SK Besout 5 is a small school in Perak that quickly picked up the use of FrogPlay when it was incorporated into Frog Appliance. Their sheer enjoyment in using this gamified application for classroom lessons eventually led to winning third place in the FrogPlay World Championships for Frog Appliance category. Read their story.
There has been much talk about disruptive innovation in education. Teaching and learning approaches are rapidly changing where the traditional “chalk and talk” have shifted to a blended-learning method. Through technology, many schools are enlightened by the possibilities of change and have begun seizing opportunities to challenge the status quo in education. In recent years, we have seen more rural schools in Malaysia step up, making themselves a formidable player in the education arena. Location and background are no longer a hindering factor when technology has helped build the bridge that overcomes the social and digital divide.
Established in 1991, SK Besout 5 is a small school located within the palm oil plantations of FELDA Besout in Perak. Students who attend the school live within the plantation and they come from a background of plantation settlers. In 2016 the school received the Frog Appliance, a hardware solution that enables schools to access Frog despite low connectivity. Teachers were very excited to start using it to introduce students to a 21st Century teaching and learning experience.
“Students love it! Most of them have never used a computer or laptop before because they come from low income families. So you can only imagine how excited they are to learn with Frog,”
said Cikgu Nor Affendi bin Mohd Nor, an English teacher in SK Besout 5.
In 2018 when FrogPlay was incorporated into Frog Appliance, teachers began actively using the gamified application for classroom lessons, revision and relief classes. Students enjoyed it so much that they repeated quiz questions over and over again just to achieve the perfect score. Unbeknownst to them, their efforts built up to high scores led to winning third place in the FrogPlay World Championships for Frog Appliance category.
Encouraged by their win in the FrogPlay World Championships, the school continued their efforts throughout the Frog Championships: Level Up!, a series of competitions that focused on different school subjects such as Maths, English and Science. Teachers gathered together to schedule each class to use Frog so that all students have equal accessibility. Through this strategy, the school was able to maximise the usage of Frog throughout the competition. Besides that, teachers would also update students about their Leaderboard standings to motivate them to do better everyday. Through consistent effort and hardwork, SK Besout 5 won second place in Level Up: English and first place in Level Up: Science, both on a national level.
Winning in the Championships was beyond their expectations. Parents felt extremely proud because they never thought a small, rural school like SK Besout 5 could achieve national recognition.
“I am just a plantation worker, so I may not know how Frog works. But what I know is that Frog has given my children an opportunity of a lifetime - one that I never thought possible,” said a parent.
Through their amazing achievements, SK Besout 5 became a role-model school in the Muallim district. The school is often invited by the district education office to share their best practices with other schools within the district. Their success has become a motivation to other schools to perform better.
