AMA ties up with UC Berkeley

AMA, the pioneer and largest IT-based education provider in Asia, has for schoolyear 2003-2004 more than 900 pre-school, elementary and high school students undergoing world-class instruction in mathematics and the sciences.

This was made possible due to the partnership between AMA and the University of California at Berkeley through the latter’s Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) program that sharpens interest of children and adolescents to further study these two disciplines.

Johnny Ramos, VP for marketing of AMA Education System, made the announcement as he further disclosed that 3,000 other basic education students (pre-school, elementary, high school) had earlier been exposed to the innovative instructional program since the start in 2001 of the AMA-UC Berkeley exclusive Philippine partnership on GEMS.

Dr. Roger Posadas, Ph. D., chief academic consultant of the AMA Education System, said, "The partnership is one of several AMA has entered into with prestigious institutions abroad to assure world-class quality of the education of its students and the global employability of its graduates."

Posadas added, "This commitment extends to its basic education program offered in its campuses in Project 8 and Fairview, Quezon City, Davao City, Cebu City and Mandaluyong City. All pre-school, elementary and high school students enrolled here benefit from the GEMS program forming part of their instruction in their mathematics and science subjects."

The GEMS program is designed to maximize interest of children and adolescents in mathematics and science by encouraging them to take part in experiments and hands-on learning activities.

It was developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science, the public education center at the University of California at Berkeley, and tested in thousands of classrooms all over the United States.

Dr. Posadas also said "that the GEMS program has been designed to develop independent learners and critical thinkers, build positive attitudes towards science and mathematics, promote mastery of key science and mathematics concepts, and increase students’ understanding of pivotal science and mathematics concepts."

Thus, the curriculum/materials/methods of the GEMS program revolve around emphasis on team work and cooperative learning, guided discovery, hands-on, minds-on learning, and a shift from textbook to activity-based, inquiry-driven learning.

Dr. Posadas also stated "that the GEMS program would strongly contribute to the basic education students’ acquisition of skills needed in the future for employability in the global and knowledge-based economy of the 21st century. Among these were the abilities to engage in lifelong learning, build social networks for knowledge sharing, and intelligently evaluate information for further use in socially beneficial undertakings." The GEMS program offers a wide range of enhanced learning experiences that have been codified into best practices to serve as educational roadmaps in the GEMS Teacher’s Guides and Handbooks. The subjects include astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth science, environmental science, general science, math, and physics.