International Research Projects in Early Childhood Development in Australia,Malaysia and Singapore: Pertinent Issues from Three Studies

The field of early childhood education has been the focus of increased research and public concern in recent years. This paper highlights three research projects funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation in the eighties in Australia, Malaysia and Singapore. It focuses on four research issues raised from these three studies which span three diverse communities and cultures. In particular, the question of a single integrative approach towards early childhood development programmes, the intersecting needs of children and women, the range of training and dissemination systems to be made available, the role of the different forms of fundamental partnerships in early childhood research and the strengthening of the research-to-policy link will be discussed.     

Motivational predictors of young adolescents' participation in an outdoor adventure course: A self-determination theory approach

Outdoor education is emerging as a compulsory component of the school curriculum in Singapore. As more and more young people are involved in outdoor education programmes, the motivational factors that influence students' participation in outdoor activities is an important area of study. The purpose of this study was to use the self-determination theory framework to examine post course satisfaction level among young adolescents. A total of 314 secondary school students aged from 12 to 16 years took part in the survey. Results showed that external regulation negatively predicted self-reported satisfaction whereas intrinsic motivation positively predicted participants' satisfaction levels of the course. It is highlighted that young adolescents should not be coerced into outdoor education programmes. They should be provided with a meaningful rationale for participation, given some autonomy for decision-making and to have a positive and enjoyable experience during the programme.     

Knowledge building: aligning education with needs for knowledge creation in the digital age

Educational technology research and development - This paper examines the alignment of education with the needs for knowledge creation in the digital age using the Knowledge Building model and...     

Academic self-concept: A cross-sectional study of grade and gender differences in a Singapore secondary school

Many studies support the existence of a significant decline in students’ academic self-concept from early to midadolescence. In comparison, the findings on gender effect are less conclusive. This study aimed to determine whether there is any grade or gender effect on adolescents’ academic self-concept in the Singapore context. Specifically, the cross-sectional study was conducted with Secondary 1, 2 and 3 students (N = 656) in a government co-educational school. The results established a significant main effect according to grade, with Secondary 3 students having significantly lower academic self-concept (scale and subscales) than Secondary 1 and 2 students. In addition, there was a significant main effect for gender, with female students having significantly higher perceived academic effort (academic self-concept subscale) than their male counterparts.     

Perceptions of low ability students on group project work and cooperative learning

The benefits of cooperative learning strategies, such as group project work, have been advocated in a wide range of educational contexts. There is however, scant information on the outcome of such programs on students of low academic ability. In this study, interviews were conducted with four groups of low-ability students, with the aim of investigating their perceptions on the effectiveness of group project work in promoting their social and cognitive skills. Our findings show that although the students recognized that the program improved their competence in interacting with others, there are problematic organizational and instructional issues that have to be ironed out before students can profit fully from cooperative learning programs.     

Detecting Differential Speededness in Multistage Testing

A potential undesirable effect of multistage testing is differential speededness, which happens if some of the test takers run out of time because they receive subtests with items that are more time intensive than others. This article shows how a probabilistic response-time model can be used for estimating differences in time intensities and speed between subtests and test takers and detecting differential speededness. An empirical data set for a multistage test in the computerized CPA Exam was used to demonstrate the procedures. Although the more difficult subtests appeared to have items that were more time intensive than the easier subtests, an analysis of the residual response times did not reveal any significant differential speededness because the time limit appeared to be appropriate. In a separate analysis, within each of the subtests, we found minor but consistent patterns of residual times that are believed to be due to a warm-up effect, that is, use of more time on the initial items than they actually need.     

Issues and challenges of teaching and learning in 3D virtual worlds: real life case studies

We aimed to study the characteristics and usage patterns of 3D virtual worlds in the context of teaching and learning. To achieve this, we organised a full‐day workshop to explore, discuss and investigate the educational use of 3D virtual worlds. Thirty participants took part in the workshop. All conversations were recorded and transcribed for analysis. Thematic analysis was carried out to identify prominent issues and topics. We found that to fully utilise 3D virtual worlds for teaching and learning, students, tutors and educational institutions face a number of socio‐psychological, pedagogical and technological challenges. The paper highlights and discusses the issues that emerged from the workshop, supporting them with real life experiences and case studies provided by the workshop participants.

Probleme und Herausforderungen des Unterrichtens und Lernens in virtuellen 3D Welten: “echte” Lebensfallstudien

Wir hatten zum Ziel, die Eigenschaften und die Gebrauchsweise von 3D‐virtuellen Welten im Zusammenhang mit Unterricht und Lernen zu studieren. Dazu organisierten wir einen ganztägigen Workshop, um den Gebrauch von 3D virtuellen Welten im Bildungsbereich zu erforschen, zu besprechen und zu untersuchen. Dreißig Teilnehmer nahmen an diesem Workshop teil. Alle Gespräche wurden aufgezeichnet und für die Analyse transskribiert. Eine thematische Analyse wurde ausgeführt, um gängige Probleme und Themen herauszufinden. Wir meinen, dass, um virtuelle 3D‐Welten komplett zu verwerten, um darin zu unterrichten und Erfahrungen zu sammeln, Studenten, Tutoren und Bildungseinrichtungen mehreren sozialpsychologischen, pädagogischen und technologischen Herausforderungen gegenüberstehen. Dieser Beitrag beleuchtet und bespricht die Probleme, die innerhalb des Workshops auftauchten und unterstützt ihr Verständnis durch von den Workshopteilnehmern selbst zur Verfügung gestellten Lebenserfahrungen und Fallstudien.

Problèmes et défis de l’enseignement/apprentissage dans des mondes virtuels en 3D: des études de cas empruntés à la vie réelle

Nous avions pour but d’étudier les caractéristiques et les schémas d’usage des mondes virtuels en 3D dans un contexte d’enseignement et apprentissage. Pour y parvenir, nous avons organisé un atelier d’une journée entière pour débattre, explorer et mener une recherche sur l’emploi éducatif des mondes virtuels en 3D. L’atelier a accueilli 30 participants. Toutes les conversations ont été enregistrées et transcrites à des fins d’analyse. On a effectué une analyse thématique pour identifier les problèmes et les thèmes les plus marquants. Nous avons découvert que pour utiliser à fond les mondes virtuels en 3D pour l’enseignement et l’apprentissage, les étudiants, les tuteurs et les institutions éducatives doivent faire face à un certain nombre de défis socio‐psychologiques, pédagogiques et technologiques. Dans cet article l’accent et le débat portent sur les questions qui sont apparues au cours de l’atelier, le tout appuyé sur des expériences de la vie réelle et sur des études de cas fournies par les participants à l’atelier.

Problemas y desafíos de la enseñanza/aprendizaje en mundos virtuales 3D: estudios de casos de la vida real

Nuestro propósito era el estudio de las características y de los esquemas de uso de los mundos virtuales 3D dentro del contexto de la enseñanza/aprendizaje. Para llevar esto a cabo hemos organizado un taller de un día completo para explorar, discutir y investigar el uso educativo de los mundos virtuales 3D. Treinta personas participaron en el taller. Todas las conversaciones fueron grabadas y transcribidas para ser analizadas. Un análisis temático fué realizado para identificar los temas y problemas más destacados. Hemos descubierto que para aprovechar plenamente los mundos virtuales 3D para la enseñanza/aprendizaje, los alumnos, los tutores y las instituciones educativas tienen que hacer frente a un número de desafíos socio‐psicológicos, pedagógicos y tecnológicos. En el artículo los autores destacan y discuten los problemas que han surgido del taller, apoyandoles con experiencias de la vida real y estudios de casos suministrados por los participantes del taller.     

Indices of novelty for emerging topic detection

Emerging topic detection is a vital research area for researchers and scholars interested in searching for and tracking new research trends and topics. The current methods of text mining and data mining used for this purpose focus only on the frequency of which subjects are mentioned, and ignore the novelty of the subject which is also critical, but beyond the scope of a frequency study. This work tackles this inadequacy to propose a new set of indices for emerging topic detection. They are the novelty index (NI) and the published volume index (PVI). This new set of indices is created based on time, volume, frequency and represents a resolution to provide a more precise set of prediction indices. They are then utilized to determine the detection point (DP) of new emerging topics. Following the detection point, the intersection decides the worth of a new topic. The algorithms presented in this paper can be used to decide the novelty and life span of an emerging topic in a specific field. The entire comprehensive collection of the ACM Digital Library is examined in the experiments. The application of the NI and PVI gives a promising indication of emerging topics in conferences and journals.     

A generic construct based workload model for web search

Benchmarks are vital tools in the performance measurement, evaluation, and comparison of computer hardware and software systems. Standard benchmarks such as the TREC, TPC, SPEC, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, Wisconsin, AS³AP, OO1, OO7, XOO7 benchmarks have been used to assess the system performance. These benchmarks are domain-specific and domain-dependent in that they model typical applications and tie to a problem domain. Test results from these benchmarks are estimates of possible system performance for certain pre-determined problem types. When the user domain differs from the standard problem domain or when the application workload is divergent from the standard workload, they do not provide an accurate way to measure the system performance of the user problem domain. System performance of the actual problem domain in terms of data and transactions may vary significantly from the standard benchmarks.In this research, we address the issue of generalization and precision of benchmark workload model for web search technology. The current performance measurement and evaluation method suffers from the rough estimate of system performance which varies widely when the problem domain changes. The performance results provided by the vendors cannot be reproduced nor reused in the real users’ environment. Hence, in this research, we tackle the issue of domain boundness and workload boundness which represents the root of the problem of imprecise, ir-representative, and ir-reproducible performance results. We address the issue by presenting a domain-independent and workload-independent workload model benchmark method which is developed from the perspective of the user requirements and generic constructs. We present a user-driven workload model to develop a benchmark in a process of workload requirements representation, transformation, and generation via the common carrier of generic constructs. We aim to create a more generalized and precise evaluation method which derives test suites from the actual user domain and application setting.The workload model benchmark method comprises three main components. They are a high-level workload specification scheme, a translator of the scheme, and a set of generators to generate the test database and the test suite. They are based on the generic constructs. The specification scheme is used to formalize the workload requirements. The translator is used to transform the specification. The generator is used to produce the test database and the test workload. We determine the generic constructs via the analysis of search methods. The generic constructs form a page model, a query model, and a control model in the workload model development. The page model describes the web page structure. The query model defines the logics to query the web. The control model defines the control variables to set up the experiments.In this study, we have conducted ten baseline research experiments to validate the feasibility and validity of the benchmark method. An experimental prototype is built to execute these experiments. Experimental results demonstrate that the method based on generic constructs and driven by the perspective of user requirements is capable of modeling the standard benchmarks as well as more general benchmark requirements.     

Teachers' motivation to teach national education in Singapore: a self-determination theory approach

The National Education (NE) programme was set up in Singapore schools in 1997 to inculcate a national identity and values in the younger generation. Teachers in schools are given the important role of developing a shared sense of nationhood among their students. However, no study has yet examined the motivations for teaching NE in schools. The purpose of this study was to examine pre-service teachers' motivations, perceptions of NE, perceived competence to teach NE and feelings on the NE programme provided in their teacher training course, using the cluster analysis method. The study involved 4242 pre-service teachers (1229 males, 2986 females, 27 missing information) from the National Institute of Education (NIE) in Singapore. The results showed that 15.6% of the teachers belonged to a “high amotivation” cluster, 38.0% formed a “high externally regulated” cluster, 19.9% made up a cluster labelled as “low externally regulated”, and the rest (26.5%) had an “intrinsically regulated” profile. The four clusters showed significant gender and programme differences. In summary, the results from the cluster analysis supported the concurrent validity of the clusters in terms of pre-service teachers' perceptions of their involvement in NE activities, its importance, NE as government propaganda, competence to teach NE and satisfaction with the NE programme provided in their teacher training course.