S'pore parents and kids try out tech study aids

Maria Almenoar, Straits Times/ANN, Singapore

Pen-and-paper assessment books may still be the top choice for parents getting their children ready for exams, but a small and growing number are turning to computer-based courses and tests.

More parents are supplementing assessment books with CD-ROMs that teach about anything from electricity to Chinese vocabulary, say software suppliers and distributors, even though the low price of books will ensure they remain the primary tools.

Some schools are also encouraging their students to go online to learn and take tests, they add.

CD-ROMs, with their use of animation, film, music and sound effects, can better hold the attention of younger children, says Eduzen, an education consultancy that supplies software to schools and parents.

They also allow the children to go back to a lesson as often as they want.

And CD-ROMs, unlike some teachers and thick books, are 'non- threatening', Eduzen says.

These CD-ROMs, which sell for S$20 compared to the S$5 and up for an assessment book, usually contain a series of lessons, learning activities and quizzes.

In Eduzen's science software title, BamBam, Primary five pupils watch how the Earth, Moon and Sun rotate in relation to one another, a topic which may be difficult to teach using a book.

The next activity gets the child to pick which phase of the Moon he would see - say a crescent or full moon - given a certain lunar position.

Quizzes in the software take the form of games such as baseball or soccer. The child has to answer a question that pops up on his screen in order to score a home run or a goal.

"Assessment books just have question after question," complains Sherie Lim, an 11-year-old pupil at CHIJ Katong Primary.

"These are fun to do and they have more facts than my textbooks," she says of the software titles her parents bought her at the beginning of the year.

"If I don't understand something, I can just watch it again and not have to erase the answers like in an assessment book."

These CD-ROMs, which may be written either abroad or here, are available for all levels from pre-school to secondary school. Shops, however, say they are most popular with parents with children of primary-school age.

Challenger Superstore at Funan the IT Mall declines to reveal sales figures, but says that more parents are asking about its latest titles, and that the range of what's available has 'definitely grown' in the last five years.

MPH Bookstores (Parkway Parade), which sells such CD-ROMs for about S$10 to S$50, does not give exact figures either, but says that the numbers have jumped by a third over the last four years.

This is despite the increasing number of shops selling such CD-ROMs.

Meanwhile, schools also see the advantages of using these software tools. By working in partnership with education consultancies, some schools are giving students access to these lessons through the Internet.

At least 60 schools in Singapore, both primary and secondary, are using the Web to give students access to assessment exercises, in the form of examination questions from previous years.

Twelve primary schools, including Stamford, Radin Mas and St Michael's, have worked together to create a 60,000- item bank of questions, which their teachers use to set quizzes.

Stamford Primary School's vice-principal, Rex Hobday, says: "Parents can feel assured that their children are doing up-to- date questions that have been vetted for quality. And all of it is free."

Teachers can check online how a pupil has performed on a quiz, and monitor his progress. If a child is a slow learner, he can try questions at a lower level, and move up progressively.

Unlike with assessment books, which parents would have to buy or return, a child simply has to click on another quiz if he feels it is not suitable for him, says Hobday.

The computer makes no errors in marking, and there are no discouraging big red crosses for the wrong answer. Children are rewarded with a cartoon character congratulating them on a job well done, or telling them to try harder the next time.

Parents can also subscribe to course materials and tests by paying a fee.

For example, AsknLearn.com charges parents S$50 a year - less than what some spend on assessment books, it notes - for access to a database of lessons and revision questions from primary to secondary level.

Stamford Primary pupil Ng Xin Hui, who does past-year examination questions at home, says it will get her prepped for the Primary School Leaving Examination.

Says the 12-year-old: "There are more than enough practice questions for me, so I don't have to buy assessment books."