QUEST@Northbrooks 2020 Monograph

(2020 Publication, 4th VOLUME)

Content Foreword ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING CRITICAL THINKING Title

Subject Area

Page

Using Differentiated Instruction to improve Academic Achievement of Secondary 3 Chemistry Students

Chemistry

1

Facilitating meaningful English Language group discussions online in the time of Covid-19

English Language

7

Concept-Based Instruction in the Humanities Curriculum

Humanities

28

Learning Malay Language through Games to Activate Learning

Malay Language

32

ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR NURTURNG CHARACTER GROWTH Title

Subject Area

Page

Using Learning Study to explore the impact of using a Design Thinking Approach to Scope the Secondary 1 Service Learning

Character & Citizenship Education

38

Exploring the impact of the Design Thinking approach in helping Secondary 3 students make meaning of Service Learning

Character & Citizenship Education

42

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES FOR ACTIVE LEARNING Title Using a Math-based AI-enabled adaptive learning system to provide a personalised learning experience for the students and improve conceptual understanding in Mathematics Effect of Alternative Assessment and Improved Processes on the Learning Experience of Lower Secondary Science Students

Subject Area

Page

Mathematics

54

Science

65

DEVELOPING ACADEMIC TENACITY FOR ACTIVE LEARNING Title Examination of students’ perception of Reading Circles on reading motivation

Northbrooks PE Resilience Program

Subject Area

Page

English Language

69

PE

79

Utilisation of Musical Habits as a Medium of Introducing Music & Special Self-Regulation for Special Education Needs Students Education Needs

104

Foreword As Team Northbrooks, we have concluded our fourth edition of our educators’ research and inquiry papers completed in 2020. Our 4th volume of Quest@Northbrooks (QN), a research and inquiry monograph publication, is a 2020 compilation of all Northbrooks educators’ experimentation in new and innovative Teaching & Learning strategies and depicts our commitment to continual deep learning and reflection. It covers four broad themes which reflect our current focuses in Teaching & Learning over in Northbrooks: Critical Thinking, Character Growth, Assessment for Learning and lastly, Academic Tenacity. In addition, I am elated to share that we have crafted our own Staff Professional Development Framework and in time to come, this framework will further help to guide and support our continual learning and development efforts.

This publication serves a multitude of purposes. Firstly, it enables us to keep our saw sharp by honing our teaching actions in relation to the Singapore Curriculum Philosophy, underpinning theories and goals from our Singapore Teaching Practice (STP). Secondly, it allows us to learn from within (Northbrooks’ Philosophy of ‘Learning with Others’ and ‘Learning from Others’) where our community of reflective practitioners learn from one another throughout the year via structured PLT sessions, department/ committee meetings, Staff Knowledge Cafes, Peer Coaching and sharing of good practices during staff meetings. Through encouraging informal conversations across cross-functional teams, various innovative ideas and experimentations sprung out from such unique interactions of internal and external agencies.

Our Quest@Northbrooks documents our professional work to address the three big ideas of Professional Learning Community: ensuring that students learn, a culture of collaboration and a focus on student outcomes. As shared by Richard DuFour, “The success of the PLC concept depends not on the merits of the concept itself, but on the most important element in the improvement of any school—the commitment and persistence of the educators within it.” We are pleased to share that we have managed to complete an internal version of our eQuest@Northbrooks to allow for quick search of past compiled projects and to find the Knowledgeable Others to enhance our future projects.

Moving forward with a stronger emphasis on Critical Inquiry and data-driven/ informed practices, we are poised to strengthen our class engagement and transfer of learning through our professional practices. We need to stay hungry for evidence of student learning and continually reflect and use that evidence to inform and improve our practices.

I hope that this publication can serve as a reminder for all Northbrooks educators to question norms and current teaching practices, and seek to experiment and search for new ways to sharpen our craft. This effort serves as our continuous deliberate effort for us to “Learn, Unlearn and Relearn” as a community of learners so that we can improve year after year, learn from fellow practitioners’ good practices and connect to potential colleagues who are interested in the same topics of interest. Undergirded by the Singapore Teaching Practice’s reflection and application continual process, we aim to become better reflective practitioners. Let us achieve both the ‘Joy of Learning’ by students and the ‘Joy of Teaching’ by educators so as to achieve the ‘Champion Learning Mindset’ which we hope to instill in every single one of our Brooksians.

To conclude, Northbrooks will like to thank our entire Northbrooks Family and Partners for their efforts in our educators’ growth and professional development.

Soaring Yet Rooted.

Nick Chan Principal Northbrooks Secondary School

ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING CRITICAL THINKING

Using Differentiated Instruction to improve Academic Achievement of Secondary 3 Chemistry Students Mrs Celine Goh, Ms Carine Lim, Ms Low Ai Jiao, Mrs Michelle Tan and Ms Lau Shu Wei

Abstract Chemistry has often been thought of as a dry and conceptual subject matter to grasp. Today's classrooms are composed of students with different levels of knowing and ways of understanding. Students are unique individuals and learn best with different instructional strategies. Differentiated instruction is a teaching approach in which educational content, process, and product are adapted according to student readiness, interest, and learning profile.

In our Action Research project, differentiated instruction strategies were used as tools to review what has already been learned and to diagnose any weaknesses and alternative conceptions students might have. The review lessons were organized to stimulate the thinking and the creativity of students. In addition to the retention of the material learned, the review lessons offered new experiences for students and increased interest of the learned topic.

Introduction A significant number of students find aspects of chemistry difficult to learn, and from a teacher’s perspective, it is a complex subject to teach. Fensham (2005) proposes that this is because chemical knowledge is created by professional chemists for use by professional chemists and, as such, it is not easily accessible and useful to secondary school students. In addition, Frensham (2005) suggests that students’ enjoyment of learning chemistry is diminished because it is often taught in a didactic manner, the content is not immediately relevant to the students’ lives and – compared to other subjects – it is difficult to learn.

Consequently, it is important for chemistry teachers to transform and present chemical knowledge into a form that is accessible, interesting and useful to their students. Differentiated instruction is a pedagogical-didactical approach that provides teachers with a starting point for meeting students' diverse learning needs. Differentiated instruction is based on modification of four elements: content, process, product, and affect/learning environment. This modification is guided by the teachers understanding of student needs in terms of the students’ readiness, interests, and learning profile. Differentiated instruction can be achieved by assigning a variety of assignments based on the needs of the students. In this project, we differentiate process with student readiness by getting students to practice based on the content. The effectiveness of the differentiated instruction activities were evaluated using pre and post-test comparisons 1|Page

and general in-class observations. Gains in conceptual understanding and student engagement were documented. These findings indicated that the use of differentiated instruction activities promoted student learning and the overall enjoyment and motivation for learning.

Literature Review Students are unique individuals who learn best with different instructional strategies.

Differentiated instruction is based on the modification of four elements: content, process, product, and affect/learning environment. This modification is guided by the teachers’ understanding of their students’ needs, such as their readiness, interests, and learning profile.

Content, process, product, and affect/learning environment are key elements that form classroom instruction. To effectively address student needs, teachers in differentiated classrooms strive to make these elements pliable, explains Tomlinson (1995). What drives the modification of these elements is the teachers’ assessment of their students in terms of three characteristics, namely readiness, interest, and learning profile.

Content means the knowledge, understanding, and skills (KUD) that students need to learn.

It is important to remember that these learning goals should nearly always remain the same for all students in the differentiated classroom. What teachers can differentiate in terms of content are the methods that students use to access key content. For example, students can acquire new information and ideas through reading independently or with a partner, reading a novel or listening to it on tape, doing online research or communicating with experts, participating in group demonstrations, or engaging in small-group instruction. Or the teacher can present content in several ways in the classroom, such as by showing students images of concrete objects illustrating Chemistry concepts as a first step in teaching these abstract concepts. To address individual student needs, teachers also provide appropriate scaffolding when working with content, by teaching prerequisite content to some students and allowing advanced students to move ahead of the class, or even changing the content for some students based on their individualized education programs.

Tomlinson and Imbeau (2010) define process as how students come to understand and make sense of the content. By differentiating process, they understand creating sense-making activities that help students own the content, by allowing them to see how it makes sense, and realize how it is useful in the world outside the classroom. Differentiating process is all about practice based on the content. This involves the students trying to figure things out, asking questions, and making mistakes. At this stage, almost all students will need to work at different 2|Page

speeds, with different kinds of support, in different groupings, and in different modes. This is a very important stage because this is really the point where learning happens with the students.

Tomlinson (1999) define readiness as a student’s current proximity to specified knowledge, understanding, and skills. They warn that readiness differs from ability; for example, highquality teaching leads to regular changes in readiness. The goal of readiness differentiation is to make the work a little too difficult for students at a given point in their growth and then to provide the support they need to succeed at the new level of challenge.

As educators continue to face growing diversity within the classroom they need to recognize the benefit of utilizing strategies that enable them to reach and challenge each student.

Differentiated instruction appears to be successful at increasing student engagement and understanding in the classrooms.

Methods In this paper, we offer several examples of chemistry differentiated instruction activities that can be used in the classroom. We hope to design more activities that will find its place in the teaching process and to find ways to disseminate this idea to the teachers in the fraternity.

Our project attempts to address the following research question: What is the impact of Chemistry differentiated instruction strategies in enhancing students’ academic performance?

A Secondary 3 Normal Academic Science (Chemistry) class of 38 students was involved in this study. The students were introduced to differentiated instruction activities on process/readiness for 2 Chemistry topics – formation of ions and ionic bonding. Students worked in heterogeneous pairs and reinforced their learning through completing the drawing of dot-and-cross diagrams of ions formation and ionic bonding in compounds, in worksheets of increasing complexity by stages. Prior to each differentiated instruction activity intervention, a pre-test was administered to the students. The pre-test was marked, however, the solutions to the pre-test was not discussed with the students. After the intervention, the students were required to sit for a post-test. The question paper for both the pre- and post-tests were the same to allow the team to compare and contrast the pre-test and post-test scores in this Action Research study. A quantitative analysis of the scores was done by using mean and paired sample one-tailed t-test to study the effectiveness of the differentiated instruction strategies in enhancing students’ academic performance in Chemistry.

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Results Analysis & Findings Pre- and post-tests on the two topics were introduced to students to diagnose students’ previous knowledge and to get insights into students’ misunderstandings and misconceptions in this study. Data on the pre- and post-tests were collated and analysed. The mean and standard deviation of the test scores were calculated for each individual. The results are shown in Table 1. Mean and paired sample one-tailed t-test was then used to determine whether there was any significant impact of using differentiated instruction strategies in the achievement level of the students. The data analysed reflected gains in the conceptual understanding of students while the general in-class observations by the teachers reflected a high level of student engagement. These findings indicated that the use of differentiated instruction activities promoted student learning and the overall enjoyment and engagement for learning. The information obtained was considered beneficial for further in-depth research in this field and represents a valuable tool for improving particular aspects of the study.

Table 1: Mean and paired sample one-tailed t-test results

Topic 1: Formation of Ions Topic 2: Ionic Bonding

Marks 20 15

Mean Pre: 6.9 Post: 12.1 Pre: 10.9 Post: 11.1

p-value 0.00001

Significance p < 0.05

Conclusion Significant

0.629577

p ˃ 0.05

Insignificant

The data from the pre- and post-test of the 2 topics showed improvements in the scores, however, the data collected generally yielded both significant and insignificant increase in the post-test scores for the differentiated instruction activities. For the topic on Formation of Ions, the one-tailed p-value is 0.00001. For the topic on Ionic Bonding, the one-tailed p-value is 0.629577.

For the topic on Formation of Ions, the increment of 5.2 from the pre- to the post-test scores showed a significant difference in the improvement of the test scores. Consequently, it can be said that the revision lessons through differentiated instruction activities were effective in enhancing students’ academic performance for this topic.

For the topic on Ionic Bonding, the increment of 0.2 from the pre- to the post-test scores showed a less significant difference in the improvement of the test scores. Consequently, it can be said that the revision lesson through differentiated instruction activities were less effective in enhancing students’ academic performance for this topic.

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Discussion The use of tiered activities in groups as a means to differentiate by process comes with limitations resulting from the unanticipated safety measures put in place in response to Covid19. The grouping of students was not ideal due to the need to abide by fixed seating arrangement guidelines. Groupings were not based on readiness data collected from the pretest or learners’ profile to optimise group dynamics. This resulted in greater reliance on the teachers for help instead of their peers which meant that timely assistance cannot always be provided. In addition, flexible groupings could not be carried out to accommodate the progress of students to maximise class performance. To address this, content could be further chunked, with separate sets of pre- and post-tests for the drawing of ions and drawing of ionic compounds. This would allow each segment to be completed in a timely manner and reduce the delay between each intervention and post-test to obtain an accurate reflection of the usefulness of the tiered activity method. In addition to the limitations discussed above, the team would be looking into areas for improvement such as fixing a deliberate seating plan to pair stronger with weaker students, improving the clarity of instructions for activities as well as demonstrating to the students how the activities would be carried out to minimise confusion.

Conclusion In our Action Research project, differentiated instruction strategies (related to process and readiness) were used as tools to review what has already been learned and to diagnose any weaknesses and alternative conceptions students might have. The improvement in the posttest scores as compared to the pre-test scores in these topics confirmed the positive student learning outcomes of this project. Overall, from the results of our intervention, we can draw the conclusion that there is some evidence that differentiated instruction has potential power to affect students' academic achievement positively with small to medium effects. The perceptions of students and teachers related to the use of differentiated instruction strategies were also positive and encouraging.

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References: 1. Frensham, P. J. (2005, December). Scientific literacy’s challenge to chemical education.

Keynote address presented at the 4th Singapore International Chemistry Conference, Singapore.

2. Tomlinson, C. A., & Imbeau, M. B. (2010). Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom. Alexandria, VA ASCD. 3. Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA ASCD. 4. Tomlinson, C. A. (1995). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms.

Alexandria, VA ASCD.

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Facilitating meaningful English Language group discussions online in the time of Covid-19 Carolyn Quek, Cinda Wee, Jasvindar S. Singh, Low Yi En, Mohamed Finosh Khan Ishak

Abstract Exploratory talk and conducting inquiry through dialogue is one of the key areas of ELS 2020. However, it has been challenging to conduct face-to-face interactions and group discussions in class, with safe management measures in place, especially during the Circuit Breaker period. This study aims to provide one way we tried to equip our Secondary 1 Express students with effective online communication skills to discuss actively and meaningfully a given topic in a group setting, via the use of Let's Talk cards developed by the English Language Institute of Singapore.

Introduction

The recently launched English Language Syllabus (ELS) 2020 seeks to grow empathetic communicators. One way to develop empathetic communicators is through exploratory talk, including Inquiry Through Dialogue (ITD). Through ITD, students learn to co-construct and use language purposely to explore thematic ideas, language features and multiple perspectives.

As part of exploratory talk, student collaborative learning is crucial, either in pairs or in groups, and engage learners through a diverse range of strategies, including the use of questioning techniques and thinking routines. However, when a Circuit Breaker lockdown was imposed on April 7 due to the Covid-19 pandemic in Singapore, full home-based learning was implemented in Singapore schools and this posed difficulties in carrying out ITD. This project begins with the considerations needed to minimise the disruptions inherent in situations where Home-Based Learning (HBL) is a norm. Taking into account how inquiry is “the process of addressing problems expressed by guiding questions” (Wilhelm 2016), it was hoped that students used the dedicated language features scaffolded deliberately while collaborating to explore a given thematic idea. With the help of the Let’s Talk card game, it was hoped that students would be given a tool to develop effective communication skills with mutual respect and constructive feedback in mind. The Let’s Talk cards was meant to

provide a form of assistive structure to facilitate students towards independent learning as

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they refer to the cards to practice the communication skills needed for productive academic discussion.

Apart from the Let’s Talk cards, this study also looks at students’ attitudes towards the affordances of online discussion platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet as platforms for students to carry out ITD.

Literature Review Oral skills of speaking and listening can also be referred to as ‘oracy’ (Wilkinson, 1965). In the context of learning and development, Wilkinson posited that: ‘Where children … are placed in situations where it becomes important for them to communicate – to discuss, to negotiate, to converse – with their fellows, with the staff, with other adults … This is basically how oracy grows: it is to be taught by the creation of many and varied circumstances to which speech and listening are natural responses’(p.59) In the classroom, oracy is an essential skill that transcends disciplines and helps develop students’ understanding while learning new knowledge and skills (Jones, 2007). However, more often than not, the lack of structures will inevitably hinder the ability of students to have productive academic discussions (Zwiers & Crawford, 2011).Therefore, it is imperative that structures are introduced into the classrooms for exploratory talk where ‘the students suggest and counter-suggest, building on what had gone before in a critical but positive manner’ (Silver, Raslinda, & Kogut, 2014). More specifically, through academic conversation, students will be allowed to ‘examine, scrutinize, criticize, validate and shape the ideas being discussed’ (Brookfield & Preskill, 2005).

Based on the theoretical underpinning of Zwiers & Crawford (2011), the five core skills of productive academic conversation include: elaborating and clarifying, supporting ideas with evidence, building on and/or challenging ideas, paraphrasing, and synthesizing. These are five core skills that laid the foundation for the ‘Let’s Talk’ card game developed by the English Language Institute of Singapore (ELIS) to help

‘motivate students to practice the

communication skills needed for productive academic discussion’ (ELIS, 2020). Aligned to this, and the abovementioned theoretical underpinnings, this paper seeks to better understand the efficacy of developing productive academic discussions among Secondary 1 (Express) students through the provision of structures in the form of the ‘Let’s Talk’ card game.

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The recently launched ELS 2020 seeks to nurture in our students, empathetic communicators who possess the values, dispositions and skills to listen actively to different perspectives, communicate confidently, effectively and sensitively while collaborating with others to work towards shared goals, and balance an appreciation of the Singapore spirit with multi-ethnic and multicultural sensitivities.

It also states further that one way to develop empathetic communicators is through exploratory talk, including inquiry through dialogue.

When students are involved in inquiry, they learn first-hand as they co-construct and use language purposefully to explore thematic ideas, language features and multiple perspectives. Such an approach foregrounds the development of oral communication skills, mutual respect, exploratory talk, peer engagement and constructive feedback.

As part of exploratory talk, teachers will facilitate student collaborative learning, either in pairs or in groups, and engage learners through a diverse range of strategies, including the use of questioning techniques and thinking routines. Collaboration can strengthen both receptive and productive skills during active knowledge construction when appropriate classroom behaviour and supportive team roles and peer support become part and parcel of classroom routines.

Method Approach The critical inquiry adopted in this study was the lesson study approach. Two lesson study cycles were carried out on the use of Let’s Talk Cards (Annex A) to carry out Inquiry Through Dialogue via online video-conferencing platforms, Zoom or Google Meet (Annex D). The lesson studies were conducted in Term 3 2020 at the beginning of two thematic units, namely, Unit 4: The Weird And Wonderful World Of Animals and Unit 5: Friendships (Annexes B and C).

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Student Participants The lesson studies were carried out with a Secondary 1 Express English class made up of 37 students. The students in the class were of mixed-ability in their English language proficiency. They were familiar with the CLEARR (Contextualise, Learn and Explore, Apply and Respond, Reinforce) approach that underpinned each thematic unit. An ITD was planned to be carried out at the Contextualise phase to allow students to explore thematic ideas, language features and multiple perspectives. These students had engaged in two group discussions about earlier unit themes prior to the lesson studies.

Lesson Study Cycle 1 Prior to the start of the first lesson study, the teacher organised the class into 9 groups of about 4 to 5 students and appointed a leader for each group. The leader was responsible for arranging with the other group members on a suitable time to meet on Zoom or Google Meet. The leader also worked closely with the teacher to convey messages to group members before the online discussion.

Students were introduced to the ITD theme ‘The Weird And Wonderful World Of Animals’ and to choose from one of the three inquiry topics based on the theme issue prior to the online discussion. The teacher also informed the class that they would be using the Let’s Talk card game to guide them in their discussion.

Copies of the Let’s Talk card game were given to the students prior to their first online discussion. Students were shown a video demonstration by a group of EL teachers (members of this PLT) using the Let’s Talk card game to carry out an ITD. The video was played once in class and students could make clarifications. This video was also uploaded onto a video sharing platform. This allowed students to refer to the video when they needed to.

After the timing for the online discussion for each group was set, the teacher then set up private online meetings on Zoom or Google Meet. Each group discussion was carried out in the presence of one PLT member, though PLT members refrained from intervening with the discussion.

After completing the online discussions, each student had to complete a survey in class.

Lesson Study Cycle 2

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Lesson Study Cycle 2 was carried out in a similar manner. Students continued in their same groups and were introduced to a new ITD theme ‘Friendships’ and one of three inquiry topics to choose from. They were to meet online to discuss one of the three topics on Zoom or Google Meet, in a private meeting session set up by the teacher. One of the PLT members was present for each group discussion but refrained from intervening with the discussion. The only variable was that the groups could decide if they wanted to use the Let’s Talk card game to aid their discussion or not.

Research Question How can we enable students to carry out inquiry through dialogue effectively amid the Covid19 pandemic?

Results Analysis and Findings Focus Area 1: Let’s Talk Cards (1) Lesson Study 1

(2) Lesson Study 2

Students could choose whether they wanted to use the Let’s Talk Card Game for their group discussion or not. None of them chose to use the cards. In addition, 11 students did not meet for the Unit 5 group discussion.

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3) Lesson Study 1

Analysis: In Lesson Study 1, most students were neutral towards the Let’s Talk Card Game in helping them contribute to the group discussion.

(4) Lesson Study 1

Analysis:

The top three reasons why students found the cards helpful were because firstly, the cards helped them to elaborate on their points better. Secondly, the cards helped them to focus on the discussion and thirdly, the cards helped them to see different perspectives.

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Other reasons why students found the Let’s Talk Card Game helpful (based on responses from Lesson Study 1):

“It helps me to better describe a point.”

“It helps me to keep the discussion going.”

“I think when my group members did not know what to say we would use the cards to start a conversation.”

“It has enable my group members to talk a lot more.”

Reasons why students found the Let’s Talk Card Game unhelpful (based on responses from Lesson Study 1 and Lesson Study 2):

“The cards did not fit into the discussion; the student can communicate easily without the cards.”

“I found the cards unhelpful because it disrupted my train of thoughts and I was unable to state my answer clearly.”

“We don't communicate well with the cards. IT is like a barrier to us.”

“We find it useful but we forgot to bring it.”

“I find the card unhelpful as if we use the cards it might limit our elaboration points and imagination.”

“Using the card feels awkward.

I understand they are supposed to make it easier for people to understand what is happening but they just make it very clunky and awkward to say something.”

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Focus Area 2: Use of Zoom / Google Meet platform for group discussion (1) Lesson Study 1

Analysis:

Most students in the class have used a video conferencing platform prior to the Lesson Study 1.

(2) Lesson Study 1

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Lesson Study 2

Analysis: The percentage of students who were neutral in their opinion about whether video conferencing platforms had helped them to conduct group discussions grew from 37.8% in Lesson Study 1 to 42.3% in Lesson Study 2. The percentage of students who found the platform helpful (4) and very helpful (5) increased in Lesson Study 2 from 48.6% to 53.8%.

The percentage of students who found video conferencing platforms very unhelpful (2) or unhelpful (1) was low.

(3) Lesson Study 1

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(4) Lesson Study 2

Analysis: The percentage of students who found online discussions to be as effective as face-to-face discussions increased from 29.7% (Lesson Study 1) to 46.1% (Lesson Study 2). Meanwhile, the percentage of students who were neutral remained largely the same at about 30%. The percentage of students who found online discussions to not be effective or very not effective (Scale 1 or 2) dipped from 37.8% to 23%.

(4) Lesson Study 1

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Lesson Study 2

Analysis: Most students enjoyed or very much enjoyed online discussions as much as face-to-face discussions. The percentage of students increased from 48.6% in Lesson Study 1 to 57.7% in Lesson Study 2.

(5) Other reasons why students found video conferencing platforms effective (based on responses from Lesson Study 1 and Lesson Study 2):

“Some people are mostly comfortable to talk online and would give more ideas.”

“It allows us to not worry about social distancing and discuss without being distracted by our friends when we were in class and we did not have to raise our voices to let our group members hear from the noise the class made.”

“Since we could not meet, using zoom meeting we are still able to communicate with each other.”

“I liked the app. The mute botton😂, it also has good sound quality.”

“It helped me to understand my group members better by looking at their expression.”

“Got more points to write.”

“It was simple and easy to use.”

“To explain better for the group mates to understand.”

“I learnt that in the Zoom Meeting, we get to pay more attention as no one else can distract us other than ourselves.”

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(6) Reasons why students found video conferencing platforms challenging (based on responses from Lesson Study 1 and Lesson Study 2):

“Our group suffered some connection and audio problems.”

“Some of my group mates could not get into the meeting and when they did, they could not hear what others said and once they could get in and hear, they did not contribute anything.”

“It is harder to add on things your groups thoughts.”

“Telling my friend to be on time; making them speak.”

“Sometimes my computer would log out of the meeting and I will have to wait till the teacher accepts while it reloads.”

“Very awkward.”

Focus Area 3: Inquiry Through Dialogue (1) Lesson Study 1

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Lesson Study 2

What students say about the use of Let’s Talk Cards

Analysis: Most students, at about 80%, said that they had acquired new knowledge from both online group discussions in Lesson Study 1 and Lesson Study 2.

(2) Students’ responses on the knowledge acquired from Lesson Study 1 and Lesson Study 2 “I learnt more about animals and my classmates experience with animals.”

“I feel like this group discussion was helpful as I get to know my friends better and also helped me in my future discussions.”

“Yes, as we learn more on how helpful face to face discussion are and we learn more about animals and others.”

“I know how other people think.”

“No matter how much I tried, I always kept zoning out. This greatly impacted my learning through Zoom.”

“I don’t think I acquired any new knowledge from the discussion. Our group kept quiet most of the time, not knowing what to say. I think we could have done much better and acquire new knowledge if we had planned and researched properly.”

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Discussion (1) Use of Let’s Talk Cards 1.

Given that this was a Secondary 1 Express class, a fair number of students were of a higher language ability. As such, some remarked that the cards impeded their flow of thought and stifled their creativity.

a.

Thus, these cards might be more suitable for lower language ability learners in building

b.

their confidence to carry out an academic discussion effectively.

If the topic was more challenging, the Let’s Talk cards may help in allowing students to have a more in-depth discussion.

2.

Some students found the use of the cards disruptive and troublesome in carrying out a discussion naturally.

3.

In the second online discussion, a number of students also forgot to bring their cards into the discussion, which suggests they may not have found the cards significant or important to them for the discussion.

4.

Although a teacher demonstration was recorded on video and shown to the class, a few students remarked that the cards were confusing to use. Therefore, it might be good for teachers to teach the use of the cards in the classroom more explicitly before embarking on an online platform.

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(2) Online discussion platform 1.

Some students encountered technical problems such as Wi-Fi connectivity issues and microphone problems. Such problems were the main challenges faced by them.

a.

However, in the second round of discussions, the teacher had pre-empted group leaders to help their members resolve earlier technical issues. Thus, this might have resulted in the students perceiving greater effectiveness and enjoyment of the use of the online platform.

2.

Most students found having discussions on online platforms as effective and enjoyable as face-to-face discussions. The online platform gave them the opportunity to meet in the comfort of their homes and to replicate certain conditions essential for a face-to-face discussion such as the studying of non-verbal cues such as facial expressions.

3.

Another negative outcome of using an online discussion platform was that two of the nine groups did not meet for the second discussion because they could not find a suitable time for all of them to meet.

4.

In the first discussion, some PLT group members who did not teach the class were present in their discussion as observers. This may have made some students selfconscious and may have stifled their conversation. In the second round, only their EL teacher was present in the discussion as an observer, so they may have been less conscious about what they say.

5.

The ‘break-out room’ function of the Zoom platform can be explored for future student discussions if the discussions were to take place at the same time.

However, if the individual group discussions are to be recorded, then individual online group discussion sessions should be set up.

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Conclusion Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, face-to-face interaction in the future may be limited or face restrictions. Hence, online video-conferencing tools present a huge potential to fill the gap in sustaining collaborative dialogue. The use of structures such as the Let’s Talk cards may also serve to faciliate academic discussions but must be used in a more discerning manner to suit the learner profile.

References Brookfield, S., & Preskill, S. (2005). Discussion as a way of teaching: Tools and Techniques for Democratic Classrooms (2nd Edition). Josey-Bass.

ELIS. (2020, October 22). ELIS. Retrieved from Academy of Singapore Teachers: https://academyofsingaporeteachers.moe.edu.sg/elis/resources/subject-literacyresources/let's-talk-card-game Jones, D. (2007). Speaking, listening, planning and assessing: The teacher's role in developing metacognitive awareness. Early Child Development and CAre, 569-579.

Silver, R., Raslinda, A., & Kogut, G. (2014). How is language used in learning? London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Wilkinson, A. (1965). Spoken English (Educational Review: Occasional Paper No. 2).

Edgbaston: England: University of Birmingham.

Zwiers, J., & Crawford, M. (2011). Academic Conversations: Classroom Talk that Fosters Critical Thinking and Content Understandings. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Stenhouse Publishers .

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Annex A

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Annex B

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Annex C

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Annex D

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Concept-Based Instruction in the Humanities Curriculum Chee Yuan Leng, Kesavan s/o Thangam, Sasidharan Indra Devi, Wu Biwei, Ivan

Abstract Concept-Based Curriculum (CBC) is widely used by many educators as a pivotal and effective pedagogy, in the teaching and learning process, across multiple academic disciplines. CBC is different from other popular pedagogies; and in many ways unique because it emphasizes broad ideas within the subject matter instead of giving importance to subject specific content details. This approach thus has been widely acclaimed to provide students with a schematic learning experience, providing them an opportunity to grasp the ‘big ideas’ of the chapter or module, before delving into the nitty gritty content details.

Given the sheer amount of content-rich information in our Humanities curriculum, it is essential to explore a feasible pedagogy to deliver lessons in an effective and engaging manner. Thus, our PLT decided to adopt CBC as a teaching and learning pedagogy in History, Geography and Social Studies curriculum.

Introduction This lesson study aims to infuse CBC in the teaching of specific chapters of three humanities subjects.

Social Studies The Social Studies curriculum is developed with broad depth in exploring the role of government and individuals in a society, issues related to living in a multi-racial and muticultural society and the driving forces of globalisation, together with the positive and negative impacts. All 3 themes are illustrated with various local and international case examples. For the purpose of our PLT project, we selected the chapter on muti-racial society and the impact of living in diverse society. This chapter was selected as students resonated with this chapter well and were able to engage in spontaneous impromptu discussions readily. By infusing CBC in the teaching and learning of this chapter, our PLT hopes to create better understanding and learner engagement in students, particularly on ‘big ideas and concepts’ pertaining to the topic.

History The History curriculum is developed with a broad perspective to help students understand what and why events took place in the past. A good understanding of historical concepts is necessary to help students make sense of the past and how historical knowledge is constructed. Concept-Based Teaching and Inquiry-Based Learning go hand in hand and helps to create connections to students’ prior experience. Concept-Based Teaching will also bring relevance to student learning by facilitating a deeper understanding of content knowledge.

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Literature Review The primary source used in our PLT is, ‘Concept- Based Curriculum and Instruction for the Thinking Classroom’ by H. Lynn Erickson, Lois A. Lanning and Rachel French. This is the ‘go to’ book by educators for knowledge and case studies on CBC. The schematic diagram below offers a glimpse into the Structure of Knowledge and Process developed by Erickson and Lanning respectively. In both learning structures, the idea of conceptual learning serves as crucial bedrock to anchor teaching and learning.

A secondary source that the team used as a reference point would be, ‘Concept-Based Inquiry in Action: Strategies to Promote Transferable Understanding’ by Carla Marschall, Rachael French, H. Lynn Erickson, Lois A. Lanning and Mosteller, A.

Methods The team decided to embark on a lesson study journey to infuse CBC elements into our Humanities curriculum. The Humanities teachers decided to collaborate and gather data to inform the department instructional practices through the lesson study critical inquiry method.

Since lesson study is a teacher driven practice where teachers collaboratively plan, set goals, research and study their lesson instructions as a way to determine how best students learn, the team felt that this would be the best approach to adopt to make changes in the way we teach the Humanities subjects.

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Discussion - Why Prior to this, the team identified a teaching challenge that was an area of concern for all Humanities Teachers. In Concept-Based Instruction, lessons are deliberately designed so that students construct their own understandings. This requires higher-level thinking from students and integration of ideas and it also results in students personalising and better retaining their understandings.

Social Studies It has been observed that students from the Secondary 3 Normal Academic level, generally lack interest in Social Studies. The sheer volume of content information, the rigorous writing assessments and the intense critical thinking skills required to answer exam and test questions, are just a few reasons for students’ apathy towards the subject. This overtime, dampens their interest in the subject. The team is hopeful that this vicious cycle can be diffused through the use of CBC in the humanities curriculum.

For Social Studies, the team identified, Living in a Diverse Society, as a potential theme for the lesson study. It was observed that students resonated with the subject matter instantly and were able to engage in robust discussions spontaneously, with their peers. To understand this theme better, it is essential to unpack key conceptual terms such as racism, xenophobia, class-divide etc. In a hypothetical classroom teaching, these concepts may not be given sufficient attention. In fact, some educators may even assume that students are well-versed in such concepts. Therein lies the problem. Students sit through multiple lessons without clear understanding and knowledge on basic concepts which spirals into ineffective learning.

Through CBC, students will have more time to grasp key concepts of the chapter. The team plans to introduce a concept mapping activity before moving on to the nitty gritty content details of the chapter. Students will be given ample time to explore the conceptual idea and thereafter, develop their very own concept mind map.

History Teachers were often concerned about two issues. The first one concerns content coverage and the second being, students’ inability to see the relationships between timeline and events.

To help students think historically, History teaching needs to develop students’ understanding of historical concepts and build their competencies in historical skills. Focusing on historical concepts would also provide the means for students to become increasingly aware of the way historical events are constructed and help them understand how knowledge about the past is formed and interpreted.

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Results analysis and findings During the PLT sessions, the team designed three concept maps using three units from the various Humanities syllabus, namely, History, Geography and Social Studies. A pilot lesson was carried out in a Sec 3 Express Social Studies class on the issue of diversity.

Though the lesson study had not been conducted this year and no tangible results can be reported, it is hoped that the infusion of CBC would enable students to learn far more effectively; and develop greater knowledge of the subject matter. It is also predicted that students will be able to differentiate societal ramifications of living in a multi-racial and multicultural society i.e. racism, xenophobia, class-divide etc. And explain, these issues with clear case studies and even personal experiences.

To evaluate the effectiveness of CBC, the team plans to conduct a quiz before and after teaching the chapter. The data from the quiz will provide evidence of learning and understanding of the lesson.

Conclusion Though this PLT is still at its infant stage, the brainstorming and planning sessions had been really fruitful and exciting. The team believes that introducing elements of CBC in Humanities subjects will make a remarkable difference in students’ appreciation and learning of the subject.

References 1.

Erickson, H. L., Lanning, L. A., & French, R. (2017). Concept-based curriculum and instruction for the thinking classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

2.

Marschall, C., French, R., Erickson, H. L., Lanning, L. A., & Mosteller, A. (2018). Conceptbased inquiry in action: Strategies to promote transferable understanding. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, a SAGE Company.

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Learning Malay Language through Games to Activate Learning Nur Fadillah, Nuruljannah, Dian Farhana, Mr Omar, Zuraidah

Abstract Golongan Kata is one of the basic knowledge that students need to have for Malay Language.

With the knowledge of Golongan Kata, students would be able to write grammatically correct sentence following the sentence structure. In Northbrooks Secondary School, the Malay Language teachers found that students are still unsure of the different types of Golongan Kata.

Teachers observed that students are weak in this component as they are unsure of the Golongan Kata to be used. In Secondary two, students are also tested on their skill of Pola Ayat Dasar which requires them to differentiate the different types of Golongan Kata. Hence, the focus of this project is to get students to familiarise with Kata Kerja (one of the types of Golongan Kata), through the use of traditional malay delicacies. In addition, Kahoot! is also used in this project. Kahoot! is an online tool that is readily available that can encourage students’ participation and engagement during lessons.

Introduction The objective of the project is to arouse students’ interest in learning Malay Language through the use of cards provided by MLCS. We are using the resources provided to enhance students’ knowledge on Kata Kerja. Through this lesson, students will also be able to widen their vocabulary bank. Students will be able to use this newly gained knowledge on two sections – Imbuhan as well as Prosedur Kloze. For Secondary 1 Express, these components takes up 10 marks each.

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to understand the concept of Kata Kerja as well as apply appropriate Kata Kerja in sentences. Based on students’ results from various tests that was conducted, students are weak in answering Imbuhan questions due to various reasons. Students who have a weaker command in the language might not be able to understand the text, hence will not be able to interpret the correct imbuhan to match with the words given. Another reason why students do not score for Imbuhan section would be that they are not familiar with the words hence are not able to provide with the correct imbuhan.

As for Prosedur Kloze, students are weak in the component as they are not familiar of the words and its meaning.

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Literature Review Based on Ministry of Education’s Malay Language Syllabus (2011), Kaedah pembelajaran kontekstual mengaitkan isi pelajaran dengan pengalaman harian pelajar dan hubungannya dengan alam di sekelilingnya. Selain itu, kemahiran asas bahasa, tatabahasa, kosa kata dan peribahasa perlu dipelajari dalam konteks penggunaan bahasa sesuai dengan tujuan, khalayak, situasi dan budaya. Konteks yang dipilih akan menentukan kesesuaian dan laras bahasa yang perlu digunakan. Pengajaran dan pembelajaran aspekaspek ini tidak dilakukan secara tersendiri tetapi dikenalkan dalam satu wacana komunikatif.

Pembelajaran secara kontekstual membolehkan murid memahami fungsi aspek bahasa yang dipelajari dengan berkesan di samping berupaya menghubungkaitkan pengetahuan baharu yang diperoleh secara bermakna.

In this project, the team has linked Kata Kerja with vocabulary words that is used in the kitchen.

It is important for teachers to make lessons engaging and linked to students’ real life experience so that they can apply what they have learnt in class in their daily life. Through this, they are able to retain what they have learnt for a longer period of time. This is in line with one of the principles that is suggested in the Malay Language Syllabus, whereby contextual learning is important in ensuring that students will be able to understand what they have learnt.

Using ICT, is one of the methods to engage students during lesson. As such, the team has chosen to use Kahoot! which is an online tool that students are familiar with as it is widely used across subjects.

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Methods Used

The method of Lesson study has been selected for this research. The target group for this research is the Secondary 1 Express stream students. The Secondary 1 Express stream students have been further sub divided into two groups; Band 1, Express students, and Band 2, SBB students. The students in the group are of mixed abilities and an array of learners.

The two tools which have been utilised for the research are MLCS new board games and Kahoot!.

Students are familiar with Kahoot! and it is also a tool that students enjoy using due to it competitive mode. This encourages students to be more attentive and engaged during the lesson.

The Singapore Teaching Practice (STP) is also put in place in this lesson study.

Singapore

Pedagogical

Teaching Practice

Practices

Lesson Enactment

Arousing Interest

Activities

Interaction between students and teacher in class. Applying real-life context in class whereby students learn about traditional Malay delicacies and verbs to make these delicacies.

Assessment and

Setting meaningful

Students are tasked to help an elderly man

Feedback

assignment

finish up his recipe for a certain traditional malay kueh. Students are also assessed through the use of Kahoot! quiz.

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Results Analysis and Findings i. First Activity – Introduction to Verbs The project was carried out with two target groups; Band 1 and Band 2 students taking Express Malay Language. In terms of the profile of the students, students in Band 2 have prior knowledge of the different types of traditional delicacy as their family members have exposed them to it through various cultural activities and events as well as having hands-on sessions of making the kueh. Hence, they have greater understanding of the various types of delicacies.

Comparing the students in Band 1 and Band 2, there is a vast difference as majority of the students in Band 1 have very limited knowledge of traditional delicacy. Both groups were introduced to 16 verbs that describes the methods of making various types of delicacies. Some examples of the verbs introduced to both bands of students are ‘mengirai’, ‘membakar’ and ‘menimbang’. Even though students in Band 2 were able to identify the names of the delicacy, they had difficulty comprehending the method used to make them. For example, they were able to identify the food ‘roti kirai’. However, they were not able to match the method to make the delicacy which is ‘mengirai’.

The predication of students in Band 2 able to perform better when they were tasked to match the card that consists of a verb to the picture in the worksheet was inaccurate as students in Band 2 required scaffolding in order for them to match the verbs to the picture. Band 2 students took a longer processing time to comprehend the meaning of each verb. This leads to more time in the activity to scaffold the students with further explanations whereas students in Band 1 completed the work with ease. Despite the lack of knowledge of the various delicacies at the onset, they were able to better comprehend the method use to make the delicacy. It ultimately took them much shorter time to complete the task as compared to students in Band 2. ii. Second Activity – Kahoot!

Both bands were able to answer 80% of the questions from Kahoot! accurately. Despite the varied difficulties faced by the two bands in the initial stage, the scaffolding assisted in ensuring that both bands of students reach the same level ultimately. The scaffolding and intervention put in place for students in Band 2, through the guidance of explaining and demonstrating the action, aid in narrowing the gap between the students in the two bands.

Similarly, through the exposure of the students in Band 1 to the array of traditional delicacies by the teacher through means of pictures and videos, allowed the student to gain knowledge on the various delicacies. Hence, for the second activity, majority of the students were able to select the correct verb for the pictures of the delicacies.

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iii. Third Activity – Assessment Students were tasked to complete a worksheet that was provided. Students are able to complete the recipe by filling up the blanks with the correct verb. Both bands did fairly well as they were already familiar with the words and understood the meaning of the 16 verbs. Before giving out the worksheet, students watched a video that consists of the recipe and the process of making a traditional delicacies, ‘Kuih Keria’. Students were observed to be trying to match verbally with the newly learned verbs with the steps taken to make the Kuih Keria.

Discussion

i. Strengths There are many positives to take away from this research. Mainly, students were engaged with Kahoot!. The interactive and competitive nature of Kahoot! enabled the students to be engaged as they compete among themselves. Knowing the profile of the students aid in ensuring the use of various applications to be successful. In this case, knowing that the students takes competition positively, allowed the teachers to make use of Kahoot! as a tool to check for the students’ understanding.

Secondly, with this research, it provides a platform for the students to know their roots and culture. One of the observations that was observed of the profile of students that we have, they lack the knowledge and platform to know more about their roots and culture. Most of the knowledge they attained are based on hearsay or facts they found through searching through the internet. We, hence, found it important for the students to be exposed to their customs through activities in school. After considering the various content, the making of the traditional delicacies has been selected based on the evergreen topic of food. ii. Areas for Improvement Despite the positives of Kahoot! as a platform to engage the students through competition, it has been observed to not be a proper assessment for learning as students get too excited to answer. There a number of instances that the student would press the wrong button. More visual scaffolding should be given for students in the lower band. This would ensure that students attained the necessary knowledge of the subject matter as well as ensuring that the objectives of the lesson are met. With that mentioned, more periods could have been allocated to teaching of the content.

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A technical component that needs to be ensured is the wifi connection. In order for the Kahoot! to work smoothly, a strong wifi connection is required. Students in Band 2 faced some issues when there the wifi connection suffered a glitch as the classroom is located at level 3 as compared to level 2 for Band 1 students. The connection was slightly lagging. A dongle would have eliminate such issues and the connection would be stable and not an issue.

Due to the current pandemic situation as well as time constraint, the team was also not able to carry out the full lesson study for this project. It would have been better if survey was done to collect data from students on their prior knowledge about the topic that is being taught.

Apart from that, an assessment that collects data would also be a better comparison and would also better determine whether or not this project is a success.

Conclusion Kahoot! as an online learning tool is effective in engaging students as well as test students’ understanding on the lesson that was conducted. Apart from that, setting meaningful and lessons that are linked to real life context also aids in activating students’ interest and ultimately encourage students’ learning to take place in classroom. However, due to its limitation for data collection and analysis on individual student’s assessment, our team have explored an alternative application, which is Quizizz. Quizizz has a user-friendly interface and enables teachers to collect individual students’ answer. Our team will be using Quizizz as a follow up next year.

This lesson has met all the objectives set out. Students were able to comprehend the verbs and at the same time know more about their culture and their roots. Through the success of this lesson, it can be incorporated during Mother Tongue fortnight in the subsequent year.

References Sukatan Pelajaran Bahasa Melayu Sekolah Menengah (2011), Bahagian Pengisian Kurikulum, Kementerian Pendidikan Singapura The Singapore Teaching Practice. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2020, from https://www.moe.gov.sg/about/singapore-teaching-practice

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ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR NURTURNG CHARACTER GROWTH

Using Learning Study to explore the impact of using a Design Thinking Approach to Scope the Secondary 1 Service Learning Nicolich Ann Melissa, Nuraida Bte Ajmaain, Lee Mun Sum (Jane)

Introduction The PLT was formed from the CCE Committee when it was acknowledged that CCE programmes embarked by the school needed a more continuous and structured framework. During review of the CCE programmes, the upper secondary level classes had already adopted the Design Thinking approach to their Service Learning projects. However, there was hardly any alignment between the upper and lower secondary levels. Hence, the team decided to identify such gaps in the framework and work towards formulating a whole-school approach to CCE programmes.

The team began by looking at the successful programmes that the upper levels had been doing for a few years - providing piece meal services to the wider community such as the old folk’s homes and orphanages. Partnering South-West CDC, eventually led to a rather successful two year run of block parties organised by different Secondary Two classes for the low income families as well as at-risk youths in the community.

During the planning of such block parties, it was identified that students had little clue on how or where to start. Teachers had to closely monitor and guide the progress of their discussions. The CCE team recognised the gap - providing exposure on the Design Thinking Approach in the Service Learning to the Secondary One classes and providing a service to the community within the school. Hence, our PLT focus is to explore the impacts of using a Design Thinking approach to scope the Secondary 1 Service Learning Programme. The Design Thinking Approach was adopted as the team felt that it was prudent to expose students to something more familiar as their Design and Technology classes had also adopted such an approach.

Literature Review Bowie and Cassim (2016) categorises different forms of service programmes by considering their position on the continuum in terms of two variables: 'the primary beneficiaries of the service (i.e., community or student); and the primary goal of the service (i.e., community service or student learning) (p. 21). They describe true service learning as benefiting both the community and students involved and outcome being both service to the community and learning by students (as seen in Figure 1 below).

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At times, service learning programmes in schools end up being volunteerism and community outreach (as described in Figure 1) masked as service learning where the programme focuses on students’ service and actions for the community without students understanding the why and not having a hand in ideating the solutions for community issues. Students see themselves going through the motion of the ‘service’ without thinking if their actions really do benefit the community they are interacting with and students leave the programme with just that, an experience. Here is where the Design Thinking (DT) approach can help.

Design Thinking (DT) is an approach or thinking process traditionally used in product creation.

Brown and Wyatt describe DT as “a system of overlapping spaces to keep in mind: inspiration, ideation, and implementation.” (Brown and Wyatt, 2010, p.33). Inspiration as identifying the problem or opportunity, ideation as the process of generating developing and testing ideas and, lastly, implementation as the execution of the idea planned.

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Volunteerism or community outreach programmes for students involve the teacher going through the first four stages of DT approach and students only stepping in at the stage of ‘testing’ or execution. Students are providing a service but they miss out on the ‘learning’ aspect of the experience as they do not know the motivations behind their actions towards the community.

DT has the potential to balance out the two variables of ‘service’ and ‘learning’ mentioned by Bowie and Cassim (2016). The first two stages of DT approach, empathise and define, challenges students to understand and anchor their service in a real community need that is designed with community partners and service recipients (Yang, 2015). The stages of Ideate and Prototype are meant to engage students in the planning process of the service learning programme where there is not a top-down hierarchy between the teacher and the student but instead mutual respect and participation between the two in the planning process of the service learning programme before execution. (Bowie and Cassim, 2016).

Methodology The team adopted the critical inquiry method of Lesson Study in order to carry out the project. As Lesson Study motivates teachers to examine classroom practices and study the lesson instruction to determine how students gain knowledge the best, this method was selected to find out if the approach to Service Learning using Design Thinking provides an enhancement to develop students’ skills and competency in making meaning of VIA in secondary school.

The scope of this project consists of 3 segments - pre-intervention, intervention and postintervention.

PRE-INTERVENTION Prior to the project implementation to the class, a preliminary questionnaire was completed. The findings from this set of questions provided insights to the students’ prior experience and existing understanding of SL. The questionnaire seeks to find out students’ past experience with service learning, their current understanding of what service learning and what they hope for service learning in secondary school.

INTERVENTION Based on the responses to the questionnaire, the students have differing views on Service Learning. This varying of perspectives were heavily influenced by their VIA experience in primary school. This sets the content flow, tasks and approach for the project.

Sec 1G and 1D were introduced to the underlying principles of DT in this SL project which focuses on appreciation of COVID-19 heroes in school. It was done over 3 sessions during FTT/CCE periods as follows:  

Session 1: introduction to SL, project objectives & students choose target group for their class project Session 2: Empathise/Define stage The students were encouraged to come up with questions to interview their target group to deepen their understanding and increase their sense of empathy. During this session, students discussed to identify an authentic problem faced by their target group in relation to their COVID-19 efforts, which is the lack of appreciation 40 | P a g e



for efforts during COVID-19 crisis. After defining the problem, students planned on the solutions which are the deliverables to convey gratitude.

Students were informed of the expectations and guidelines of project deliverables.

They get to choose the tasks to work on and whom they would like to work with.

Session 3: Students working on the chosen deliverables to overcome problem The students worked in groups on posters to share messages of appreciation and on a cape to show appreciation for efforts during COVID-19 crisis.

POST-INTERVENTION After the tasks has been completed, 2 students from each class were Interviewed to provide their perspectives and learning points from the SL experience. Interviews were transcribed and coded to uncover the impacts of a DT approach on service learning experiences. Their sharing helps to provide greater understanding on the impact of the DT approach on their SL experiences.

Another data point helps to gather observation data and perspectives from assisting teachers present during the implementation of SL in the two classes. Teachers provide insights in their own understanding of SL based on their own previous experiences as well as observations on students’ responses, willingness and reactions during the three SL sessions. The teachers also share their opinions on making comparisons on the similarities and differences observed on this SL and other SL projects done in the school.

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Exploring the impact of the Design Thinking approach in helping Secondary 3 students make meaning of Service Learning Linda Marie, Sangeeta D/O Tamilarasan, Lim Wan Yee

Introduction The Service Learning programme in Northbrooks Secondary School aims to provide students with opportunities to design and execute impactful community projects that address real community needs, to cultivate in students a sense of community through service (SO 2.3) where they are empowered to lead and serve the community around them. This is also aligned to the school vision which is ‘Every Brooksian a Champion, Impacting the Community’, which is also reflected in the school co-curriculum framework. Through the programme, the outcomes desired are for students to be empowered with self-confidence, communication skills, and teamwork as they interact with their peers or anyone from the community.

With the intention to ignite the spirit of innovation within the students whilst achieving the learning outcomes for service learning, Design Thinking was used as an approach last year for selected Secondary 3 classes in 2019. However, being a pilot programme, the process was largely teacher-led rather than student-centered. Consequently, the team decided to do a study this year in order to gain more clarity on the effectiveness of the Design Thinking approach in helping students to make meaning of Service Learning. With Covid-19, the service learning programme had to take reference from the national posture and was adapted for the Secondary 3 students in order to meet safe management measures. Further, the plight of the migrant workers garnered greater attention foregrounded by the media due to the virus outbreak in their dorms. Hence, bearing the constraints in mind, the design of the service learning task was scoped for students with migrant workers as the recipient of the service learning project.

Literature Review

Service Learning

According to the Ministry of Education (2015), the Values in Action (VIA) programme supports ‘students’ development as socially responsible citizens who contribute meaningfully to the community’ as they apply values, knowledge and skills through their interaction with various segments of the community. It also ‘fosters student ownership’ as students have some degree of autonomy and choice to decide how they wish to contribute to the community. This is echoed by then Minister of Education, Mr. Ong Ye Kung, stressed the importance of VIA in opening up students’ minds to the concept of ‘being in service to others’ (2017). The VIA programme is thus a component of CCE that aims to inculcate values through experiential learning and deep reflection. It is a learning approach where students learn to identify the needs of the community,

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serve the community, and reflect on their experiences through working with different segments of the community.

According to MOE, service learning is characterised as experiential learning with the intention to ‘equally benefit the provider and the recipient of the service, as well as to ensure equal focus on the service being provided and the learning that is occurring.’ This conveys the importance of maximising students’ learning throughout this process in getting them to understand different ways in which service can be provided to different segments of society. Kolb’s (1984) model of experiential learning (see Figure 1 below) highlights the four stages that are integral to the experience: students participate in a service experience, and through reflection, they would be better able to integrate abstract concepts [such as marginality, compassion, etc.] to better understand their experiences.

Figure 1: Kolb’s Model of Experiential Learning

The quality of reflection is highlighted as a crucial element that enables learning to take place.

Good reflection helps the learner to make sense of their observations, explore the implications of the experience and deepen their conviction.

Design Thinking

The Design Thinking process (see Figure 2 below) has also been adopted as an approach that will guide students along their Service Learning journey. Design Thinking is an iterative 5-step process that prioritises the users [beneficiary] at the core, to design an artefact that will be meaningful to them.

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Figure 2: Design Thinking Process The infusion of Design Thinking process into the Service Learning programme is thus complementary. It allows students to meet the needs of the community in a meaningful way as the role of empathy is foregrounded in Design Thinking, which supports one of the outcomes of Service Learning.

Method

The team adopted the critical inquiry method of Lesson Study to carry out this project. This current batch of Secondary 3 students had not experienced Service Learning through the Design Thinking approach when they were in Secondary 2 in 2019, unlike their seniors. They had taken part in organising block parties for the Yishun residents and had gained valuable experience last year with their form teachers and classmates through this project. The Secondary 3 batch in 2019 got to experience the Design Thinking stages in the classroom with their form teachers and creatively put it into practice for their own service learning projects. 2 classes also came up with prototypes for their beneficiaries. In that light, the Service Learning team ventured to explore Design Thinking with the current batch of Secondary 3 students, and find out if Design Thinking would indeed help students make meaning of Service Learning in Northbrooks.

With this in mind, the team decided to conduct a pre and post service learning survey to ascertain the impact of Design Thinking in making meaning of Service Learning. The pre-survey was conducted before the Service Learning sessions began and was aimed at gathering information from students on how much they had internalised Service Learning through their block party projects in 2019 and what they had understood about its rationale.

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With the impact of Covid creating a stir in the plans for Service Learning in 2020, the team brainstormed other possible projects that the students could still undertake, keeping closely to the principles of Design Thinking and yet achieving the intended outcomes of Service Learning. The team then planned Service Learning sessions for the Secondary 3 classes and engaged them with intentional discussions built around Design Thinking.

Students were introduced to the migrant workers and their contributions to the nation. The lesson package was created with the intention of evoking Empathy [stage 1 of the Design Thinking process] in students by getting them to consider what the migrant workers have to sacrifice prior to working in Singapore, the challenges they face, and through the use of effective questions, students were placed in the shoes of the migrant workers and asked to consider how they may think and feel from the perspective of the migrant workers.

The students then carried out a project with their classmates for migrant workers this year. Out of 6 classes, 2 classes were tasked to raise awareness of migrant workers. The other 4 classes were tasked to create products that would ease the lives of the migrant workers in Singapore, such as homeware, organisation tools, or games. Classes were selected for the different tasks with knowledge of the make-up of the students, and strengths and interests were also taken into consideration.

Following the completion of the project with Design Thinking as the approach, a post-service learning survey was conducted to find out its effectiveness in making Service Learning meaningful and its comparison to their experience the previous year without the Design Thinking approach.

Additionally, a focused group discussion was conducted to probe more deeply into students’ experiences and feelings towards their project.

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Results Analysis and Findings

Pre-Service Learning Survey Findings (Annex A)

Prior to introducing to students Design Thinking and the scope of their service learning project for 2020, students were asked to respond to a list of survey questions which aimed to find out how they felt towards service learning based on their existing experiences.

A majority of students were able to articulate the purpose of Service Learning, and some broad themes that have surfaced include the idea of being able to serve the community and the service learning experience as an essential part of character building. A small handful provided responses that showed apathy and indifference such as to obtain VIA points.

All students were largely able to describe the service learning experiences they have had throughout their educational journey, and were asked to rate how meaningful those experiences were (see Figure 3 below). The team decided to use a 6-point scale to avoid responses that suggest neutrality.

Figure 3: Students’ rating of how meaningful their previous Service Learning experience was on a scale of 1 to 6

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19.1% of the respondents indicated a three and below. These students rationalised that their experience had not been meaningful as they saw the experience as something that was forced upon them, took up their time, and it did not align to their interests. In response to the question, ‘What would be considered a meaningful service learning experience to you?’ three broad themes emerged from these students’ responses.

Themes

Responses

Uncertainty

-

I'm not sure

Having greater ownership

-

Something that helps us for our daily life or something that will relate to the future, and possibly something that'll interest the whole class (like we can pick from three options, etc.), so that there won't be a problem with the lack of initiative.

Raising awareness of current issues like mental health and the acceptance of LGBT in the wider community

-

Design of service learning task

-

Something that can change my perspective on things if we learnt new and exciting things

Students who indicated the rating of 4 and above rationalised that the interaction they had with the beneficiary made the event meaningful as well as being able to spend quality time with friends.

Some also indicated that they find value in being able to serve the community.

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In response to the question, ‘What would be considered a meaningful service learning experience to you?’ three broad themes emerged from these students’ responses.

Themes Being able to interact with others

Responses -

Being able to serve the community

-

-

Being able to spend time with friends

-

Being able to learn something

-

Being able to build lasting connections with the groups of people i am helping and helping less fortunate people When the residents are happy when they see us.

Being able to spend time with my friends while doing good deed. being able to impact people's life in a meaningful way like being able to bring a sort of happiness to them Where I learn values, help the society and have fun with my friends Helping the society in contributing or helping to big events I think that service learning projects are always meaningful because it is always about us, contributing back to society and the people around us.

Being able to spend time with my friends while doing good deed. when my class laughs together One that the whole class would be fully engrossed in, the class enjoying it and making it memorable. something that we can all learn from at the end of the VIA We got learnt something from the event.

With the above data in mind, the team decided to scope the project such that it allowed students to have more leeway in deciding on the products they wish to create based on the Design Thinking framework to build greater ownership.

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Post-Service Learning Survey Findings (Annex B)

After the completion of their service learning project, the students were asked to do a post-service learning reflection.

In response to the question, ‘How meaningful was the Service Learning experience for you?’ 63% of the students found it meaningful and very meaningful.

Figure 4: Students’ rating of how meaningful their current Service Learning experience was on a scale of 1 to 5

5% of the respondents indicated a two and below. In response to the question on the factors that contributed meaning to the process, being able to work with friends seems to be a common denominator. On the other hand, responses that revealed explanations on why the experience was not meaningful, most of the students provided responses that either do not show logic or highlighted the idea of a lack of time in seeing the project to completion. Despite that, 1.1% revealed that they felt more empathetic towards the migrant workers.

Post-Service Learning Focused Group Discussion

A focus group discussion was conducted based on the data collected from the post Service Learning survey. Students were randomly selected and identified for this discussion in order to glean a deeper understanding of their learning process. A series of questions were asked progressively to get students to share more on the service learning process, their thoughts and feelings towards the project, reflect on how it has/has not been meaningful, and so on.

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Categories Meaningful

Quotes (From students)/ Responses -

-

-

-

Being more empathetic

-

Less meaningful due to the lack of interaction with the beneficiary

-

-

Felt that this was a meaningful project as his class produced a notebook on places of interest that migrant workers can visit, as well as a simple book of translation. The lessons raised his awareness of the plight of the migrant workers. Felt that this year's project is more meaningful than last year's service learning project as they got to learn more deeply about the migrant workers, who are in a bad situation this year.

Felt that he has learnt a lot from this project and found it meaningful as he can empathise better with the migrant workers and the situation they are in.

Felt that she was greatly impacted by this project as she had never considered the point of view of the migrant workers prior to this. Felt that this project was meaningful to her and also considers it to be more meaningful than last year's block party as the migrant workers were in a bad state this year, and she was glad to be able to help.

Felt that this year's project is meaningful They also shared that they found this year's service learning experience more meaningful compared to last year's as they were able to raise awareness of the mistreatment of migrant workers, which they feel meant a lot more to them.

They can empathise better with the migrant workers and the situation they are in.

Felt that she was greatly impacted by this project as she had never considered the point of view of the migrant workers prior to this.

The project did make him feel more empathetic towards the migrant workers.

The foreign students feel they can empathise more deeply with what the migrant workers went through.

Felt that this year's project is meaningful, but last year's project was more meaningful as they got to interact directly with the residents in the blocks, whereas they did not get to interact with the beneficiary of the service learning project this year.

He felt that to some people in his class, they may not have found it meaningful as they are distant from the migrant workers and do not see any real impact. He strongly felt that there is too little time this year to complete the project.

[Yestin suggested that to make it more meaningful, perhaps the school could ask a migrant worker to speak to the students. Qiman suggested that perhaps in future, students could visit the dorms. Both felt that the students who were disengaged in class might have been like so as they did not find any meaning to the project, probably as they did not know

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how what they do could be impactful.]

More learning

-

They got to learn more deeply about the migrant workers, who are in a bad situation this year.

They were able to raise awareness of the mistreatment of migrant workers, which they feel meant a lot more to them.

As seen from the focused group discussion data, most of the students were better able to understand the migrant workers. Students were generally more empathetic towards the migrant workers at the end of the Service Learning Project. This could be a result of the empathy stage of the design thinking process that they were exposed to. In this stage, students get to learn about their audience (in this case, the migrant workers) by doing research on them. On top of that, students also watched video clips on migrant workers to better understand their lifestyle and problems faced. With all these, students had greater awareness of the life of the migrant workers which they believe made the service learning experience more meaningful for the students.

Discussion: Factors that contributed to students’ meaning-making process

Based on our findings, the team was able to identify key factors that contributed to students’ meaning-making process as they embark on Service Learning.

Interaction with beneficiary [or lack thereof]

A theme that is prominent through an analysis of the survey results shows that direct interaction with the beneficiary contributes to students’ sense of meaning through their Service Learning process. Due to Covid-19, there is a lack of direct engagement with the beneficiary. Consequently, some students feel a disconnect between their work and the impact of their work.

Increased awareness of beneficiary through lesson packages resulting in a shift in perspective towards the beneficiary [Empathy - Stage 1 of Design Thinking process]

Another theme that is prominent in contributing to students’ sense of meaning in their service learning project is an increased awareness of the beneficiary. The lesson resources that students went through include point-of-view narrative video that showcase the struggles of a migrant worker, news features that show how migrant workers are coping with the Covid-19 outbreak in dorms, and a short feature that shows Singaporeans reading nasty and racist comments to migrant workers. These videos, coupled with effective reflective questions that aimed to encourage perspective-taking, is an effective way to build students’ empathy and heightened their awareness of the plight of migrant workers.

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Following the increase in their knowledge and awareness of the struggles of migrant workers, students also revealed that the shift in their perspective towards the migrant workers contributed to a stronger sense of meaning throughout the Service Learning process.

This increased awareness of migrant workers and the ability to do perspective-taking commensurate with the Empathy stage of the Design Thinking process.

Peer Interaction

Another factor that contributes to students’ meaning-making process is the opportunity for peer interaction. Students are given time to share their feelings and experiences, brainstorm for ideas and refine their products. This common experience reinforces a shared experience as students strive to achieve a common goal of producing artefacts that would contribute directly/indirectly to the lives of the migrant workers.

Sense of ownership and Problem-solving skills [Define-Ideate-Prototype - Stages 2 - 4 of the Design Thinking process]

The act of creation undoubtedly gives students a sense of ownership over the project and provides them with the liberty to diagnose the needs of the beneficiary, and showcase their creativity as they work on a product that would best suit the needs of the beneficiary, bearing in mind the resources the students have in creating products that would be beneficial for the migrant workers.

Further, students were able to develop an empathic and generalised understanding of the beneficiary by mentally projecting themselves into the design process. Through the design of the prototype, they were able to synthesis the empathic understanding they developed towards the products. One example would be language card games that are created in order to help the migrant workers develop simple understanding of the basic languages spoken in Singapore.

Another example would be a storage box that was created through the empathic understanding of the living conditions of the migrant workers. This shows the intention to meet the user-centered criteria in Design Thinking. The creation of products through the process of diagnosing needs and working on products commensurate with the Define-Ideate-Prototype stage of the Design Thinking process.

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Conclusion

The factors that contributed to students’ sense of meaning during the Service Learning programme are largely aligned to the Design Thinking process. Students were able to articulate their empathy for the migrant workers, and this empathic understanding factored in their designs of the products, videos, and posters through the consideration of users’ needs.

The team managed to learn more about students’ thoughts on service learning and the factors that contribute to students’ sense of meaning through the survey and focused group discussions.

As mentioned earlier, these were largely aligned to the various stages of the design thinking process. The structured design thinking approach that the students went through indeed made learning more meaningful for the students. We expect this model to be refined in the following years.

References

Furco, A. (1996). Service-learning: A balanced approach to experiential education. Expanding Boundaries: Serving and Learning, 1, 1-6.

Kolb, David A. 1984. Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

https://www.moe.gov.sg/education/secondary/values-in-action

https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/speeches/speech-by-mr-ong-ye-kung--minister-for-educationhigher-education-and-skills--at-the-peoples-association-youth-movement-paym-servicelearning-festival-2017--at-singapore-university-of-social-sciences

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ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES FOR ACTIVE LEARNING

Using a Math-based AI-enabled adaptive learning system to provide a personalised learning experience for the students and improve conceptual understanding in Mathematics Annamalai Kumar, Vanessa Loo, WIlliam Chan, Chua Liyan, Joanna Ho, Andrew Shen, Audrey Chong

Abstract

To address the student’s learning needs in Mathematics, the team explored the effectiveness of using a Math-based AI-enable adaptive learning system that can provide a personalised learning experience for our students while also improving the student’s conceptual understanding. The team decided to use Cerebry for this study. It is an online AI tool that has adaptive learning and assessment capabilities.

For this study, specific sec 1 students were selected based on their identified learning needs. An action research approach was used in this study. A pre / post test was conducted to find out the student’s score and it was used to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach. The level of conceptual understanding attained by the students was also observed through the workings provided by the students. Initial findings showed that there is improvement in the students’ conceptual understanding and this can be observed at both the task and process level.

Introduction

Singapore in recent years has been moving rapidly in the area of ICT at all fronts. This is unavoidable given the current V.U.C.A. environment that we live in. Starting from the Smart Nation Initiatives in 2018, Singapore has been focusing on transforming various key domains including the Education. This will help to enhance our strength and overcome our physical and resource constraints. A whole-of-nation approach has been adopted to make this into a reality.

Part of the Smart Nation Initiatives looks at leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to provide personalised learning through adaptive learning and assessment. This will eventually be a key feature in the Singapore Student Learning Space (SLS) by the year 2022. Through this AIenabled adaptive learning system, it will be able to learn each student's responses, provide a customised step-by-step guide for each learner, assess students’ work automatically and include features that will help to engage and motivate the students. Students will therefore experience personalised learning based on their needs and teachers will be able to support their students more effectively through the use of data. Central to these ideas is how teachers can better customise and improve the learning experience of all students including those with learning difficulties.

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During the MOE’s committee of supply debate 2020, the learn for life movement is introduced where there will be enhanced focus on digital literacy, e-pedagogy, assessment literacy and differentiated instructions. On top of these, Education Minister Ong shared during the MOE work plan seminar 2020 that the learn for life movement will be accelerated. This would involve equipping all students with personal computing devices and normalise home-based learning.

What all of these would means is that using ICT tools to enhance the students learning experiences would be a more regular feature and having ICT tools that has features that provides personalised learning, supports differentiated instructions or enhances students self-directed learning ability would be key to ensure all students with various ability has a higher chance to succeed. These identified features led the team in exploring the use of Cerebry which has these features as a tool that can enhance the teaching and learning experiences of teachers and students.

Literature Review

Personalised Learning

The term “Personalised Learning” has been around for a long time. Traditionally, some form of personalised learning is being provided in the classroom. These would include providing small group consultation, providing with some form of differentiated instructions, scaffolding learning in the classroom etc. The issue with these is that very often, these strategies might still not work for every student at the individual level and also data such as the student’s interest, strengths and weaknesses might not be fully utilised in the planning and execution of these strategies.

Control still mainly resides with the teacher in terms of the pace of the lessons and what the students learn.

Personalised learning is an approach that aims to provide customised learning that addresses the needs of the students based on their interests, strengths, weaknesses and goals (Pane et al.

2017). According to Pane et al. (2017), personalised learning can help improve student’s achievement. Research done by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom in 1984 shows that students who received personalised instructions generally outperform those that don’t. This is actually what most if all not educators generally believe in. This is why approaches such as differentiated instructions are being used during lessons. Personalised learning in its true essence embodies the meaning of “every student matters”. This helps to bridge the inequality gap among students and bring about a more equitable education. The technological improvement made in AI allows adaptive learning programmes such as Khan Academy and Cerebry bring personalised learning to a whole new level where the system is not able to use algorithms to assess the student’s level of understanding and adjust its instructions unique to each student in order to bridge any identified gaps.

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Differentiated Instructions

According to the Elis (2018), differentiated instruction is founded on a set of beliefs where students have different readiness to learn, learning styles, interests and backgrounds. These key differences are substantial enough to warrant students being taught using different materials, at different paces with varying levels of support.

Differentiated instruction allows teachers to teach the same set of standards to a range of students. They can achieve this by providing materials of various levels of difficulty and scaffolding. This form of refinement in teaching where teachers find the most effective form of instruction to ensure that learning takes place for all students. As most classes are heterogeneous, the use of Cerebry could help meet the demands of differentiated instruction in the classroom and lighten the load of teachers.

Self-directed learning

Self-directed learning (SDL) is a natural phenomenon for everyone since birth (Gibbons, 2002).

It refers to the psychological processes of learners that purposefully direct themselves to gain knowledge and understand how to solve problems.

SDL entails three main aspects which we aim to cultivate and nurture in our students. Firstly, it develops ownership in learning as it serves as a motivation for learners to adopt different strategies, pursue a learning goal and persist in the process. Secondly, it promotes self-regulation of one’s learning through learning tasks where external feedback from a teacher or other means can guide and influence a learner’s reflection. Finally, it provides an extension of learning where the learner is in total control of what, where and how he or she can learn.

Self-directed learners usually participate more actively in learning tasks such as reading online learning material, completing classroom tasks, planning and evaluating milestones of learning. A technology-rich learning environment can provide students with great opportunities and abilities to be self-directed in their learning (Fahnoe & Mishra, 2013).

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Methods

The design of this study uses a single group pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental method.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of personalised learning on student learning outcomes for Secondary One Mathematics via Cerebry. Each individual was administered a pre- and post-test (Appendix A), once prior and another after the invention of Cerebry. The progress of each student’s learning outcome was measured based on the quantitative and qualitative improvements to their personal task and process levels respectively.

The student participants of the study comprises 9 students from the Secondary One Express stream. These students were selected based on their Weighted Assessment results. They fared poorly in the topic of prime factorisation, highest common factor and lowest common multiple, and were observed to have little relational understanding on the concepts.

They were first administered a pre-test to assess their current level of understanding of the topic.

Thereafter, they were immediately tasked to complete a series of questions with increasing difficulty in Cerebry independently. In order to progress on the ladder of difficulty, students were required to complete a specific question type twice in a row. In the event where a student was unable to proceed to the next question due to a gap in their understanding, assistance would be rendered by a teacher. Once a 50% rate of completion in the strong stage of Cerebry was achieved, student participants were administered the post-test to quantify any changes to their level of understanding on the topic.

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Results Analysis & Findings (Data-Driven Significance)

Pre-test and Post-test Quasi-Experimental Method

The pre-test and post-test results are as follows:

The results were statistically significant.

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Perception Survey

High percentage of students (83.8%) agreed that Cerebry has improved their conceptual learning in the learning of Mathematics.

High percentage of students (73.2%) agreed that feedback given by Cerebry has helped to improve understanding and students are able to correct their errors in the next attempt.

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Student Interview

One student who had been exposed to three modes of self-paced online learning (Cerebry, Quizziz and Deck Toys) was interviewed. The student shared that seeing himself accomplish each level on Cerebry motivated him to achieve the next level. However, he felt that the feedback provided by the Cerebry platform could be made more accessible for students to understand. In addition, he felt that two features on Deck Toys were more helpful for his learning. The two features were (i) the map overview that allowed him to see his progress in relation to the entire activity and (ii) the interactive elements that allowed him to challenge his friends.

Discussion (Limitations & Recommendations)

Observations: ● ●

●

Three students (i.e. Tai Chong, Guisen, and Ruo Xuan) did not require any assistance from the teacher during the completion of Cerebry.

One student, Ruo Xuan, had scored the maximum marks in both her pre- and post-test.

Main difference between both tests was that she used trial-and-error in her pre-test, and HCF in her post test. Thus, there was a significant improvement in her presentation.

Most students struggled with HCF and LCM questions only when the numbers given were 4 digits and above. This required the testing of numerous prime numbers before concluding that the number is a prime. This created great confusion amongst our students and some even gave up trying after numerous tries.

Firstly, the content needs to be vetted in three aspects. The first aspect is for the content to be aligned with the national syllabus. Based on teacher feedback, some content was beyond the national curriculum and some content that was in the curriculum was not featured in the system.

The second aspect is on the difficulty level of the content. While some questions tested on concepts that were within the syllabus, the technical difficulty was too high. For example, the numbers involved in the prime factorisation were too large. Such questions could be removed entirely or be re-categorised to be in the highest difficulty level. The third aspect is on the feedback provided by the system. As the aim is for the majority of students to be able to identify their gaps and be provided with feedback that allows them to feed forward, the feedback provided by the system needs to be aligned with the feedback provided in our textbooks.

Secondly, the system needs to include elements that encourage students to progress to the next level. This can be achieved in two ways. One way is to include game elements but this may increase extrinsic motivation rather than improve intrinsic motivation in students. The second way 60 | P a g e

is to include peer interaction elements such as allowing students to challenge one another, or to help one another. This can increase the sense of belonging within the class thereby strengthening academic tenacity, as aligned with the school’s strategic objectives.

Thirdly, while the system currently allows teachers to track student progress, it is still in its infancy as this requires the content to be fixed. During the trial, there was a revision to the content but this revision was not reflected in the student progress data thus preventing teachers from having a complete understanding of student progress.

Lastly, students are not able to go back to attempt questions for levels that they have already completed thus preventing them from using it as a revision platform. Currently, the system circumvents this issue by opening a revision module in order for students to revisit past topics.

Conclusion

The project could yield deeper results if the study was conducted over a longer period. Perhaps more classes of different streams could have been selected if there was more time. Other such software which work with Artificial Intelligence aspects could also be sourced out for the purpose of the study and the software could be vetted to see which type suits our students’ learning needs.

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References

Benjamin S. Bloom. (1984). The 2 Sigma Problem: The search for Methods of Group Instruction as Effective as One-to-One Tutoring. Educational Researcher, Vol. 13, No.6, 4-16. http://web.mit.edu/5.95/readings/bloom-two-sigma.pdf

Elis. (2018, June). Elis Research Digest: Differentiating Teaching and Learning: The Benefits and the Challenges. https://academyofsingaporeteachers.moe.edu.sg/docs/librariesprovider2/resouces-docs/elisresearch-digests-doc/elis-research-digest-vol-5-issue-2.pdf

Fahnoe, C., & Mishra, P. (2013). Do 21st Century Learning Environments Support Self-Directed Learning? Middle School Students’ Response to an Intentionally Designed Learning Environment. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Do-21st-Century-Learning-EnvironmentsSupport-to-an-Fahnoe-Mishra/0ba57aeb4a0719459dbbda42c0fa3d5cae8b819b

Maurice Gibbons. (2002). The Self-Directed Learning Handbook. Jossey-Bass.

Ministry of Education. (2020). Committee of Supply. https://www.moe.gov.sg/microsites/cos2020/

Pane, John F., Elizabeth D. Steiner, Matthew D. Baird, Laura S. Hamilton, and Joseph D. Pane.

(2017). How Does Personalized Learning Affect Student Achievement?. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2017. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9994.html

Smart nation digital government office. (2019, November). Smart Nation Singapore. National Artificial Intelligence strategy. https://www.smartnation.sg/why-Smart-Nation/NationalAIStrategy

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Appendix A

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Effect of Alternative Assessment and Improved Processes on the Learning Experience of Lower Secondary Science Students Nur Sakinah Bte Ahmad Jupri, Punitha d/o Vangadasalam, Sumithra Nair d/o Venugopal, Wendy Lee Chien Wuan

Abstract This project aims to develop standard processes in conducting alternative assessment in the lower secondary Science classes. The team works to ensure sustainable alternative assessment packages are developed for lower secondary science curriculum in the subsequent years. The assessment tasks were designed with the objective to increase the level of engagement as well as to provide the authentic learning experiences which gives students the opportunity to exercise creativity through design, collaboration and communication with fellow classmates as well as game-based learning experience.

This year, the team will be working towards enhancing the previous year’s project in reviewing our processes, rubrics and assessment to increase the level of engagement, to make the assessment more reliable. The package will focus on the Sec 1 topic of Forces and Energy and Secondary 2 on the topic of Sustainability.

Introduction Assessment for learning is a necessary process in teaching and learning cycle to give teachers the information and understanding on the progress of students’ learning. With the information obtained from the assessment, teachers could help students to ‘close the gap’ between students’ current situation and where they want to be in their learning and achievement.

One of the assessments for learning that the Northbrooks Lower Secondary Science Team are developing is the alternative assessment. This PLT project is started with the aim to study the effect of alternative assessment in students engagement and as well as students’ learning experience.

Hence, throughout this project, the team will be focusing on: 1. Work to increase the level of engagement as well as to provide the authentic learning experiences which gives students the opportunity to exercise creativity through design, collaboration and communication with fellow classmates (through project work as well) as well as game-based learning experience, and 65 | P a g e

2. To develop standard processes in conducting alternative assessment in lower secondary classes and alternative assessment package that are sustainable for lower secondary science curriculum in the subsequent years. ● reviewing AFIs from last year (process/rubrics (remove peer assessment component, remove the aesthetic component, time of 2 weeks (intervene and assess student’s work at a earlier stage) : last year no intervention, so students were complacent ● More guided worksheet this year for sec 1 ● learning and findings and to modify from our prototype and simulation (students perspective, ● pandemic management

Literature Review All teachers hope that their students can become more proactive in their learning where students could actively think about where they are now, where they are going and how to get there. In order to achieve that, teachers planned assessment tasks to help learners to ‘close the gap’ of their current progress and where they want to be in their learning (Getting Started with Assessment for Learning, 2019). There are multiple options for teachers in choosing and designing assessment tasks with the focus of obtaining information on students’ progress and to measure students’ performance. Students’ assessment is commonly associated with paper-andpen tests. However, overly administered paper-and-pen tests as quantitative measures of students’ performance can cause us to lose sight of what is valued in students’ learning. While schools are rightly concerned about whether students are learning, the question is whether evidence of learning lies only in measurement, especially by test scores (Yong, 2016).

In this project, the team studies how the design and choice of alternative assessment tasks (beyond paper-and pen) could help to improve students’ engagement in learning and to build academic tenacity in students as they progress through and solve challenges faced in their projects. Academic tenacity also is a property that can be promoted by teachers by designing suitable teaching and assessment tasks. Schools and teachers could create challenges and hold students to high standards (promoting a growth mindset and learning goals), while providing cognitive and motivational support (promoting effective self-regulation) to help them reach those standards (Dweck et al., 2014).

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Method 1. Planning This stage involves the selection of topics and tasks with the following consideration for the following objectives: a) Pose a sufficiently challenging problem to students that prompt them to collaborate in order to find solutions. b) Enable students to bridge the gap between theory and practice. c) Provide opportunity for students to self-monitor as they plan timeline and check on their progress at various checkpoints. d) Increase level of retention in students through learning by doing.

2. Crafting resources The team worked on building common resources that will be used by all lower secondary science classes for the alternative assessment that includes: a) Briefing slides to convey to students on the objectives of the projects and expectations on students for the project b) Guiding worksheets to guide students step-by-step to complete their tasks c) Assessment timeline d) Rubrics to assess project 3. Execution The team took on the role of students and designed the prototype of the car and ramp. We took note of the issues and challenges that cropped up and revised the guiding worksheet to factor in checkpoints that students can use to ensure they are on the right track.

The rubrics was modified based on the feedback received from colleagues during 2019 Learning Fest. The peer assessment component was removed to ensure fairness in assessment. Certain components and descriptions of performance were added to improve the clarity of the rubrics.

Results Analysis and Findings Due to the impact of pandemic, the alternative assessment designed this year was not able to be carried out in the classroom. Group work that is the main mode of collaboration in the project was not encouraged as part of the safe distancing measures implemented in phase 1 and early phase 2. Hence, the team is hopeful that the project designed could be implemented in the coming year.

For 2020, the teacher team has tried to role-play as students and building the project and assess the project using the design rubrics to simulate and understand the difficulties faced by students in executing the project.

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Discussion The PLT project this year is the enhanced version of the PLT project last year. Using the feedback from the project last year, the team reviewed the suitability of the filtration system and the sustainable city project conducted last year. The team also reviewed the rubrics used in assessing the topics of each of the alternative assessments. Based on the discussion of the suitability of the topics, the team decided to change the Sec 1 project from the filtration system to race car and ramp design that integrate Chapter 14 Forces and Chapter 15 Energy after considering the timing to conduct alternative assessment as well as the recency of the topic taught while maintaining the Sustainability City project for the Sec 2. The team also decided to remove aesthetic components from rubrics to only award marks based on the merit of concept and understanding as well as competency in presenting these concepts. Due to the subjectivity of peer evaluation, the team also removed peer evaluation from grading rubric but uses peer evaluation as a feedback for teachers to gauge the contribution of each individual in the team.

One of the biggest enhancements this project has compared to last year is the inclusion of Safe Management Measure (SMM) procedures for the execution of alternative assessments that mainly require group work and individual interactions. It challenged the theme to think further on how to ensure assessment can be carried out so that not short-change students’ learning but at the same time maintain safe distancing among individuals.

Conclusion This project had given students more opportunities to apply their learning in the form of prototypes and models building. Students enjoyed the experience of designing their prototypes, managing time, resolving conflict from differing opinions, and etc. which are skills that go beyond Science concept. In conclusion, the project provides students with the authentic learning experience, opportunities to design and build prototypes using pre-existing knowledge, opportunities to manage time and deadlines as well as to collaborate with others. These opportunities help students to build skills and improve engagement.

References Dweck, C., Walton, G., & Cohen G. (2014). Academic tenacity: Mindsets and Skills that promotes Long Term Learning. pp. 2–43. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

‘To Measure is not Enough’,Singteach, issue59-bigidea, accessed 11 June 2019 ‘Getting started with assessment for learning’, Cambridge Assessment International Education, accessed 11 June 2019

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DEVELOPING ACADEMIC TENACITY FOR ACTIVE LEARNING

Examination of students’ perception of Reading Circles on reading motivation Wright Yina, Vanishree Vengadasalam, Aryssa Ngoh

Abstract This study examined students’ perception of the impact of Reading Circles in enabling them get through an assigned reading text. The study is informed by the school’s Reading Programme, Wentzel (1998), The Skillful Teacher (2008), and Wheeler (2018). Student feedback on their reading progress was gathered and analysed before and after the lesson with Reading Circles.

Students’ comments were also sought on whether having Reading Circles would encourage them to read or to help them along in their reading journey. Based on the post-lesson data received, we found that students had indeed read more of the novel that they were assigned after the implementation of Reading Circles. However, their willingness to discuss the book in Reading Circles is still hindered by other factors that are not within the locus of control of this programme.

Introduction In Northbrooks Secondary School, there is a reading programme for all levels called ‘Drop Everything and Read’ (DEAR) Time. This programme is carried out within the timetable and carves out time for students to read an English Language novel for a 25-minute period every Tuesday morning from 7.35am to 8am. Students are provided with a set novel, based on their level and stream, at the beginning of the year. English Language teachers also prepare in-class activities based on the novel to engage students and check their reading progress over the semester.

What was noticed about the DEAR Time programme was that even with structured reading time, students’ reading progress of the novel was often very unequal. Students who naturally enjoyed reading would have finished reading the novel within the month while others struggled to even begin reading. This resulted in difficulties engaging students fully during the in-class activities that were based on the novel.

Hence, a study was conducted on how Reading Circles could be used to encourage reading and help to uplift the general reading progress of the student population as a whole.

Literature Review Relationship between peer groups, influence, and motivation A summary done in The Skillful Teacher on group identity, responsibility and interdependence looked at the cooperative learning structures (Kagan, 1992) and cooperative models (Johnson and Johnson, 1987; Slavin, 1986) encouraging team building among students. In such groups, it was argued that students will start to recognise each other’s strengths and be able to complement 69 | P a g e

and learn from each other. Several activities are suggested, such as Jig-Saw and Broken Squares, to build teamwork. In other words, deliberate team building and peer groups for classroom activities might be the key to helping students feel a sense of belonging and motivation to learn.

In 1978, Lev Vygotsky theorised that having mentors or peers that can challenge students within their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) will help them internalise and also exhibit positive academic traits that are desirable. Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory speaks precisely to the human interactions involved in learning. Observational, or ‘vicarious’ learning is based upon learning by watching then ‘modeling’ or acting similarly to others (Wentzel, 1998).

Effects and influence of peer groups A study by Kindermann (1996) focused on methods for identifying children and adolescents’ peer groups, and noted that there was less stability (i.e. more turnover in members) in the peer groups of adolescents. Self-selection processes led to more homogenous groups in terms of students’ motivational levels. There was clear evidence that children who were affiliated with highly motivated groups became more motivated across time, while children who were with less motivated groups became less motivated. For adolescents, when peer groups included members from other grades, there was greater impact on their motivational levels.

According to a study done by Furrer, Pitzer, and Skinner (2014), warmth is a key feature of highquality peer relationships (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985; Parker & Asher, 1993) and highly functional classroom climates (Cabello & Terrell, 1994). When students have opportunities to talk and listen to each other, provide emotional support, share learning experiences, and develop respect, they are more likely to feel that they belong and are understood and cared for by their peers. Warm interactions with classroom peers create a climate of comfort and help meet students’ need for relatedness (Ciani, Middleton, Summers, & Sheldon, 2010; Furrer & Skinner, 2003; Martin & Dowson, 2009).

Considerations in creating teacher-determined peer groups In another study by Cooc, N., & Kim, J. S. (2017) on children’s language growth, it was found that children with lower initial language skills saw more gains when in classrooms with peers who had higher levels of language development (Justice et al., 2011; Mashburn et al., 2009). Results of the study shows that on average, students tended to report identifying peers with stronger reading achievement when asked about whom they talk to or seek help from about reading. This is important because help-seeking skills in particular contribute to student motivation, learning, and later achievement, particularly in early adolescence (Karabenick & Newman, 2006).

Hence, it was apparent that language development, reading skills, and overall academic achievement are significantly influenced by the peer groups that students are in. Given that selfselected peer groups tended to be more homogenous, this arrangement would not have worked well for the purpose of this study. Therefore, teacher-determined peer groups were created and used to facilitate productive and positive peer influences that helped uplift the general reading progress of the class. Students’ perceptions of whether this strategy has worked for them were ascertained through surveys, since students’ agency in the process of learning is key.

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Methods The main method used in this exploratory study was teacher-determined peer groups for the Reading Circle, coupled with supplementary materials for the novel (e.g. audiobooks, movie clips on YouTube) that students could access before the Reading Circle session. Pre- and postsurveys were also done to understand students’ perception of how the Reading Circle programme had worked out for them.

Participants The participants were 36 Secondary One students of mixed ability from the Normal Academic stream from one class. All of them had been assigned the novel Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief at the start of the year as part of the school-wide reading programme.

Pre-lesson survey At the start of the year, students had filled out a questionnaire that asked them to rate on a scale of 1 to 5 how much they like reading. At the end of the first term, students completed a pre-lesson survey that assessed their reading progress for Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. For students who had read more of the book, the survey also asked about their level of interest in being part of a Reading Circle. For students who had fallen behind in their reading, the survey elicited responses about the challenges they faced during reading.

Reading Circle Lesson At the start of the lesson, the teacher explained the purpose of Reading Circles and the different roles that group members would play in the discussion. The students then gathered in their assigned groups and chose the roles that interested them.

Next, the teacher introduced a specific scene from the novel that the Reading Circle discussion would focus on. Students then watched two short video clips pertaining to this scene. Students were then referred to their novels for a focused reading segment. As they did this, students individually recorded their thoughts and reactions to the reading on a worksheet using the ‘SeeThink-Wonder’ thinking routine (Appendix 1).

Once done, students began discussing the two questions posed: 1. What do you like or dislike about the scene and why?

2. How is this event/character similar to or different from your own life?

During the 25-minute discussion, scribes recorded the main points of their group’s discussions and summarised the information on a handout (Appendix 2).

Following the discussion, groups were asked to share the information they had with other groups.

To conclude, the teacher elicited a few responses from various groups and a quick discussion followed regarding the responses shared. Students were then asked to complete a post-lesson survey.

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Post-lesson survey In the post-lesson survey, students were asked how much they liked reading after having gone through the Reading Circle activity. They were also asked about their progress in reading the novel and their willingness to participate in regular Reading Circles. For students who had fallen behind in their reading, the post-lesson survey also elicited responses about the hindrances to reading they faced.

Results There are two sources of data collected for this study, namely, students’ responses through the pre- and post-surveys, and teachers’ reflections on the lesson study.

Students’ responses in pre- and post-surveys

Figure 1a

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Figure 1b (See Fig. 1a & 1b above) Based on the responses that students had given for how much of the novel they had read, it is clear that the intervention had helped to increase the amount of reading done. About 53% of students said that they had read at least half or more of the book compared to 25% prior to the intervention. It is evident that having a structured lesson to help them to read and knowing that they will have to discuss the content with their classmates helped them to begin the reading process.

Question posed: Why would you want to take part in Reading Circles?

Responses gathered: Because I would like to socialise.

As it's fun to interact with people!

It's fun and allows me and my classmates to socialise.

Because it’s fun.

Because it is fun to discuss ideas with peers.

I find it fun as we can discuss things with my friends. Normally in school, we usually do work individually.

Discussions.

It's fun and you get to share your opinions with others.

Figure 2 (See Fig. 2 above) Based on students who responded to this question, it seems that what the literature review suggested has rung true for them. The interaction, socialising, and sharing of opinions were the best part of the Reading Circle.

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Figure 3a

Figure 3b

(See Fig. 3a & 3b above) However, based on the responses garnered that chartered students’ willingness to participate in future Reading Circle activities, it is obvious that students are still somewhat hesitant about participation. Their concerns follow:

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Question posed: What concerns do you have about taking part in Reading Circles during DEAR time?

Pre-lesson survey responses gathered: Not much time to stay in school.

Being a bad listener.

Figure 4a

Question posed: What concerns do you have about taking part in Reading Circles during DEAR time?

Post-lesson survey responses gathered: What else do you do other than sharing your thoughts about the book?

I am concerned about how I cannot explain or elaborate my thoughts to friends.

How my group members explain things to me.

I will be bored.

This is something that cannot help me in my studies.

I'm not so interactive.

I hate DEAR time.

I don't like reading.

If I do, what are the advantages other than getting better English and better reading sight? And other than that, what will I get for taking part in the Reading Circle?

We couldn't get to ask questions.

No reading.

I might be a little sleepy when we read so I might not pay attention when someone is speaking/listening.

Figure 4b

(See Fig. 4a & 4b above) Students who responded to the questions in both the pre- and postlesson surveys seem to have similar concerns about being part of a Reading Circle. One concern that stands out is their fear of having nothing to share during the Reading Circle. Despite the literature review that shows how having interaction amongst peers can help to raise overall learning and language ability, some students’ concerns prevent them from being fully willing to engage in such an interaction in the first place. Hence, it would be worthwhile to take a look at whether having some teacher intervention and a controlled Reading Circle environment helps any of these students. For that, a second set of data on teachers’ reflections is referenced below.

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Teachers’ observations on lesson study During the lesson study, there was high engagement throughout the discussions and the roles that were assigned to the Reading Circle members were well-played. The provision of questions on the role cards and the See-Think-Wonder scaffolds also helped students to begin the discussion without being stumped. These measures also guided students to create positive group dynamics which are required for the success of the Reading Circle, helping them to complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Analysis and Discussion Design of lesson study on student interest and engagement during Reading Circle The intentional grouping of students, which considered factors like student reading engagement levels as well as personality differences and social dynamics in the class, helped to ensure that there were non-homogenous groups, as recommended by the literature review. The choice of questions that were used to engage students during the Reading Circle helped to extend the text to make it relevant to the students’ lives. These had a positive impact on students’ engagement levels based on teachers’ observations in class.

Effectiveness of Reading Circles in promoting general reading progress It is clear that having Reading Circles promoted general reading progress in terms of how much of the book students had read, given that there is a one-fold increase in the percentage of students who said that they had read more than half the book. Given that there are some concerns raised in the surveys that students are afraid of having nothing to say during Reading Circles, this might become an impetus for them to actually do their homework and read the novel before attending the Reading Circle. However, we acknowledge that such a motivation is not an intrinsic one and it is borne out of need from the students’ point of view.

Effectiveness of Reading Circles in promoting positive peer groups Teacher-determined peer groups used in the Reading Circle are non-homogenous, which meant that students of different abilities were put together, maximising the potential of students with more advanced reading skills coaching and mentoring those with a less advanced set of reading skills. The guided questions that were given in their role cards also helped to maintain positive group dynamics. It is clear through the teachers’ observations of the lesson study that students do benefit from such an arrangement and that they all felt like they could be part of it. However, it was noted that there are still some students who are concerned about their inability to contribute during Reading Circles, as pointed out in the pre- and post-lesson surveys.

Conflicting student perceptions and willingness to participate in future Reading Circles As mentioned previously in the results of the pre- and post-lesson surveys, it seems like students continued to have concerns about participating in Reading Circles despite what was observed in the lesson study and the positive responses provided as to why they would like to participate in Reading Circles.

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Findings and Conclusions Usefulness of Reading Circles in promoting general reading It is evident in students’ behaviour during the lesson study and the post-lesson survey results that Reading Circles do have a positive impact on promoting general reading. The peer pressure of having to contribute during the Reading Circle activity motivates them to prepare themselves for it.

Support for Reading Circle discussions The support that was given during the lesson was useful in ensuring that everyone had something to say. It promoted a sense of inclusiveness and belonging, even for students who might not have been that well-prepared or had a lower reading ability. This should be continued for future Reading Circles to ensure that the positive group dynamics can be extended. Hopefully in the long run, this will achieve the goal of having students being intrinsically motivated to read.

Students’ willingness to participate in Reading Circles voluntarily Students in the class were clearly not too keen about volunteering for Reading Circles yet, as found in the post-lesson survey results. However, caution has to be applied here: there was only one session of Reading Circles done and it was something that was out of students’ usual comfort zone. A few more sessions of Reading Circles and similar levels of engagement during the session will encourage more students to open up and be willing to participate voluntarily in the future.

Limitations and Recommendations The sample size of this PLT study is small, with only 37 students. Furthermore, not all of them chose to answer all the questions in the survey. Due to the small sample size, it is difficult to make reliable conclusions on the effectiveness of having Reading Circles on the long term impact on students’ reading ability. However, it can be concluded that even a single session of Reading Circle has a positive impact on the general reading progress of students.

Potential Future Work This study can be described as an exploratory study that could benefit from a second trial with a larger sample size across different levels and streams for an extended period of time. Potentially, this study can be continued with the same batch of students and their peers of the same level next year. Results could then be cross-referenced with this year’s study for further insights on the benefits or drawbacks of having more Reading Circle sessions on the same novel. Reading Circle sessions can also be introduced to Literature students for reading their Literature texts informally, out of the context of a Literature classroom. Hopefully, Reading Circles will be able to guide students to discover the joy of reading through interactions with peers on a text.

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References Brookfield, S. D. (2015). The skillful teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom. John Wiley & Sons.

Ciani, K. D., Middleton, M. J., Summers, J. J., & Sheldon, K. M. (2010). Buffering against performance classroom goal structures: The importance of autonomy support and classroom community. Contemporary educational psychology, 35(1), 88-99.Furrer & Skinner, 2003 Cooc, N., & Kim, J. S. (2017). Peer influence on children’s reading skills: A social network analysis of elementary school classrooms. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(5), 727.

Furrer, C. J., Skinner, E. A., & Pitzer, J. R. (2014). The influence of teacher and peer relationships on students’ classroom engagement and everyday motivational resilience. National Society for the Study of Education, 113(1), 101-123.

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1987). Learning together and alone: Cooperative, competitive, and individualistic learning. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Wentzel, K. R. (1998). Social motivation: Understanding children's school adjustment. Cambridge University Press.

Karabenick, S. A., & Newman, R. S. (Eds.). (2006). Help seeking in academic settings: Goals, groups, and contexts. Routledge.

Kindermann, T. A., McCollam, T. L., & Gibson, E. (1996). Peer networks and students’ classroom engagement during childhood and adolescence. Social motivation: Understanding children’s school adjustment, 279-312.

Slavin, R. E. (1986). Best-evidence synthesis: An alternative to meta-analytic and traditional reviews. Educational researcher, 15(9), 5-11.

Wheeler, R. (2018, August 08). Reading Buddies. Retrieved September 17, 2020, from https://www.edutopia.org/article/reading-buddies

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Northbrooks PE Resilience Program Au Lai Fei, Eng Sze Sean, Taufiq Bin Sanusi, Timothy Chong

Introduction This program is a collaboration between The Positive Movement and Northbrooks Secondary School. The objective of the program is to use Physical Education as a platform to equip students with emotional regulation skills, to support them in creating greater resilience in life.

During PE sports and games lessons, it is common sight to see some students straying off task after being tasked to practice a new skill. This is because students are generally more interested in instant gratification and do not innately possess the growth mind-set to combat against constant failure at a challenging task, especially at the early phase of learning a new skill. Most students are interested to play games, but are not willing or unable to understand the resilience that has to go into learning the skills as it is a means before the game can be played to a level of intrinsic enjoyment.

One reason attributing to this lack of resilience of students to augment their skills is due to a lack of emotional agility – the ability of a person to regulate his/her emotions in any situation so that they are driven to perform at their personal best.

To further explore how we can improve our students’ resilience, our team of PE teachers collaborated with The Positive Movement to explore the use of Physical Education as a platform to equip students with emotional regulation skills, to develop their resilience in the sport, and at a wider level, to support them in creating greater resilience in life.

Before our team of PE teachers could implement our interventions. We equipped ourselves through workshops focused on emotional awareness and regulation skills.

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We then further explored synergising the use of 3 carefully chosen Positive Psychology Interventions (PPI) with our PE Games Concept Approach Pedagogy in our Volleyball lessons.

With a greater focus on the affective domain of our lesson outcomes, our students were introduced to the Emotional Palette and Thermometer, Diet of Positive Emotions and Strength Spotting Tool in a progressive manner spanning a period of 10 weeks.

6 Secondary 3 classes were part of our study, with 3 of the classes being the control group and the other 3 being the target group.

Literature Review Benefits of building resilience Everyone will face challenges and stressors in their lives, but not everyone is equipped to handle them equally. Having resilience is what differentiates those who flourish from those who crumble.

Reivich and Shatte (2002) posit that one can be resilient in some areas in their lives, but not every area, hence everyone has room to develop greater resilience in their lives. One of the key benefits of teaching students resilience skills has been to lower the risks of depression. A meta-analysis involving 2498 youth aged 8 to 18 years old, showed that youth who had gone through resilience training reported lower levels of depressive symptoms compared to youth who did not undergo any resilience training (Brunwasser, Gillham, & Kim, 2009). In our world today, in spite of new opportunities and greater economic growth, more children are experiencing higher levels of pessimism, sadness and even depression (Seligman, Reivich, Jaycox, & Gillham, 2007).

Resilience outcomes have been observed for decades and continue to be assessed empirically world-wide. The first work of the Penn Resiliency Program, now a documented successful program, was targeted at children from 10 to 14 years old, as the first onset of depression typically occurs at about age 15 years old.

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It is with this consideration that we chose Secondary 3 students, across the 3 academic streams (Express, Normal Academic and Normal Technical), who are aged 14-15, as participants of our study.

Factors contributing to resilience Reivich, Seligman and McBride (2011) wrote that in order to build resilience, one must develop six core competencies. Specifically, they are self-awareness, self-regulation, optimism, mental agility, strengths of character and connection. These six core competencies provide the guiding framework for their research-based curriculum, the Penn Resiliency Program (PRP) which has been utilized and empirically validated in schools in the US and Australia, as well as adapted for a resilience training program in the US military.

Why begin with teacher training Benard (2002) supports this perspective and writes that teachers who largely contributed to students’ resilience did so in three key ways: 1) Caring relationships where they satisfy students’ needs of love and belonging. This includes providing loving support where they gave unconditional love to the students, respected them and showed compassion to them. 2) Setting high expectations for the students3) Creating opportunities for participation and contribution.

Hence, The Positive Movement proposed that the program begin with the core team of teachers being trained in emotional awareness and regulation skills in order to effectively deliver the content in their PE lessons

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Program design

The teaching of psychomotor skills and promoting physical fitness remain the focus of the Volleyball lessons. At the same time, Volleyball provides a natural context for the integration of positive interventions, given the dynamic and social nature of the team sport. With that in mind, the following considerations were taken in the design of the program: 

As resilience is a broad competency, a conscious decision was taken to limit the interventions to look at emotional regulation specifically.



Given the constraint of time and resources, positive interventions are chosen based on the ease of implementation, and whether they would fit naturally in a PE lesson.

3 positive interventions, which were gradually introduced in stages, were included in the program: 

Emotional Palette & Thermometer – A tool designed to create awareness of and keep track of students’ well-being and emotions.



Diet of Positive Emotions – The introduction of activities that would intentionally cultivate positive emotions in the context of sports and games.



Strength Spotting – A tool / activity for students and teachers to affirm the character strengths of the other students in the class, in the context of sports and games.

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The 3 positive interventions were meant to achieve the following: 

Create a greater sense of self-awareness by getting students into the habit of noticing their moods and emotions. The interventions were also designed to develop the foundational skills of labelling their emotions accurately and uncovering the accompanying narratives.



Create a sense of self-efficacy among students by teaching them to pay attention to their strengths and positive emotions can be intentionally cultivated. This serves to instil a belief that they have control over their well-being, thereby increasing their locus of control.

To supplement the meaningful journaling of the PPIs, teachers teaching the targeted classes also made mindful efforts to ask questions that allowed students to be more aware of their emotions and to practice emotional regulation during their lessons.

For the purpose of the research, students’ self-reported behavioural and attitudinal changes in “Emotional Regulation” were tracked over 10 weeks.

Methods Planning of program timeline and selection of accompanying PE pedagogy 10 sessions of PPI-infused PE lessons were carried out over a period of about 10 weeks with 3 targeted classes.

For standardisation purposes, Volleyball was chosen as the sport to be taught for all the targeted classes. A list of similar volleyball activities and drills were also created for teachers teaching the targeted classes to use to ensure consistency in the lesson content.

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The Games Concepts Approach was adopted for all targeted classes as the accompanying PE pedagogy as this approach had a practice–gather and provide feedback–practice lesson structure which was a good fit for our intended interventions. Between the practice segments, instead of focusing just on the cognitive and physical objectives of the lesson, the teacher was to also emphasize on the affective (emotional regulation) aspect as well.

The 10 sessions were broken down into 3 phases with the PPI tools being introduced progressively in this order - Identifying Emotions, Understanding Emotions, Understanding and Regulation of Emotions. A table of how the PPI tools was introduced is shown on the next page.

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Session

1

Practice / Action

Things To Note

Administration of Pre-Intervention Survey (All Groups) • Go through the 10 emotions and explain what they mean.

• State the objectives of the "Emotional Thermometer & Palette" exercise.

• Explain how to fill in the worksheet.

Emotional Thermometer & Palette • Create psychological safety by reassuring the student that (i) it is ok to experience emotions, even the negative ones, (ii) you are genuinely interested in understanding how they feel, and (iii) you are not here to judge or fix them.

Emotional Thermometer & Palette

• Recall the objectives of the exercise and how to fill in the worksheet briefly.

• Go through the 10 emotions again (if necessary).

• Create psychological safety.

3

Emotional Thermometer & Palette

• Mini Debrief (5 min): At the end of the lesson, (i) reiterate the importance of understanding emotions and (ii) explore the "Why" behind their emotions, to try to get students to see their thinking patterns and why they feel certain ways.

• Create psychological safety.

4

Emotional Thermometer & Palette + Positive Emotion Diet

• Explain "Positive Emotions".

• State the objectives of the "Positive Emotions Diet" exercise.

• Explain how to fill in the Positive Emotion Diet worksheet.

• Create psychological safety.

5

Emotional Thermometer & Palette + Positive Emotion Diet

• Recall the objectives of the "Positive Emotions Diet" exercise.

• Go through the importance of "Positive Emotions" again briefly.

• Create psychological safety.

2

6

7

8

9

10

• Mini Debrief (5 min): At the end of the lesson, (i) reiterate the benefits of positive emotions and (ii) explore briefly how easy or difficult it is for them to Emotional Thermometer & Palette + access positive emotions, and how they can apply the skill of harnessing Positive Emotion Diet positive emotions to other areas of their lives.

• Create psychological safety.

Mid-Point Administration of Survey (Experimental Groups Only) • Explain what "Character Strengths" are and its importance.

Emotional Thermometer & Palette + • State the objectives of the "Strength-Spotting" exercise, and how to do it.

Positive Emotion Diet + Strength • Create psychological safety by reassuring the student that it is ok to talk Spotting about strengths, we shouldn't laugh at people's strengths and no one strength is "more useful" than another.

Emotional Thermometer & Palette + • Recall what "Character Strengths" are and its importance.

Positive Emotion Diet + Strength • Create psychological safety.

Spotting • Mini Debrief (5 min): At the end of the lesson, (i) reiterate the importance Emotional Thermometer & Palette + of strengths and (ii) explore whether it has been easy using their strengths, Positive Emotion Diet + Strength and how they can practice them more in other areas of their lives.

Spotting • Create psychological safety.

Final Debrief with Students Questions TBC Administration of Post-Intervention Survey (All Groups)

Table 1 -

Schedule of Positive Psychology Interventions

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Sport Selection Volleyball was chosen as the sport to be taught across for all the targeted groups due to a few reasons.

Unlike more widely played sports like football, basketball and badminton, many of our secondary school students would not have had a chance to play volleyball prior to their PE lessons in Secondary 3.

This creates a level playing field in terms of learning a new sport (and its skills) for majority of the students as they would have close to no knowledge of the sport.

Secondly, Volleyball is a sport that most students will find difficulty in learning well. The seemingly simple task of keeping the volleyball in the air for more than 3 consecutive passes in a team of 5 is not easily achievable for most of our students. It requires a lot of perseverance to keep practicing the underhand pass repeatedly for them to attain success.

Thirdly, being a team sport, the learning of volleyball skills provides an authentic environment for students to practice emotional regulation as they have to rely not only themselves, but also on each other’s skills in order to play the game better.

It is with these 3 main factors that volleyball was chosen as the sport to be taught.

Selection of Targeted Classes and Teachers With the lesson content and structure being standardised to create an environment as similar as possible across the 3 classes, we then chose 3 classes out of the 6 Secondary 3 classes across 3 different streams to study if any effect of our interventions was consistent across students from different streams.

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The targeted classes were also provided with similar venues for their lessons so as to reduce variations in behaviour that may result from a change of lesson environment.

Class/Stream 3F/Express 3E/Normal (Academic) 3D/ Normal (Technical)

Teachers Mr Timothy Chong Mr Eng Sze Shean Mr Timothy Chong Mr Sanjay Mr Sanjay Ms Siti Nadiah

Table 2 - Table of targeted classes and their respective teachers

All the teachers went through a workshop with the Positive Movement to equip themselves with emotional awareness and regulation skills in order to effectively deliver the required Positive Psychology infused content in their PE lessons.

Mr Timothy Chong and Mr Sanjay were also chosen as the overlapping teachers to, again, maintain consistency as much as possible and to synchronise the best updated PPI practices across the 3 targeted classes during the 10 week period.

Consideration of Data to be collected 

Pre, Mid and Post Intervention Survey

A survey, prepared in the form of a self-report tool was administered to the targeted classes at 3 check points (pre, mid and post intervention) during our program.

The other Secondary 3 control classes also completed the survey twice at the start and end of the 10-week period.

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The focus of these surveys were to get an indicator of our students’ emotional awareness and whether they were able to apply what they have learnt to improve their emotional state and thus continue to sustain or increase their engagement in lessons in spite of setbacks.

The 6 questions of the survey are:

1) I can identify my emotions accurately.

2) I know how my emotions affect me.

3) I am aware of my thinking patterns.

4) I am aware of how my thinking patterns affect my emotions.

5) I can harness positive emotions to help me focus on a task.

6) I have control over my well-being.

Students rated their quantitative responses to their questions on a Likert Scale of 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree).



Online Journaling of the PPI Tools

Students record their qualitative 3 PPI Tool (Emotional Palette, Diet of Positive Emotions and Strength Spotting) responses in Google Forms. The students’ responses serve as both a journal for self-reflection and as qualitative feedback for their PE teachers to assess their growth in their emotional awareness and understanding.

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Results Analysis and Findings

Significant Tests

This is a two-tailed test, with the null hypothesis that the interventions have no effect on students’ ability to identify, regulate and shift their emotions. The significance level used here is 0.05.

Target Group A paired-sampled t-test was conducted to a target group of students with 76 observations to compare their emotional awareness before and after intervention. There was a significant difference in responses for before (M=14.2, SD=9.14) and after (M=15.7, SD=6.84) with p = 0.00157. These results suggest that the intervention had a positive effect on the students’ emotional awareness.

A paired-sampled t-test was conducted to a target group of students with 76 observations to compare their ability to work with emotions before and after intervention. There was a significant difference in responses for before (M=6.57.2, SD=2.73) and after (M=7.43, SD=2.92) with p < 0.0001. These results suggest that the intervention had a positive effect on the students’ ability to work with emotions.

A paired-sampled t-test was conducted to a target group of 76 students to compare their ability to identify, regulate and shift emotions before and after intervention. There was a significant difference in responses for before (M=20.8, SD=15.5) and after (M=23.2, SD=15.7) with p <

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0.0001. These results suggest that the intervention had a positive effect on the students’ ability to identify, regulate and shift emotions.

Target vs Control Since many factors could have affected students’ emotions, hence it would not be objective to assume that positive changes are due to the intervention. Therefore, the results for the control group have to be taken into consideration. Assuming that the best effort was being put to ensure all other factors that may possibly affect the results (e.g. IQ, confidence, socio-economic background, age, gender, treatment by teachers) are controlled and the only difference between the two groups is the intervention, the results of the target group will then be more credible when compared with the control group.

Similar paired-sampled t-tests were conducted to a control group of 75 students with no intervention. The results are presented in Table 1 alongside with the results of the targeted group.

Group

Students

Emotional Awareness

Working with Emotions

Total

Change in Mean

p

Change in Mean

p

Change in Mean

p

Target

76

1.51

<0.0001

0.868

<0.0001

2.38

<0.0001

Control

75

1.08

0.0007

0.299

0.208

1.25

0.0017

Table 3 Change in Mean and p values for Target and Control Groups

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The target and control groups reported an increase in mean values in emotional awareness, working with emotions, and overall ability to identify, regulate and shift their emotions. The increased mean values are notably higher for the target group. All the p value for the target group are significant (<0.05) and lower than the control group while the p value for the control group indicated significance only for emotional awareness, and overall ability to identify, regulate and shift their emotions.

Therefore, with reasonable confidence, the intervention proved to have a positive impact on the students’ ability to identify, regulate and shift their emotions to a large extent.

Qualitative perspectives The intervention was not designed from the start with the intention of having qualitative research elements. The primary interest was whether there was a change in students' (self-reported) ability to identify, regulate and shift their emotions (“Emotional Regulation”) as a result of positive interventions. I.e. it was meant to be a quantitative research.

With this mind, the purpose of further qualitative analysis is not to prove (or disprove) the original hypothesis, but to add layers of narrative and nuances to the original (quantitative) research finding, to deepen the understanding of what happened during the intervention.

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The responses from the various tools create a rich layer of narrative that supports the understanding of how students understand emotions. While the responses can be used to support the claim that students are aware of emotions, it is still not appropriate to assume that the intervention worked (or not) or that changes have occurred as a result of the intervention.

A focused group discussion was designed with the above considerations - to find out if there are other aspects of learning about emotions not captured in the quantitative data. The following are the main 4 findings, which are elaborated in section 4.2.2. (i)

Students find it difficult to talk about emotions.

(ii)

Students acknowledge that learning occurred during the recent PE

lessons, and

they have become more aware about their emotions. (iii)

Students do not find the learning relevant to their lives now and find it challenging to apply what they learn to their lives.

(iv)

Students are pleasantly surprised at some of the changes around them.

Students’ responses during the Interventions The students were asked to document their responses to questions about their emotions and actions during the intervention.

(i)

Emotion Thermometer

It is clear that students are now aware that intentional efforts can be made to nurture and cultivate positive emotions. Whether their own interventions work eventually, and whether the skill is transferrable to other areas of their lives is yet to be determined.

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“Confidence - haha brrbrr dont be all fumbly and fidgety when serving/receiving because we're constantly learning from our mistakes n no ones gonna judge us for the mistakes we made. at least we did our best yes” “Joy - I will try to find things to do that make me happy especially later when playing volleyball, i can release my stress.”

(ii)

Emotion Palette

Students have demonstrated the ability to articulate how they felt. Although they could be more precise in describing the actual event and how it led to the emotion, the fact that they could talk about an event and connecting it to the emotion accurately is encouraging. However, whether this demonstrated ability is a direct result of the intervention is yet to be determined.

“Frustration - Math test seems difficult. I want to pass my math test because i have never pass math test before.”

“Gratitude - i appreciate the fact that i have an understanding PE teacher who guide me on volleyball and make me improve on my skills. Thank you Mr Sanjay!”

(iii)

Strength-Spotting

Students have demonstrated their ability to affirm one another of their strengths. It is also clear they are paying more attention to their strengths and can choose to act in accordance with their strengths.

“Patience - Someone in my group was being a tad to annoying for me but i just kept quite instead of telling her to shut up cuz I'm so forgiving :)” 93 | P a g e

“Bravery - i exhibited bravery when i tried to serve even when it was nerve racking as i didnt want to disappoint both the team and the opposing team, as they were really good and the game was high paced.”

Secondary Analysis & Focus-Group Discussion From the students’ responses during the intervention, it is evident that there is awareness of emotions and strengths. While the quantitative data shows that the self-reported positive changes are of significance, further questions regarding the actual and specific learning as a result of the intervention remain. The nature of the change, as well as the application, transferability and sustainability of learning are of interest, although they are not within the scope of the original research and intervention.

On this note, 2 x 1-hour focus-group discussions were held to examine the qualitative aspect of students’ learning when it comes to emotions. Students were asked the following questions.

1.

On a scale of 1 (never) to 10 (all the time), how often do you talk about

emotions?

Why this number?

2.

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of

emotions?

3.

On a scale of 1 (“I have learned nothing.”) to 10 (“This is the best

learning of my life!”),

rate the statements in terms of how much new

learning you had. Why did you give that

number? a.

I can identify my emotions accurately.

b.

I know how my emotions affect me.

c.

I am aware of my thinking patterns.

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d.

I am aware how my thinking patterns affect my emotions.

e.

I can harness positive emotions to help me focus on a task.

f.

I have control over my well-being.

The following are the findings from the discussions.

(i)

Students find it difficult to talk about emotions.

Most of the students reported that the frequency at which they would talk about their emotions with the people around them is low. Many students would rather talk about emotions with their friends than with their family members, and almost half said that they would prefer to keep to themselves for various reasons, including a general discomfort talking about emotions, a fear of judgement, a fear of imposition, and not having people who would be willing to listen to them and take them seriously.

(ii)

Students acknowledge that learning occurred during the recent PE

lessons, and

they have become more aware about their emotions.

Students noticed and acknowledged that PE lessons have become different, with teachers talking more about emotions. While they may not enjoy the change, they acknowledged that learning has taken place. Some of these learnings include: 

“I'm aware that my emotions can affect how I behave but I can't quite control a bit.”



“I think more about what I'm feeling and try to express it better with actions.”



“There is a slight difference because when the PE teachers are talking about emotions, we started to focus more about our emotions”

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Students were also asked to rate and rank their learning in the following 6 areas. The ranking is as follows.

1. I can identify my emotions accurately.

2. I know how my emotions affect me.

3. I have control over my well-being.

4. I can harness positive emotions to help me focus on a task.

5. I am aware of my thinking patterns.

6. I am aware how my thinking patterns affect my emotions.

This aligns well with the findings from the students’ responses earlier, that there is greater awareness about emotions, and that emotions can affect the self. Students also paying more attention to emotions with the greater emphasis during lessons.

On the other hand, the awareness of their thinking patterns remains something that students are unsure about.

(iii)

Students do not find the learning relevant to their lives now and find it challenging to apply what they learn to their lives.

The students recognised that they would like to have better relationships and be able to manage themselves better. However, they also expressed the opinion that they do not see the relevance of learning about emotions, and how it would help them at this stage in their life. There seems to

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be a disconnect between the learning of emotions and the application of these skills, beyond an intellectual understanding. (iv)

Students are pleasantly surprised at some of the changes around them.

Students also expressed pleasant surprise about the effects of the intervention beyond the official learning. They noticed that teachers are paying more attention to them, and seem to be more caring towards them, simply because they would ask them how they feel. The changes to the social environment, and the noticeable attitudinal changes on the part of the teachers, are likely to have been a significant positive factor that supported the intervention.

Discussion Children moving towards adolescence experience challenges that require effective skills to cope with the increasing complexities of life. They need resilience to cope with stress that may stem from family or school demands and expectations as well as coping with stress that may be perceived from inter-personal relationships. With the use of Positive Psychology Intervention (PPI) focusing on emotional regulation, it has been documented that cultivating and maintaining positive emotions yield important advantages in the coping process towards negative or stressful experiences. (Tugade & Fredrickson, 2007)

Emotional regulation refers to the attempts to influence the types of emotions people experience, when they experience these emotions and how these emotions are expressed and experienced.

(Gross, 1998) The PE Team at Northbrooks Secondary School could see that emotional regulation skills has a strongly related to the affective development of students in learning a sports skill in PE. It was felt that emotional regulation skills that could draw on students’ positive emotions would be the spark 97 | P a g e

that enhances individual motivation to persist at developing a games skill to the best of his or her potential. This would be observed as the student being more resilient or displaying learning tenacity.

The Northbrooks PE Team engaged The Positive Movement (TPM) to collaborate in this project to provide coaching and guidance for the teachers and to assist in designing the project to align to a PE and sports context. As mentioned earlier, there are very few scholarly articles that specifically link positive emotion and sports.

As mentioned earlier in this project, TPM proposed that the program begin with coaching the core team of teachers in emotional awareness and regulation skills. In addition, the project design also included a scheduled observation by TPM of PE lessons in progress to identify if the desired teacher actions are demonstrated in the lessons.

The positive interventions were aimed at achieving a greater sense of self-awareness as well as create a sense of self-efficacy among students and is supported by studies that increased selfawareness in students and ability to appraise themselves more positively influences how they respond to stressors and utilize coping skills (Brooks, 2006). When people become aware of their personal characteristics, they are in a better position to appraise the environment and its demands.

(Park, Cohen and Murch 1996) It should also be noted that in addition to the considerations mentioned earlier on choosing the game of Volleyball to facilitate the development of emotional regulation skills, the lessons were also arranged to be carried out indoors. It was felt that students would not have to cope with conditions that may arise from playing outdoors such as tolerating strong sunlight, warm weather or lessons being cancelled due to rain and hence perceive negative emotions. As such the 10 planned lessons could also be carried out as scheduled without interruption.

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Recommendations Considerations for Individual differences in Trait resilience Trait resilience is described as the general tendency to modify one’s responses more effectively to changing situational demands and stressful circumstances. Such individuals may expertly and ‘intelligently’ draw on positive emotions to cope in times of stress. (Tugade & Fredrickson 2002, 2004).

As the 10 PE lessons were carried out over 10 weeks, there is a possibility that there are students who developed trait resilience. This is especially since the PPIs were introduced in phases and student understanding of the different PPIs were re-inforced. In addition, students were exposed regularly to teacher actions to draw out positive emotions that it could be something they anticipate and respond to more readily after a few lessons. Individuals with trait resilience have a better ability to draw on positive emotions to cope with negative emotional experiences. For instance, trait resilient people may often use humour as a coping strategy. (Werner & Smith, 1992)

Considerations for developing coping mechanisms over time There are studies that suggest that although emotion regulation may often involve conscious processes, it may not always require awareness or explicit strategies (Gross and Munoz 1995) and individuals may develop ‘mechanisms’ that can be unconscious and automatic.

Over the 10 weeks period in this project, it is possible that there may be students who have already developed resiliency (eg: through school representation in sports competition, exposure to student leadership training), to a level where cultivating positive emotions when coping can become an automized behaviour with repetition and may be likened to mastering a technique,

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procedure or skill via repeated practice to such a degree that the skill becomes automatic. (Bargh and Chartrand 1999).

The Ideal ‘Intensity’ for PPIs and Self-Reporting Tools The current PPIs and range of self-reported items for students in this project was strongly recommended by TPM both as a new approach for PE teachers to develop baseline competency as well as not to overwhelm students with a self-reporting process that they are not accustomed to as part of PE lessons. Comparatively, studies that relate to the implementation and evaluation of resiliency programme for children (Villers & Van den Berg, 2012) report a more intensive range of self-report items. Similar to our project, the intervention programme lasted over several (15) weeks with a pre and post-test survey. This study used a Behavioural and Emotional Rating Scale using 52 self-reported items promoting emotional regulation, stress management, interpersonal skills and problem solving. In addition, there was specifically a Resilience Scale that consisted 64 self-report items. It may be relevant that to a sporting context in a future project that the Resilience Scale was focused on three areas that included sense of mastery, sense of relatedness and emotional reactivity.

It is certainly heartening that the PPIs, identified for this project proved to have a positive impact on the students’ ability to identify, regulate and shift their emotions to a large extent. Looking ahead there are considerations to conduct the same design process, keeping the above recommendations in mind on students’ resiliency towards developing age-related physical fitness standards.

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Conclusion

It is common to see some students being disengaged during PE lessons, especially when they are learning a new skill, or facing a challenge they are unfamiliar with. This observation is seen across other subject lessons as well, which makes it a cause for concern.

Integrating PPIs into PE lessons emphasizes the affective learning outcomes and levels up our students’ emotional awareness and regulation.

This results in them developing resilience.

Students become more engaged, learn more effectively and persevere towards attaining their current potential.

It is instinctive for teachers to focus on tangible lesson deliverables when conducting lessons.

However with this approach, teachers may not be able to develop their students holistically, which may be the key to students learning better.

Placing a greater emphasis on our students’ well-being and developing their resilience in the process acknowledges the efforts of our students and builds teacher-student relationships.

Improving our students’ well-being may be the key to unlocking our students’ learning potential in school.

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References

1. Bargh, J. A. & Chartrand, T. L. (1999) The Unbearable Automaticity of Being.

American Psychologist : 54 pp 462-479 2. Benard, B. (2002). From risk to resiliency: what schools can do. Portland: Western Center for Drug-Free Schools and Communities. Retrieved from http://www.tanglewood.net/projects/teachertraining/book_of_readings/benard.pd f 3. Brooks, R. B. (2006). Strengthening resilience in children and youths : Maximising opportunities through the schools. Children & Schools, 28, 69-76.

4. Brunwasser, S. M., Gillham, J. E., & Kim, E. S. (2009). A Meta-Analytic Review of the Penn Resiliency Program’s Effect on Depressive Symptoms. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77(6), 1042–1054. http://doi.org/10.1037/a0017671 5. Gross, J. J. (1998) Antecedent and response focused emotion regulation: Divergent consequences for experience, expression and physiology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology : 74 pp. 224-237 6. Gross, J. J. & Munoz, R. F (1995) Emotion regulation and mental health. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice : 2 7. Marissa de Villers, Henriette van den Berg (2007) The Implementation and Evaluation of a Resiliency Programme for Children. South African Journal of Psychology Vol 42, Issue 1, 2012

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8. Reivich, K., & Shatté, A. (2003). The resilience factor: 7 keys to finding your inner strength and overcoming life’s hurdles. New York: Broadway Books.

9. Seligman, M. E. P., Reivich, K., Jaycox, L., & Gillham, J. (2007). The optimistic child: a proven program to safeguard children against depression and build lifelong resilience (1st Houghton Mifflin pbk. ed). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 10. Park, C. L., Cohen, L. H., and Murch, R. (1996). Assessment and prediction of stress related growth. Journal of Personality. 64, 561-577

11. Reivich, K., Seligman, M. E. P., & McBride, S. (2011). Master resilience training in the U.S. Army. American Psychologist, 66(1), 25–34. http://doi.org/10.1037/a0021897 12. Tugade, M. M. & B. L. Fredrickson (2007) Regulation of Positive Emotions : Emotion Regulation Strategies that Promote Resilience. Journal of Happiness, 8 : 311-333

13. Werner, E. & Smith, R (1992) Overcoming the Odds : High Risk Children from Birth to adulthood (Cornell University Press, New York)

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Utilisation of Musical Habits as a Medium of Introducing Self-Regulation for Special Education Needs Students Anbalahan Muthusamy, Ler Kai Ming Gavin, Phoon Hwee Lee

Abstract Studies on social-emotional and motor functioning showed positive effects of music education.

The exposure to music and music education can have a positive influence on child functioning.

Research on the impact of music interventions has indicated positive effects on a variety of skills. These findings suggest musical interventions may have the potential to support educational processes and development of children. There is currently a growing body of literature that investigates the value of music therapy for people with special needs such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The research shows that music therapy builds better focus, self-control, and social skills in people with special needs.

This project looks into using music as an intervention for students with ADHD in the mainstream school to improve their social skills and self-discipline. Although full music therapy requires professional training, there are sufficient examples of cases and studies that we can base upon to develop an enhanced set of intervention procedures to assist in the development of social skills and self-discipline. Due to the constraint of the current Covid-19 Pandemic (in the year of academic year of 2020), we resolved on merely establishing the planning of the intervention and will not be carrying out the planned intervention with the students in order to minimise face to face contact. The project will look into the selection criteria of the students and the specific skills that will be targeted for the invention with the use of music.

Introduction Since a few years ago, there has been growing interest and development in the area of aesthetics-related therapies for all manner of ailments or known disabilities. Even for individuals without disabilities, the arts are generically perceived to have the ability to support holistic development regardless of student population. Aside from the economic barrier to entry of picking up and acquiring an artistic skill, the arts are mostly modes of expression, communication and serve a vehicular nature when it comes to establishing communities through identifying points of commonality. Through the lens and mouthpiece of the arts, one can project and thus find like-minded peers to rally around and support each other.

In Music, this is the norm. Whilst acquisition of skill is a lonelier, quieter, disciplined process, the utilisation demands and speaks to the need for an audience. The music making process can begin alone, yet flourishes better with others; for singers, another accompanist, or a backing singer, or perhaps a drummer for a guitarist. Naturally, the social aspect of the Music can be easily witnessed. However, there exists the other facet, or more rarely examined practice aspect of Music, which is the repetition and development of skills, in part, a skill that demands constant self-regulation to execute.

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Prior to approaching this study, this phenomena has already been observed within our students within the scope of regular music lessons. In one case, a student who had ODD tendencies appeared to increasingly improve on his cooperation with his peers and accepted instructions and suggestions for improvements better together as part of the larger group, whilst in another, a student with ASD was introduced to drumming and showed a marked reduction in restlessness, aggression and amount of noise generated during the lesson during the time he was focused on mastering the drumming pattern. However, a major drawback of these settings is that with only one teacher and a large class size, these students do not fully enjoy the effects of music or receive dedicated attention.

To develop the self-regulation and self-discipline that our study seeks, it is necessary to identify dedicated targets and establish the skills we intend to develop specifically prior to the sessions, in contrast to the regular Music lessons, which seek to teach musical skills in and of itself.

Literature Review Music Integration Therapy: An Instructional Tool for Students with Special Needs The applicability of Music Therapy was primarily studied across multiple other similar attempts as there were a number of key limiting considerations. Firstly, the actual execution of Music therapy would not be considered at all as it would require a medical or practitioner’s license to be carried out due to the definitive underpinnings of what therapy would entail. Secondly, Music therapy would first require a targeted ailment or condition that could be possibly alleviated, remediated or overcome through a rehabilitative model facilitated by the mode of practicing, engaging or listening to music.

Thus it would be more relevant to the educator’s perspective to glean insights on the topic whilst remaining in the role of an educator as the conditions of music therapy do not actually hold sway with the current school climate on the ground in Singapore.

Rodriguez (2017) notes that one angle to begin approaching this is by exploring from a social development theory perspective. She then pairs this with Gardner and Moran’s (2006) theory of multiple intelligence and brain-based learning practices. The angle pans towards the achievement and “mastery” over a skill. In the local school context, if we are able to delineate a clear aim to achieve, such as to in-build a coping routine or mechanism for an ADHD student to better limit unmitigated distractive movement in class into multiple simple tapping patterns for the student to focus upon instead, music can assist in achieving this goal. Consequently, to further build upon the social development theory concept, it will also be possible for the educator to offer platforms to recipients of such a programme to showcase their acquired mastery to their peers and peer groups to better motivate them to stick to their routines.

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Music Therapy as Intervention for ADHD A number of school based studies have linked Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with inattentiveness and disruptive behaviour in class. As a result of their behaviour, they are also more likely than their peers to not achieve their academic potential. They are also likely to have difficulties in forming deep meaningful relationships with their peers, teachers and even family. (DuPaul, Stoner, 2003). Long‐term adverse outcomes include increased risk of substance abuse (Biederman 1998), decreased vocational opportunities () and increased criminal activity (). ADHD is often comorbid with other disorders such as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD), depression and anxiety (Biederman 1992; Biederman 2006).

Because regulated behaviour can result in children leaving the school unprepared for the challenges of society, it is imperative that various stakeholders concerned with ADHD children (with behavioral challenges) put in place appropriate interventions to build self-regulation. One of the main objectives of behavioral treatment for ADHD is to enable a student to develop adequate levels of self-control (Barkley, 1990; DuPaul & Stoner, 1994). Strategies to develop self-control often focus on those that give the child or adolescent with ADHD, control over his or her condition and thus increased independence, more experiences with success, and increased resiliency (Curry, J. 2016).

Listening to music is said to have many therapeutic benefits which include the development of cognitive skills such as attention and memory (Canadian Association for Music Therapy, 2006).

Furthermore, music intervention does not require expert knowledge and is a strategy that can be easily implemented by teachers in the classroom.

A number of studies have shown the benefits of music for improving student self-regulation and attention. One such study was a single subject case study of a male teenager (Curr, J 2016).

Curry (2016) found that his subject benefited from increased attention span when listening to music (Curry, J 2016). However, Curry also noted that there were pragmatic difficulties in implementing such an intervention as it may run counter to school norms and class rules.

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Methods Criteria for Selection of students The criteria for selection will initially take a lateral approach, primarily by nomination by subject teachers for scope and nomination by needs to capture individuals previously identified in primary school settings. This will then be considered in alignment with the aims and capacities of the programme, to ensure that the nominations will benefit optimally from the programme.

ADHD and the problem of self-regulation Uniquely more so for students with ADHD, there is a need to establish self-regulation. However, this might not be as much of a priority for other students. In this case, certain sessions and ground rules might be geared towards these individuals more than the others. A clearer example is defined in Annex A, the Music Intervention Session Plan.

Juxtaposed against current intervention For students nominated through existing needs, it is understood that each individual would already be undergoing a plethora of interventions. It is thus important that there is careful evaluation if the student will further benefit from the sessions, or if it would instead confuse existing interventions. An example is that if a prior tactile self-regulation method had already been previously implemented, an aural-motor self-regulation might create more distraction in the classroom environment instead.

Formulation: Music as a method of intervention Engagement in music is something quite personal for every student and regardless of the targeted skill we intend to develop, their investment and engagement will be proportional to how well they already know the skill, how accessible or how novel it is to them. If they are adept and able to show it to their peers, students will become significantly more engaged, as is with the case if the instrument or musical genre/ idea presented to them is wholly new and fresh.

The latter form of engagement is unsustainable however, as all novelty eventually tapers out, or their peers will (and should) eventually catch up to their ability level. Thus the more sustainable of the two methods will be the aforementioned mastery over the instrument. Having a distinguishing skill or identity will give students the drive to continue investing and developing the accompanying skills of self-regulation. To further reinforce the effectiveness of this method of intervention, there might be the need to record or provide platforms of performance to acknowledge the students’ skill development.

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Analysis and Discussion Self-discipline can be considered to be the skill of self-control through exerting mental energy to overcome impulsiveness. Individuals with ADHD tend to have a deficit in self-discipline. They tend to give up easily on tasks, become quickly bored with tasks, display frequent impulsive behaviors, and have difficulty sustaining effort and attention. One quality that all of these difficulties have in common is poor impulse control.

For children with ADHD, music therapy bolsters attention and focus, reduces hyperactivity, and strengthens social skills. Music provides structure. Music is rhythm, rhythm is structure, and structure is soothing to an ADHD brain struggling to regulate itself to stay on a linear path.

Structure helps a child with ADHD plan, anticipate, and react.

Self-discipline can be cultivated through a process called repetitive practice. Individuals with ADHD tend to avoid activities that involve repetitive practice. They quickly begin to see such activities as “work” and “boring.” Therefore, they tend to have less opportunity to practice selfcontrol. The project will make use of simple musical instruments that require the students to spend time on repetitive practice during the sessions. These practices will assist the students in boosting their self-control.

Through the music intervention, we hope to achieve better focus, self-control, and social skills in students with ADHD. The students can learn to listen, take turns, and pick up on cues from the sessions.

Due to the constraint of the current Covid-19 Pandemic (in the year of academic year of 2020), we resolved on merely establishing the planning of the intervention and will not be carrying out the planned intervention with the students in order to minimise face to face contact. The project will look into the selection criteria of the students and the specific skills that will be targeted for the invention with the use of music.

Participants Social skills and self-discipline training is an important part of managing ADHD. Individual sessions or small group settings are both appropriate environments for learning these skills. We decided to select only four students so that we can have a smaller group of students for us to better focus on their needs during intervention. Four students is also a good size to role play for social skills.

We shortlist students for the program from our group of students with ADHD from the Lower Secondary. Young people often learn best by doing. Salas and Cannon-Bowers (2001) stress that ‘‘It is well documented that practice is a necessary condition for skill acquisition’’ (p. 480).

For any skills to be learned and able to be put to use, time and opportunity for practice are important factors to take into consideration. We are focusing on students from Lower Secondary so that we can observe the students over a longer period of time to determine if the skills that they learn from the program are being put into use.

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We hope to further shortlist four students from the group based on the following criteria: -

Students who are facing challenges in the social aspect in school

-

Students who experience difficulty in self-control

Sessions We are targeting to conduct four sessions for the project. After four sessions, we will conduct an evaluation on the project to determine whether the objectives have been met. Specific skills that will be targeted for the intervention with the use of music are as follow:

Self-Discipline Skills

Social Skills

·

Stop

·

Taking turns

·

Think

·

Self-introduction

·

Plan

·

Do

·

Listening

Session 1

Session 2 · Learning to get along with the group ·

Waiting for cues

Session 3 · Cope with frustration ·

Waiting for cues

Session 4 · Give and receive praise & criticism

For the program, each session is targeted to be 45 minutes. Not too long as students with ADHD will have challenges focusing if the sessions stretch too long. Routines and structures will be set up for the sessions. The students will have time to warm up during the sessions, there is not much time left for them to practice the skills.

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Conclusion Social skills and self-discipline behaviour and practices in students are observed through their daily interactions with others. We will gather feedback and observation from the students’ teachers before and after the project. The teachers will be updated on the skills that students have learned from the project. This will help to ensure that continuous additional support is provided for improvement of students’ self-discipline and social functioning after the intervention of the program to continue working towards achieving desired outcomes. Social skills are complex and take time to master. Under the right conditions most students will show improvements, it is however, difficult to improve without sufficient time and chance to practice.

References Salas, E., & Cannon-Bowers, J. A. (2001). The science of training: A decade of progress.

Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 471–499.

Whipple J. (2004). Music in intervention for children and adolescents with autism: a metaanalysis. Journal of music therapy, 41(2), 90–106. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmt/41.2.90 Rodriguez, D. (2017). Music Integration Therapy: An Instructional Tool for Students with Special Needs (Doctoral dissertation, Capella University, 2017) (pp. 20-36). Ann Arbor, Michigan: ProQuest LLC. Hadley, R. T., Hadley, W. H., Dickens, V., & Jordon, E. G. (2001). Music therapy: A treatment modality for special-needs populations. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 23, 215-221.

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Annex A: MUSIC INTERVENTION SESSION PLAN

Topic: Session 1 – Introduction

Session date: Name of student/s:

Grade level:

Venue: Music Room / Care Hub Session Objective(s): To use music as an intervention to help students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) to build their social skills and improve self-discipline through music.

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Rationale: Using Music as an intervention can help students with SEN in the following ways: It can help students with autism move past monotonic speech, or speaking robotically and in a single tone.

It can help students with ADHD focus their attention and gain executive function skills.

For students with cerebral palsy and other physical disabilities, music therapy can help with muscle relaxation and gross motor movement.

For students with dyslexia and other language-based learning disabilities, music therapy can aid memory and provide a different entry point into language and reading Assessment of Student Learning:

Materials Needed: Two sets of Tuned Percussion Tubes by Boomwhackers.

Time (min)

Sequence of Activities

Differentiate Instruction (if applicable)

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Introduction To inform the students of the session objective.

Establish Routine Rules and Guidelines of the session.

Respect others’ Personal space No one should hit anyone else with a tube without that person’s permission.

Anyone that does so will have their tube taken away from them and lose their opportunity to play.

Introducing the Boomwhackers via Video

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Video of Performance of Bach’s Prelude No. 1 Using Only Boomwhackers

https://www.fascinately.com/fascina ting/2015/04/performance-of-bachsprelude-no-1-using-onlyboomwhackers-is-fantastic/

Old Town Road on Boomwhackers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= Rb_3IAz-ano&feature=share

Pink Panther, Ghostbusters, and Wavin' Flag on Boomwhackers! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG 0jprCQ6Ak

Demonstration of the Boomwhackers Teachers will introduce the Boomwhackers and demonstrate the correct way of handling the instruments.

Care of Boomwhackers Avoid whacking abrasive surfaces, which can scratch the tubes. Avoid whacking directly on the tube's label.

Avoid use of excessive force. Exercise care with longer tubes to avoid bending them. Strike the playing surface a few inches from the end of the tube.

Clean with a soft, damp cloth. Use a mild soap if necessary. Rinse with water and dry.

Store indoors away from sunlight.

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Experiment on the Boomwhackers The students will get to try out the Boomwhackers.

Post-Instructional Session Analysis and Self-Evaluation

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Analysis of Student Learning:

Evaluation and Reflection:

Boomwhackers Wack Pack Bell Tuned Percussion Tubes

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Credits and Acknowledgements Special mention and credits to the following:Mrs Celine Goh for her effort in consolidating the research papers for the publication.

Ms Diana Ghazali for designing the cover page of this publication.

Our PLT leaders and members for planning and conducting research-based lessons; and for developing quality research papers for this publication.

Other experts and consultants from AST, CPDD, ESUB and NIE who have advised and supported us in our PD journey.