The conference, themed Better Community Through Better Education, was organized by the Sampoerna Foundation Teacher Institute, Provisi Education and the National Education Ministry. Math teachers are often dubbed "killers" who tend to get mad at students easily and who often give low marks during exams. They are reputed only to talk and talk in delivering their lessons, so that the students lose interest -- both in the class and in the subject. Driven by the declining student interest in mathematics, a group of teachers from SDN Panggang 02 elementary school in Jepara and from the School of Mathematics and Science at Semarang State University (UNNES), both in Central Java, have developed an interactive method of learning.

"Mathematics is a human activity, therefore the learning process should begin with activities," Zaenuri Mastur, a UNNES senior lecturer told dozens of teachers at a session of the Indonesian Teachers Conference 2007. Zaenuri said that teaching mathematics in classes should be an interactive process that involved students. Student participation in the teaching process would encourage them to see the subject as interesting, relevant and meaningful. Zaenuri presented the results of he and colleagues conducted at SDN Panggang 02.

In the research, he instructed Grade 5 students at the school to measure the diameter and circumference of any circular object the students found at school. The activity aimed at calculating pi, the circumference-to-diameter ratio. The students bustled as they went out of the class to locate circular objects. Some of them chose the lid of a rubbish bin, of the cross-section of a length of bamboo, or the tire on their teacher's motorbike. After the students completed finished the activity, they were asked to write down their comments.

"In the end, they students were happy with the interactive learning process," Zaenuri said, and the activity improved the students' interest in mathematics. Zaenuri's research was one of dozens of presentations at the two-day conference, which covered a broad range of educational issues, from teacher capacity-building to the alternative teaching methods employed at Qaryah Thayyibah junior high school in the Central Java village of Kalibening, and from the importance of reading to improving memory with colors.

Lusia Gayatri Yosef, an education psychology expert, presented a paper on the effectiveness of pictures and words in English language learning for Grade 6 students. Based on her research, Lusia concluded that students attending English classes that taught with visual aid materials retained vocabulary better than those who attend classes that did not utilize visual aid. Lusia thus suggested that English teachers use pictures that can be found on the Internet.

Kenneth J. Cock, director of the Sampoerna Foundation Teacher Institute and chairman of the conference committee, said he hoped the event would stimulate teachers to enrich themselves, as well as be a forum to express gratitude for the efforts made by teachers throughout the archipelago. "Only a few people understand the role of teachers in the effort to improve this nation," he said.