminar. I wish my teacher attended the seminar.

This semester we were required to manage and produce our local newspaper.

I was paired with my adventure buddy and we were assigned to work on the travelogue section of the newspaper. Our task- to feature an amazing place in Los Banos. We chose Dampalit Falls located in Brgy. Lalakay.

To be honest, I’ve only been to and seen a handful of waterfalls, so I can’t really consider myself an expert in judging these bodies of water.

Dampalit is small, humble, in comparison. But it’s still perfect.

First of all, the entrance fee is cheap- Php20.00. You can bring food or cook on site. The place is small, very intimate and homey. The waterfall is still incredible despite being small. During the summer the place tends to mist, and the pressure of the waterfall decreases because of the heat. To get to the falls itself, you have to face a 20-min hike up through a small community. Although the path is paved, it’s still very close to nature as the trail is right on the edge of Mt. Makiling.

Fun fact-- Right below the waterfalls is a large rock where an ancient writing is etched, allegedly straight from WWII.

Our trip to Dampalit Falls was supposed to be work, it ended up as major playa and recreation. No regrets.

Photos to be uploaded soon.