Thiam Seng Koh

Engaged Learning: Making Learning an Authentic Experience

This chapter attempts to make sense of engaged learning. Approaches such as problem-based learning should be advocated because it is an authentic form of learning encouraging students to be self-regulated and thus metacognitive towards their own thinking and behaviors. Contrary to passive forms of instruction where learners are not perceived to be active and engaged, neither reflective, we are highlighting alternative pedagogies which promote this sense of self-regulatory actions. We describe the engaged learning framework — focusing on both problem and process — which would be necessary for authenticity in learning experiences.

Datalogging in Singapore Schools: Supporting Effective Implementations.

This paper reports the findings of a national survey on the use of dataloggers in secondary schools (grades 7–10) and junior colleges (grades 11–12). In particular, it explores the types of learning activities that teachers conduct using dataloggers, the support structures they deem necessary and the difficulties they face. Of the 593 respondents, 394 (67%) had used dataloggers in the last two years, mainly in demonstrations and set experiments. The three most important support structures included: supportive laboratory technicians, training on the use of dataloggers, and instructional material on how to use dataloggers within the curriculum. The difficulties which deterred the respondents from using dataloggers included the logistics and time taken to set up datalogging equipment and activities, insufficient numbers of computer workstations, and the mishandling of equipment by students, leading to equipment malfunctions. To expand the use of dataloggers in school, the respondents suggest that dedicated laboratories be set up for datalogging activities, more curricular material to support datalogging be prepared, more familiarisation courses be run for teachers and laboratory technicians and, in particular, how dataloggers fit within an inquiry science learning approach.

Leveraging Online Communities in Fostering Adaptive Schools.

There has long been a call for schools to prepare students for the twenty-first century where skills and dispositions differ significantly from much of what has historically characterized formal education. The knowledge based economy calls for policy and pedagogical efforts that would transform schools. Schools are to foster communities of learners. This paper suggests that para-communities may be points of leverage in the fostering of adaptive schools. A critical analysis is done on the differences between para-communities (such as online communities) and schools; and an argument is made that they each serve differing goals and should be left distinct because they achieve different societal and economic demands.