The place and approach of outdoor learning within a holistic curricular agenda: development of Singaporean outdoor education practice

This paper details the potential contribution of outdoor education (OE) in Singaporean education given the recent raft of national curricular reforms aimed at fostering holistic and exploratory learning opportunities. In this context, we contend that increasing recognition of the value of OE, both internationally and locally, heralds specific challenges within unique Singaporean educational conditions that must be taken into account for this subject area to flourish. In particular, we seek to distil the ways in which local community, cultural and school conditions signal the need for a more place-based and contextualised version of OE. Our analysis further addresses the need for adequate professional development frameworks to be installed in order to enhance existing local teachers’ capacities to substantially educate pupils through the outdoors, within a Southeast Asian urban context.     

Passion play: Will Wright and games for science learning

Researchers and instructional designers are exploring the possibilities of using video games to support STEM education in the U.S., not only because they are a popular media form among youth, but also because well-designed games often leverage the best features of inquiry learning. Those interested in using games in an educational capacity may benefit from an examination of the work of video game designer Will Wright. Wright designs through a constructivist lens and his open-ended, sandbox games (SimCity, The Sims, Spore) present wide ??possibility spaces?? that allow players to exercise their critical thinking and problem solving skills. His games invoke a delight in discovery that inspire creative acts and interest-driven learning both during and outside of the game. Finally, he reminds us that failure-based learning is a viable strategy for building expertise and understanding.     

Scaffolding writing using feedback in students’ graphic organizers – novice writers’ relevance of ideas and cognitive loads

This paper aims to find out two outcomes of feedback in the novice writers’ graphic organizers, which are the novice writers’ ability to align their ideas to their writing goal, and their perceived germane, metacognitive, extraneous and intrinsic cognitive loads when generating and revising ideas based on the feedback. Data was gathered from the students’ graphic organizers, mental difficulty questionnaires and focus group discussion. The findings show that the students’ relevance of ideas improved with feedback in their organizers, except for one sub‐process. In addition, the students’ metacognitive load seems to affect the amount of ideas generated. These findings have implications for media selection mix and social collaborative environments.

Rückmeldung über graphische Organizer von Studenten unterstützt das Schreiben – Relevanz von Anfänger Ideen und Erinnerungsnotizen

Mit diesem Beitrag soll versucht werden, die Ergebnisse zweier Rückmeldungen über die graphischen Organizer von Anfängern zu finden: die Fähigkeit des Anfängers seine Gedanken dem Schreibziel anzupassen und seine erwartete Relevanz metakognitiv, sachfremde und intrinsisch kognitive Beiträge beim Erzeugen und Überprüfen von Ideen, die auf dem Feedback beruhen, zu nutzen. Die Daten wurden auf den graphischen Organizern der Studenten gesammelt, ebenso schwierig zu bearbeitende Fragebögen und Gruppendiskussionen. Es zeigte sich, dass die Relevanz der Ideen mit dem Feedback auf den Organizern der Studenten wuchsen, außer für einen Sub‐Prozess. Zusätzlich scheint der metakognitve Beitrag der Studenten die Menge der erzeugten Ideen zu beeinflussen.

Un appui à l’écriture reposant sur l’usage de la rétroalimentation dans les organisateurs graphiques des étudiants ‐ sur la pertinence des idées des novices de l’écrit et sur les charges cognitives

Le but du présent article est de trouver deux résultats de la rétroaction dans les organisateurs graphiques des apprentis écrivains nommément: la capacité des novices de l’écrit pour aligner leurs idées sur leurs objectifs d’écriture et les charges métacognitives appropriées, étranges et intrinsèques telles qu’ils les perçoivent lorsqu’ils révisent ou produisent des idées fondées sur la rétroaction. On a recueilli des données provenant des organisateurs graphiques des étudiants, des questionnaires sur la difficulté intellectuelle et les discussions de groupes ciblées. Les résultats obtenus montrent que que la pertinence des idées des étudiants s’améliorait avec la rétroaction dans leurs organisateurs sauf pour un sous‐processus. En outre la charge métacognitive des étudiants semble affecter la quantité d’idées produites.

Un apoyo a la escritura basado en el uso de la retroalimentación en los organizadores gráficos de los estudiantes, en la pertinencia de las ideas de los novatos de la escritura y en las cargas cognitivas

La finalidad de este artículo es de encontrar dos resultados en la retroalimentación de los organizadores gráficos de los novatos de la escritura que serían: _la capacidad de los dichos novatos de sintonizar sus ideas con sus objetivos de escritura y_ las cargas metacognitivas ajenas y intrinsecas tal como las perciben cuando producen o revisan ideas basadas en la retroalimentación. Datos fueron recogidos de los organizadores gráficos de los estudiantes, de los cuestionarios de agilidad intelectual y de los debates de grupos enfocados. Los resultados muestran que la pertinencia de las ideas de los estudiantes mejoró con la retroalimentación en sus organizadores si no fuera por un solo subproceso. Además a lo que parece, la carga metacognitiva de los estudiantes afecta la cantidad de ideas producidas.     

Secondary school students’ intentions to learn AI: testing moderation effects of readiness,social good and optimism

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly integrated into existing technologies which has brought forth the fourth industrial and learning revolution, designing curriculum for AI education has become an important strategic development for education authorities throughout the world. Framed broadly from the Theory of Planned Behavior, this study examined a structural equational model to establish the interrelationships of students’ perceived usefulness, attitude towards using AI, subjective norms to learn about AI, basic literacy about AI and their behavioral intention to learn about AI. In addition, it examines the moderation effects of readiness, social good, and optimism on the research model. The findings confirm the hypothesized model. In addition, various moderation effects were found among students’ perception of readiness, social good, and optimism for AI. The implications of the study point towards the need to consider these factors in designing AI curriculum to foster students’ behavioral intention to learn AI.

     

An initial examination of Singaporean seventh and eighth graders’ views of nature of science

Research in nature of science (NOS) among Asia-Pacific countries such as Singapore is arguably scarce. This study aimed to survey Singaporean secondary school students’ views of NOS with a newly developed instrument named Students’ Views of Nature of Science (SVNOS), which included various key aspects of NOS that are generally agreed upon by the science education community. Moreover, the relations between some demographic factors, including gender and grade, and students’ views of NOS were explored.

Sample, design and method

In total, 359 Singaporean seventh and eighth graders were invited to participate in this survey. The reliability, validity and structure of the SVNOS instrument were ensured by confirmatory factor analysis. A two-way multivariate analysis of variance was then conducted to determine the interaction effects between the gender variable and the grade-level variable.

Results and conclusion

The results indicated that the SVNOS instrument is reliable and valid to assess students’ views of NOS regarding seven distinct NOS dimensions. The male students were more prone to have constructivist-oriented views of NOS in the most of the SVNOS dimensions, while the female students conveyed more non-objective views of NOS. In addition, the eighth graders revealed more empiricist-oriented views of NOS than the seventh graders in several SVNOS dimensions. This result seems to contradict the results of previous studies that students’ views of NOS may reflect a developmental trend with their increasing educational experiences.     

KDU e-Community Network

The democratization of education has brought forth an unprecedented demand for education by the masses, especially at the tertiary level. However, the availability of education is hampered by limited resources to provide pervasive and effective teacher–student interaction, changing lifestyle patterns, changing expectations of the students, and the problems associated with the great urban–rural divide and nonuniform access. The problem of availability of education is compounded by the tide of globalization and the Internet that demands not only high efficiency but also competitive delivery of services and goods in all sectors of our economy, including education. Education is not immune to these current trends. It is imperative that education institutions rise up to the challenge in meeting the demand of a more discerning, discriminating, mobile, and selective student population. It is imperative that education institutions reconsider the necessary ingredients to make learning effective, relevant, and fun for the students. Our company, Kolej Damansara Utama (KDU), has embarked on an education experiment begun almost 3 years ago to implement a student-centered, teacher-facilitated, Information and Communications Technology (ICT)-enabled and knowledge-based initiative. The goal of this experiment has been to create an active learning environment, and to promote learning for our students. The knowledge ecosystem, comprising students, teachers, administrators, parents, partner institutions, employers, and the community at large, forms the KDU e-Community Network (KCN). The KCN enables passive, interactive, collaborative, and constructive learning to take place as long as the stakeholder has a connection to the Internet.