Description

Abstract: Abstract

Education ministries in the Gulf region in general, and the UAE in particular, have recognized that reforms are required at all levels of education. The Ministry of Education and Youth has developed Vision 2020, an ambitious initiative to shift the focus from passive to active learning. Active learning is process-based and experiential, empowering students to internalise, reflect on, and externalise concepts. Active teaching, therefore, must be the facilitation of active learning and as such encompass the teaching of transferable skills intricately connected to real-world application.

This paper introduces the Research Skills and Projects (RS&P) course, which was implemented for first year students at Dubai Men’s College (DMC) to effectively facilitate students’ transition to active learning. Employing a design underpinned by sociocultural theory and adult learning principles, RS&P aims to achieve a paradigm shift in students’ attitudes to, and achievements in, learning. The course also ensures that math and computing are dynamically related to other disciplines by providing tasks that are relevant to project work. The tasks require that students not only understand underlying math and computing concepts, but are also able to apply them. Students actively engage with tasks, peers, teachers and the community, frequently through computer-mediated communication, as well as self-generating and analysing their own data.

In this paper we refer to the findings of a longitudinal research study which indicates that students doing the RS&P course are able to analyse problems and apply appropriate mathematical concepts and computing skills outside the classroom.

Please cite as: Moran, D., Durham, E., & Owen, H. (2007). From disorientation to application: Integrated mathematics and computing tasks. In Active Teaching and Active Learning (pp. 89-99). Abu Dhabi, UAE: Middle East Teachers of Science, Mathematics and Computing (METSMac).