Mathematics for real life, inspired by the Dutch

The Dutch-inspired Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) program has made it possible for elementary school students to develop their own mathematical formulas.

The existing PMRI system in Indonesia involves 2,000 teachers from 200 elementary schools and 100 mathematics lecturers from higher education institutions.

R.K. Sembiring of the Bandung Institute of Technology said, "the system is developed bottom-up. It triggers students' initiative and builds their ability to respect different opinions while formulating solutions for a problem."

"It even develops a sense of democracy among students. They may find during the problem-solving process that there are different formulas leading to the same answer."

Sembiring was speaking on the sidelines of PMRI workshop held Thursday in Jakarta.

Sutarto Hadi of the Lambung Mangkurat University demonstrated the PMRI learning materials, which require students to solve problems taken from real life.

A team of professors from a number of universities - including Zulkardi from Palembang's Sriwijaya University and PMRI advisor Bana Kartasasmita - have developed the system over seven years.

The system was redeveloped Freudenthal's RME system used in the Netherlands in the late 1960s.

Maarten Dolk of the Freudenthal Institute for Science and Mathematics Education at the Utrecht University said, "educational change takes a long time. What happened in Indonesia started small, but as we are building experiences with a number of schools and a number of teachers it has started to crawl."

Kees Hoogland, senior consultant of mathematics for APS - an educational advisory service founded by the Dutch Teachers Federation - said, "the PMRI system is not a Dutch project though; it's an Indonesian movement with a lot of people involved. The main component is the local context. We are here to provide advice and share experiences." (iwp)