Curriculum Development and Practices

Singapore needs scientists to solve environmental problems such as climate change and water scarcity. However, Singapore students’ enjoyment of learning science has no significant increase for more than a decade despite the nationwide emphasis on inquiry classroom practices. Since student’s future involvement with science and science related careers depends on how they feel about science, educators and policy makers must pay attention. As an elementary school curriculum maker concerned with the lack of students’ interest in learning science, the author set out to develop a project-based learning curriculum, an inquiry-based approach that can increase students' interest in science. Every year since 2016, the author and his team surveyed 10% of the student population from grades three, four, five and six twice a year to find out the reasons behind them expressing either their interest or disinterest in learning science through different modes of instructions such as project-based learning and experimentation. In addition, one student from every class in grades four and five was interviewed in 2017, and one student from every class in grades five and six was interviewed in 2018. Qualitative data from survey questionnaires and transcripts from these interviews were coded based on a priori categories that examined the data through literature on self-determination, motivation, interest, and research on lesson features that interest students. Results show that students are interested in learning science through both experimentation and project-based learning, with a strong preference for the latter, and their main reasons for preferring project-based learning are “relatedness” and “autonomy”. They enjoy science when they are in unschool-like learning environments that allow them to collaborate and have the freedom to chart the direction of their learning. There is also preliminary evidence to suggest that the interest in learning science through project-based learning is sustained, which is significant because if triggered interest can become personal interest, students may become more involved and attentive during lessons. These findings suggest that enacting such a science curriculum is possible in a results-driven and performance-seeking education system.

Writing is a complex process. Most students struggling with writing experience difficulty developing plans and staying focused on the topic as they write. Research has shown that the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) writing model has a positive impact on fostering students’ meta-cognition and self-regulation in the planning and composing of writing, and could build their writing fluency. Supported by the theory of socio-constructivism and the principles of self-regulated learning, the instructional procedures are scaffolded across six basic stages to help  student to start writing until they are able to use both writing and self-regulation strategies independently.
In view of the extensive reports of the benefits of SRSD writing instruction on struggling writers in different age groups and ability levels in the United States, an experimental designed intervention was conducted to examine the effects of SRSD instruction on the writing of realistic fictions in two classes of grade 4 low progress students (n = 62) over one academic year in one Singapore primary school. For effective implementation of SRSD teaching practices, a practice-based professional learning group involving four teachers was formed. The group collaboratively planned and reviewed SRSD lessons. 
Data for the paper is based on the student’s composition scores collected in the pre-intervention, intervention and post-intervention stages of the study, along with sample analyses of student writing.  Findings indicated that there was a significant improvement in the students’ composition scores in both classes in the intervention and post-intervention stages of the intervention.
Analyses of samples of student writing from both classes also show the evidence of the use of SRSD strategies, as well as an improvement in word length, quality of ideas and their sequencing, and use of effective vocabulary. The paper concludes that not only does SRSD instruction provide scaffolds and guidelines in writing specific rhetorical features, it also helps students exercise more agency in developing ideas. However, for sustainable results to occur, there needs to be school-wide support given to teachers to develop their understanding and skills of using SRSD.

 

 

This study, which is a follow-up to an earlier experiemental study, aims to examine the extend to which technology supports the development of writing skills, mainly in terms of Inventiveness in Writing (Mogahed, 2013) among a group of high progress P4 students.For the purpose of this study, Inventiveness in Writing is classified as  enriched vocabulary and elaborated content.  This study stems from reviews stating that technology-assisted lessons provide students with enriched teaching resources and enriched learning environment (Hodgson, P. 2011) which contribute to students writing longer and clearer texts with more elaborate structure and language (Genlott & Gronlund, 2013). For this study, ICT was used at the pre-writing stage where students made use of ICT-based resources uploaded onto the School Learning System (SLS) to assist them in the process of idea generation. Based on theories of language learning, it is deemed that the pre-writing stage is extremely important and greatly influences the impact on which language is and can be produced in a written piece of work. This prewriting experiences result in greater writing achievement (Cotton, 1997) as it give the writer opportunities to consider and reconsider not only the meaning of the message written but also the language used to convey that message (Kucer, 2009, Cotton, 1997).
The current study was carried out to monitor the level of Inventiveness in Writing across 3 high progress classes (made up of all boys) over a period of 6 months. The purpose is to further verify that technology does have a positive effect on the writing of high progress students and that the improvement is independent of the tasks given and the teacher factor. The study also aims to look at the level of students' motivation and interest in writing given the scaffolding. Findings are gathered based on teachers feedback, students' observations, analysis of students' writing and students' feedback. Further research is needed to arrive at a better understanding of these learning gains with a larger group of pupils across the two genders.