Learning mathematics will now be more fun and engaging for the country’s fourth graders. The education and skills development ministry’s pilot study to teach the subject through a digital platform called Eduten has proved a success. The ministry has signed an agreement with Eduten, Finland’s gamified math learning platform to implement the learning platform for class four students throughout the country. Eduten is an educational technology company that focuses on improving students’ math skills with a scientifically proven impact on results and grades.
The Eduten platform is currently used in over 70 per cent of all schools in Finland. The digital platform offers over 200,000 high-quality math resources and assessment tools.
In the pilot project, the platform was used by fifth-grade students in six urban and 14 rural schools. In Thimphu, the platform was piloted at Loselling Middle Secondary School and Etho Meto Primary School.
“If an exercise cannot be solved immediately, it can be tried again, repeatedly. If a solution is not clear, a hint is provided by the system. As a result, children become more eager about the exercise and are less likely to give up,” said Tenzin Dorji, a focal person at Loselling Middle Secondary School.
Following the pilot project, the education and skills development ministry rolled out the project for all students of class four last month.
According to some teachers, students have shown great interest in the platform, with significant improvement in math performance.
“Unlike CodeMonkey, the Eduten platform can be accessed on all smart devices. If a student has a question about an exercise, they can send an instant message directly through the platform’s messaging feature. This message can be seen by teachers, school focal person, and Eduten developers in Finland,” said Needup Dorji, school focal person of Changzamtog Middle Secondary School.
“The lessons from the syllabus are included in Eduten and exercises are engagingly tailored to their level. As a result, students will gain a lot,” said Tshewang Dorji, a teacher at Jungshina Primary School.
“The introduction of this platform will keep children engaged at home. They can access the platform on the phone and continue their learning exercise, which will bring a lot of improvement,” said Pema Seldon, a teacher at Changzamtog Middle Secondary School.
“Most of the parents are using smartphones. So, we are informing parents about such programmes and have been telling them to let children use phones for that purpose. For those who do not have smartphones, we are using desktops in our school,” said Kinley Tshewang, a teacher at Norbugang Primary School, Pema Gatshel.
“There is a vast difference in learning outcome between children using the Eduten platform through the internet and those learning in normal classes,” said Dawa Tshering, a teacher at Gelephu Middle Secondary School, Sarpang.
Currently, it is being taught as a supplementary curriculum by dedicating one of the math periods in a week to learning Eduten.
The ministry plans to roll out the platform for other grades from next year in a phased manner.
“This year we are starting with class four students. Next year we will include classes four and five. After that, we have arranged to roll out for classes four, five and six,” said Tashi Dendup, a math curriculum developer at Department of School Education, MoESD.
The agreement is signed to use the platform for three years. The ministry is paying close to Nu 12 M as a user fee to Eduten this year.
The Eduten platform, proven to be a scientifically validated and scalable mathematics platform since 2011, is used in 50 other countries worldwide.
Tashi Chezom
Edited by Phub Gyem
