Quest@Northbrooks 2018 Publication, 2nd Volume

Content Foreword

(2018 Publication, 2nd VOLUME)

Title

Subject Area

Page

Examination of the effect of adopting a two-pronged approach on the drawing of flowcharts in the subject of Computer Applications

Computer Application

7

Examination of the effect on quality of writing in Literature using classroom dialogue and process writing

Literature

26

Examination of the effect of using peer assessment and an online application in oral conversations in the learning of the Malay Language

Malay Language

43

Physics

53

Examination of the effect of an authentic learning experience for students through public art

Art

70

Examination of the effect of an authentic learning experience on students’ leadership skills and the learning of the Chinese Language

Chinese Language

79

Examination of the effectiveness of a reading programme on the reading attitudes of the students in the English Language

English Language

84

Inter-disciplinary

107

Assessment for Learning

Investigating the effects of incorporating alternative assessment in Physics curriculum

Customised Curriculum Design

Examination of the effect of an inter-disciplinary authentic learning experience on the meaning-making of students

2

Title

Subject Area

Page

Examination on the effect of a 3-pronged approach on students’ performance in Chemistry practical assessment

Chemistry

121

Examination of the effect of using thinking routines in the learning of Design and Technology

Design & Technology

127

Examination of the effects of using contextual clues in the learning of the English language

English Language

137

Examination of the effect of adopting structured academic controversy in an inter-disciplinary learning experience

Social Studies/ Character & Citizenship Education

146

Pedagogies

Student Motivation and Use of ICT in Teaching and Learning Examination of the effectiveness of adopting best practices to improve student attendance

CCA

151

Examination of the effect of relationship and recognition on student attendance in coca

CCA

164

Examination of the effect of a support group programme on the development of student social skills

Social Skills

180

Examination of the effect of instructional practices on students’ self-efficacy in Mathematics

Mathematics

199

Examination of the effect of using ICT on collaboration and formative assessment in Science

Science

219

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Foreword

Quest@Northbrooks (QN), our pride that not only represents sheer hard work, but also our dedication to deep learning and experimentation, serving us a multitude of purposes: it enables us to keep our saw sharp by honing our teaching actions in relation to Singapore Curriculum Philosophy, underpinning theories and goals from our Singapore Teaching Practice (STP); in addition, it allows us to learn from within (Northbrooks’ Philosophy of ‘Learning with Others’ and ‘Learning from Others’) where the community of reflective practitioners learn from one another throughout the year via structured PLT sessions, department/ committee meetings 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.

I am elated to share that we have collated our second educators’ research and inquiry papers completed in 2018. 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.” Indeed, moving forward with a stronger emphasis on Critical Inquiry processes, commitment to continual learning within teams and sharing of good practices, and assessing our efforts on tangible results, 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.

As shared last year, our Quest@Northbrooks (QN) serves 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 4

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 instil 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

5

Assessment for Learning

6

An examination of the effect of adopting a two-pronged approach on the drawing of flowcharts in the subject of Computer Applications ______________________________________________________________________ Toh Chin Hwee Tham Chun Kit Salihah Bte Jalil Abstract This study examined the impact of implementing a two-pronged approach to improve students’ task performance in drawing flowcharts, which is assessed under Paper 3 Task 3 in Computer Applications. This task require students to draw flowcharts based on a given description and they have been performing poorly. Although a number of instances involve students' poor time management, which is not within the scope of this study; those who do manage to attempt the question did not perform to expectations. One of the reasons is the lack of confidence in deciding the symbols for numerous key phrases in the given description. A prior study introduced the 3-step process to the students, but it found that the initial positive impact on their performance was not sustainable over a longer period. One of the recommendations from that study suggested that students needed more foundation knowledge in the identification of four symbols for different context. The subsequent study aimed to improve the foundation of the students, it was found that students’ performance improved after building a stronger foundation by requiring them to complete a self-paced lesson in AsknLearn, the Learning Management System (LMS) which the school subscribes to. This will be followed by a quiz. Students were given targeted feedback based on their choice for each of the questions in the quiz and also conducted monthly practices to reinforce students application of the content learnt in the LMS. This study retained the above strategy and included a revised scheme of work (SOW) to support students’ regular application of their skills. This has been found to better support students’ learning and performance in drawing flowcharts. This study has pedagogical implications in the enhancement of Assessment for Learning through targeted feedback based on students’ specific learning needs.

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Introduction

Computer Applications is a compulsory subject offered by all students offering the Normal (Technical) curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2018; Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board, 2018). Students are examined through one theory paper and two practical papers which cover six different modules. The theory paper carries 30 percent of the overall mark while each of the practical paper carries 35 percent of the overall mark (Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board, 2018). Algorithm is a task that students are required to complete in Paper Three as part of the examination and its’ weight of the overall mark is seven percent (Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board, 2018). This task require students to understand the given description, identify the steps and appropriate symbols and draw the flowchart.

Students’ performance for the task has not been satisfactory since the syllabus for the subject was revamped and first examined in 2014. This was attributed to two main reasons.

First, students had poor time management and did not allocate enough time to complete the task, which was the third and last for the paper. The other two tasks in the same paper demanded their attention and students became too engrossed when attempting to program a game, which was the second task. Second, students who did attempt the questions were making wild guesses in their answers. This was observed through their non-consistent use of symbols for similar key phrases in the description. Three prior studies were embarked to address this issue. In the first study, students were organised in groups of four to attempt different question. Working in groups enabled peer communication and built up their confidence in completing the task. However, the impact of the intervention though significant, did not benefit all the students. This was largely due to a number of students not putting in effort during group work and leaving it to their peers to lead their groups, adopting a passive role during the activity. Prior studies have found that non-active participants would not benefit from learning in this setting (Bentley & Warwick, 2013; Center for Innovation in Research and Teaching, 2017). Moreover, the focus of the subject is on individual skills in performing required tasks and there were few opportunities for students to work in groups.

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In the second study, a three-step approach in approaching algorithm tasks was the focus. Students’ individual proficiency in attempting the algorithm task was built through the generic process outlined as follow: 1. Identify the key actions / phrases.

2. Identify the flowchart symbol associated with each of the key action / phrase.

3. Draw the flowchart.

Through the exposure to a variety of text where students were required to complete the algorithm tasks, a list of key actions / phrases associated with each of the four flowchart symbols to be used were created. The study reported an improvement in the students’ performance initially during the two practical tests conducted after the intervention. A comparison between the MYE and EOY results for the task found that contrary to the expected increase, the mean marks for both classes decreased and they were still below the passing mark. It was suggested that learning activities be created to build students’ mastery of the topic.

In the third study, the use of multiple choice questions with targeted feedback was explored to develop students’ topic mastery. It was found that students showed significant improvement when the intervention was implemented. However, it could not be concluded that students’ performance were not a result of being exposed to two previous interventions. In addition, without regular quizzes throughout the year, it was found that students’ performance dropped. In that study, it was recommended that a longitudinal study of the students’ performance be conducted to explore the effectiveness of this pedagogy.

This action research study primarily served to investigate the effectiveness of a twopronged approach in improving students’ drawing of flowcharts. Secondary Four students in this study have not been exposed to the interventions in the first and second studies, but have been exposed to the use of multiple choice questions with targeted feedback.

Secondary Three students in this study are undergoing the use of multiple choice questions with targeted feedback and distributed practice. Most students from 9

the two levels were able to draw out the correct symbol to represent the start and the end of the algorithm. In addition, they were able to save the flowchart drawn as a wordprocessed document. A number of students were observed to be able to identify the key phrases in the description but they were not able to identify the correct flowchart symbol to represent each of the key phrases. Based on the analysis of past year examination papers, students would be able to pass the task if they are able to correctly identify each of the key phrases given. It was with this focus that this study was anchored on.

How students’ foundation for this task could be built and that they have regular practice over throughout the academic year so that they would be able to improve and pass the task during examinations?

During review of anecdotal evidence, students were guessing the symbols and there was no pattern of consistency across different tests or examinations. This inconsistency in students’ responses made it hard for teachers to correct them. It was determined that using technology, through the conduct of quiz, to automate this process of marking students’ responses and providing targeted feedback beyond ‘Correct’ or ‘Incorrect’ as an intervention for this study. Students would review the lesson slides at least once, and they could view it again subsequently if necessary. They could seek clarification from the teacher who would be present in class. The other characteristic of the intervention was that students were required to attain at least 80 percent of the maximum mark. This level of performance was determined based on fact that it would meet the passing mark for the task and that it was a good gauge on the students’ proficiency. With repeated tests of the fundamentals in identifying flowchart symbols correctly, it would develop the students’ task mastery and build their self-efficacy. This would then build up their confidence and performance for the task.

A review of existing teaching resources and the suggested Scheme-of-Work (SOW) provided by the Curriculum Planning and Development Division, Computer Education Unit was critical in enabling the implementation of distributed practice of students’ skills for this task. The existing problem sets are arranged accordingly to topics (Ministry of Education, 2012).

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Literature Review Timely feedback to students have been found to improve their performance. Through the use of targeted feedback in MCQ, students can be informed of their misunderstanding or misconceptions of a particular lesson or topic (Parkes & Zimmaro, 2016). The purpose of feedback is to reduce the distance between what students need to learn and what they have understood. Timely and targeted feedback have been found to improve students’ learning in prior studies (Corbet & Anderson, 2001; Hattie & Timperley, 2007).

When an individual has learnt something, he should be able to retain that skill or information for a long period. Distributed practice has been found to be effective in students’ learning in prior studies (Bloom & Shuell, 1981; Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan, & Willingham, 2013; Gerbier & Toppino, 2015). Distributed practice is characterised as the “implementation of a schedule of practice that spreads out study activities over time” (Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan, & Willingham, 2013, p. 6).

Various forms of implementation of distributed practice has been reported over its long history. Early studies of distributed practice dates back to the 1940s (Hovland, 1940; Hovland, 1949; Rubin-Rabson, 1940). Distributed practice has also been examined for the learning of different subjects including languages (Bloom & Shuell, 1981) and music (Rubin-Rabson, 1940) and has been found to impact learners of various ages (Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan, & Willingham, 2013, p. 37). However, the optimum interval between practices has been argued to be dependent on the specific skill required to learn (Hovland, 1940, p. 574; Rubin-Rabson, 1940, p. 283). Dunlosky et al.

(2013) reviewed numerous studies which supported the above finding (p. 37). The review of the existing SOW found that it did not support distributed learning as it was arranged in a topical manner and related material placed together. This was also highlighted as a barrier to implementation of distributed learning in a review (Dunlosky et al., 2013, p. 38). In order for this study to proceed, a decision was made to revamp the existing SOW and resources to enable distributed learning and investigate the twopronged approach in improving students’ drawing of flowcharts.

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Studies on educational interventions often report their results based on the significance and the effect size of a particular intervention. A significance test determines the existence of significance for an intervention and its direction, but is insufficient to inform others about its magnitude (Lane, Effect Size, 2000; Mellinger & Hanson, 2016; Sun, Pan, & Wang, 2010). Effect sizes are often used to communicate the effectiveness of educational interventions. This has been an established view of many researchers and can be used for follow-up studies and to build knowledge in the respective domains (Lane, 2000; Lakens, 2013; Coe, 2002). In addition, effect sizes enable the reporting of significance of an effect, without the emphasis of the sample size of a study; which also enables a meta-analysis to be implemented when more studies on the same topic are conducted (Coe, 2002; Wikipedia, 2017). Coe (2002) also asserts that effect size is a “true measure of the significance of the difference�.

Effect sizes are measured using different scales, with some suggesting that there is in excess of 50 (Wikipedia, 2017). The choice of measures depend on the type of data and the characteristics of the data. Some measures of effect sizes are more commonly used and it depends on the sample size, mean, variance or standard deviation of the sample (Coe, 2002; Wikipedia, 2017). Cohen's d is suggested as an appropriate effect size measure if two groups have similar standard deviations and are of similar size (Stangroom, 2017). Glass' Δ, is a suitable measure of effect size if the two groups have different standard deviation (Stangroom, 2017). In contrast, Hedges' g, is an appropriate measure when there are different sample sizes, and the effect size is weighted according to the relative size of each sample (Mellinger & Hanson, 2016; Stangroom, 2017). Some have argued that when the number of participants is more than 20, the effect size measured by Cohen's d and Hedges' g is similar (Lakens, 2013; Lane, 2000; Mellinger & Hanson, 2016).

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Method The design of this study is based on the repeated measures design, also known as within-subjects design. Within-subjects, design studies enable the tracking of the progress of participants over a period of time for a longitudinal study (Lane, 2000).

The data for this project was primarily from results of examination conducted from September 2017 to September 2018. There were a total of three examinations conducted with the students. The examination results included the End-of-Year Examination (EOY) conducted in 2017; and the Mid-Year Examination (MYE) and Preliminary Examination (Prelim) in 2018. Students’ performance in the EOY 2017 functioned as the comparison base for this project.

The analysis of the results was analysed using paired sample t-tests as well as the effect size. In many studies, including educational, significant tests were not sufficient in reporting interventions; and that effect sizes should be included (Durlak, 2009; Mellinger

& Hanson, 2016, p. 97). Although Hedges' g was used to measure the effect sizes of the intervention, given its similarity to Cohen’s d when the sample size is more than 20, the magnitude of the effect would be compared with Cohen’s d. Cohen (1998) suggested that an effect size of 0.2 should be considered small; an effect size of 0.5 should be considered medium; and an effect size of more than 0.8 should be considered large (as cited in Mellinger & Hanson, 2016, p. 97).

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The timeline for the implementation of the project is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Implementation timeline Activity September 2017

End-of-Year Examination (2017)

October 2017

Analysis of results (EOY 2017)

November to December 2017

Preparation of MCQ quizzes with targeted feedback Preparation of problem sets

Last week of January 2018

Conduct of online lesson and MCQ quiz (Intervention 1)

Last week of March 2018

Conduct of MCQ quiz (Intervention 2)

May 2018

Mid-Year Examination

Last week of May 2018

Conduct of MCQ quiz (Intervention 3)

June 2018

Analysis of results (MYE 2018)

August 2018

Preliminary Examination

September 2018

End-of-Year Examination (2018)

October 2018

Analysis of results (EOY 2018) Report writing

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Contrary to recommendations for experimental and control groups to be used for research to improve its rigour, this project did not adopt this practice for a few reasons.

Firstly, although the teacher taught both classes, the teacher felt strongly about the potential benefits of the proposed intervention and did not want to disadvantage any group of students. This contradiction is not unique and has been reported in prior studies (Konza, 2012, p. 83). Secondly, the students were in their graduating year and taking the national examination. There would be limited time for them to close the gap and improve their performance closer to a desired level.

Various methods were used to determine the effect size of an intervention. Hedges' g was determined to be an appropriate measure for the effect size in this study because of two reasons. Firstly, the sample size at each point of data collection was different.

On occasions, the sample size was far below 20, a base number that researchers made reference to. Secondly, their respective standard deviation was not similar. This was recommended in prior studies (Stangroom, 2017).

Participants A total of 39 students from Secondary Three and 39 students from Secondary Four were identified for this study. There was progress in their performance from participation in the two projects, but it was still below the passing mark for the task. The distribution of the students is depicted in Table 2.

Table 2. Distribution of students Gender

Secondary 3

Secondary 4

Male

23

24

Female

16

15

14 to 17 years

15 to 18 years

112 – 151

108 – 150

133.9

126.7

Age PSLE T-Score (Range) PSLE T-Score (Average)

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Results The results of the quantitative research indicated that there was a statistically significant difference in the students’ performance for the task after the implementation of the use of multiple-choice questions with targeted feedback. The implementation of distributed practice through the redesign of suggested SOW and learning activities provided opportunities for students to practice their skills throughout the year. This helped to maintain the Secondary Four students’ performance and improved those in Secondary Three.

Three sets of results are reported based on the data collected during the implementation of the study. Only the results from the school’s examination are included in this study to enable environment control. The conditions include students seated in a manner where teachers would be compelled to be vigilant, the setup and conduct of the assessments would be the same. Students are likely to be place more emphasis during the examinations as the stakes are higher. The effect sizes of the interventions are reported first, followed by the significance tests.

Effect Sizes EOY 2017 was conducted in the September 2017 and MYE 2018 was conducted in May 2018. The mean and standard deviation for the task during the EOY 2017 and MYE 2018 on algorithm is presented in Table 3.

Table 3. Means, Standard Deviations and Number of students EOY 2017

MYE 2018

Secondary

Secondary

Secondary

Secondary

Three

Four

Three

Four

Mean

2.70

4.60

5.60

6.20

Standard Deviation

1.89

2.68

3.50

2.87

Number of students

22

28

28

26

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The effect size after one semester of intervention (g = 1.03) was found to exceed Cohen’s (1998) convention for a large effect (d = 0.80) for the Secondary Three class and (g = 0.58) was found to exceed Cohen’s (1998) convention for a medium effect (d = 0.50) for the Secondary Four class.

Prelim was conducted in August 2018 while EOY 2018 was conducted in October 2018.

The mean and standard deviation for the task during the EOY in 2017 and the Prelim / EOY 2018 is presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Means, Standard Deviations and Number of students EOY 2017

Prelim / OY 2018

Secondary

Secondary

Secondary

Secondary

Three

Four

Three

Four

Mean

2.70

4.60

7.65

7.12

Standard Deviation

1.89

2.68

3.97

3.30

Number of students

22

28

31

26

The effect size after the year’s interventions (g = 0.1.59) was found to exceed Cohen’s (1998) convention for a large effect (d = 0.80) for the Secondary Three class and (g = 0.84) was found to exceed Cohen’s (1998) convention for a large effect (d = 0.80) for the Secondary Four class.

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The mean and standard deviation for the task during the MYE 2018 and the Prelim / EOY 2018 is presented in Table 5.

Table 5. Means, Standard Deviations and Number of students MYE 2018

Prelim / EOY 2018

Secondary

Secondary

Secondary

Secondary

Three

Four

Three

Four

Mean

5.60

6.20

7.60

7.10

Standard Deviation

3.50

2.87

3.91

3.23

Number of students

28

26

31

26

The effect size during the second semester of intervention (g = 0.54) was found to be below Cohen’s (1998) convention for a medium effect (d = 0.50) for the Secondary Three class and (g = 0.24) was found to exceed Cohen’s (1998) convention for a small effect (d = 0.30) for the Secondary Four class.

Significance tests Secondary Three A paired-samples t-test with 20 observations each was conducted to compare the marks attained in the EOY 2017 and MYE 2018. There was a significant difference in the scores for EOY 2017 (M=2.80, SD=2.02) and MYE 2018 (M=6.15, SD=3.48) conditions; t (19) = 5.5083, p < 0.0001. These results suggest that the intervention had an effect on the students’ task performance and improved their marks.

A paired-samples t-test with 24 observations each was conducted to compare the marks attained in the MYE 2017 and EOY 2018. There was a non-significant difference in the scores for EOY (M=6.04, SD=3.67) and Practical 2 (M=8.88, SD=3.65) conditions; t (23) = 4.3029, p = 0.003. These results suggest that the intervention

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continued to have an effect on the students’ task performance and improved their marks.

A paired-samples t-test with 19 observations each was conducted to compare the marks attained in the EOY 2017 and EOY 2018. There was a significant difference in the scores for EOY 2017 (M=2.89, SD=1.97) and MYE 2018 (M=8.89, SD=3.60) conditions; t (18) = 7.846, p < 0.0001. These results suggest that the intervention had an effect on the students’ task performance and improved their marks.

Secondary Four A paired-samples t-test with 20 observations each was conducted to compare the marks attained in the EOY 2017 and MYE 2018. There was a significant difference in the scores for EOY 2017 (M=2.80, SD=2.02) and MYE 2018 (M=6.15, SD=3.48) conditions; t (19) = 5.5083, p < 0.0001. These results suggest that the intervention had an effect on the students’ task performance and improved their marks.

A paired-samples t-test with 24 observations each was conducted to compare the marks attained in the MYE 2017 and EOY 2018. There was a non-significant difference in the scores for EOY (M=6.04, SD=3.67) and Practical 2 (M=8.88, SD=3.65) conditions; t (23) = 4.3029, p = 0.003. These results suggest that the intervention continued to have an effect on the students’ task performance and improved their marks.

A paired-samples t-test with 19 observations each was conducted to compare the marks attained in the EOY 2017 and EOY 2018. There was a significant difference in the scores for EOY 2017 (M=2.89, SD=1.97) and MYE 2018 (M=8.89, SD=3.60) conditions; t (18) = 7.846, p < 0.0001. These results suggest that the intervention had an effect on the students’ task performance and improved their marks.

In addition to the statistical analysis, qualitative data was collected from the students who did not attempt the task consistently from the first. Among the students interviewed, 19

two common reasons were given for not attempting the task. Firstly, there was not enough time for them to attempt the task as they were engrossed in the other two tasks or they were sleeping. The second reason was that they were too lazy as they felt that their effort would not enable them to pass. Some of the Secondary Four students had pre-existing motivational issues, including attending school regularly.

Analysis and Discussion Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; performance over the course of the study had been uniform. In both classes, studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; task performance in algorithm improved over the year. Through regular practice of the task over the academic year with the use of multiple choice questions with targeted feedback, Secondary Three studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; performance was on par with the Secondary Four students who had undergone the use of multiple choice questions with targeted for an additional year in 2017. Under that intervention, there was a significant difference before the intervention (M=3.19, SD=2.14) and after the intervention (M=4.61, SD=2.73) conditions; t (47) = 1.9691, p = 0.0548.

In this intervention, there was no significant difference in the scores for the Secondary Three students (M=7.65, SD=3.97) and Secondary Four students (M=7.12, SD=3.30) conditions; t (54) = 0.5300, p = 0.5983. However, there was no significant difference in the starting scores for the Secondary Three students (M=2.73, SD=1.93) and Secondary Four students (M=3.19, SD=2.14) conditions; t (41) = 0.7465, p = 0.4596.

This suggests that the current two-pronged approach is effective and superior when compared with the use of multiple choice questions with targeted feedback.

Ideally, if students are self-motivated, they would want to undergo the interventions at their convenience if they were absent from the sessions conducted during curriculum time. The distributed practice also enables students who may be absent for a period of time to have opportunities to practice their skills in drawing flowcharts. If lessons continue to be conducted in a topical manner as suggested, students who miss lessons for a period of time would not have the opportunity to practice it. As such, it may be

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appropriate for the relevant unit to review the suggested SOW and adopt the redesigned SOW adopted in this study.

Findings and Conclusion The purpose of this study was to explore how studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; task performance in algorithm can be improved. In particular, prior projects which attempted to improve the performance of the same participants using other interventions were limited in attaining this. This study has found that use of MCQ with targeted feedback to develop topic mastery has been useful in improving studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; task performance in algorithm. This was supported by various data collected in this study.

Firstly, the mean marks for each of the class has increased over the course of this study.

This met the primary objective of conducting this study. Second, when compared to the mean marks after the second intervention, the mean marks attained at MYE and Prelim were lower for both classes. This was not surprising as there were no further interventions due to time constraint. Interestingly, the mean mark for Class 2 improved from MYE to Prelim, even though there were no interventions implemented. Could it be that other factors, such as intrinsic motivation to improve, were at play? Lastly, the standard deviations across the four assessments fluctuated for both classes. This seems to suggest that the interventions may not have impacted all students consistently. What other ways could be done to help the students learn and improve? Should they be taking greater ownership of their learning? These questions cannot be answered based on the data obtained from this study and would most likely to include some form of student feedback, especially qualitative or through a perception survey.

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Limitations and Recommendations This study has found that the use of MCQ with targeted feedback had built task mastery in students during the interventions; and the revised SOW enabled students to benefit from distributed practice; these improved their task performance in algorithm. The sequence of activities and instructions has been rearranged and the distributed practice has been incorporated into the scheme of work for Secondary Two and Three this year.

Further refinements and sequencing of problem sets should be implemented as part of review of the existing resources.

The data collected in this study consisted of students’ marks attained during various assessment. The quantitative data collected indicated that the interventions were significant and effect sizes decreased over the course of the study. The increasing standard deviations over the assessment did not come as a surprise as more students have been attempting the task and make take a longer period of time to gain proficiency. This naturally widened the students’ performance. To yield richer data, especially from those students who have not fully benefitted from the interventions, studies could include the use of qualitative data to supplement the data collected as a mixed-method approach. Some prior studies have suggested this approach either to triangulate data or to provide a richer interpretation of the findings (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004; Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2011, p. 286).

Lastly, this study found that the current intervention of using a two-pronged approach improved students’ task performance in algorithm. The intervention used in this study could be implemented at scheduled times to determine whether it maintains students’ performance. Ultimately, curriculum time is limited and should be maximised.

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Potential Future Work This is the first year of the longitudinal study of the students implemented to track their progress from when they are in Secondary Two to Secondary Three. Performance data should continue to be collected for this cohort when they are in Secondary Four with the similar approaches to determine the sustainability of studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; performance.

Future studies can also explore other topics or modules that students are currently performing below expectations and adapt a two-pronged approach to build up their competencies.

Acknowledgements

This study would not have been possible without the following people.

Firstly, without the support of the school leaders in teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; professional development and setting aside timetabled time, the implementation of this study would not have been possible.

Next, without the empowerment and autonomy by the middle managers (School Staff Developer and Head of Department) to embark on a suitable study determined by the teachers, the implementation of this study would also not have been possible.

In addition, the availability of the Internet has enabled the use of online tools to analyse some of the statistics and access to existing scholarly work.

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Bloom, K., & Shuell, T. (1981). Effects of Massed and Distributed Practice on the Learning and Retention of Second-Language. The Journal of Educational Research, 74(4), 245 - 248. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27539823 Center for Innovation in Research and Teaching. (2017, September 4). Group Work in the Classroom. Retrieved from https://cirt.gcu.edu/teaching3/tips/groupwork Coe, R. (2002). It's the Effect Size, Stupid: What Effect Size Is and Why It is Important.

Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association.

Corbet, A., & Anderson, J. (2001). Locus of Feedback Control in Computer-Based Tutoring: Impact on Learning Rate, Achievement and Attitudes. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Humans Factors in Computing Systems.

Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K., Marsh, E., Nathan, M., & Willingham, D. (2013). Improving Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Learning with Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions from Cognitive and Educational Psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4 - 58. Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~pcl/rgoldsto/courses/dunloskyimprovinglearning.pdf Durlak, J. (2009). How to Select, Calculate, and Interpret Effect Sizes. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 34(9), 917 - 928. doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsp004 Gerbier, E., & Toppino, T. (2015). The Effect of Distributed Practice: Neuroscience, Cognition, and Education. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 4(3), 49 - 59.

Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81 - 112. doi:10.3102/003465430298487 Hovland, C. (1940). Experimental Studies in Rote-Learning Theory. VI. Comparison of Retention Following Learning to Same Criterion by Massed and Distributed Practice. Journal of Experimental Psychology,, 26(6), 568 - 587.

Hovland, C. (1949). Experimental Studies in Rote-Learning Theory: VIII. Distributed Practice of Paired Associates with Varying Rates of Presentation. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 39(5), 714.

Konza, D. (2012). Researching in Schools: Ethical Issues. The International Journal of the Humanities, 9(6), 77 - 86.

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Lakens, D. (2013). Calculating and Reporting Effect Sizes to Facilitate Cumulative Science: A Practical Primer for t-tests and ANOVAs. Frontiers in Psychology, 4(863), 1 - 12. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00863 Lane, D. (2000). Effect Size. In Introduction to Statistics (pp. 639 - 656). Rice University.

Lane, D. (2000). Experimental Designs. In Introduction to Statistics (pp. 222 - 247). Rice University.

Mellinger, C., & Hanson, T. (2016). Quantitative Research Methods in Translation and Interpreting Studies. In Comparing Two Groups (pp. 87 - 109). Taylor & Francis.

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Ministry of Education. (2018, September 24). Normal (Technical) course for secondary school. Retrieved from Normal (Technical) course for secondary school: https://beta.moe.gov.sg/courses/normal-technical/ Parkes, J., & Zimmaro, D. (2016). Learning and Assessing with Multiple-Choice Questions in College Classrooms. Routledge.

Rubin-Rabson, G. (1940). Studies in the Psychology of Memorizing Piano Music: II. A Comparison of Massed and Distributed Practice. , 31(4), 270. Journal of Educational Psychology, 31(4), 568 - 587. Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/1940-04481-001.pdf Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board. (2018, November 1). Computer Applications. Retrieved from Syllabus: https://www.seab.gov.sg/docs/defaultsource/national-examinations/syllabus/nlevel/2019syllabus/7018_2019.pdf Stangroom, J. (2017, September 1). Effect Size Calculator for T-Test. Retrieved from http://www.socscistatistics.com/effectsize/Default3.aspx Sun, S., Pan, W., & Wang, L. (2010). A Comprehensive Review of Effect Size Reporting and Interpreting Practices in Academic Journals in Education and Psychology.

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An examination of the effect on quality of writing in Literature using classroom dialogue and process writing ___________________________________________________________________ Lim Wan Yee Aryssa Ngoh Chng Yi Na Vanishree Vengadasalam Abstract This study examined the impact of classroom dialogue and process writing on improving the quality of students’ Literature essays. It was informed by the Literature Syllabus 2019, White and Ardnt’s Process Writing paper (1991), and Campbell’s paper on low-stakes writing (2014). After two rounds of classroom teaching, writing and feedback, data was collected from students’ drafts, final written work, as well as students’ and teachers’ reflections on the process. Based on the data, it was found that students were able to show quality improvements in their writing as a result of the process of drafting, small group discussion, revising, and teacher feedback. Also, the quality of classroom dialogue among peers was a factor that impacted the extent to which improvement was made.

Such cognitive scaffolds were found to be effective for improving the quality of students’ writing. This study has pedagogical implications in the strengthening of academic tenacity for students.

Introduction In the ‘O’ Level subject of Elective Literature, students are required to write essays that demonstrate literary analysis and express their viewpoints on the texts that they have read. For Section A, students write an essay based on their selected set text, and in Section B, students write another based on an unseen text. In Section A, students have the option of two essay questions, and one passage-based question. As the essay question usually requires students to respond based on their knowledge of the entire text, students are exposed to it towards the end of Secondary 3, after the whole text has been taught in class.

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However, while students have been taught how to brainstorm for ideas prior to writing, and plan and structure their essays, teachers have observed that students continue to struggle to excel in writing essays that show deep appreciation for and analysis of the text. While students are able to cite evidence from the text, they may make superficial or limited comments on the significance of the quotes. Weaker students, in particular, may also have difficulty in constructing a coherent argument or viewpoint, lapsing into narrating the story from time to time.

The teachers of the Literature Unit conducted a study to explore how students can make use of classroom talk and low-stakes writing, as recommended in the Literature Syllabus 2019, to improve on the quality of analysis and coherence in their essays.

The profile of students in this study are Secondary 4 Express students of mixed ability, who are offering Elective Literature as a subject.

Literature Review Processes of Dialogue and Writing According to the Literature Syllabus 2019, the way that students construct meaning around the text is necessarily through ‘the expression of personal responses through dialogue and writing to stimulate meaningful discourse around texts’. In other words, while students may individually respond to the text on their own, their knowledge and appreciation of the text could potentially be deeper and richer if they engage in discussions with their teachers and peers about the text. In the process, students would be able to re-evaluate and reconstruct their understanding.

Process Writing In this study, methods to encourage students’ deep thinking were sought out and the team decided on doing process writing with them. Process writing is about ‘generating, formulating and refining one’s ideas’ (Zamel, 1982:195) with the teacher’s input, helping the students to evaluate their claims and find useful pieces of evidence to support those claims, as depicted in the model by White and Arndt, 1991 (Figure 1).

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Figure 1: A model for writing. (White and Arndt, 1991:43) In writing a literary essay, where students are required to provide their interpretation of a text, the generating ideas and evaluating phases of process writing requires that students engage with the text to ‘discover what they can prove’ (Campbell, 2014). They would need to first come up with initial responses to the question, then ‘focus on using evidence to develop a preliminary stand, which they use to test their evidence as they continue developing their argument’ (Campbell, 2014). As students further evaluate the significance of the textual evidence in the text as a whole, their preliminary stand might become more clarified and nuanced, which will then help students to put together convincing paragraphs for their literary analysis paper. At the same time, it is also a fluid, iterative process because after students’ first draft, they may revisit their argument and the text again to generate more ideas.

Social Constructivist Theory Collaboration during the prewriting phases of the writing process is also essential, as it scaffolds students’ understanding of the text and question, before they are required to draft their essay. We are informed by Leo Vygotsky’s social constructivist theory on human learning where he discussed the effectiveness of social interaction in promoting students’ learning. Students are encouraged to bounce their ideas off each other and to write bite-size pieces, linking up the evidence found from the text and their claim.

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The key idea of this collaborative thinking and writing process is to help students get comfortable with low-stakes writing to ‘develop higher-order thinking skills that support writing’ and show them that ‘writing requires repeated trial and error, tenacity, and hard work’ (Campbell, 2014). Through this model, students also get to experience explicitly the writing process with their classmates’ and teachers’ help, eventually to internalise this process as they become more independent writers.

Assessment for Learning According to Hattie and Timperley (2007), feedback is an essential practice of assessment of learning as it provides information about current achievement with respect to a goal. When used well, it can help to reduce the gap between current level of performance and the desired goal. It has been established as a highly effective form of formative assessment and ‘one of the most powerful influences’ with regard to student learning.

For feedback to be effective, it has to be clear, concise, and related to the learning goals.

Hattie also makes a distinction between descriptive and evaluative feedback where descriptive feedback ‘addresses faulty interpretations and lack of understanding. It provides students with visible and manageable ‘next steps based on an assessment of the work at hand.’ (Earl, 2003) In contrast, evaluative feedback in the form of grades and brief general comments provide some information about learning but does not convey the information and guidance that students can use to improve. With that in mind, students’ work are not graded. Instead, teachers focused more on providing descriptive comments and probing questions to help students with ideas on how they can ‘reduce the gap’ between their current writing and the desired goal.

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Method The main method used in this exploratory study was process writing, coupled with group discussion. The question given was based on their set text, The Road to Memphis: ‘‘Cassie is a fool’. How far do you agree?’

Lesson 1: Generating Ideas and Drafting In the first segment of the lesson, as part of the pre-writing process, teachers engaged students in a whole-class discussion on the definition of the word ‘fool’ in the question statement. Students attempted to describe the qualities of a ‘fool’. Responses were captured on the board. This was followed by students individually drafting their ideas in paragraphs. The essays were then collected by the teachers and analysed. Written feedback was provided to students.

Samples of Feedback: Students’ written work

Feedback provided by teacher

The gas station attendant then

So what if her pride suffered and she

dehumanised Cassie through his action was nearly thrown into jail? How does of ‘his shoe struck me (Cassie) sharply’ that support your overall stand that which caused Cassie’s pride to ‘suffer’. Cassie is a fool?

Moreover, Cassie was nearly thrown into jail for her action.

The repetition of words ‘I knew perfectly What are these repercussions? What well’ shows that she was aware of the

does her thoughts tell us about her

repercussions that she will have to face reasons for proceeding with full if she were to disobey and went ahead

awareness of the repercussions? What

to use the restroom which was

do you think of this action? Make the link

restricted to the blacks.

and explain why this shows she is not a fool?

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Lesson 2: Reviewing, Evaluating and Generating Ideas through Group Discussion In the following lesson, general feedback was given to the students based on their responses. Probing questions were also used to deepen students’ thinking for statements that were not qualified or ideas that could be extended further. Probing questions generally started with ‘Why’, ‘How’ and ‘So what’ to get students to extend their thinking.

Several of these ‘problematic’ statements from students’ writing were also selected for class discussion and the teacher elicited students’ response and evaluation on those statements to refine them.

To further broaden the scope of their thinking, students were given opportunities to discuss in small groups to review and evaluate their initial ideas, and generate further ideas or evidence. These were stages described in White and Arndt’s paper on process writing (see Literature review for diagram). Students were intentionally grouped into heterogeneous teams to create a spread in knowledge and ability, to encourage studentto-student interaction and collaboration to build on each other’s ideas.

To scaffold students’ thinking and discussion, teachers prepared a graphic organiser that required students to consider both sides of the issue and justify their opinions with evidence from the text (Figure 2). Students were instructed to fill in the organiser with both the claims they were making about the text in response to the question, as well as the relevant pieces of evidence from the text that supported their claims, as they discussed in groups. Teachers walked around and occasionally jumped in to help to facilitate the discussion to broaden and deepen the group discussions.

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Figure 2: Graphic organiser for group discussion, pages 1 and 2 Lesson 3: Teacher modelling Before getting students to revise their writing, the teacher went through a sample paragraph to recap the TEAL writing structure (Figure 3) and did think-alouds to verbalise the thought process at each step of the writing process, as well as to make connections between steps based on the TEAL writing structure. Probing questions were also provided in the sample paragraph to guide students to extend their thinking.

The TEAL writing structure is a scaffold that teachers have adopted to help students structure their writing. It comprises a topic sentence (T), supporting evidence (E), analysis of the evidence (A), and how the analysis links to the topic sentence (L).

Lesson 4: Revising Drafts Based on the feedback from the first essay as well as the group discussion and teacher modelling, students were instructed to complete another essay under time-managed conditions.

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Lesson 5: Review and Reflection Essays were returned to students with feedback on their latest piece of work. Students were also asked to review their work and analyse their writing to identify areas they need to work on. Students were also asked to reflect on how helpful the series of lessons and the writing process have been to them.

Figure 3: Handout on TEAL paragraph structure.

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Results There are three sources of data collected for this study, namely, students’ work, students’ reflections, and teachers’ reflections.

Students’ Work Students’ essays were collected and analysed to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention strategies in improving their writing skills. 22 pieces of students’ work were collected for this study; this constituted the entire class of students studying the novel.

Each student’s work contained two pieces of writing: 1. First drafts on the essay question. After a classroom discussion pertaining to the key terms found in the question and productive talk about considering both sides of the given statement, students were required to respond to the essay question in paragraph form first. These were then collected by the teachers, marked and analysed. Written feedback was given to students.

2. Revised essay on the (same) question. Students were required to complete the full essay under time-managed conditions. After marking these essays, teachers provided written feedback to students.

Students’ Reflections Data for this section was taken from the lesson conducted after the second piece of essay was returned to students, marked with teachers’ feedback and probing questions. Data on how students’ viewed the process would also provide insight into the effectiveness of the intervention strategies as well.

The reflection questions required students to individually analyse and diagnose their own areas of weaknesses in their writing based on the two essays, as well as to evaluate how helpful the series of lessons and process had been to honing their writing skills.

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Some key responses that were observed based on the questions posed: Questions

are some ● There is a need to provide clear and concise explanations

What areas

Student responses

I need

work on for

to

to the points being made.

my ● Speculation should be avoided at all cost. ● Retelling/Narrating parts of the story should be avoided.

writing?

● There is a need for me to craft clear definitions and statements when I write my essay. There are instances of vague writing that do not add value to my piece of work. ● I need to relook my choice of evidence as I feel I am not choosing strong pieces that would support my point of view. ● I need to look into refining my topic sentences.

How has the entire

Comments on the group discussion:

process been ● The group discussion helped broaden my perspectives helpful / unhelpful on the essay question. for your skills?

writing ● The group discussions provided a safe environment for me to clarify my doubts regarding the events in the novel and/or in the questions. ● The group discussion reminded me of related events in the novel that I had forgotten about, which I could use in my writing. ● I can better understand the question’s demands after the group discussion.

Comments on process writing and teachers’ feedback ● I can clearly see which parts of my marked essay needed improvement after reading the teachers’ comments pertaining to it.

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● I am able to identify more reliable evidence to support my opinions after the process writing part of this activity. ● The process writing procedure allows me to refine and improve on the quality of my essay each time it is worked on.

Teachers’ Reflections This data was captured to provide triangulation with the other two sources of data.

Process

Assessment for Learning: Feedback that feeds forward ● The use of feedback and probing questions in the first piece of assignment allowed students to respond to those questions by refining their cursory responses and extending their thoughts in the second piece of writing.

Scaffolding ● The graphic organiser was developed to get students to consider two sides of the argument as the first piece of writing lacked the consideration for the opposing side of the argument. It was helpful in getting students to consider opposing viewpoints and also provided opportunities for them to check back with the text to justify the different viewpoints. ● The sample paragraph was another way for the teacher to model how students can develop their writing through the guided annotations provided in the sample. This gave students the opportunity to compare their first piece of essay and identify the gaps in their own pieces.

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Group discussion ● There was sustained discussion and productive talk amongst students as they were able to challenge, factcheck, and co-construct knowledge collaboratively.

Outcome

Quality of writing has improved in terms of depth of thought, and the scope of students’ essays has broadened.

Analysis and Discussion A comparison of students’ first drafts and final essays reveals an improvement in the quality of their writing. Some indicators or qualities that reflect the improvement in their writing pieces are: 1.

Thesis statement Thesis statements that were undeveloped were more nuanced in the final piece of essay. These revised statements reflected a deeper and multi-faceted consideration of the character in question. For example, see Student Sample 1.

2. Selection of evidence Students’ final work reflect more consideration in the length of evidence they were providing. Chunks of evidence that they were used to providing were now more concise. Moreover, students’ selection of pieces of evidence were also of better quality as they were expanding the selection of evidence to exploring other parts of the novel rather than limited to cite the same episodes in the text.

3. Analysis There was more evidence of personal response and insights that were grounded in the text as students responded to the feedback given in the first piece of work.

Speculation that students tended to make in their written work previously was on the decline and digressions in their scripts were not as frequent as they had been. For example, see Student Sample 2.

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Student Sample 1: First draft

I agree to a minimal extent that Cassie is a fool. In the novel, it states that ‘I knew perfectly well what the signs meant …’

Feedback

What is a fool to you? Explain some qualities you regard as ‘foolish’ and

provided

set the parameters of a ‘fool’.

Revised

I agree to a minimal extent that Cassie is a fool. A fool can be

essay

considered as someone who does things due to impulsiveness or curiosity. Not only that but their actions also leads to hurting others and that is considered a fool. Her actions can be seen from the scene where she needed to use the toilet. ‘I knew perfectly well.’

Student Sample 2: First draft

This is evident in ‘The Road to Memphis’ where by Cassie was at a gas station, wanting to go to the toilet. When she read the sign at the door which said ‘White ladies only’, she ‘knew perfectly well what the sign meant’ and ‘knew perfectly well the kind of trouble I’d be in if I disobeyed the sign. Her foolishness led her to being kicked like an animal. This is why I agree to a large extent that Cassie is a fool.

Feedback

Why did she go ahead with the decision to use the toilet then? So what

provided

if her foolishness led her to being kicked – what does that show about her? How does that relate back to your stand?

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Revised

Cassie ‘knew perfectly well’ what the sign ‘White ladies only’ meant,

essay

however, despite knowing what kind of trouble she could get into if she used the toilet and the consequences she would face, Cassie still ‘placed her hand on the door and pushed it fully open’. Due to her rash personality and not putting in thought into what would happen if she entered the toilet, it led her to being harmed as she got attacked by the gas attendant and being kicked like an animal, ‘like somebody with no heart would kick a dog.’ This explains why Cassie is a fool as she risked her life trying to get into the toilet despite the fact that she knew she would be disobeying the law and getting into trouble,

her foolishness led her to being harmed when she does decision without putting in thought.

Based on the students’ reflections, we observe that the series of lessons has helped them to not only improve their writing, but also identify their own learning gaps. Students were able to accurately diagnose their areas for improvement such as to craft more effective topic sentences, elaborate more extensively on their ideas, being more judicious in selection of evidence, etc. One student in particular has accurately identified the lack of clarity in her explanations and realised that she needed to break down the evidence instead of providing them in huge chunks. However, some have continued to express uncertainty about how to bridge this gap in their writing.

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Findings and Conclusion The study was intended to be an exploration of the effectiveness of low-stakes writing and dialogue in helping students to improve the quality of their writing. A number of preliminary conclusions might be drawn from the results of the study.

Effectiveness of Probing Questions to Extend Thinking First, the teachers observed that feedback in the form of probing questions was appreciated by students and helpful in getting students to think deeper about the evidence and evaluate the evidence they have provided. As these questions were specific to what they had written, they helped to direct students’ thinking towards the effects or implications of the incidents discussed and how the evidence supports their claims.

Process Writing to Support Feedback that Feeds Forward Second, it was also critical that students were given the opportunity to respond to the feedback given, through process writing. By re-evaluating and revising their writing, it allowed them to become more aware of the gaps in their writing, and take corrective action.

Usefulness of Group Discussion to Extend Thinking Finally, the group discussion also proved to be an effective method in getting students to consider opposing perspectives, and helping them to expand the breadth of their ideas.

Based on students’ and teachers’ reflections on the process, the group discussion was a useful avenue for students to question their peers about the validity of an event and/or a piece of evidence that was brought to the table as part of their discussion. Questions beginning with ‘How’ and ‘Why’ were observed as surfacing frequently. There was also a healthy debate based on individuals’ differing points-of-view.

Furthermore, the graphic organiser helped to make this thinking visible, and ideas captured were later transferred to the revised draft of the essay. In the graphic organiser, a greater breadth of ideas was displayed in terms of content development than previously observed in their drafts. This expansion in the breadth of ideas was also reflected in the revised pieces of essay.

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However, the group discussion seemed to hold greater value for the students who were weaker. Some of the higher-achieving students did not find the group discussion useful to them in terms of developing the breadth and depth of their ideas as they possess some of the key writing skills. Nevertheless, they were able to better develop their ideas based on the feedback provided in the first piece of essay.

Limitations and Recommendations The sample size of this PLT study is small, with only 22 students. Due to the small sample size, it is difficult to make reliable conclusions on the effectiveness of the teaching strategies used. Moreover, studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; abilities within the class are also varied, making it difficult to determine whether the strategies used were effective for any specific segments of the students.

There was also a limited time period of three weeks, so it was not possible to repeat the teaching cycle for a second time using a different question to determine whether the students have internalised the thinking process.

Teachers from the Literature Unit already actively model annotation as part of the thinking process and pre-writing for students. Through this study, it is evident that collaborative discussion amongst students will enhance learning as students have greater responsibility within the classroom to apply their skills in annotations and what they have learnt about interpreting texts.

Time provided for students to collaborate and discuss the evidence on the issue, excavating details from the text, and organising the information for their essays proved to be useful. This suggests to us that space for them to critically examine various perspectives of an issue is essential for producing quality writing.

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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 repeated for the next batch of Secondary 4 students and results could be cross-referenced with this year’s study for further insights on its benefits and drawbacks.

Process writing and dialogue can also be introduced to the Lower Secondary students, in line with the 2019 Literature Syllabus, which describes informal writing tasks and dialogue about the texts as helpful for students in constructing more formal, sustained responses.

Process Writing will be a useful tool to help make students be more aware of their writing and for teachers to be able to guide them to discover the text through responding to the writing and through dialogue in the classroom.

References Alves, A. R. (2008). Process Writing. The University of Birmingham.

Campbell, K. H. (2014). Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay. Educational Leadership: pg.

60 – 65.

Earl, L. M. (2003). Assessment as Learning: Using Classroom Assessment to Maximize Student Learning. Corwin Press: pg. 97–108.

Hattie, J. and Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1934). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press: pg. 86 White, R. and Arndt, V. (1991) Process Writing. Essex: Addison Wesley Longman Ltd. Zamel, V. (1982) The Process of Discovering Meaning. TESOL Quarterly: pg. 195 209.

Acknowledgement We would like to thank Ms Jeyalaxmy Ayaduray, Master Teacher from English Language Institute of Singapore (ELIS), for her guidance throughout the process.

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Examination of the effect of using peer assessment and an online application in conversations in Malay Language oral component _____________________________________________________________________________________

Nuruljannah Jumaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;at Zuraidah Abdul Karim Jariah Ramlee Dian Farhana Akbar Nur Fadillah Fauzan Abstract An initial survey done by the Malay Language teachers found that students did not have enough time to do practices for oral conversations. They were also less confident and felt nervous when answering the spoken interaction component. This concern is the main focus of this study which is to improve studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; oral interaction skills. Peer assessment using rubrics was used in this study. In addition, online application, Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recap, is also a major platform used in this study. Through this application, students learn to take ownership of their own learning by practising their oral conversational skills using their own devices such as smart phones or tablets. Teachers can also monitor the exercise easily. The findings show that through peer assessment using carefully designed rubrics, students are able to improve on their oral interaction skills by leveraging on technology.

This study has pedagogical implications in the enhancement of Assessment for Learning through peer assessment in an online environment.

Introduction Based on the 2010 Mother Tongue Review Committee's recommendation, one of the key points mentioned in the curriculum is to emphasize on oral communication and writing skills among the students. In fact, teachers are encouraged to emphasize efforts to develop oral and written interaction skills in order to produce effective users of the Mother Tongue Language. This is in line with the demand of the new curriculum where teachers are expected to guide the student to speak their Mother Tongue Language confidently, effectively and meaningfully in real-life situations.

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Therefore, in 2016 there was a change in the method of assessment of the Oral Exams introduced by the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board. For the first time, secondary school students in Singapore sat for the national level exams using video clips as a stimulus for the conversation. This was in line with the curriculum implemented and it results in an authentic task related to the student.

Table 1: Oral Exam Score Distribution Score Distribution of National Examination Based on Percentage O level - O 10 40 50 25% Normal Academic - N (A) 20 40 60 30% Normal Technical - N (T) 20 30 50 50%

Based on the distribution of the scores in the examination, a total of 40 marks (O level and N (A) have been allocated for part of the conversation and 30 marks for the N (T) level. The significant portion given to this component suggests the importance of the evaluation for the component and requires the efforts of the teachers to ensure that students are adequately equipped with oral skills in preparation for the oral examination.

Students will need a lot of training, exposure and guidance from teachers.

Assessment is an important part of teaching and learning. The main objective of the assessment is to provide continuous feedback to students so that their learning can be improved. Assessment shows whether students have achieved the expected teaching objectives and convince teachers of the effectiveness of the strategies applied in improving the teaching, learning and performance of students in the future. Peer assessment as well as the use of ICT is the focus of the study of the Malay Language Unit at Northbrooks Secondary School. We aim to assess the effectiveness of its use in preparing students for oral examinations with confidence.

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Identified Issue The teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concern about the difficulty of the students gaining high marks for spoken interaction component led the teachers to seek for a solution. Efforts to help students achieve good marks and excellence in this part of the oral component are still ongoing. Students need a lot of training and exposure to reinforce their skills to speak well. However, curriculum time is not sufficient for teachers and students to do a lot of oral exercises to sharpen the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; interaction skills. In addition, based on the observation of teachers and on the basis of interaction with students, many students feel nervous about oral exams as they lack exposure or training for the conversation component.

Lack of training or preparation sessions will result in students being nervous, incompetent and less confident in the oral examination. This has slightly affected students' performance when tested with challenging questions. This is a concern because the overall score and grades that the students will achieve will be affected if they are not achieving the best in oral examinations.

Purpose of the study The study aims to: 1. Study the effectiveness of Peer Assessment (PRS) and the use of Letsrecap ICT applications in preparing students for oral examinations 2. Study the extent to which students are able to learn independently and actively through peer assessment.

Literature Review In Singapore, a few studies have been conducted to assess the effectiveness of Peer Assessment (PRS) and ICT Utilisation, especially in teaching oral. Djohan Abdul Rahman and Hezrina Johan Manikam (2016) used the PPNPIPAK approach to improve the verbal skills of the students. PPNPIPAK is a structured guidance for students in oral examinations to respond confidently.

Ismail Fazel (2012) from British Columbia University, in his study at a university in Iran, found that PRS contributed to the improvement in the effectiveness and quality of studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learning.

He found that students were also encouraged to motivate themselves to learn and help their students participate actively in learning. They also feel that they 45

are directly involved in their own assessment. They also feel more responsible for their own learning.

Eddy White (2009), who conducted his studies at Tokyo University, showed a positive outcome where PRS was considered effective if the instructions and criteria were well understood by the students. Given the teaching culture in Japan centred on teachers, undergraduates found that peer ratings was a good way to get their feedback from their peers.

Zina Adil Chamaqchee (2015), in his study conducted in Iraq found that the undergraduates, subject of study, were uncertain and not confident with the PRS assessment on their oral presentation. Some students could assess their friends accurately while most students were not able to assess properly. Students were not convinced of their assessment of their friends' assignments and prefer their assignments to be evaluated by lecturers. The main factor that drives this finding is that most students are not fluent in English and prefer to use Kurdish language.

With regards to the use of ICT in helping students to improve oral skills, Fekih Aslem (2014) has conducted a study and found that students taking English as a third language or foreign language use of ICT tools has improved their cognitive ability. Using ICT is a great way to help them improve their oral performance. This is because they feel more comfortable and more confident as well as being able to acquire new vocabulary they have learned in the classroom. However, some undergraduates are not fond of using ICT tools because to them, technology is not always interesting and not the only way to stimulate interest and improve their oral skills.

According to Trucano (2005), there is a popular belief that the use of ICT tools and software can and will empower teachers and students, altering teaching and learning processes from teacher centric to student centric learning. This transformation then enhances studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; learning, creating opportunities for students to develop creativity, problem solving abilities, understanding information, communication skills and higher order thinking skills. Hence, the use of Letsrecap application hopes to provide more exposure and also enhance the students' skills and confidence in sitting for oral examinations.

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Method In order to achieve the objective of helping students improve their confidence during oral exams, teachers at Northbrook Secondary School use two strategies that promote active and self-directed learning; the use of PRS in the classroom as well as the Letsrecap ICT application outside the classroom.

Since 2015, Northbrooks Secondary School Language Unit has been using the PRS method in the classroom. PRS not only promotes active learning, but also fully utilises teaching and learning time in the classroom. According to Sebba and colleagues (2008), PRS involves students’ evaluating the work of each other, in accordance with the goals that has to be achieved. PRS has a specific value in formative evaluation because students can refer to their friends if they do not have the opportunity to ask the teacher.

In this case, other friends can explain the question by using simpler language that they understand.

Peer Assessment allow students to receive immediate feedback from teachers that are beneficial and constructive in a safe environment. Moreover, students will be able to have practice sessions with their peers instead of waiting for a long time for their turn to be tested by the teacher. Kluger and DeNisi (1996) mentioned that any form of feedback would give a positive impact to the students’ learning.

In the middle of 2017, ICT application was found and tested to aid students to maximise student’s learning. Teachers are able to assess students through this application.

According to the Malay Language Review in 2010, ICT opens up new opportunities such as interactive content, individual tasks and catering different activities to students’ need.

In addition, the use of ICT allows for quality feedback to be given to students individually; and assist teachers to guide the students.

Subject of Study The group of students involved in this study is six Secondary 4 Normal Academic students consisting of Band 3 students, students who achieved grade 4 and less. These Secondary 4 Normal Academic Students were divided into three classes according to their respective capabilities. Since the score for oral examinations for the N (A) level is 30%, efforts have been made to make early preparation in order to help them get better grades. Another 47

group of 23 Secondary 3 Express students were formed to be part of this research to ensure the effectiveness of the method. As Secondary 3 Express students will sit for the 'O' Level GCE Exam in 2018, they are the most appropriate subject for this study.

Design This study is qualitative in nature. As this study is conducted in two classes, several research instruments have been used to obtain quantitative and qualitative data.

4 Normal Academic Class (first group involved in this study) 1. Peer Assessment Worksheet 2. Rubric for Peer Assessment 3. Letsrecap ICT Software 4. Student Reflection Form

1. Pre-review Form 2. Peer Assessment Worksheet 3. Peer Assessment Section 4. Letsrecap ICT Software 5. Student Reflection Form 6. Post-Complaint Form

Study Procedures For PRS, students were divided into two groups, namely teacher’s group and students’ group. Students who are in the teacher’s group, will receive reading text for a reading aloud session as well as questions that can be used during the spoken interaction component based on the video. They will also receive rubrics to help them evaluate their peers' performance. The student’s group received a template to fill the scores achieved in each PRS training as well as feedback received from peers’ assessment.

For the use of the Letsrecap ICT tool, students are required to log in to this application using their respective pin numbers. Students will then answer the oral questions teachers had uploaded. Subsequently, students need to record their own answers when responding to the question. Students can record repeatedly until they are satisfied with

48

the recording before uploading their videos. Finally, teachers will provide feedback on their responses.

Findings and Discussion Secondary 4 Normal Academic Class Here are the grades earned for the oral section of the GCE N (A) Level Examination in 2017: Table 2: GCE N (A) Level Examination 2017 Scores Students from Band 3 Class (attained grade B4 and below for the Secondary 3 exam).

Grade For Prelim Exam 2017 Grade For GCE N (A) Level Examinations 2017 Student A 38/60 Distinction Student B 39/60 Merit Student C 40/60 Distinction Student D 44/60 Merit Student E 36/60 Merit Student F 48/60 Merit Overall, 13 students attained distinction grade and 11 students received merit grade for the oral examination. It turns out, this was an unexpected success because students in this class did not have good Malay language proficiency and their vocabulary was also quite limited.

Table 3 below is a feedback from Secondary Normal 4 Academic students about the strategies they have taken to prepare them for oral examinations.

Table 3: Student Feedback 4 (NA) 1. Student A It's hard for me to do PRS because I'm doing this assignment with my classmates who are close and we lacked seriousness in doing our work. Sometimes my friend gave an inaccurate score. The Letsrecap app makes it easier for me to practice spoken interaction because no one will disturb or judge me except my teacher.

2. Student B In my opinion, PRS is a classmates while studying.

good way for me to strengthen relationships with my PRS has helped me to identify my weakness in oral 49

exercises. Doing some oral exercises with friends has helped me to improve my pronunciation.

3. Student C Nearing to the oral examination, we used ICT tools Letsrecap to practice at home.

Through PRS, my teachers and friends will give me immediate feedback. This helped me in preparing for my oral examinations as I became more comfortable when faced with teachers who will be assessing me during oral examinations.

4. Students D For me, the Letsrecap app gave more benefits during my revision for oral exams as I can use the app anywhere and teachers can provide specific feedback. This is especially useful because sometimes in our class, there is not enough time to make oral exercises as we are busy revising for other components.

Given the small size of this class, the researcher conducted this study again with the Secondary Express Three class with 23 students to ascertain the effectiveness of these strategies in helping students prepare for their oral examinations.

Findings of Secondary 3 Express Class A study conducted with the Secondary 3 Express class was conducted for two weeks. In the first week, students were given a briefing on the rubric and how to use the Letsrecap app. Initially, students were shy to record themselves and watch themselves when the teacher presented their footage in the classroom. However, after giving encouragement as well as video examples made by 4 NA students, the students were more enthusiastic and began utilising the application. There were students who were more confident to record individually, where, they will found a remote place to make the recording. Students were given the freedom to find a comfortable place to record using an internet-assisted IPad from Wireless Router.

Students adapted easily to the application and were able to answer questions well and confidently. Students found this app easy to use and informal as compared to actual oral exams where students needed to maintain eye contact with the teacher. Although students do not like to watch the recording, they agreed that this method can actually help to improve their oral skills. They are more aware of the mistakes made, without realising it all this while.

Other students can also learn from the areas for improvement and the 50

positives of their friends. Viewing outstanding recordings can improve the spirit and confidence of students to do the same as their friends.

However, to ensure the smooth running of Letsrecap in the classroom, strong Wi-Fi connections are needed within the school compound. A stable Internet ensures video is captured and uploaded smoothly. This technical problem can be overcome with the use of Wireless Router.

Conclusion Through the quantitative and qualitative findings of this study, we found that not all the students were interested in both PRS and the use of Letsrecap ICT tools. Some were more comfortable and fond of PRS strategies while others prefer the user friendly app, Letsrecap. The impressive results achieved by students in band 3 for the GCE N (A) Level Examination 2017 indicated that the merger of these two strategies can help the students to be more confident when responding to the prompts during oral exams.

While the use of these strategies require a lot of careful preparation, the positive improvements in students will boost their self-confidence. These strategies will achieve the full potential if the teachers set expectations and give clear direction and monitor when students are doing these activities. Students should be self-disciplined to eradicate any form of distractions from their friends and have to put in effort to do the assigned tasks.

Finally, students should display positive attitude to improve their skills when responding to questions in oral communication.

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References Trucano, M. (2005). Knowledge maps. ICTs in education. Washington, DC: InfoDev/World Bank.

Eddy White (2009). Student perspective of peer assessment for learning in a public speaking course: Asian EFL Journal - Professional Teaching Articles. Vol.33. January 2009.

Zina, A. C. (2015). Empowering learning: students and teachers outlook on peer assessment for oral presentation: Journal of Education and Practice, Vol.6, No.27.

Laporan Jawatankuasa Semakan Bahasa Ibunda (2010) Memupuk pelajar aktif dan pengguna cekap. Singapura: Kementerian Pendidikan Singapura.

Sebba J., Deakin, C. R., Yu, G., Lawson, H., Harlen, W. (2008). Systematic review of research evidence of the impact on students in secondary schools of self and peer assessment: Research evidence in education Library. London: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education.

Ismaeil, F. A step in the right direction: peer-assessment of oral presentation in an EFL setting. Dipetik dari http://www.readingmatrix.com/fi les/12-595x9qg9. Pdf Fekih Aslem (2014). The use of ICTs to enhance EFL learnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; oral language profi ciency: the case of fi rst-year LMD students at Tlemcen University: Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Democratic Republic of Algeria Ministry of Higher Education and Scientifi c Research.

Dipetik dari http://dspace.univ-tlemcen.dz/ bitstream/112/7949/1fekih-Ahlem.pdf

52

Investigating the effects of incorporating assessment in Physics curriculum

alternative

_____________________________________________________________________________________ Sim Yong Ming Henry Ng Shen Yanru Annamalai Kumar Yong Kenneth

Abstract With the emphasis on allowing students to discover the joy of learning, the physics team embarked on a journey to investigate the feasibility and challenges of incorporating alternative assessment in the physics curriculum. This project spanned across both academic semesters in 2018 and involved majority of secondary 3 physics students. The physics team was encouraged by studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; positive reception towards alternative assessment and plans to substantiate this positive outcome through both quantitative and qualitative research designs in 2019. This paper shares the experience of the investigation in 2018.

Introduction The hope of students deriving joy and purpose through a novel way in their physics course was one of the main motivation for the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s alternative assessment direction.

While students get their doses of fun through experiments and in-class demonstrations, it is usually kept at a teacher-to-student interaction level and the team was curious if we could deepen the interaction level.

In general, studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; learning attitude towards physics left much to be desired. They were observed to be lackluster and unmotivated in lessons, constantly questioning the purpose and relevance of what they are taught. For some students who were on task and up to speed, their positive attitudes did not translate to much academic success in summative assessments.

Thus, the team decided to look closer into the way students are assessed and felt that the introduction of alternative assessment could ignite the missing spark in our students,

53

help pique their interest; and subsequently enthusiasm and tenacity in the learning of physics that will ultimately help them to taste academic success in this subject.

Students were observed to be more engaged learners when they are involved in some forms of hands-on activities. This led to the idea of performance-based assessment in the form of learning through design that allow students to “actively” work for their grades.

As the introduction of alternative assessment would mean a change in the academic assessment plan for the students, it was also an opportunity for the team to reduce the frequency of pen-and-paper assessments which, if done correctly, can help to manage the demands and stress placed on students. The challenge, however, was to ensure that the introduction of alternative assessment does not compromise the standards and rigor of the discipline through a valid and fair assessment rubric. This was done through the use of SOLO Taxonomy framework.

Alternative assessments were to be conducted once every semester, twice a year. The first task in semester one involves the construction of a thermal house with an accompanying report while the second task in semester two involves the recreation of velocity-time graphs through the use of Video Physics IPad App, and an accompanying report that details students’ procedures and discussions.

Learning Theories and Frameworks Performance-based assessment (PBA) Alternative assessment is a blanket term that covers any number of alternatives to the traditional paper and pencil tests. While standardized tests are effective in assessing students’ content knowledge and some of the necessary skills together with application of formulae, it is not all-encompassing; and it does not give us any information on how well students understood the content taught and how well they could apply these content in their everyday lives.

54

Amongst the plethora of alternative assessments, PBA in the form of Learning through Design (LTD) is adopted due to the following pros and objectives: -

Students require to create a product and demonstrate application of knowledge

-

Assess studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; productive and application skills

-

Develop life-long skills of creative thinking, problem solving, synthesizing and reflecting

-

Learning physics concepts through real-world context

-

Allow opportunities for collaborative and interactive learning

Learning Through Design (LTD) Learning through Design requires students to tackle a design task in three phases â&#x20AC;&#x201C; understanding the challenge, planning the design, construction and trials of prototype, fine-tuning of prototype, analysis and evaluation and presentation, which is similar to how science researches and experiments are conducted.

Through LTD, students are encouraged to actively participate in discussions and constructive chatter in their groups and through this process, develop key skills like critical thinking and providing constructive feedback. Fault-findings and proposed solutions to fine-tune their design will also impart important skills necessary in the pursuit of science.

Fig 1. Workflow of LTD - adapted from NIE QCP524 session 8 and 9 presentation

55

Singapore Teaching Practice In line with the Singapore Teaching Practice (STP), the alternative assessment also aims to empower and inspire students in their learning process with an emphasis on creating platforms for students to experience the joy of learning while at the same time building grit and resilience in the face of challenges.

-

Empowering students as they are allowed to make choices and decisions in their learning

-

Providing platforms to articulate thinking and design

-

Inspiring students to excel in their learning

-

Making learning fun as quizzes and tests are replaced by a more hands-on and creative activity

SOLO Taxonomy Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy is a learning framework developed by Biggs and Collins (1982). It provides a systematic way of describing how a learner’s proficiency in subject mastery can be categorised into five distinctive levels, allowing teachers to identify the qualitative differences in students’ works. (Hattie, 1998) The five levels are: -

Prestructural – The student does not have any kind of understanding, uses irrelevant information

-

Unistructural – The student can deal with one single aspect and make obvious connection.

-

Multistructural – The students can deal with multiple aspects but fail to connect them together.

-

Relational – The student understands the relation between the multiple aspects.

-

Extended Abstract - The student has competency to generalize, hypothesize or theorize.

56

An example of how the five levels can be design with regards to a question will be:

Fig 2. Example of SOLO use â&#x20AC;&#x201C; adapted from N6 Cluster Sharing 2018 presentation slides While SOLO provides for the standards of the assessment rubrics, the constructs that define the assessment rubric is to ensure a valid and fair assessment was done through minimizing construct irrelevance and construct underrepresentation. (Messick, 1994)

Method for Task 1 Students were tasked, in groups of four or five, to design and build a prototype house of specific dimensions that result in the lowest gain in temperature when placed under the sun for thirty minutes. Students designed and built their prototype based on physics content taught in Chapter 9 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Transfer of Thermal Energy.

Students were posed the following challenge: Mr Sim recently purchased a bungalow in Yishun. Being a tropical country, Singapore experiences scorching temperature all-year round.

He has engaged various teams to design a house. Your goal is to design a house that will withstand the heat in Singapore based on what you will be learning in chapter 9.

Your prototype will be put to the test â&#x20AC;&#x201C; being left in the sun for 30 minutes. The team with the lowest internal temperature wins.

57

Students were given 6 weeks to complete their prototype and written a report.

The rationale for this assessment is in line with their physics syllabi assessment objectives and aims to assess students based on the following: (a) Knowledge with Understanding 1. scientific phenomena, facts, laws, definitions, concepts, theories 2. scientific and technological applications with their social, economic and environmental implications.

(b) Handling Information and Solving problems 1. locate, select, organise and present information from a variety of sources 2. present reasoned explanations for phenomena, patterns and relationships 3. make predictions and hypotheses 4. solve problems

(c) Experimental skills and investigation 1. select and use techniques, apparatus and materials 2. make and record observations, measurements and estimates 3. interpret and evaluate observations and experimental results 4. plan investigations, select techniques, apparatus and materials 5. evaluate methods and suggest possible improvements.

These are in line with the following aims of the science curriculum: (a) recognise the usefulness, and limitations, of scientific method and to appreciate its applicability in other disciplines and in everyday life (b) develop abilities and skills that are useful in everyday life (c) develop attitudes relevant to science such as objectivity, inquiry, accuracy and precision and inventiveness.

58

Students were assessed through the form of an analytic rubrics as shown in Table 1:

Performance

Approaching

Meeting

Exceeding

Expectations

Expectations

Expectations

(1 point)

(2 points)

(3 points)

Smaller than

Exactly

Greater than

0.4 x 0.4 x 0.2

0.4 x 0.4 x 0.2

0.4 x 0.4 x 0.2

m

m

m

More than

Between 5 to

Less than 5 °C

10 °C increase

10 °C increase

increase from

from room

from room

room

temperature

temperature

temperature

2 items used

3 items used

are recycled

are recycled

materials that

materials that

contributes to

contributes to

the insulation of

the insulation of

prototype

prototype

Criteria Dimension of the prototype

Temperature of the interior after test

Use of recyclable materials

Final Report Application of Conduction

4 or more items used are recycled materials that contributes to the insulation of prototype

Inappropriate

Appropriate

Appropriate

choice of

choice of

choice of

materials that

materials with

materials with

does not meet

basic

thorough

task challenge

explanation in

explanation of

in terms of

reference to

how conduction

conduction

conduction.

is applied due to

Explanation is

the materials

limited to basic

used in the

appropriate

reference to

prototype.

choice of

conductor and

Explanation

Or

SCORE

materials 59

without

insulator

includes relation

explanation or

affecting rate of

to atomic

relation to

heat transfer

structure

Incoherent

Plausible basic

Appropriate and

explanation or

explanation with coherent

weak relation to

weak relation

explanation

convection

to layout of

with reference

prototype.

to layout in

Explanation is

prototype.

limited to

Explanation

description of

includes

convection

reference to

process

density changes

conduction

Final Report Application of Convection

thus causing convection process in relation to features of layout Inappropriate

Appropriate

Appropriate

choice of colour

choice of colour

choice of colour

and texture of

and texture of

and texture of

materials used

materials used

materials used

Final Report

that does not

with basic

with plausible

Application of

meet task

explanation in

explanation of

challenge in

reference to

why certain

terms of

radiation.

colours or

radiation

Explanation is

texture are

basic with

good

Radiation

Or

60

appropriate

reference to

absorbers /

choice of colour

absorber or

emitters and

and texture of

emitter

how it relates to

materials used

affecting rate of

rate of heat

without

heat transfer

transfer

Does not /

Elaborate on

Address and

vaguely

the approach

state rationale

describe

adopted to

of approach to

approach to

tackle the

challenge.

challenge

challenge.

No / weak

There is record

organisation

attempt to

of thought and

and

organise

design process sequencing of

thought and

from blueprint to thought and

design process.

first prototype to design process

explanation or relation to radiation

Final Report

final prototype.

Communication

Report consists

of process

only of blueprint

Organisation

and final

and sequencing

prototype

are lacking.

description

Report of blueprint, first and final prototype are mainly written and lacking in details.

Logical

from blueprint to first prototype to final prototype.

Detailed record with use of visual representation s to communicate explanation, thought and design process.

61

Visual may not be very effective.

Table 1. Scoring Rubrics for Term 1 Alternative Assessment Results for Task 1 Through this group project, students were able to apply what they have learnt in the textbook and relate it to real-life examples, making learning more meaningful as they were able to draw relevance and put in practice what they learnt. The written report also allow students to articulate their understanding of the subject content to their application of them in the construction of their prototype houses.

Method for Task 2 Students were paired and given three different speed-time graphs. Every pair was tasked to determine the nature of those graphs, design suitable experiments to recreate the corresponding scenarios that results in those graphs through the use of Video Physics App on the iPad. Students were given four weeks to conceptualize and carry out their experiments; and to turn in a written report.

62

The following is the task provided to the students:

Fig 3. Task 2 worksheet Students were assessed through an assessment checklist.

Results for Task 2 Through this pair work project, students were able to apply what they had learnt in the textbook and relate it to real-life examples; making learning more meaningful as they were able to draw relevance and put in practice what they learnt. The guided report template provided, also allow students to better address the questions posed and 63

allowed students to articulate their understanding of the subject content to their application of them in the design and execution of their experiments.

Analysis and Discussions Both tasks required the creation of artefacts in the form of product (thermal house and speed-time graphs) and written reports.

Through the many different designs of houses and the various unique methods attempted by the students to recreate the same three graphs, there are some evidence to show an increase in engagement level, participation and enthusiasm from the students.

From Fig. 4, students shared about how the project had given them the opportunity to research on the content, which suggests that, at least for this group of students, we have managed to transfer the ownership of learning successfully to them.

Fig 4. Excerpt from studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; report

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Several groups of students also surprised the team through the presentation of their data as shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6. Students were only required to reflect their experimental data in the report but they were not told how to go about doing so. This resulted in some unexpected but welcome inputs from students as they presented their data in the form of graphs, bar graphs and table forms. The autonomy given to the students in their learning led to deeper learning that superseded what the team hoped to achieve.

Fig 5. Excerpt from studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; report

Fig 6. Excerpt from studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; report

65

The focus of task 2 was on speed-time graph but students were able to go beyond the source material and develop personal insights from their experiments as shown in Fig. 7 where the pair discussed about friction (content from following chapter) and nature of graphs (extended abstract level based on SOLO).

Fig 7. Excerpt from students’ report

The use of SOLO taxonomy also proved to be effective in grading students’ work. Fig. 8 shows students’ understanding of air being a poor conductor of heat but by relating that to heat being “blocked”, showed a lack of understanding in how conduction works.

Thus, the group of students were marked at the unistructural level as they were only able to recall the properties of air, one aspect of conduction through fluids.

Fig 8. Excerpt from students’ report

66

Fig. 9 shows how the pair of students were able to relate the different speeds of an object to the shapes of the speed-time graphs; and how the gradient changes with the different scenarios. This is a clear indication of students’ mastery in the content, relating it successfully to the respective graphs and its gradient; and according to SOLO taxonomy, the pair were marked at the relational level.

Fig 9. Excerpt from students’ report

Findings and Conclusion The results of the first two implementation of alternative assessments in the physics curriculum is encouraging. Students were observed to be more engaged and passionate during coursework and they gradually appreciated the importance of basic ICT proficiency through their interaction with the use of iPad and Google Doc. The use of SOLO taxonomy allowed the team to better identify the proficiency of students in the content mastery as well.

With the administrative and logistical demands of conducting an alternative assessment every semester, explored the team’s confidence of incorporating alternative assessment in subsequent physics curriculum, with hope that students can be more participative, engaged and ultimately more successfully in their course of physics study.

67

Limitations The team felt that more should be done in measuring the objectives of infusing alternative assessments into the physics curriculum. While teachers’ observation of students’ reaction is vital, it is also important to quantify these indicators so as to lend weight to our observations and ensure that students are benefitting from this form of assessments.

Potential Future Work The team hopes to build on the work done thus far by finding a viable means to quantify and measure the outcomes in students’ engagement level and plausible effects on students’ performances during summative assessments. The team will be looking into perceptive surveys conducted for the next batch of students prior to and after each alternative assessment while also tracking their performances in summative assessments for the related chapters done through alternative assessments.

Alternative assessments will still continue in the following year and the team also hopes to refine the processes and help fit alternative assessments more seamlessly into the curriculum.

Lastly, the team also hope to make the use of SOLO taxonomy framework more pervasive in the physics department’s teaching and learning.

References The SOLO model: Addressing Fundamental Measurement Issues, chapter 7, by John Hattie & Nola Purdie 1998 (Teaching and Learning in Higher Education) Assessment in Singapore - Perspectives for Classroom Practice by Toh Poh Guan & Leong See Cheng, 2014 Interplay of Evidence and Consequences in the Validation of Performance Assessments

by Samuel Messick, 1994 What’s Wrong and What’s Right with Rubrics by James Popham, 1997 Evaluating the Unintended Consequences of Assessment Practices: Construct Irrelevance and Construct Underrepresentation by Shawn L Spurgeon, 2017 68

Customised Curriculum Design

Examination of the effect of an authentic learning experience for students through public art Lin Kaili Diana Joscelin Chew Eugenia Guo Eddy Norisman Ivan Wu

Abstract This study aims to share the experience in the provision of a platform for students from different streams to work collaboratively to create meaningful artwork that heightens awareness of school values (GIFTED) through public art. It also aims to develop a sense of appreciation for artwork for the whole school community through an increased visibility of art around the school environment. The findings of this study have implications on the creation of future school platforms to cultivate an appreciation for the Arts through exposure, engagement and empowerment.

Introduction Our focus is to equip our students with the ability to create meaningful artwork that heighten awareness on our school values (GIFTED) through public art and develop a sense of appreciation for artwork through an increased visibility of art around the school environment.

Literature Review Public art creates a space intentionally to engage community members with differences to come together to create meaningful artwork that bring awareness to their school community. Through public art, students can grow on their common shared identity and create a meaningful dialogue within the community. This could actualize through collaborative art-making.

As outlined by Cooper and Sjostrom (2006), art-making can act as a powerful tool that enables students to access complex concepts from any subjects, at any level.

70

Furthermore, they argue that collaborative art making, when done right, amplifies this effect multifold. Collaborative art-making builds on the potential for shared experiences to enhance studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learning experiences. It is a social activity that allows students to acquire a deeper understanding of the subjects and to strengthen their interpersonal skills (Vygotsky 1978) such as making good choices (decision-making, problem-solving), use their listening skills, and rely on each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strengths.

It also encourages students to form better connections between the content of the lesson and their everyday life (moral values), and provides the opportunity for students to forge stronger relationship with their peers (Vygotsky 1978).

Method Targeted group Selected secondary 3 art students in all streams.

SECONDARY TWO Class

Stream

No of students

3G

EXP

04

3I

03

3T

NORMAL ACADEMIC

06

3D

NORMAL TECHNICAL

06

71

Results Planning of design

Transferring the chosen design onto the planks

72

Painting in progress

Final work

73

Public Art Planks displayed in NBrSS.

(From left to right) GRACIOUSNESS, INTEGRITY, FORTITUDE, TEAMWORK, EMPATHY & DISCIPLINE

74

Findings and Conclusion Describe happened?

what Students were given a couple of weeks to think and plan their designs in relation to the themes. Once the designs were approved, students immediately began drawing and painting onto the wooden planks.

Students started slow as they were not confident working with a new medium of a larger scale; but they gradually sped up. Some groups completed earlier than others. Students rushed through their reflection without having a full debrief.

Once the painting is completed, the artwork was varnished and placed on to the open area.

What achieved?

was Students were able to complete their artwork at the end of the project. The completed work were placed in the grass area near the canteen and parade square. Students were able to design layouts with their given Brooksian Core Values (Graciousness, Integrity, Fortitude, Teamwork, Empathy and Discipline) and execute their layouts on the planks collaboratively. Students were given a reflection form to fill up about their experiences and key learning points, as well as to suggest areas in the school to display the completed work.

In their reflections, majority of students stated that besides working with a new base medium, they understood the necessity of teamwork in a collaborative project. One student mentioned clearly that they “need more people that are committed to the project”. Another student mentioned that the project should be opened to the entire school as it is a “different learning experience from classroom tasks”.

75

What were the



Not all members of the team were present at each project

challenges?

session due to other ongoing school activities. Thus, contribution and effort by each member can vary.



   

 

What

can

be

As not all members were present for all sessions, they will miss out on the full learning experience of collaborative work.

Not all students were debriefed together at the end, as they  had to also commit to other school activities.

Students needed more sessions to complete the painting project than expected.

Students were grouped within their own classmates, in the same stream. Therefore, the objective of enabling students to work collaboratively among the different streams were not entirely met. Some students may have experienced working with another student from a different stream, only if he/she has completed their own group’s work and agreed to help the  others.

As a result, students were grouped with the same level of ability as their own. This further resulted in having some groups working at a faster rate than the others. Quality of the design and painting  of the planks also varied by their abilities.



Teachers to pre-plan the number of sessions in advance

improved?

before the project commences to allow for better student attendance. Perhaps this project can be done earlier in the year

during

post-exam

activities

after

the

Mid-Year

Examinations.



Inter-mixing of streams. While appointing or calling out for interested volunteers from the specific streams, the students should gather and regroup at the first meet-up to ensure that there is a good mix of members in their team. This could  ensure a more diverse learning experience for the students.

76



Allowing for more student ideas and suggestions. It may be possible to discuss with students the objectives that we would like to achieve as a whole which is to create public art in order to heighten awareness of the school values as well as the visibility of art. Thus, students can brainstorm possibilities of public art that they are interested in creating through a brainstorming process (design thinking) and attempt to solve the problem (objective). By doing so, students may feel a greater sense of ownership with the artwork.







Teachers need to insist strict management such as:

  



Students need to manage  their time allocated to them to complete the project.

Students need to be present for at least 75-80%of the sessions in order to be awarded the VIA hours.

➢ A final debrief with all the students and teachers present to conclude their learning experiences. 

Getting students to present their final art pieces to the school so that the school students can get a better idea of who created the artwork, the purpose of their artwork and what they hope to communicate. This will serve as a better closure for the project besides the reflection.

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Conclusion In a nutshell, the PLT project provided our students with a collaborative opportunity to work on a plank design and its execution; this project relates to our Brooksian Core Values (BCV). The completed art pieces are currently displayed at a prime area near the canteen and parade square where there is high student and staff traffic. These public art pieces increased the visibility of art and its portrayal of BCV in school. Whilst it remains a challenge to measure the impact of the artwork in school, students who are involved in the painting process have displayed effort in teamwork and fortitude. It can be seen that it is the collaborative element in the project which provides students with a more unique learning experience. However the grouping of students to allow for an inter-mixing of streams can be more mindfully planned. Knowing that the artworks will be displayed in school and to serve as a purposeful reminder for the student population, the student team felt a strong responsibility in ensuring that they provide high quality work that they can be proud of. We hope to engage more students in various platforms of creating public art in the near future.

Acknowledgements Singapore Teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Academy for the aRts (STAR) (2018), MAKING ART Collaboratively, An interactive card game to make the creative and collaborative process fun.

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Examination of the effect of an authentic learning experience on students’ leadership skills and the learning of the Chinese Language

通过学生导览员计划提升学生的领导能力和对华文的学习兴趣

Liow Kum Wah Ma Ying Lin Goh-Ang Sor Pui Abstract This study aims to investigate if students’ leadership skills and their interest in learning the Chinese Language can be improved through a Student Guide Project. The participants were 23 students from Secondary 2 Express and Normal Academic classes. They were given training to be student guides and had to complete 3 guide activities. A survey was conducted after each guide activity. Results were positive in the fostering of students’ confidence in leading a guided activity in Chinese and the heightening of interest in the learning of the Chinese Language. This study has implications in the design of future customised programmes to empower students to lead and serve.

【摘要】 本研究目的旨在探讨，通过学生导览员的华语导览活动是否能提高 中学生的领导能力，以及提高学生对学习华文的兴趣。本研究以思源中学中 二快捷和普通学术班学生为实验对象，学生将在导览员培训课上所学到的技 巧，运用在实际的导览活动上。有关导览活动，导览员必须以华文书写讲稿， 以华语进行三次的导览活动。每次导览活动后学生须完成一份调查问卷试以 鉴定学生的表现。实验结果显示，学生对以华语进行导览的任务感的自信度 有提升。

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一 引言 2010 年《母语检讨委员会报告书》中提到随着新加坡语言环境的改变，“不 同家庭使用语将影响孩子的母语学习态度以及能力，教学必须针对不同学生 的需要做出适当的调整”，报告书也指出“掌握语言最有效的方法是让学习者 通过各种真实的情境，主动积极地使用语言”，如果能够在真实的情境里创造 让学生能够调动已知的华文知识或技能，相信除了能够巩固相关技能。思源 中学在年前已经有挑选学生成为校园和学习之旅的导览员，目的是让学生能 在做中学和提高他们对学习华文的兴趣和领导能力。可是我们对于学生导览 员的计划能否真正提高学生的学习华文的兴趣和领导能力并没有具体的进行 确认，所以这次的研究重点在于进行有关的确认，并同时希望能发现学生导 览员的计划有何需要进行改进的地方。 二 研究方法 以下就研究对象、实验设计、实验过程与测量工具对研究方法作说明。

2.1 研究对象 本研究选定思源中学中二快捷和普通学术班的 23 位学生作为研究对象。学生 的华文程度、学习态度、家庭背景等都有一定的差异。

2.2 实验计划 本研究采用行动研究法结合问卷调查的方式进行。首先，学生会接受导览员 的相关培训，内容涉及如何准备导览工作、导览活动的技巧和领导导览小组。 在培训结束后，学生导览员接受前测的问卷调查。

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其次，正式实验在第一学期到第三学期进行。学生导览员必须进行三次的导 览活动，即本校和小学的水资源导览活动和为来自中国湖南长沙南雅中学的 师生进行的校园导览活动。每次导览活动后，学生都必须进行问卷调查。有 关的负责老师也会根据每次调查问卷的结果，挑选出需要进一步进行观察的 学生和录像备案以作为参考。 最后，在所有导览活动实验结束后，则分析所得到的数据并完成报告。

2.3 测量工具 测量工具以调查问卷。问卷内容分为两个部分；第一部分让学生导览员对个 人的导览能力和领导和自信心进行评级。第二部分是学生导览员对面对的挑 战和需要改进的地方进行反思。 负责实验的老师也会在第二和第三次的导览活动时，针对一些需要进一步观 察的学生导览员进行录像，以作为参考的对照。 三 实验结果 在经过三个学期的实验后，兹将通过调查问卷与观察，针对学生导览员在以 华语进行导览和领导能力的实验结果罗列于下。

3.1 学生自我评估 本实验分四次让导览员们根据自身情况完成调查问卷，分别为：正式导览前、 第一次导览后、第二次导览后、第三次导览后。 调查问卷针对实验目标共设了 5 道问题，每道问题都设有 6 个不同程度的选 项， 让导览员在导览结束后进行自我评估。这 6 个不同程度的选项分别是：1、非

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常不同意；

2、稍微不同意；3、不同意；4、稍微同意；5、同意；6、

非常同意。 导览员们的问卷结果统计如下：

导览员调查问卷结果显示图表 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 撰写导览稿

声音洪亮 正式导览前

大方得体

第一次导览后

第二次导览后

自信导览

随机应变

第三次导览后

由图表所见，随着导览次数的增加，导览员们无论在撰写导览稿，还是在自 信心方面，都有显著提高。

3.2 学生可改进之处 从自我评估来看，导览员们基本达到实验目标，但是，根据每次导览时，教 师从旁观察的结果，还是有可改进之处。比如：在导览前，导览员应做足充 分的准备工作，最好能达到脱稿导览；每次导览后，应安排小组反馈与总结， 并提出下次导览需要改进的地方；可以针对导览内容，制定评量表，以供导 览员自评之用；导览员应定期进行有效学习，如：每月一次的校内培训等。

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四 讨论与结论

在实验完成后，PLT 小组组员们进行了讨论完成了一份反馈，其中对于本实 验提出了一些看法与心得，结论如下：

1. 华文教师们认为大部分的学生导览员都能撰写基本华文导览讲稿，反映了 导览的培训对学生提高华文的表达能力是有一定的帮助的，有关计划也增加 了学生在现实环境中使用华文的机会。 2. 华语学生导览员的领导能力和自信和学生的态度和学习意愿有比较直接的关 系。虽然语言能力较强的导览员能够自信地进行导览活动，但是教师也观察到 有些语言能力较弱的导览员也愿意积极地尝试，导览内容可能不能十全十美， 但是能达到说明清楚的基本要求。教师同时也观察到有语言能力较弱，但态度 又比较消极的导览员有困难地完成导览任务。因此，导览员的积极态度才是决 定导览任务成败的关键。 3.有组织、有系统、有针对性的培训课程对提高导览员的华文表达能力、自 信心、以及在实境中学习华文的兴趣等方面，都有明显的帮助。

参考文献： 1 新加坡教育部《乐学善用——2010 年母语检讨委员会报告书》（新加 坡：新加坡教育部，2011） 附件： 1 调查问卷

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An examination of the effectiveness of a reading programme on the reading attitudes of the students in the English Language Carolyn Quek Sukhdev Jasvindar S. Singh Sangeeta Tamilarasan Cinda Wee Abstract The subject of poor reading habits is a matter of great interest and concern for the school leaders and teachers in Northbrooks Secondary School, though the predominant language spoken at home for Northbrooks Secondary School students is English (40.7%), this percentage is relatively low compared to the national mean of 60.0%. The purpose of this action research project is to examine the effectiveness of a Structured Extensive English Reading Programme as a school-wide initiative in 2018. How effective the programme is will be determined by the positive impact it has on the reading attitudes of the students. This study has implications in the design of future school-wide programmes to improve student attitude towards learning.

Introduction Over the years, based on the English Language (EL) Markersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Reports from various levels and streams, there were several common concerns raised by the markers: studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; responses demonstrated poor grammar knowledge, inaccurate sentence structures, a lack of content knowledge and vocabulary. The key recommendation by these markers was that students needed to read widely so as to overcome the language issues they were displaying. For this reason, the Professional Learning Team (PLT) was formed to tackle this issue through a reading programme which aims to reap the benefits of extensive reading for the students.

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With reference to the English Language Syllabus 2010, the following Learning Objectives (LOs) stated in the Areas of Language Learning - Reading and Viewing - clearly spelt out to EL teachers, the learning experiences their students should be exposed to.

LO 5a: Read and view widely for pleasure, and to demonstrate independent reading and learning in the literary / content areas. ● To cultivate good reading habits. ● To bring reading alive by making it fun and engaging.

LO 5b: Sustain reading and viewing widely for pleasure, personal development and learning in the literary / content areas. ● To broaden the students’ perspectives and understanding of the world. ● To hone critical thinking skills in the students.

At the start of 2018, the PLT embarked on providing the students with an extensive reading programme so that they could read a wide range of materials for pleasure.

Day and Bamford (1998), Day (2002) and Renandya (2007) have identified a number of key characteristics of extensive reading in language learning. Through the implementation of most of the characteristics of extensive reading that these researchers propose, it is hoped that LOs 5a and 5b are achieved.

Under the guidance of Master Teacher (English Language) Jeyalaxmy Ayaduray of the English Language Institute of Singapore (ELIS), the Reading Programme PLT created the environment and set aside time for students to enjoy reading for pleasure and inculcate a more positive attitude towards reading.

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Objectives   

We want our students to love reading; and We want our students to read extensively.

Our action research project aims to find out: Did the structured extensive reading programme 2018 help students to discover the joy of reading?

Literature Review According to Renandya (2007) in his article, ‘The Power of Extensive Reading’, people learn to read by reading. Extensive reading programmes share a common purpose ‘that learners read large quantities of books and other materials in an environment that nurtures a lifelong reading habit. In addition, these programmes also share a common belief, that is, the ability to read fluently is best achieved through reading extensively in the language. (p135)

Renandya also states that according to the theory known as the comprehension hypothesis, the following conditions are needed for acquisition to take place: ● That the input is abundantly available; ● That the input is comprehensible; and ● That the input is slightly above students’ current level of competence.

Furthermore, in implementing an extensive reading programme, the following characteristics are generally thought to be among the most important: 1.

Students read large amounts of material.

2.

Students usually choose what they want to read.

3.

Reading materials vary in terms of topic and genre.

4.

The material students read is within their level of comprehension.

5.

Students usually take part in post-reading activities.

6.

Teachers read with their students, thus modelling enthusiasm for reading.

7.

Teachers and students keep track of student progress.

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Carrell and Carson (1997) stated that ‘extensive reading generally involves rapid reading of large quantities of materials or longer readings (e.g. whole books) for general understanding, with the focus generally on the meaning of what is being read rather than on the language.’ (p49-50)

According to the Extensive Reading Foundation’s Guide to Extensive Reading (2011), the common aims of extensive reading programmes should be to enable learners to read large quantities of books and other materials, in an environment that nurtures a life-long reading habit.

In addition, extensive reading programmes also believe that the ability to read fluently is best achieved through reading extensively in the language.

Method The Reading Programme PLT designed a range of programmes to tackle the problem of poor reading habits and the language issues faced by the students. The team also hoped to reap the benefits of extensive reading for the students. The details of the various initiatives can be found below. (i) Weekly ‘Drop Everything And Read’ (D.E.A.R.) Time Most of the D.E.A.R. Time was for silent reading unless there were other activities introduced to motivate the students in their joy for reading such as sharing sessions by teachers and students. ● Silent Reading These were weekly silent reading sessions to provide a platform for students to read their novels. Conducted in the school hall, it commenced when a 15 second-music signal was played. Students and staff would read their novels or provided reading material such as articles or newspapers silently.

Initially, in Semester 1, students without novels would have their names taken down and they would then be given a model essay of not more than 400 words to copy. The 87

purpose of getting the students to copy a model essay was based on the belief that when the students are copying the essay, they have to read the essay. In so doing, it would help them to acquire new content knowledge and become familiar with the language structures. It would also keep them meaningfully occupied during the D.E.A.R. Time.

This consequence plan was seen as a punitive measure, based on the feedback from Madam Jeyalaxmy, and also the team members who carried it out. They felt that it was not effective in tackling the issue of poor reading habits and not in line with the objective of helping students to discover the joy of reading. Hence, the consequence plan was scrapped in Semester 2. Instead, the team distributed newspapers to students who did not bring their novels. This was better received by the students.

● Brooksian Book Buzz: Book promotions by teachers and students The aim of the Brooksian Book Buzz was to further inspire students to read by getting teachers and selected students to share their favourite books. In Semester 1, two teachers shared about their favourite book. In Semester 2, three students from different levels shared about the books that they have read. They talked about the key message of the book, their favourite scenes and character and the lessons learnt.

They also shared about their class reading activities and project.

● Brooksian News Champion Sessions This was a platform for students to share on current affairs with the whole school population. There were quizzes conducted at the end of the sharing sessions as a fun way to test for understanding and to encourage the audience to be attentive to the sharing. Some of the topics covered were terrorism, the school’s lockdown drill and the rise in popularity of Grab and Uber in Singapore. Through these sharing sessions, students managed to broaden their knowledge of current affairs as their teachers further explored these topics in the classroom as follow-up activities.

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● Non-fiction reading The EL department also collaborated with a few other departments and committees to provide reading materials to the students for extensive reading.

These reading materials include: ● Aerospace and Science articles during Science week (Science department) ● Newspaper reading (CCE committee) ● National Geographic reading (Humanities department) ● Special National Education Days newspapers (CCE committee)

(ii) Fiction genre: Set-texts novels A specially-selected novel book title was included in the 2018 booklist for every level and stream, so as to ensure every student will own a novel for reading during D.E.A.R. Time.

● Semester 1: Titles based on EL teachers’ recommendations.

Secondary 1 Express (Exp) and Normal Academic (NA): ‘Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief’ Secondary 2 Exp and NA: ‘Sing to the Dawn’ Secondary 3 Exp and NA: ‘The Outsiders’ Secondary 1 Normal Technical (NT) and 2NT: ‘Diary of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul’

Secondary 4 Exp, 4NA and 5NA: ‘Little Ironies - Stories of Singapore’ Secondary 3NT and 4NT: ‘Holes’ ● Semester 2: Choice of 2 book titles per level Students were given the option of two popular book titles recommended by the EL teachers to choose from (except for lower secondary NT classes) at the end of Term 2. Students could choose one of the title based on their interest to purchase for their Semester 2 reading.

Titles: Secondary 1 Exp and NA: ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ or ‘Timothy and the Phubbers’ Secondary 1 NT: ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ 89

Secondary 2Exp and NA: ‘Wonder’ or ‘The Book Thief’ Secondary 2NT: ‘Harriet the Spy’ Secondary 3, 4 and 5 Exp and NA: ‘Hatchet’ or ‘the Hunger Games’ Secondary 3NT and 4NT: ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ or ‘Small Steps’ (iii) Participation in the National Reading Movement’s ‘Read for Books’ event The school has taken part in the National Reading Movement’s charity drive for 2 consecutive years. This ‘Read for Books’ event, by the National Library Board (NLB), is a charity book drive that aims to raise awareness of the benefits of reading and to also share the gift of reading with the less privileged. For every ten readers who read for 15 minutes, one book would be donated by a sponsoring organisation to needy children. The students and staff from Northbrooks Secondary School managed to raise 86 books as a school. The school was awarded the Certificate of Appreciation for its contribution.

The school’s executive and administrative

Students and staff reading their books

staff immersed in their reading materials,

during D.E.A.R. Time.

playing their part for the ‘Read for Books’ event.

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(iv) Follow-up classroom activities on reading of set-texts English teachers conducted follow-up reading activities and projects once every two to three weeks. EL teachers would set aside one period to make the reading process more engaging for the students and to also help students understand the texts further through critical analysis of the material. The teachers also managed to infuse other skills such as oral communication and listening activities in these reading activities. The list of reading activities and projects conducted for the students can be found below.

Reading Activities

Secondary 1

EXPRESS Students created skits based on the book.

Students were also given various articles for reading and discussion.

NA

Students analysed the characters of the book.

Students were also given various articles for reading and discussion.

Secondary 2

Secondary 3

Secondary 4 and 5

Students analysed the characters and values learnt from the main character of the book.

Students participated in a character analysis activity.

Students discussed articles from various themes.

Students analysed the various book characters and also completed book reviews.

Students analysed the characters and also created an Instagram account for one of the characters from the book showcasing the personality and daily activities.

Students discussed articles from various themes.

Students also did a character analysis to describe an elderly person based on a few selected stories from the book.

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NT

Students created an Instagram account (written) for one of their favourite characters from the books.

Students were also given various articles for reading and discussion.

Reading Project

Presentation of character analysis and/or audio clips of the students reading the various articles in Student Learning Space.

Students created video log reviews where they were tasked to provide a video of themselves giving a book review based on a few questions.

Students also analysed the various book characters and completed book reviews.

Presentation of character analysis and video log review.

Students participated in Reading Circles activity by discussing a few questions.

The summary of the main discussion points were presented in one of these methods (mind map, poetry / rap, comic strip / abstract drawing, summary writing, personal opinion etc.).

Students discussed articles from various themes.

Readers’ Theatre and skit / videorecording/ animated video presentation based on one of the scenes from the book.

(v) Meet-the-Authors session held during the school’s English Language & Literature Festival The reading team collaborated with two authors, Mr Andre Yeo who wrote ‘9th of August’ and ‘50-50 word stories to celebrate Singapore’s 50th birthday’ and Mr Ken Kwek, the author of ‘Timothy and the Phubbers’. The purpose of the session was aimed at promoting reading to the students and for them to gain a deeper understanding of the writing process.

There was a sharing session by the authors and their books were made available for sale.

The students also had an opportunity to interact with the authors and to have their newly purchased book signed by them.

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(vi) Print-to-Screen (Movie) Day This was a fun and exciting event for the students as they watched adaptations of the novels that they had been reading. Each level had a different screening of one of the novels that they read in Semester 2. Students also gained an in-depth understanding of the books as they saw the various characters come alive. The EL teachers also conducted follow-up activities at the end of the movie screening sessions to further engage the students and enhance their learning experience.

One of the English teachers conducting a quiz at the end of the movie screening of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;A Wrinkle in Timeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

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(vii) Books-2-Go The NLB was invited by the school to conduct Books-2-Go session at our school canteen.

Students were exposed to a wide range of books and they were encouraged to borrow and read these books. To further complement this session, they were given a range of follow-up reading activities which they will capture in their ‘DiscoveReads’ booklet over the year-end school holidays.

Secondary 3 students browsing through the books on display.

(viii) Teacher Professional Development To enhance the EL teachers’ development in the reading and viewing aspect, all of the EL teachers attended a ‘Teaching Reading and Viewing [Secondary] Professional Learning Programme’ workshop conducted by Master Teacher, Jeyalaxmy Ayaduray of ELIS. In addition, one EL teacher attended the ‘Extensive Reading Programme Professional Learning Programme’ conducted by ELIS.

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Data Collection: Student Surveys â&#x2014;? Start of intervention stage on habits student survey At the end of two months of the intervention stage of the conduct of D.E.A.R. Time, the PLT conducted a survey to get a sensing of the structured reading programme. The respondents were a random sample of 170 students across various levels and streams.

From this survey, it was gathered that 80% of the respondents found D.E.A.R. Time beneficial. However, close to 50% did not find the consequence plan effective.

With reference to point 2 by Renandya on the characteristics of an extensive reading programme (cited in Literature Review), the PLT team decided to further engage the students by giving students autonomy and choice in choosing the novel they would want to read in Semester 2 during D.E.A.R. Time. â&#x2014;? Intervention stage: Reading programme mid-point student survey In Term 3, selected classes from Secondary 1 to 3 (from all 3 streams) were selected for a mid-point survey. In total, there were 288 respondents for this survey. 74% of the respondents found the reading programme beneficial and also suggested ways to improve the programme. â&#x2014;? Intervention stage: Reading programme end-point student survey In the final week of school in Term 4, the same classes that were selected for the midpoint survey were surveyed once again. In total, there were 238 respondents for this survey. Additional questions were posed to get a better understanding of whether there has been a positive change in their reading habits in 2018 in comparison to 2017. The PLT was encouraged to see a significant shift from a 72.3% negative feelings and opinions towards reading to a 74.7% positive attitude.

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â&#x2014;? Pre- and post-Intervention stages: Focus group discussion A target group of 20 Secondary 1-3 students (representatives from all streams) were randomly chosen. The aim of the session was to gather some background information on studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; reading habit and attitude towards reading. Similar to the survey results, a positive attitude towards reading was noted.

Observations Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; reading behaviour during D.E.A.R. Time The students were generally well-behaved during the weekly silent reading sessions. It became spontaneous for the students to take out their novels and read silently once they heard the 15 seconds music signal and to keep their books when they heard the piped music again later. By reading in the presence of their students, the teachers acted as role models for them and they were seen as a motivation for the students to do their reading as well.

Students quietly reading their books during EL D.E.A.R. Time.

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Findings (i) Start of Intervention Stage: Student Survey (Total respondents: 170) Questions

Responses

1. Do you find D.E.A.R. Time beneficial?

● Yes (80%) ● No (20%)

2. If yes, choose one or more of the following reasons:

● It has given me more time to read for pleasure. (49.7%) ● It has helped motivate me to read outside of D.E.A.R. Time.

(17.8%) ● It has helped to increase my English vocabulary bank.

(14.1%)

3. Do you find the consequence plan for not bringing a book effective?

● Yes (51.2%) ● No (48.8%)

(ii) Intervention stage: Mid-point and End-point Student Surveys Questions

1. Do you find D.E.A.R. Time beneficial?

Mid-point Survey Results (Total respondents:288) ● Yes (74.7%) ● No (25.3%)

End-point Survey Results (Total respondents:238) ● Yes (71%) ● No (29%)

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Questions

Mid-point Survey Results (Total respondents:288)

2. If yes, choose one or more of the following reasons:

3. How do you think D.E.A.R. Time can be improved?

End-point Survey Results (Total respondents:238)

● It has given me more time to read for pleasure. (35.5%)

● It has given me more time to read for pleasure. (58.1%)

● It has helped improve my knowledge of English grammar.

(11.4%)

● It has helped improve my knowledge of English grammar.

(33%)

● It has helped to extend my English vocabulary bank. (11%)

● It has helped to extend my English vocabulary bank.

(32%)

● No sharing Uninterrupted D.E.A.R. Time. (28.5%)

● No sharing Uninterrupted D.E.A.R.Time. (24%)

● More book sharings by teachers. (20.5%)

● More book sharings by teachers. (15.5%)

● More book sharings by students. (14.9% or 43)

● More book sharings by students. (11.8%) ● More assigned reading materials.

(16%)

4. In 2017, my reading habits were …

● I read once in a while (38.2%) ● I did not read at all (21.9%)

● I read once in a while (26.9%) ● I did not read at all (23.1%)

● I hardly read for pleasure (20.1%) ● I hardly read for pleasure (39.5%)

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Questions

5. What do I enjoy about reading in 2018?

Mid-point Survey Results (Total respondents:288)

End-point Survey Results (Total respondents:238)

● I like the novel I have chosen to read in Semester 2. (43.4%)

● I like the novel I have chosen to read in Semester 2. (36.6%)

● I like that we have fixed D.E.A.R. Time. (33.7%)

● I like that we have fixed D.E.A.R. Time. (25.2%)

6. Have you found the classroom reading activities and projects conducted by your teachers beneficial?

-

7. In 2017, my feeling or opinion towards reading was ...

-

● Yes (76.5%) ● No (23.5%)

Out of 224 valid opinions expressed, ● 72.3% of responses expressed negative opinions towards reading. ● 27.7% expressed positive opinions towards reading.

Top 3 negative opinions expressed: ● Boring (70) ● I did not like reading (25) ● Nothing (13) Top 3 positive opinions expressed: ● Okay (30) ● Good (10) ● Fun (2)

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Questions

8. In 2018, my feeling or opinion towards reading is ...

Mid-point Survey End-point Survey Results Results (Total respondents:238) (Total respondents:288) -

Out of 229 valid opinions expressed, ● 74.7% of responses expressed positive opinions towards reading. ● 25.3% expressed negative opinions towards reading.

Top 3 positive opinions expressed: ● Interesting (30) ● Fun (23) ● I like reading more. (21) Top 3 negative opinions expressed: ● Boring (22) ● Nothing (12) ● I don’t like reading (6)

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(iii) Pre-Intervention stage: Focus Group Discussion (Reading Habits Prior to Structured Extensive Reading Programme 2018) The table below is a summary of the main points gathered from the discussion before the implementation of the Structured Extensive Reading Programme in 2018.

1(a) What was your reading habit like in 2017?

12 students (60%) of the students voiced that they enjoyed reading in 2017.

1(b) Was reading useful back then in 2017?

Most of them found it useful. The reason(s) given:

1(c) What were some of the things you did after reading the books?

Responses:

2. Where did you get your books from in 2017?

● Reading makes us happy; ● Able to learn new words which can be used in essays; and ● Helps improve oral skills (able to read better).

● Look for other books in the same series, ● Move on to the next book; and ● Share with friends, exchange books.

WordPad, google, books that the school gives us, school library, bookstore and National Library, books suggested by siblings/parents, book fairs.

Secondary 1 - Mostly library and bookstores.

Secondary 2 and 3 - Most of them mentioned that they read e-books.

(iv) Post-Intervention Focus Group Discussion (Reading Habits after a year of the Structured Extensive Reading Programme 2018) The table below is a summary of the main points gathered from the discussion at the end of 2018. Most of the students felt that there was an improvement in their reading habits. They also found the classroom reading activities meaningful.

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3(a) What is your reading habit like now at the end of a year of reading programme in Northbrooks?

18 students (90%) of the students felt that their reading habits have improved and that they are reading more now because of the EL D.E.A.R. Time.

They also found reading useful for their English Language lessons.

2 students (10%) have no interest in reading and find reading a waste of time.

3(b) How do you find the book sharings?

18 students (90%) of them mentioned that they would rather read during the EL D.E.A.R. Time than to have the book sharings.

3(c) How do you find the class reading activities?

18 students (90%) of them mentioned that they enjoyed the classroom reading activities. It made them more interested in the book.

E.g. Movie screening, oral activities, Instagram activity etc.

2 students (10%) said that they did not enjoy the reading activities as they felt that there was too much focus on them being graded assignments.

4. Some

16 students (80%) mentioned that they prefer to have the

suggestions from D.E.A.R. Time in the classroom since it is more conducive and the students to

comfortable compared to the school hall.

improve the reading

To get students who like to read and to motivate those who

programme

do not, by making them work together during the reading projects.

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(v) Analysis and Discussions (i) The Structured Extended Reading Programme has provided an opportunity for Northbrooks students to read for pleasure.

The statistics confirmed that prior to the 2018 EL D.E.A.R. Time, students were not reading regularly. Reading frequency data from the mid-point and end-point student surveys showed that they hardly read for pleasure and that they only read once in a while or did not read at all. Hence, the 2018 EL Structured Extensive Reading Programme, and in particular, D.E.A.R. Time has provided an opportunity for the majority of students to read for pleasure.

(ii) Majority of Northbrooks students recognise that EL D.E.A.R. Time has brought them benefits.

Statistics from both the mid-point and end-point student surveys consistently confirmed that students find the main benefit of EL D.E.A.R. Students also found that EL D.E.A.R. Time has improved their language skills, namely giving them a better grasp of the English grammar and extended their vocabulary bank. EL D.E.A.R. Time has also helped them to gain a better understanding of the world.

(iii) The Structured Extensive Reading Programme has contributed to improved reading attitudes in students.

Apart from evidence that had led to the implementation of this programme, majority of students themselves, had indicated, retrospectively in the end-point student survey, negative attitudes towards reading. They found reading to be ‘boring’ and that they ‘did not like reading’. However, when asked to state their attitude towards reading in 2018, many indicated that they found reading to be ‘interesting’, ‘fun’ and ‘I like reading more’.

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(iv) Students enjoyed the autonomy of choosing their own books to read during D.E.A.R. Time.

One central tenet of extensive reading is that students should be given the autonomy of choice in reading materials. This belief was supported by statistics in the study which showed that majority of them had enjoyed being able to choose the novel to read in Semester 2.

In conclusion, survey data indicated that the Structured Extensive Reading Programme 2018 has helped the students discover the joy of reading as it has provided a regular time slot for students to read for pleasure. These students would otherwise be unlikely to read for pleasure, on their own accord. Majority of students had also negative or ambivalent attitudes towards reading prior to the start of the programme. However, the Structured Extensive Reading Programme 2018 has helped to improve their attitude towards reading.

Most students also enjoyed the autonomy of choice given to them in the selection of reading material.

Limitations (i) The Structured Extensive Reading Programme still has some way to go in benefitting reluctant readers.

While majority of students surveyed have found the Structured Extensive Reading Programme to be beneficial, there are still 25.3% of students who had indicated at the mid-point student survey that they did not benefit from the programme. This percentage rose slightly to 29% at the end-point student survey. Therefore, the team will need to support this group of reluctant readers and consider strategies to change their poor attitude towards reading.

(ii) Choice of titles for novels Based on the feedback from students and teachers, some book titles were not as wellreceived by students and this may have reduced their joy in reading. Some of the titles will be changed for 2019.

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(iii) â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Disruptedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; EL D.E.A.R. Time There were interruptions during some D.E.A.R. Time sessions as speaking activities like book promotions were held. Majority of students had also reflected in the mid-point and final surveys that they preferred uninterrupted D.E.A.R. Time. To accommodate to this request, one period per fortnight in the EL curriculum time in 2019 will be held in the classroom where students will be given uninterrupted silent reading during D.E.A.R. Time.

(iv) Slight reduction in sample size for final survey Some participants in the mid-point student survey did not participate in the final survey so this may have affected data analysis.

The Reading PLT will continue to journey with the same group of respondents in 2019 to see if their reading habits and attitudes have further changed for the better.

Conclusion In this technological age, when students are most of the time distracted by their mobile phones, it is heartening to see students being able to sit quietly and read for pleasure not just during D.E.A.R. Time, but also during changeover of periods and after curriculum time.

We began with choosing books for the students to read and for many this was the start of their journey to reading books that they would otherwise not know how to choose.

However, based on the feedback from student surveys and EL teachers, refinements will be made to the 2019 Structured Extensive Reading Programme and follow-up activities in the classroom for sustaining the reading habit.

2018 reading programme is a good start for building a reading culture in the school.

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References 1. Renandya W.A. (2007), The Power of Extensive Reading, taken from RELC Journal 2. Richard Day, Julian Bamford (2002), Top Ten Principles for Teaching Extensive Reading, retrieved from: Reading in a Foreign Language, Vol 14, Number 2.

3. Richard R. Day (2015), Extending Extensive Reading, retrieved from: Reading in a Foreign Language, Vol 27, Number 2.

4. 2011, The Extensive Reading Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Guide to Extensive Reading, retrieved from: www.erfoundation.org 5. Curriculum Planning and Development Division, MOE, English Language Syllabus 2010.

Acknowledgement The team would like to acknowledge and thank our Project Advisor, Master Teacher (English Language) Jeyalaxmy Ayaduray of ELIS for guiding us in this action research.

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Examination of the effect of an inter-disciplinary authentic learning experience on the meaning making of students Huang Kee Hong Goh Sor Pui Loh Mew Chew Lee Wen Lin William Chan Ying Chung Dian Farhana Bte Akbar Nuraida Bte Ajmaain Abstract This study is premised on the belief that when themes or subjects are conceptualised in an integrated approach, students begin to see meaningful connections between the subject matter. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to search for new ways to help students make sense of the knowledge they gain from their curriculum. The team of teachers from mother tongue, mathematics, science and geography departments came together to structure learning experiences under the theme of Water Learning Programme.

Through the subject-integrated learning journey to the Lower Seletar Reservoir, the learning experience was further enhanced through the use of information technology tools and follow-up lessons, which resulted in students being more aware of content area connections, empowered to be self-directed and confident learners, and engaged in independent and collaborative learning. This study has pedagogical implications in the fostering of critical thinking through active learning in an inter-disciplinary learning environment.

Introduction MTL Department started Water Learning Programme in 2013. This programme provided opportunities for students to explore, discover, capture their imaginations and learn various aspects of the Singapore Water Story and encouraged students to take up the responsibility of caring for water. In 2017, the department expand the programme to a primary school; and Yishun Primary School is the first partner of this programme. Malay Unit start their Water Learning Programme for Sec 1 students in the same year as well.

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Recognising that students’ learning can be further enriched as they can make meaningful connections across various subjects during the Water Learning Programme, a multidisciplinary approach has been adopted in 2018.

The Humanities department has incorporated the intended learning outcomes for Geography on the topic of water. The Science and Mathematics departments have identified knowledge and skills that students can apply during the learning trail.

In addition, this programme also provides opportunities for Brooksians to hone their speaking and leadership skills when they conduct tours of the reservoir for primary school students. In 2017, partnering Yishun Primary School, our Water Ambassadors conducted the LJ in CL for their Primary 4 – 6 students. This year, the programme has expanded and is offered to all the N6 Cluster Primary schools in the Chinese Language.

Objectives ● Provide students an opportunity to understand the importance of water to Singapore and our reservoirs; ● To boost the students’ confidence in speaking Mother tongue (Chinese and Malay) language and strengthening it; ● To provide students with authentic learning experiences.

Desired Outcome ● Students will learn the importance of water to Singapore and start to treasure it; ● Students will get to know their community more; ● Students will have more interest in learning Mother Tongue (Chinese and Malay).

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Literature Review Authentic learning

As educators, we have all known for a long time that learning is best done through experience - learning by doing rather than learning by listening or observing. As such, authentic learning experiences give students the opportunity to address the three goals of learning: acquisition, making meaning and transfer (AMT). The AMT model above illustrates how these three processes are interrelated: By designing learning experiences with relevance and authenticity, teachers can plan occasions for all three of these goals to be realised, allowing teachers to become â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;coaches of understanding, not mere purveyors of content or activityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (Wiggins and McTighe, 2011). More than anything else, authentic learning experiences generate engagement with students. Authenticity automatically gives relevance to the learning journey; relevance encourages engagement and enthusiasm, which should bring about meaningful learning.

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Subject integration Subject integration enhances learning through making connections. The connections can be across subjects and to real life situations or issues. The team structured the learning experiences based on the Multidisciplinary Design Model. In this design, “related disciplines are presented together in a unit or course structure to study a theme or issue and show the complementarity of the disciplines” (Pettus, 1994, p. 6). Students engaging in multidisciplinary learning are often presented with a common project, or theme, and engage in some collaboration between disciplines in order to complete complementary assignments within each discipline. In order to connect the disciplines, teachers spend time gather and plan together to identify how the concept, theme, or problem will be addressed, construct the common project and determine how students will work together on the project.

In short, teachers help students to see the connections and relevance between subjects, encourages active participation in relevant real-life experiences and provides a deeper understanding of content. When students achieve greater awareness of the connections between each subjects, the learning experience of the subject becomes inherently more meaningful. As a result of integration occurring at this level, the student becomes the consumer of knowledge and the teacher becomes the facilitator of knowledge (Park & Son, 2010, Table 1). This in turn, increases the learners’ intrinsic motivation. Therefore, students’ self-efficacy is further developed.

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Method A Learning Circle is a collaborative problem solving tool that facilitates effective discussions through reflection, dialogue, and critical friendship. In order to get the team of teachers from different departments to come together to structure learning experiences under the theme of Water Learning Programme, the team adopted the Scan-Plan-Act-Observe-Review cycle, otherwise known as the S-P-A-O-R cycle in Learning Circle.

Scan

Teachers sat down to conduct reflections on teaching and learning issues.

Plan

Plan the programme to infuse learning from different subject areas under the theme of Water Learning.

Act Observe

Implement the programme for Secondary 1 CL and ML students.

Observe how students respond to the activities, and analyse the result and feedback by students.

Review

Base on the data collected, review and improve the programme for next year.

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The programme that the team has developed include 3 parts: Briefing of Water resources in Singapore, Learning Journey to Lower Seletar Reservoir and Application of the learning.

The learning journey will be conducted using an Orienteering concept. Northbrooks Student Guides will facilitate at different stations; and there are a total of 5 stations for students to complete in the learning journey. The activities are as below.

Activities Objectives

Introduction

Integrated

Students can express

Students to write 1 short

MT

message

and write down their

message to their parents

Language

writing

feeling.

for sharing their feeling

1 Short

when they arrive at the reservoir. The message should include their objective. Students should use their 5 senses to elaborate their feeling.

2 The

Recount historical events

Students to answer the

MT

History of

at Sungei Seletar up to

questions in the app after

Language &

Seletar

the present day Lower

reading the information on

History &

Reservoir

Seletar Reservoir.

the heritage panel.

English

Comprehend the function

Students will learn about

MT

of rain garden and

the function of rain garden

Language &

bioretention swales as

and bioretention swales as

Science

nature features to clean

natural features that keep

water.

our waters clean through

3 Rain Garden

the sharing of student guides and the demonstration of the water filtration system.

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4 Green Reservoir

Students are able to

Students to find out the

MT

understand the purpose

purpose of the litter- boom

Language &

of the litter- boom, 7

through Student Guides

Science &

habits to save water and

introduction.

CCE

provide 2 suggestions to keep/treasure our water resources.

Students to find out 7 habits of water saving and provide 2 suggestions to

Students need to show

keep/treasure our water

an appreciation of why

resources through group

water is a precious

discussion.

resource and the need to conserve it.

Getting students to understand Utilities bill.

Students need to show an awareness of the technique of filtration involved in obtaining drinking water from nonpotable sources.

5 Water Testing

Students to carry out

Students to carry out

Geographical

Geographical Investigation

Investigation techniques

on the quality of water. The

Geography

on water testing and form data collected on level of conclusion on the water

dissolved oxygen, pH value

quality.

and turbidity, will be needed for them to do a reasoning and conclusion on the quality of water and human impact to water resource.

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Results

Analysis & Discussion Students were observed to be highly engaged and participative, more confident in demonstrating application of the knowledge they gain and able to appreciate the domestic water source management in Singapore. From the average score shown in the table above, which reflect studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; learning at the different stations in the learning trail, most students were able to acquire satisfactory score in different stations.

As a result of the learning journey and follow up lessons, there were improvements in the academic achievement in the formative assessment and summative assessment as well as in the motivation level of the students. A session conducted for primary school students using a similar approach had reaped similar benefits.

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Findings & Conclusion Survey for Secondary 1 CL students

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Survey for Secondary 1 ML students

116

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Through the survey conducted in this programme, students from ML and CL classes who took part in the learning trial showed social awareness and civic-mindedness towards conserving the environment.

Limitations & Recommendations The team wanted to enhance the programme with an ICT tool that could support group work and provide collaboration for the students to have more interaction, but the app â&#x20AC;&#x153;Smart Explorerâ&#x20AC;? is unable to provide the function at this stage. Secondly, due to the nature of the programme which is conducted in an open space (Lower Seletar Reservoir), weather is an uncontrollable factor that might affect the carrying out of the programme. A more proper and comprehensive alternative wet weather plan will be needed in the future.

Lastly, although students were observed to be highly engaged in the learning journey, one-off event might have lesser impact on the students.

It is recommended to have a customized app specially tailored to the requirements and needs of the programme, to further enhance studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; learning experience. Besides, functions like Augmented Reality (AR) could also been integrate into the app, as an alternative to engage and provide the students same degree of learning if the outing is being cancel due to bad weather. In order to have more impact on students, it is also recommended to have a more comprehensive plan to get the students to adopt the 118

reservoir; and have more follow up activities after the learning trail, such as open up the trail to parents and community and get the students to lead the trail. This will create a sense of belonging to the community. This will also align with our school’s vision, “Every Brooksian a Champion, Impacting the Community”.

Potential Future Work In line with the school’s vision and mission to impact the community, the team will consider working with the Partnership Committee to further expand the programme to the community. The team is currently getting in touch with vendors to come out with a customized app on E-learning application for Water Learning Programme at Lower Seletar Reservoir, which students and public will be able to access the various lesson packages and collaborate with other users of the app.

References 1. Choi, B. C. & Pak, A. W. (2006, December). Multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, and transdisciplinarity in health research, services, education and policy: 1. Definitions, objectives, and evidence of effectiveness. Clin Invest Med, 29(6), 351-364. Retrieved from http://www.courseweb.uottawa.ca/pop8910/PDF%20Files/Choi_Multidisciplinary.pdf 2. Park, J.-Y. & Son, J.-B. (2010). Transitioning toward transdisciplinary learning in a multidisciplinary environment. International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning, 6(1), 82-93. Retrieved from http://eprints.usq.edu.au/8821/1/Park_Son_IJPL_v6n1_PV.pdf

3. Pettus, A.M. (1994, October). Models for curriculum integration in high school.Retrieved from Southeastern Regional Association of Teacher Educators: http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED389706.pdf 4. Wiggins, G, McTighe, J 2011, The understanding by design guide to creating highquality units,. Alexandria, Va, ASCD

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Pedagogies

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An examination on the effect of a 3-pronged approach on students’ performance in Chemistry practical assessment ____________________________________________________________________________

Celine Goh Sumithra Nair d/o Venu Gopal Nur Sakinah Bte Ahmad Jupri Ambikai Veeramurugan Abstract Chemistry is a subject related to laboratory activities. The purpose of these activities is to teach a variety of skills and conceptual understanding through practical activities.

Through these activities, students learn to approach and solve scientific problems independently. In the learning of Chemistry, learning in the laboratory is as important as learning in the classrooms. This paper shares the findings of adopting a 3-pronged approach of expert modelling, thinking processes and scaffolding to enhance students’ performance in practical assessment. This approach aims to provide cognitive scaffold for students’ learning. It has pedagogical implications in the strengthening of academic tenacity for students.

Introduction Teachers play an important role in the classroom to teach science process skill through a series of scientific learning process. The essential skills related to laboratory activity is science process skill. Science process skill includes cognitive and psychomotor skills which is used in problem solving. Process skills describe students’ thinking activity and require reasoning. In addition to skills, the students also have to master the knowledge to develop an understanding of scientific concepts. Knowledge that can be developed through laboratory activities would be the analytical thinking ability. Analytical thinking involves a series of mental processes in finding solutions to solve problems. Science process skill and analytical thinking are two interrelated things. Thus, the teachers must teach science skills such as facts, concepts, and theories to encourage students to conduct scientific investigations. Through active learning in the laboratory, students are expected to have the investigative practical skills and develop the ability to think.

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Literature Review The complex and abstract nature of Chemistry makes learning and teaching of the subject difficult for students and teachers (Johnstone, 1993). Most students struggle with the learning of Chemistry at the Upper Secondary level. An area of difficulty for students is the inability to relate the microscopic (concepts) to the macroscopic aspects (phenomenon) of Chemistry. The use of videos in the flipped classroom model can have a transformative impact on teaching and learning where students can digest lecture content at their pace and explore content more deeply during class time. One of the main benefits of using question prompts to scaffold students’ learning would be that, it provides a supportive learning environment. This teaching style provides the incentive for students to take a more active role in their own learning. Students share the responsibility of teaching and learning through scaffolds that require them to move beyond their current skill and knowledge levels. Through this interaction, students are able to take ownership of the learning event. (Hogan, 1997)

Research Question The project addressed the following question: What is the impact of the 3-pronged approach (expert modelling, thinking processes and scaffolding) in enhancing students’ performance in Chemistry practical assessment?

Method Prior to the intervention, a practical pre-test (‘O’ Level 2008) was administered to both classes. The pre-test was marked, however, the solutions to the practical pre-test was not discussed with the students. After the intervention (‘O’ Level 2014 and 2015), 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 posttest scores in this Action Research study.

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Subjects/ Design groups Two Secondary 4 Express Science (Chemistry) classes, with a total of 47 students (in 3 groups).

Design A quantitative analysis of the scores was done by using mean and paired sample one-tailed t-test to study the effectiveness of the 3-pronged approach of expert modelling, thinking processes and scaffolding in enhancing the quality of the students’ observations.

Procedure The team used a 3-pronged approach of expert modelling (through the use of flipped classroom videos on Teachers’ Practical Demonstration assigned in the Student Learning Space), thinking processes (through the use of written questions prompts to make students’ thinking visible) and scaffolding (in guiding students to write complete and accurate observations) to enhance students’ performance in practical assessment.

Through the use of flipped classroom model, students learn by digesting the practical videos content (with subtitles) and attempting the intermediate formative assessment check-points at their own pace. Students will then carry out the experiment procedures during the practical sessions. Question prompts to guide their thinking and the use of scaffolding to guide students in writing their observations were also reflected in the practical worksheets to help enhance the quality (completeness and accuracy) of the students’ observations.

Results Data on the pre- and post-tests of both classes (groups) were collated and analysed.

Mean and standard deviation of the test scores were calculated for each individual. The results are shown in Tables 1, 2 and 3. Mean and paired sample one-tailed t-test were then used to determine whether there was any significant increase in the achievement level of the students in terms of the quality of their practical observations.

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Data Analysis and Discussion Pre-test

[12m]

Post-test

[12m]

p-value (oneMean Rating, M Mean Rating, M 6.93 7.87 tailed) 0.135 Standard Deviation, Standard Deviation, SD 2.58 SD 1.92 t-value -1.12 Table 1: Mean and paired sample one-tailed t-test results for 4I P/C combination Pre-test

[12m]

Post-test

[12m] p-value (one8.92 tailed)

Mean Rating, M 6.33 Mean Rating, M 0.0057 Standard Deviation, Standard Deviation, SD 2.74 SD 1.73 t-value -2.76 Table 2: Mean and paired sample one-tailed t-test results for 4F B/C combination Pre-test

[12m]

Post-test

[12m]

p-value Mean Rating, M 7.00 Mean Rating, M 9.70 (one-tailed) 0.00083 Standard Deviation, Standard Deviation, SD 2.21 SD 0.67 t-value -3.69 Table 3: Mean and paired sample one-tailed t-test results for 4F P/C combination

The data from the pre- and post-test of the 3 groups showed improvements in the scores, however, the data collected generally yielded both significant and insignificant increase in the post-test scores based on the intervention of expert modelling, thinking processes and scaffolding in Chemistry practicals. For 4I P/C combination, the one-tailed p-value is 0.135 and t-value is -1.12. For the 4F B/C combination, the one-tailed p-value is 0.0057 and t-value is -2.76. For 4F P/C combination, the one-tailed p-value is 0.00083 and tvalue is -3.69.

For 4F B/C and 4F P/C combinations, the increment of 2.59 and 2.70 respectively in the post-test scores showed a significant difference in the improvement in the test scores.

Consequently, it can be said that the 3-pronged approach of expert modelling, thinking processes and scaffolding is effective in enhancing studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; performance in practical assessment.

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For 4I P/C combination, there is increment of 0.94 marks in the post-test scores, however the differences are not significant. This implied that the 3-pronged approach of expert modelling, thinking processes and scaffolding is less effective compared to the other 2 groups in enhancing students’ performance in practical assessment.

Findings and Conclusions This study aims to investigate if using a 3-pronged approach of expert modelling, thinking processes and scaffolding would enhance students’ performance in practical assessment.

Based on the results of this study, the differences in the pre- and post-test for both classes (3 groups) using the 3-pronged approach indicated in a differential improvement in the students’ performance (for 2 groups) of the Science (Chemistry) syllabus.

Limitations and Recommendations For better comparison, an independent t-test for the pre- and post-intervention test can be carried out for both classes (3 groups). One possible reason to account for part of the insignificant findings is the duration of the intervention. The students involved in this study were not exposed to triangulation approach long enough to bring about a change to their ability to enhance the quality of their practical observations. Moreover the sample size in this study is small, thus the results from the test scores may not be useful to generalise the impact of the use of triangulation approach of expert modelling, thinking processes and scaffolding to enhance students’ performance in practical assessment.

Potential Future Work Based on the significant findings for 2 groups, the 3-pronged approach of expert modelling, thinking processes and scaffolding to enhance students’ performance in practical assessment is still a viable choice. The intervention could be explored earlier (at the end of Secondary 3 level), for a longer duration, with the use of more ‘O’ Level Science (Chemistry) practical exam papers during the period of intervention.

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References 1. Johnstone, A. H., (1993). The development of chemistry teaching: A changing response to a changing demand. Journal of Chemical Education, 70(9), p. 701-705.

2. Hogan, K., and Pressley, M. (1997). Scaffolding student learning: Instructional approaches and issues. Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books.

3. Pedagogical Benefits of Videos for Teaching and Learning â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The University of Queensland, Australia http://www.uq.edu.au/teach/video-teach-learn/pedbenefits.html

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Examination of the effect of using thinking routines in the learning of Design and Technology _____________________________________________________________________________________

Foo Weng Choy Ramasamy Venugopal Ng Lian Sin (Alex) Lim Chee Tiong Abstract Design and Technology is a subject that emphasises designing involving research, reasoned application of knowledge and skills in the areas of design and technology particularly in three technological areas, namely Structures, Mechanisms and Electronics. This paper identified and described the learning challenges faced by students taking Design and Technology in upper secondary level and the adoption of “making thinking visible” strategies to overcome these challenges. Thinking routines such as “I used to think…, But now I think..” and “Concept Map” are used to support and excavate specific thinking moves to make students’ learning visible on technological content that contain some degree of ambiguity. This provided the necessary cognitive scaffold for students to apply technological conceptual knowledge from different perspectives with ease. It has pedagogical implications in the strengthening of academic tenacity for students.

Introduction Studies have shown that thinking is an important part of our students’ learning process.

Constructivists argue that learning takes place when students think through and work mentally with the concepts they are studying. This learning or thinking approach is still pretty much invisible. When the learning is visible, the teacher knows if learning is occurring or not. Students’ thinking or learning is visible when the learning objectives are explicit through feedback that feed forward among students and teachers.

We started our project by exploring major challenges faced by our students in various components in their Design and Technology Syllabus 7051 examination for the year of 2017. The three broad areas that were identified are ideation/sketching, technological

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concepts and artefact realisation. The current weighted assessment for 2018 is shown in Table 1.

7051 DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY GCE ORDINARY LEVEL SYLLABUS Paper

Weighted assessment

1

30%

2

70% Table 1

30% of the total mark for this subject for Paper 1 is further categorised as shown in Table 2.

Paper 1 marks distribution Section A

40% of the total marks of the paper – 40 out of 100 marks

Five questions requiring short answers will be set based mainly on design process and design contents.

Section B

60% of the total marks of the paper – 60 out of 100 marks

Three questions will be set based mainly on the three technological areas, namely, Structures, Mechanisms and Electronics.

Table 2 This weighted assessment will be revised to 40% and 60% for Paper 1 and Paper 2 respectively in 2020. Our Secondary 4 students’ performance in their 2017 Preliminary examination for Paper 1 is shown in Table 3.

2017 Preliminary examination Paper 1 passing Section A

55%

Section B

20%

Table 3 128

Results have shown that of our Secondary 4 (2017) students were weak in technological topics. These were attributed to two main challenges. First, students had poor ability to internalise and externalise learnt knowledge by constructing and applying technologies in various contextual problems via verbal and non-verbal means.

Secondly, students had poor knowledge retention and the ability to rationalise their thinking for the given problems. Without clear thinking, it will be impossible for students to identify the relevant content knowledge to scrutinise the questions.

Hence, in this project, we explore and use thinking routines to help students to collectively construct their thinking structures so that learning can take place through reflections and studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; misconceptions can be identified visually. Therefore, students can consolidate new learning as students identify their new understanding, opinions and beliefs on the subject matter. In addition, the teachers can also get the feedback via such visible assessment to reflect on the impact of their knowledge transfer to the students and implement appropriate interventions.

Literature review Students have issues with technological topics that require them to make connection and apply the knowledge in to different context. They also have not been actively building explanation and reasoning with evidence from more than one perspective. As a result, there are significant gaps in their understanding. The current approach focuses more on having the students to complete their assignments and task which at times might not be able to promote deeper learning and understanding than on development of understanding. Therefore, for students to truly understand the subject matter they must actively engage in thinking and sense making (Ritchhart et al., 2011). There is also a concern about weather individual studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; thinking style will affect their inability to communicate effectively but one particular study has shown that there is no relationship between thinking style and communication style. In other words, students with different type of communication style (listeners, creators, initiators, and thinkers) will not be determined by any type of thinking style (idealistic, pragmatic, analytic, and realistic). (Liliweri A (2017). As such, our PLT team would like to focus and explore ways to create opportunities for students to think; making it visible. Making thinking 129

visible is a flexible approach to integrating the teaching and development of thinking with content knowledge (Ritchhart et al., 2011). There are many ways to get started using visible thinking. One of it, is using thinking routines. Routines help direct student thinking and structure classroom discussion. Thinking becomes visible as these different viewpoints are expressed, documented, discussed and reflected upon. In our project, we intend to use routines that are useful for synthesizing and digging deeper into ideas.

Method This project is targeted for Sec 3 Express students who are taking Design and Technology. The class is made up of 15 students of mixed ability. The team decided to start the study with Concept map thinking routine to scaffold students; and to activate their prior knowledge of basic electronic components so that they can generate, sort and connect the knowledge for a temperature sensing process block.

Students were given random magnetic cards of electronic components symbols and tasked to place the cards on the respective process blocks on the whiteboard.

Thereafter, in lesson 2 “I used to think… But Now I think” thinking routine is used to help students to reflect and consolidate their thinking about the functionality of a temperature sensing circuit and explore why that thinking will change as a result of their experiences in their temperature sensing circuit experiment. Students were tasked to work in pairs to investigate the characteristics of a thermistor with variation in internal resistance with respect to variation in surrounding temperature.

Lastly, in lesson 3 “Step inside” thinking routine is used to enable students to dig deeper into another sensing circuit application from another perspective as they try to imagine problems differently to open up possibilities for further creative exploration. Students were given a task to take up the role of a normal street lamp along our Singapore roads.

They were tasked to deduce the purpose of the street lamp and design a light sensing circuit based on the temperature sensing circuit framework which they had learnt in lesson 1 and 2.

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Results “Concept map” Activity Activity was carried out as a class activity on the white board. Students were able to list the block diagram processes. However, there were misconceptions being surfaced as some students were not able to draw the correct electronic symbols into the correct Input block, Process block and Output block. Hence, failing to make the necessary connections.

“I used to think… But Now I think” Activity Cleared misconceptions

Already knew

53%

13%

Did not clear misconceptions

Did not attempt / Absent

7%

27%

“Step Inside” Activity

Able to state the function and draw circuit Not able to state the function and draw circuit 63%

27%

Analysis and Discussion The study showed that majority of the students benefited with the usage of thinking routines to help them to discover the “A HA” moment when their thinking make sense to them visually. More of such thinking routines should be rolled out in classroom teaching to reach out to students so that that can experience the learning in different settings.

Findings and Conclusion Students are more willing to explore the unknown with appropriate scaffold to drive them to think and explore. They had shown that they are capable in demonstrating their thinking to provide deeper alternatives to a solution rather than be fixated to standard answers. This is particularly so when they empathise the situation/context they themselves are in.

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Limitations and Recommendations Teachers need to choose the appropriate thinking routines, duration and appropriate opportunities that suit the intended task that the students are supposed to immerse in their thinking process. There is no one routine that is the "best" to begin with but it is easy to start with the guideline from the routine matrix. Thinking routines become routines only once the edges are softened and both teachers and students can work flexibly with the routine. The thinking culture has to be continuously executed in order to promote and develop studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; thinking. When the team embarked on these thinking routines, we were not sure which routines to use and how effective these routines are.

Most importantly, teachers need to model the thinking routines so that the students can get clearer pictures on the execution.

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Potential future work These thinking skills can be expanded to macro level not only to students but educators at large so that the fraternity will be in a good position to develop critical thinkers.

References: 1.

Liliweri A (2017) An Analysis on the Relationship of Thinking and Learning Styles with Communication Style. Int J Sch Cogn Psychol 4: 192. doi:10.4172/2469-9837.1000192. Retrieve from https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/an-analysis-on-the-relationship-ofthinking-and-learning-styles-withcommunication-style-2469-98371000192.php?aid=88920

2.

Ritchhart, R., Church, M., & Morrison, K. (2011). Making thinking visible: How to foster engagement, uncover understanding, and independence for all learners.

San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Ritchhart, R., P

3.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning.

New York, NY, US: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

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Annexes

Technological areas of concern

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Student’s responses to “I used to think…, But now I think..” thinking routine

135

Student’s responses to “Step inside” thinking routine

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An examination of the effects of using contextual clues in the learning of the English language vocabulary ____________________________________________________ Carolyn Quek Chng Yi Na Nurnadia Abdollah Eddy Norisman Muhammad Khairi Md Nor Abstract One common problem that Normal Technical students face when reading text passages is that they may encounter words that are unfamiliar to them. This, in turn, impedes their comprehension and prevents them from appreciating the text fully. This lesson study aims to help address this issue by equipping student readers with contextual clue tools to help them unpack the meaning of difficult words to elevate their level of comprehension of the text. This approach aims to provide cognitive scaffold for studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; learning. It has pedagogical implications in the strengthening of academic tenacity for students.

Introduction The members of this project are English teachers of Normal (Technical) Stream students at Northbrooks Secondary School. Based on observations and anecdotal evidence, one main struggle we have found NT students face in English lessons, is that they struggle with reading text passages because of vocabulary that is unfamiliar to them. As a result, this impedes their comprehension of the text and does not allow them to appreciate the text fully. To address this issue, we decided to introduce students to the reading strategy of using contextual clues so that they will be able to guess the meaning of unknown words.

A game element was also incorporated into the lesson design; the possibilities for collaboration and competition were thought to increase student motivation and engagement.

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Objectives of the Study The study aims to find out: How far students are able to apply the reading strategy of using contextual clues to decipher the meaning of unknown or difficult words.

Literature Review According to Master Teacher Jeyalaxmy Ayaduray of the English Language Institute of Singapore (Singteach, September 2016), reading is a fundamental skill for academic achievement. It is important that students can read and make sense of texts, to be able to interact with texts and eventually make use of that information they have in their hands. She also added that the ability to read, facilitates learning; and students who love reading would be able to progress quickly.

Ms Ayaduray also said that teachers need to raise studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; awareness of what effective readers do and make visible the invisible comprehension strategies that are used to make meaning of texts read. Teachers must consciously teach students the skills and strategies explicitly to help them understand what they need to do when facing texts, she also shared.

Research also reports that teaching students how to use strategies can contribute to studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; reading comprehension. However, to teach these strategies in meaningful ways, student interests, multiple representations of thinking, graphic organisers and opportunities to collaborate should be integrated. (Flanigan, Templeton, & Hayes, 2012; Nagy & Townsend, 2012).

Mclaughlin (2015) added that context clues can help readers become independent word learners. Students can use these clues to figure out the meanings of unknown words that they encounter when reading. To teach students how to use context clues, they can firstly be taught to use the words surrounding an unknown word which enables them to try and determine the wordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s meaning. Next, students can be told that there are different types of context clues; and examples can be provided of each, preferably from

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texts in which students have an interest in. Teachers should also explain to students that readers often need to use more than one type of context clue to determine the meaning of an unknown word.

Types of context clues include the following (Mclaughlin, 2015): -

Cause / effect clue: The relation of the reason to the result allows the reader to predict the word’s meaning. (This clue tells what happened [result] and what caused it to happen [reason].)

-

Comparison / contrast clue: Provides information about something similar to and / or different from the unknown word. (This clue tells something that the terms have in common and / or what is unique about each.)

-

Definition clue: Connects the unknown word to a known word or words (This clue tells what the term means.)

-

Example / illustration clue: A picture that shows the meaning of the word (The clue is the illustration.)

-

Grammar clue: Provides insight into the part of speech and how it functions in the sentence.

-

Logic clue: Provides a common sense connection to the unknown word (This clue tells something that makes sense about the word.)

-

Mood / tone clue: A description of the feeling related to the word allows readers to predict the word’s meaning (The feeling this clue suggests helps determine the word’s meaning.)

Design of the Lesson Study Participants and Timeframe The lesson study was conducted with 19 Secondary 1 Normal Technical stream students (Secondary 1 Discipline). The lesson took place over four periods (Part 1 - two periods; Part 2 - two periods).

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Formation of groups Four groups of five students were formed. The students were allowed to choose their own groups.

Lesson flow Students were given a 4-page worksheet and PowerPoint slides were also used to guide them in the lessons. A 300-word passage on Bollywood Veggies - a fruit and vegetable farm in Kranji, Singapore - was selected to be the focus of the lesson study. This passage is approximately the length of a single Comprehension Text II passage found in the Normal (Technical) English Language Examination Paper 2, Section (B).

Lesson Study Part 1 Lesson introduction Prior to getting students to read and work on the text, a video about the Bollywood Veggies farm was shown to them, to trigger their thinking and pique their interest in the topic. Following the video, students were asked to write down their impressions about the farm, in particular, what they had seen or noticed about the farm, from the video.

Lesson development Next, students were asked to read the passage ‘Bollywood Veggies - Singapore’s very own farm and countryside’, without any assistance from the teacher. After reading the passage, students were then asked to answer 3 questions: -

1. What is the article mainly about?

-

2. Why do you think the writer wrote this article?

-

3. Do you think you would want to visit Bollywood Veggies? Why?

These questions allowed the teacher to assess students’ understanding of the article’s gist. Most of the students were able to answer questions 1 and 3. However, for question 2, only a handful of students were able to correctly infer and articulate the writer’s purpose which is to promote the farm as a place of interest.

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Students were then asked to explain what they would do, should they encounter difficult words. Following the discussion, the teacher then explicitly taught the reading strategy of using contextual clues to guess the meaning of difficult words - especially in the use of definitions and synonyms - which were found in the text.

The teacher then modelled the use of this reading strategy to guess the meaning of the first difficult word ‘unwind’ found in the passage, in Paragraph 1. The teacher pointed out the contextual clues around the word in the paragraph, such as ‘a quiet and peaceful place’, ‘refresh’ and ‘take a break’. These clues are contrasted with the references to the city. The teacher articulated her thought process through a think aloud.

-

What form of word is ‘unwind’? Is it an action word (verb)? Does it describe something (adjective)?

-

What are some clues that help me find the meaning of the word ‘unwind’?

Lesson conclusion To conclude Part 1 of the lesson study, students were asked to recapitulate what they could do when faced with a difficult text.

Lesson Study Part 2 Lesson Introduction Students were told that they would play a game to put into practice the reading strategy they had learnt in the previous lesson, by guessing the meaning of the rest of the difficult words found in the same passage ‘Bollywood Veggies - Singapore’s very own farm and countryside’. Students were allowed to get into their own groups, but they had to assign each group member a certain role within the group: group leader, language captain, timekeeper, scribe and presenter. Each role was also clearly defined by the teacher and further reinforced in the worksheet.

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The teacher then explained the game instructions, which were as follows: -

You will be given a short extract

-

There will be an underlined word.

-

Each group will be given two minutes to write on the whiteboard a definition or synonym for the word.

-

1 point will be awarded to the group with the best definition.

Lesson development The game then proceeded, where each group would have to discuss and search for a definition or synonym for a difficult word - which was underlined - from a given extract from the passage. Each group would then nominate one person to write their answer on the board, before the time was up. After all the groups had written their answers on the board, the teacher would then ask the class to vote on the best definition, before revealing the answers and giving points to the group(s) with the correct / closest definitions.

Lesson conclusion After concluding the game, students were asked once again, as an exit ticket to the lesson, what they should do if they were to see a difficult word in a text.

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Findings Outcome 1: Answers given by groups during the game Game Round / Word

Correct

Partially

Incorrect

Correct 1. Organic

1

0

3

2. Myriad

3

0

1

3. Rejuvenate

4

0

0

4. Vicinity

2

2

0

Outcome 2: Exit Ticket Unfortunately, not all the students responded to the exit ticket question: “What do you do when you encounter difficult words?” Some of the students provided responses that showed understanding of the strategy taught (e.g. “Use contextual clues”), but a handful provided answers that reflected a continued preference for their current strategy (e.g. “Ask the teacher.”)

Analysis and Discussion Following the lesson study, these were some areas of the lesson that could be further refined, should the lesson be carried out in future.

Lesson Study Part 1: Think Aloud / Modelling / Reciprocal Teaching Students did not ask a lot of questions during the Think Aloud segment. They were also not very responsive to questions during the reciprocal teaching segment. Possible reasons why this was so could be because students were not able to understand and follow the questions asked. They may also lack the prior knowledge, for example, in understanding what city life versus country life was like. One way to help address these 143

gaps would be to include visuals in the slides used to prompt thinking. For example, a busy city scene could be used to accompany the question, â&#x20AC;&#x153;What do you think city life is like?â&#x20AC;?

Lesson Study Part 2: Group Work One group was observed to not be able to provide the correct answers throughout the entire activity. One reason could be because the group was made up of students who were weak in the English language. However, the other groups showed that they were able to do so, and their answers showed that they were drawing information from contextual clues. In future, the teacher could consider allocating grouping so that members could be of mixed ability to facilitate collaborative learning, rather than allowing students to choose their own groups. The teacher could also call on students who are weaker language learners to answer some questions.

Not all members of the group were also engaged in the group activity. This could be because the roles for group members were not clearly defined and this did not facilitate participation from all members. Roles of group members should be clearly defined in future. Smaller groups could also be formed so that this may lessen the opportunity for some group members to play less active roles. Another consideration would be to only carry out this lesson once the class has established good routines for group work.

Lesson Study Part 3: Game element There were some complaints about cheating by some of the groups. This led to a dampening of motivation and drive for the game because of the perception of the competition as being unfair. To combat this issue, strategies such as using mini-white boards or the use of an ICT tool that can facilitate the keying in of group answers should be used. A digital or online timer should also be used to help students and the teacher to keep track of the time.

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References (2016, September). Learning to read and reading to learn. Singteach. Retrieved from http:singteach.nie.edu.sg/issue58-people01/ Flanigan, K., Templeton, S., & Hayes, L., (2012). Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in a word? Using content vocabulary to generate growth in general academic vocabulary knowledge, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 56(2), 132-140. Doi: 10.1002/JA.AL.00114 McLaughlin, M. (2015). Content area reading Teaching and learning for college and career readiness (2nd ed.). Boston, Ma: Pearson.

Nagy, W., & Townsend, D. (2012). Words as tools: Learning academic vocabulary as language acquisition. Reading Research Quarterly, 47 (1), 91-108, doi:10.1002 / RRQ.011 Acknowledgment The team would like to acknowledge and thank Master Teacher (English Language) Jeyalaxmy Ayaduray of the English Language Institute of Singapore for guiding us in this lesson study.

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Examination of the effect of adopting structured academic controversy in an inter-disciplinary learning experience _________________________________________________ Kesavan Wu Biwei, Ivan Indra Devi Kerina Tan Shi Yun Low Yi En Chee Yuan Leng

Abstract This study aims to share the findings of adopting structured academic controversy in an inter-disciplinary learning classroom. To encourage students to think critically, a classroom environment has to embrace diverse views and allow students to question.

Controversial issues or topics could pique studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; interest and could engage them in lively discussions. Xenophobia in the Singapore society was chosen as a context to examine the effect of adopting structured academic controversy to stimulate and promote critical thinking in students. The result of this study has pedagogical implications in the fostering of critical thinking in students.

Objective The PLT is designed to offer rich contextual knowledge of the subject matter, Xenophobia.

Students will be able to understand issues concerning xenophobia in Singapore and also take a position and argue on their perspective.

Setting the Context on Xenophobia in Singapore As Singapore develops and evolves into a globalised cosmopolitan city-state, Singaporeans grew more worried and anxious over the increasing number of immigrants into the country. Some of their concerns would be the competitive labour market due to the influx of migrants, the increasing price levels/ cost of living and the strain on the current infrastructure in Singapore due to overpopulation. These concerns could have been possible reasons for the increasing episodes of xenophobic behaviour among local Singaporeans.

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On the contrary, some argue that, xenophobic behaviour are the traits of only some local citizens and that the entire nation should not be judged on based on the behaviour of a few people.

Literature Review Academic controversy is a pedagogy which allows for open discussion on any contentious issue. Jacobs, G. M. (2010) argues in his academic paper, ACADEMIC CONTROVERSY: A Cooperative Way to Debate, that the pedagogy is very suitable for conducting a discussion on controversial issues. Jacobs believes that the conventional debate discussion may discourage students from sharing ideas or opinions and hence, argues that Academic Controversy might be a more apt pedagogy for discussion.

Jacobs asserts, “... one criticism of debate is that it creates a situation of negative interdependence among students, i.e., those on each side of the debate attempt to defeat those on the other side. For instance, if one side lacks information, this benefits the other side. Thus, what hurts one groups helps the other. This feeling of negative interdependence may discourage sharing among groups and may lead to ill will.”

Method The PLT session was structured in 3 parts: setting the context, group discussion on their given perspective and group presentation.

Setting the context on xenophobia is pivotal in creating better understanding on the subject matter. Teachers used various local case examples, particularly, the protest against the Population White Paper (2012 – 2013) to create better understanding of xenophobic sentiments in Singapore.

Students were then given 2 case examples on xenophobia amongst Singaporeans and were given a perspective to argue on. Hence, in their groups, students will discuss and gather factual information and opinions to defend their view point. After which, each group was given some time to present their discussion points to the class. During the

147

presentation, other group members are expected to take down notes on the discussion points of the presenting group.

After listening to all the presentations, students are given the opportunity to change their perspective on the issue and post their opinion on Padlet.

Findings The key findings of the lesson study can be grouped into two main categories: student engagement and effective learning in students.

The most prominent visual effect of the lesson study on students would be their engagement level during the lesson. It was evident that, throughout the lesson study, students were very much engaged and were willing to participate in the discussion sessions. Furthermore, many students were also willing to share their group’s discussion points with their peers. Colleagues who observed the lesson also affirmed that students were generally engaged in the lesson study.

Moreover, it was also clear that effective learning had taken place during the lesson study session. The concept of xenophobia was illustrated using a few localised case studies, which students could understand and resonate with. This created greater interest and understanding in the subject matter. Students, hence, delved deeper into the issue on whether Singaporeans are xenophobic and to what extent. All students actively participated in the discussions sessions by voicing out their group’s collective point of view; and also their personal opinion on the issue. For instance, one particular group posted their response to the issue question as such:

“We believe that Singaporeans are not xenophobic because majority of Singaporeans appreciate foreign workers for taking up tough jobs and working all day under the hot sun to provide for their family. Some Singaporeans are xenophobic but those that aren’t, are grateful to the foreign workers for their contribution”

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From the response, it was evident that students have had an in-depth discussion on the topic. Their response also depicts the multiple perspectives they have considered before postulating a collective response.

Future Social Studies Lessons Given that the current Social Studies syllabus gives greater emphasis on issue-based learning, it would be apt to incorporate Academic Controversy as an important pedagogy for engaging students in inquiry learning. This pedagogy, as mentioned by Jacobs, G. M. (2010), does not create ‘negative interdependence among students’ but instead it encourages the class to participate actively and voice out their opinions.

Hence, this creates a culture of “openness” when it comes to class discussions.

Reference Jacobs, G. M. (2010). Academic Controversy: A cooperative way to debate. Intercultural Education, 21(3), 291-296.

Ang Hui Xia (2014). Structured Academic Controversy for Upper Secondary Social Studies, HSSE Online 3(2) 35-39

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Student Motivation and Use of ICT in Teaching and Learning

150

An examination of the effectiveness of adopting best practices to improve student attendance in co-curricular activities

____________________________________________________ Gary Sim Nuruljannah Jumaat Rosnani Bte Said Nurnadia Abdolah Audrey Chong Gavin Ler Abstract This study aims to examine the feasibility of utilising known existing methods of motivation and encouragement to sustain interest and continued attendance of Brooksians in their respective Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs) throughout the year, regardless of type of CCA. Against the backdrop of increasing instability in attendance rates within CCAs, the need for a broad-based recommendation and subsequent study on key triggers that affect participation is of increasing importance. This study thus seeks to examine the effectiveness of the best practices across the multiple disciplines of CCAs, and how they can be adopted and tailored to the needs of the respective CCAs. The key areas of focus specific to the local context would be in relation to connecting and orientation for new members, minimising the impact of the seniors stepping down, and consequently focusing on motivational strategies to keep students engaged. The finding of this study has implications in the creation of strong socio-emotional support networks within the CCA to foster strong fellowship amongst students. The strengthening of fellowship will lead to academic tenacity in students.

Introduction In an attempt to resolving the perennial issue of students having long absences from their respective CCAs and to nurture a positive learning experience for those who consistently demonstrate responsibility towards their own co-curricular development, the team studied the different views of attendance and engagement in CCAs. We decided that of the two spectrums, those who were already not attending and of those attending

151

but showing signs of disengagement, it would be of greater significance and impact to engage those already present.

However, it is widely accepted by the educators in the school that student engagement and involvement in these activities are widely dependent on its fundamental nature and system. For example, uniform groups have their own programs and training structures that vastly differ from sports groups, even though both share a physical activity component.

Method We realised that there was a need for us to ensure that the motivational techniques we studied for efficacy and effectiveness be tried and tested across the various systems and thus conducted journaling as a pre-assessment to try and identify triggers that we would need to circumvent or address.

We also conducted Single Subject Studies on individuals to attempt to monitor whether the impact of changes were felt. These interviews and surveys were collected for crossreferencing against attendance data and post-implementation observations.

Journaling CCA Concert Band

Team Bonding ● Minimal, and mostly friendly bickering. ● Much stronger from the third term onwards. ● A lot of inertia to begin activities. ● Teachers had to

Sense of Belonging ● Very unbalanced. ● Dedicated core team

Initiative ● Weak initiative to begin, but very fast

who are willing to

and efficient clean up

invest and spend long

to try and go home.

hours. ● Alumni rarely visit, but

● Everyone helps each other to setup and

do show up at

pack up, but there are

performances. Those

stragglers.

who return regularly

● Students do mostly

chase students into

come from up to 3

come back for extra

the music room to

batches ago.

practices closer to 152

begin practices.

performances.

● Problem about chasing students faded past the first term.

Badminton

● Bond mostly within same level (e.g.

● Not very evident. ● Students do not turn

● Students do have the initiative to set up the

Sec 1s within

up for practice

courts, however, at

themselves).

sessions after ACP /

the end of the

student council duties.

session, students are

between levels

Mostly turn up for

reluctant to clean the

except when

attendance and they

area. Teachers and

explicitly told to do

do not take part in the

coach need to

so during training.

training.

specifically point it out,

● Minimal interaction

● For example,

● Alumni rarely come

and usually, the same

seniors told to

back to visit their

students are the ones

teach some skills to

juniors. Only one or

doing it.

their juniors during

two will turn up once

one section of

in a while.

training.

Drama Club ● CCA members are often seen in cliques. ● There are some outcaste students.

● Students who love the

● During open house or any other events, the same students

CCA will usually play

(leaders) will be the

even before CCA

ones taking the

begins.

initiative to do things.

● Not very evident ● Students do not turn

● Some students are not excited to be part

up for CCA even after

of the production and

their ACP

did not carry out their

● Students do not

duties properly (just sit 153

participate and

around/ playing with

choose to sit out

one another/ waiting

during group activities

for coca to end)

● Only a few alumni will return occasionally

● Students need multiple reminders to be on task ● During events, students need to be reminded to help one another out (such as the setting up of equipment, getting the props etc.).

Red Cross

● As the cadets grow ● Initial stage, lack of

● Initiative to have a

together as a unit,

bonding activities.

system for logistic for

the bonding will

Secondary 1 students

every training. Having

only foster when

felt lost. However, with

a proper checklist to

they reach

new system of having

pre-empt the teachers

secondary 3.

secondary 1 welcome

in charge beforehand

pack and officially

really helps.

● Cadets will be appointed as NCOs

welcoming secondary

(leaders) to run the

1 students made them

unit.

more welcome and

● The bond is

comfortable. Games

stronger with the

and camps were also

upper secondary

organised to

students as

strengthen the team

compared to the

bonding.

lower secondary.

● Having lunch together as a level before 154

training helps to improve communication.

Modern Dance

● Secondary 1

● Initially needed moral

● More members wanted

students were

support from both

to join dance formation

attracted to the

members and external

as later group of dance

glamour side of

(public).

formation were formed.

dance item but

● Members who

were disappointed

performed felt sense of

at the warm-up

satisfaction and great

sessions they had

experience after each

to do before dance

performance especially

formation.

after an external

Therefore, many

performance.

senior girls explained and encouraged the rest who are late to do warm-up sessions.

Boys

Secondary 2

Secondary 2 leaders

Brigade

students are very

took on greater

supportive of each

responsibilities

other, especially since they mostly hold leadership roles.

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Cross-referencing journal entries with attendance data The data reflects that most recalcitrant students demonstrate their tendency to not attend their CCAs from two different time markers. The very first marker is when the students start the year and bring over attitudes from the previous year. Most of such students have very fixed views about CCA and find it extremely hard to re-engage in CCA. They are also unlikely to join in activities together with the CCA group regardless of whether it is a bonding activity. These students do not attend CCA starting all the way from January.

The second critical marker takes place from April till July, after the Secondary four seniors step down from CCA activities. Attendance data appears to become spottier, especially amongst Secondary two batches.

Triggers identified Lack of peer support One of the common features across all CCAs is that students are not motivated to turn up for CCA due to the lack of peer support. When their close friends are not in the CCA with them, they feel very isolated and alone. In addition, this is made even more difficult when CCA members have their own group of friends or â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cliquesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Hence, when these students turn up for CCA, they feel awkward and do not really socialise with others. This will in turn affect their sense of belonging to the CCA. Family Commitments Due to low socio-economic status, there are a group of students who are often absent because of family commitments. For example, students have to fetch their younger siblings from Primary school as their parents are busy working. Another example is when students have to work part time to help support the family. As there is lack of strong family support, they often have to excuse themselves from CCA early or not turn up for CCA at all. When communicating with their parents, teachers discovered that these parents have poor understanding about the importance of CCA. They view CCA as just an extra component that students can do away with.

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Lack of interest A major factor contributing to poor attendance is due to the lack of interest in the CCA. These students did not choose this particular CCA and have zero interest in it as they were allocated to a CCA they did not even choose. They often turn up for CCA only for the first few sessions and gradually, they will miss CCA sessions.

Another factor, but this is in particular to one CCA only, is that they have Saturday activities. The students who do not turn up for the CCA sessions on Saturdays generally cite that it is because they do not want to wake up early nor go to school on Saturdays.

Lack of awareness on LEAPS points When surveyed, majority of the students were unaware of the implications of their absence on the LEAPS point system. They do not know the importance of gaining points under the CCA component. As a result, they only come to a realisation when they are in Secondary 4, as they get to see the LEAPS points they have accumulated from Secondary 1 to Secondary 4.

Literature Review Motivation and Engagement A Conceptual Framework for Assessing Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning in College Students (Pintrich P., 2004) In selecting this article, the team examined for the conceptual differences highlighted between a self-regulatory (SRL) perspective on student motivation and learning in contrast to a student approach to learning (SAL) perspective. We felt it was important to understand the differences between the two, as the primary data we had collected could vary widely depending on the type of angle (or lens, if you would) we studied the data with.

Essentially, there are two main differences between the two frameworks. Firstly, is what the text explains as the potential for control assumption. The SRL model dictates that students are able to successfully, partially control their own cognition, motivation and behaviour. Thus learning models should accommodate for their ability for self157

regulation. The SAL framework, however, asserts that students have less control over these aspects of their learning.

For the purposes of this writing, the discussion will assume the SRL model as we have determined that most of the Upper Secondary students do exhibit partial control of cognition, motivation and behaviour. In other words, the prior triggers are to a certain degree manageable and can be overcome by the individual student.

Handbook of Research on Student Engagement (Reschly & Christenson, 2012) In the study of the contrast between engagement and motivation, we attempted to find contrasting literature or existing studies that would reflect the difference between the two different terminologies. There is a belief within the team that the two terms, address different ideas and target separate facets of student participation. Below are some of the key takeaways that we have defined and identified to be crucial to our research.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Engagement is a multidimensional construct â&#x20AC;&#x201C; one that requires an understanding of affective connections within the academic environment (e.g., positive adult-student and peer relationships) and active student behaviour (e.g., attendance, participation, effort, prosocial behavior) (Appleton, Christenson, & Furlong, 2008; Newmann, Wehlage, & Lamborn, 1992).â&#x20AC;?

Firstly, this defines the various components that come together to form engagement.

This affirms our idea that there is a need to sustain good communication between CCA members. The positive adult-student aspect also draws to attention that the coach or trainer will possibly play a huge role and impact on the CCA culture and atmosphere.

There is thus, a need to examine coaches and trainers not solely by their history and effectiveness, but also if they are a good match to the student profile. Proficient coaches who are used to working with established societies, groups and teams might not be able to provide the best match to newly-established CCAs.

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The other takeaway here hinges on ‘prosocial behaviour’. This is a unique observation that is difficult to target and implement or build on. It depends on the ‘extroversion’ (as defined in psychology) of the individual members who form the team. This has also been noticed within groups with stable attendance numbers within the school, that a higher ratio of extroverted individuals that relate well with one another leads to better student engagement within the group.

“Some researchers consider student engagement a “metaconstruct” or an organizing framework – one that integrates such areas as belonging, behavioral participation, motivation, selfefficacy, school connectedness, and so forth (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004), while others disagree, believing that engagement must have clearly defined boundaries (Finn & Kasza, 2009).”

For the purposes of our study, we deliberately chose to study engagement as a metaconstruct. As the study conducted is not one on what constitutes engagement, but rather the application of how the concept of engagement affects the student participation in CCAs in schools, we decided to expand the viewpoint by viewing engagement as a meta-construct to better consider other facets of students as individuals that we might otherwise fail to consider. In our final conceptualisation, we decided to designate engagement as a multi-dimensional framework comprising the four areas of school connectedness, behavioural participation and self-efficacy submerged in context of the individual.

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Context of the Individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s situation (Universal set) Behavioural Participation Self- efficacy

School Connectedness

Recommendations Observing that there were issues with students' motivation and interest in the CCA, we have decided to ensure that the new cadets feel welcome in our CCA. The secondary one students were given a welcome pack that was created by the seniors (NCOs) for the Uniform groups. The welcome pack serves as an initiation for the new cadets so that they feel a part of the unit. In addition, we attached a senior to the secondary 1 cadet to guide him/her through the trainings and expectations of the unit. This is after observing that the new cadets had difficulty in following the trainings and meeting the expectations. Apart from guidance during trainings, we recommended that the cadets have lunch together before the start of the training as a form of bonding. With the interaction between seniors and juniors out of training context, it allows the cadets to interact freely without the constraints of training requirement. With the implementation of these measures, we observed the positive vibes in the Boys Brigade unit. The cadets are more united as they feel welcome for the new cadets and thereafter a sense of belonging to the unit.

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For Concert Band, the Music room was given to them as a ‘home room’. The ability to draw out the keys for use of the room was broached as well. During the trial, it was observed that when the students felt that they had a place to ‘return’ to, not only for CCA but also to rest and relax during recess, spare spaces to serve as their ‘lockers’ and other amenities that the other CCAs did not enjoy. The students were a lot more energized. However, as the students grew to get used to the amenities provided for them, there was a degree of abuse of such facilities. Going forward, there should be a moderation on the use of such measures and facilities. It has shown to be effective and useful as a measure however.

A summary of our recommendations are thus as follows: 1. Give greater run-time and resources to CCA selection at the beginning of the year. It does not have to be exponentially more, but should be sufficient for every student to properly try each CCA. 2. Secondary four seniors should establish a handing over and taking over window prior to stepping down. Secondary three students who are potential leaders should assume leadership roles at least ten sessions prior to step down. This is to acclimatise the entire CCA group to accommodating the impending changes.

3. Allow each CCA to ‘own’ its CCA room, with set and established ground rules. The CCA leaders should be allowed to draw the keys to their own CCA rooms and manage the rooms. Responsibility of equipment in the room and cleanliness of the room will belong to the CCA leader who draws the key.

4. Simplified Level briefing on the LEAPS system. This is to impress upon students the consequences of missing CCA and to clarify how the school CCA system works to parents. The aim would be to reduce random transfers between CCAs and a common language in terms of responsibility towards their own engagement in CCA. Analysis and Discussion Generally, students felt that the implemented changes enhanced their sense of belonging in their CCA, as well as allowing them to grow as leaders and members of their CCA.

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However, a minority felt that the strategies implemented do not help them feel more involved. The primary cause of such opinions are due to their own issues such as their unwillingness to get more involved. Furthermore, some were not willing to do more than what was assigned to them, rigidly adhering to their given responsibilities and nothing more, not even to help their friends.

Given these observations, we can derive a few possibilities: (i) With proper guidance, our students need to be given more opportunities to lead and develop their leadership potential, (ii) they also need to feel “wanted” in the CCA and (iii) our students need to develop their sense of empathy and willingness to go beyond what they are assigned to do.

Conclusion In the process of identifying the key triggers and motivational strategies to address student participation in CCA, there are two ideological approaches that have been broached. First and foremost, student motivation includes to a certain degree, factors that can be managed coherently by the individual’s own grit and determination. The second is the consideration of self-efficacy and school connectedness. The effectiveness of all engagement programs lies within the context of the student’s degree of connectedness to the school itself and their existing ability to cope with their perceived difficulties or tasks.

The recommendations consider these broached ideas are meant to help reinforce and promote current positive behaviour going forward.

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References Pintrich, P. R. (n.d.). A Conceptual Framework for Assessing Motivation and SelfRegulated Learning in College Students. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648004-0006-x Reschly, A. L., & Christenson, S. L. (2012). Jingle, Jangle, and Conceptual Haziness: Evolution and Future Directions of the Engagement Construct. In Handbook of Research on Student Engagement (pp. 3-19). New York: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-14614-2018-7 Acknowledgement Mr Muhammad Nor Syawal Ahmad for the tabulation and provision of CCA attendance record data.

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Examination of the effect of relationship and recognition on student attendance in CCA ______________________________________________________________________ Paul Tham Eng Sze Shean Phoon Hwee Lee Alex Tok Sarinah Sabari Low Aijiao Muhammad Nor Syawal Ahmad Abstract Consistent school attendance is important for studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; personal, emotional, social and academic development (Havik, Bru & Ertesvag, 2015). This study investigated the possible issues which de-motivates students from attending Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) and examined approaches which may improve studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; motivation to attend co-curricular activities. Using a combination of self-worth theory and social constructivism approach, students were found to develop confidence and connections with their teammates in their CCAs. Through peer relationship and recognition, students were engaged and their sense of belonging to their respective CCAs improved. This study has pedagogical implications in strengthening fellowship amongst students. The strengthening of fellowship will lead to academic tenacity in students.

Introduction The Total Curriculum in schools comprises the Curriculum and the Co-Curriculum.

Through the Total Curriculum, students receive a holistic education which provides them with balanced development across the moral, cognitive, social-emotional, physical and aesthetic domains (Ministry of Education, 2014). A key platform to help drive the CoCurriculum are the co-curricular activities. Co-curricular activities (CCA) are compulsory for all students attending secondary school. All secondary school students must have at least one co-curricular activity (CCA) throughout their four to five years of secondary school life (Ministry of Education, 2018).

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The CCA Programme provides students with a platform to discover their interests and talents. Students progressively develop CCA-specific knowledge, skills, values and attitudes through sustained participation in any of the CCA groups. CCA also offer excellent platforms for students to learn core values, social and emotional competencies and the emerging 21st Century Competencies. More importantly, all CCA emphasize social interaction by providing a common space for friendships and social integration amongst students of diverse backgrounds. Through CCA, students develop a sense of identity and belonging to the school (Ministry of Education, 2014).

With the multiple benefits for students provided by attending CCA, students should be able to understand the importance of CCA. However, there are often cases of nonattendance due to CCA refusal and CCA truancies by students. This project was an attempt to identity factors which may affect CCA attendance and understand why some CCA has few issues with student attendances in their CCA. Literature Review Many studies were done to identify factors which could influence students’ decision of non-attendance for school; be it to play truant or school refusal. However, not many studies were done to identify factors which could influence students’ decision of nonattendance for CCA; be it truancy from CCA or CCA refusal. In this case, we looked at studies done which looked at factors associated with non-attendance for school and draw parallel with factors which may influence CCA non-attendance.

Havik, Bru, & Ertesvåg (2015) found that school factors are closely linked to school refusal reasons of non-attendance than to truancy. Their findings suggested that poor relationships with peers is an important risk factor towards school refusal for nonattendance. In addition, it was suggested that teachers’ classroom management can play a role in school refusal and truancy, primarily through influencing relationship among peers. More importantly, their results indicated that teacher support in the form of good classroom management is directly linked to a reduced risk of school refusal and truancy.

Drawing parallels from Havik, Bru, & Ertesvåg (2015), it can be suggested that peer relationship plays an important role in CCA attendance and that teacher management of CCA can regulate student-student relationship.

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Gest, Rulison, Davidson, Welsh (2008) found that children’s academic reputations among peers in the upper elementary grades predicted changes in children’s academic selfconcept, effort, and performance. More broadly, the results from Gest, Rulison, Davidson, Welsh (2008) added that peer reputations in middle childhood are highly differentiated and predictive of changes in important indices of adaptation. Drawing parallels from Gest, Rulison, Davidson, Welsh (2008) to CCA, reputation of students’ in their CCA enhances their self-concept, effort and performance in and for their CCA. In addition, Oyserman, Terry, & Bybee (2002) noted that the position held in co-curricular activities help to give learners specific self-concepts and/or higher self-esteem. Selfesteem has to do with social competence, since it influences how the person feels, how he or she thinks, learns, values himself or herself, relates to others, and ultimately, how he or she behaves (Oyserman, Terry, & Bybee, 2002).

Method Our project focuses on understanding the reasons why some students have regular nonattendance for CCA in the form of CCA truancy and CCA refusal which lead to a down spiral effect of their attendance and performance in CCA throughout the year.

The design of this study is based on a case-control study. A case–control study is a type of retrospective study in which two existing groups differing in outcome are identified and compared on the basis of some supposed causal attribute.

The data for this project was primarily from survey, interviews and CCA attendances from

January to October 2018. The data collected were from: ● CCA attendance of students from all CCA. ● Survey from 74 students who attain less than 75% CCA attendance from January to May 2018. ● Interview of random students from CCA with more than 75% for their CCA attendance.

● Interview of teachers from Floorball Team and Infocomm Club with low percentage students not attending the CCA. The analysis of the results was analysis by comparing the CCA experiences of the 2 different groups of students and their reasons for attending or not attending their CCA. 166

The timeline for the implementation of the project is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Implementation timeline Timeline

Activity

January 2018

Identification of problem

February 2018

Identification of study design

March 2018

Identification of study population

April 2018

Crafting of Survey Questions

June 2018

Conduct of Survey

July 2018

Analysis of data

August 2018

Conduct of Student Interviews

September 2018

Conduct of Student Interviews

October 2018

Analysis/Comparison of data and Interview

November 2018

Report Writing

Contrary to recommendations for experimental and control groups to be used for research to improve its rigor, this project did not adopt this practice for a few reasons. Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; survey due to CCA non-attendance comes from different CCA groups which may result in CCA specific reasons for non-attendance.

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Result Analysis and Discussion For purpose of analysis, data collection was done at three stages.

Stage 1 Participants For stage 1 of data collection, we conducted a survey with the students. The students who were selected for the survey were based on their CCA attendance. These are the students whose attendance were less than 75 % in May 2018 based on the CCA report for the year 2018 shown in Table 2.

Table 2. CCA report for the year

A total of 100 students were selected for the survey. Out of the 100 students, 74 of them attempted the survey. The students are from secondary one, two and three with the

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majority from secondary two. These students are also from different streams and attending different CCA as shown in Table 3. Student data.

Table 3. Student data Level 74 responses

40.5% = 30 students are from Sec 2 29.7% = 22 students are from Sec 3 28.4% = 20 students are from Sec 1

Stream 74 responses

55.4% = 41 students are from Normal Academic 24.3% = 18 students are from Normal Technical 20.3% = 15 students are from Express

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Survey There are 20 questions in the survey. The questions in the survey progress from getting a better understanding of the students to the reason of the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; absence from the CCA. Some of the surveyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s questions are as follows: 170

One of the questions of the survey ask the student, “Did you get your first choice of CCA?”,

 Slightly more than half DID NOT get their first choice CCA.  On the question, “Do you like your CCA?



Slightly more than half DID NOT like their CCA.

From these two results, we can say that majority of them DO NOT LIKE their CCA because they DID NOT get their first choice.

Despite not liking their CCA, many DID NOT transfer to other CCA.

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We zoom in further with more questions in the survey on to find out the reason for students not attending the lack CCA. The following are some of the significant findings.

On the question, “How is your relationship with your fellow CCA members?”





16.2% said Not Good.



55.4% said so so.

That is 71.6% actually who gave a non-positive answer.

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Next for the question, “How is your relationship with the Teacher In charge of your CCA?”,

 59.5% gave a non-positive answer.  Popular reason for their non-positive answer are: -

I didn’t talk with the teacher that much.

-

When we spoke, we only talk about me not attending CCA.

On the question, “How is your relationship with your Coach / Instructor / Trainer?”,

Popular reason for their non-positive answer are: -

I rarely interact with them as I didn’t come for CCA

-

She will forced us to do

-

They are strict

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On the question, “Do you like the activities conducted in your CCA?”,



60.8% said NO they do not like the activities

conducted. Popular reason for their non-positive answer are: -

Activities are repetitive

-

Activities are boring

In summary, from the information that we have collected from the survey, we are able to collate the data and derived the top 5 reasons why the students are not attending their CCA. Top five Reasons given by students not coming to CCA 1

The students do not have friends in the CCA

2

The students do not get along well with other students in the CCA

3

The students do not get along well with the teacher-in-charge, coach or instructor of the CCA

4

The students do not find that their efforts are being recognised.

5

The students do not have a sense of achievement in their CCA.

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We can see that the top 3 reasons cited by the students are related to the factor of relationship.

Relationship is an important aspect for our students, be it peer to peer or peer to adult.

When they do not get along with their peers, they will find that all activities conducted are boring.

The other reasons that surfaced from the survey are related to recognition and achievement. As there is no sense achievement or recognition practices in the CCA, their sense of belonging also drops and this may also affect their self-worth.

Stage 2 After initial understanding of whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s keeping our students from attending their CCA, we try to approach the situation from a different angle. We engaged students with good attendance for their CCA. We conducted interview to find out what are the factors that give the students motivation to attend their CCA on regularly. The students are selected from across different CCAs. From the information that we have collated from the interviews, we are able to see the following trends.

Top five Reasons given by students for attending CCA regularly 1

The students has good relationship with other students in the CCA

2

The teacher in charge is approachable and understanding

3

The coaches or instructors are patience and motivates the students to improve in their skills

4

The students feels that their efforts are being recognised by their CCA

5

The students find that they are able to contribute and do well in their CCA which give them a sense of achievement

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Stage 3 From the information that we have gathered from Stage 2, we find that quite a number of students that we have interviewed belong to 2 of the CCAs namely, Floorball and Infocomm Club. After understanding from the point of views of the students, we gathered that we will need to find out from the perspective of the teachers. Thus we proceed to interview the teacher in charge of the 2 CCA mentioned above. From the interview, we understand that the teachers have worked hand in hand with their coach / instructor in planning the execution of the CCA. The students were given many opportunities during their CCA to work and interact with all the other students in the CCA. The teachers also make sure that there is good cohesion between the students in the CCA. The students are also given platforms to showcase their skills and are given recognition for their various contributions, each student feeling proud to be able to play their individual role contributing to the success of the CCA as a whole.

Findings and Conclusion Base on the targeted group (attendance of at least 50% and not more than 75%), it is evident that the factor which de-motivates them from attending their respective CCAs is the relationships they have with their peers, teachers and instructors/coaches. This is clearly shown in Analysis and Discussions where the majority (about 60%) of them responded that their relationships with their peers, teachers and instructors/coaches are either “so so” or “not good”. In addition, this group of students indicated that they do not feel recognised even though they put in effort during their CCA sessions.

On the other hand, we found out from the interviews with the students who have been attending their CCAs regularly that having positive relationships and recognizing effort are critical factors that motivates them to consistently attend their CCAs and these factors are, coincidentally, what is lacking from the targeted group of students.

In order to further affirm the findings, we worked with the CCA teachers of Floorball and Infocomm Club, which have good attendance of 90.2% and 93.2% respectively, to find out their strategies and approaches which contributed to their success. The results are in line with our previous findings where the CCA teachers shared that the focused on 176

cohesion within the CCA (having positive relationships) and affirmations of contributions of their students (recognizing effort).

Hence, we would like to conclude that, based on the surveys and interviews with the students and the case studies (of Floorball and Infocomm Club), building positive relationships and recognizing efforts are the key factors of motivating students to attend their CCA regularly. This mode of engaging students is similar to what Robert (2005) strongly believe in, as without it, students are less likely to succeed. When teachers make learning meaningful and relevant to their studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lives, students develop a stake in their own education (Blum, R. W. 2005).

Limitation and Recommendations The first limitation of the findings is that we are assuming the rest of the students who did not attend CCA regularly (less than 50% attendance) have similar de-motivating factors to the targeted group. Therefore, it will be beneficial to extend the survey and, if possible, the interviews to the rest of the students (less than 50% attendance) who did not attend CCA regularly, to have a more complete understanding of the de-motivating factors for these students.

The second and final limitation of the findings is that we only manage to have case studies of more successful CCAs but not CCAs which have attendance issues. Hence, we might not know the underlying issues of these CCAs (which have attendance issues) and assume that they lack the factors from our findings. Thus, it will be useful for us to have a couple of case studies of CCAs (which have attendance issues) to find out the issues they face and if we have been on the right track, we would be able to further affirm our findings from these case studies.

Potential Future Work The project highlights that relationship and recognition are essential for creating a sense of belonging towards the CCA. Specific CCA which invested heavily on these two factors were able to observed significant improvement in their CCA attendance. Potential future work may be carried out to understand the possible impact of achievements towards studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; CCA attendance.

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References Struthers, C.W., Perry, R.P. & Menec, V.H. Research in Higher Education (2000). 41: 581. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007094931292. Google Scholar Green, J., Liem, G., Martin, A. J., Colmar, S., Marsh, H., & McInerney, D. (2012). Journal of Adolescence, 35, 1111– 1122. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2012.02.016. Google Scholar Havik, T., Bru, E. & Ertesvåg, S.K. Soc Psychol Educ (2015). 18: 221. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-015-9293-y. Google Scholar Oyserman, D., Terry, K., & Bybee, D. (2002). Journal of Adolescence, 25, 313–326. https://doi.org/10.1006/jado.2002.0474. Google Scholar Devados, S. and Foltz, J. (1996). American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 78, No. 3, pages 499-507. https://doi.org/10.2307/1243268. Google Scholar Pellegrini, D. W. (2007). Educational Psychology in Practice 23(1): 63–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/02667360601154691. Google Scholar Kariyana, I. et al. (2012). The Social Science Journal. https://doi.org/10.1080/09718923.2012.11893093. Google Scholar

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Google Scholar Schwartz, D., Gorman, A. H., Nakamoto, J., & McKay, T. (2006). Developmental Psychology, 42(6), 1116-1127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.6.1116. Google Scholar Stoeber, J., & Rambow, A. (2007). Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 13791389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2006.10.015. Google Scholar Lavasani, M. G., Mirhosseini, F. S., Hejazi, E., & Davoodi, M. (2011). Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 29, 627 – 632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.11.285.

Google Scholar Blum, R. W. (2005). Educational Leadership, 62, 16-20. Google Scholar Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68. Google Scholar Ministry of Education. (2018, January 15). Co-Curricular Activities. Retrieved November 5, 20, from https://www.moe.gov.sg/education/programmes/co-curricular-activities 178

Ministry of Education. (2014, June 20). Handbook for the Co-Curriculum. Retrieved November 5, from https://library.opal.moe.edu.sg/cos/o.x?c=/library/reslib&uid=0&ptid=84&func=view&id=2 55107&fext=.zip Manning, M. A., Bear, G. G., & Minke, K. M. (2006). Self-concept and self-esteem. In G. G. Bear & K. M. Minke (Eds.), Children’s needs III: Development, prevention, and intervention (pp. 341–356). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

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2008;44:625–636. Google Scholar Pajares, F., & Schunk, D. H.(2001) (in press). In J. Aronson & D. Cordova (Eds.), Psychology of education: Personal and interpersonal forces. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar Durlak J. A., Weissberg R. P. (2007) The Impact of After-School Programs that Promote Personal and Social Skills, 2007 Chicago, IL. Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. Google Scholar Mann CJ. (2003). Observational research methods. Research design II: cohort, cross sectional, and case-control studies. Emergency Medicine Journal 2003;20:54-60. Google Scholar

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study would not have been possible without the following people. Firstly, without the

support of the school leaders in teachers’ professional development and setting aside timetabled time, the implementation of this study would not have been possible.

Next, without the empowerment and autonomy by the middle managers (School Staff Developer and Head of Department) to embark on a suitable study determined by the teachers, the implementation of this study would also not have been possible. In addition, the availability of the Internet has enabled the use of online tools to analyse some of the statistics and access to existing scholarly work.

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Examination of the effect of a support group programme on the development of student social skills

Salihah Binte Jalil Phoon Hwee Lee Siti Nadiah Binte M. Toha Nurul Ezza Binte Jamaludin Abstract Social skills are one of the most important skills children and adolescents develop.

These skills are essential for creating and maintaining relationship. Social skills often serve as the predictors of future success. They have also been linked to job success, independence, and emotional well-being. Those with adaptive social skills often demonstrate superior ability to observe, solve problems, and respond in social situations. When any challenges related to social skills and interaction are not addressed, these issues may persist as the student grows up, and they can become severe enough to have a significant impact on interaction, academic performance, and even the ability to enter the workforce and thrive as an adult. Thus social skills are an important aspect of life. Groups are a great place to learn social skills because they typically provide direct instruction, modelling, role-playing, team building activities, and positive reinforcement. This paper aims to share findings in the provision of a group setting platform to improve student social skills. The findings has implications in the future design of platforms to develop student social-emotional competencies.

Introduction Social skills are behaviours and other forms of communication necessary to effectively create and maintain relationships. These abilities include areas like initiating conversations, making friends, having good sportsmanship, accepting compliments, adapting to changes, understanding emotions, self-regulation and handling bullying effectively.

StrIdE (Striving towards Individual Excellence) 2.0 programme team aims to develop studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social skills and confidence in making friends amongst their peers and classmates through building on their strengths. This will be done through the use of 180

Alison Schroder’s Friendship Formula resources – a well tried and tested model that works on developing an awareness of self and others.

The programme is structured to enable students to feel comfortable with themselves as well as their peers in a group mentoring setting. Participants will take away ideas of how they could adapt these structures to develop concern student’s social skills.    

The programme hope to achieve the following: 0 To provide support and listening ear 0 To provide sympathetic understanding 0 To increase awareness of students’ abilities and build on their strengths 0 To provide a platform for establishing students’ own social networks

    

0 To share coping strategies 0 To build a sense of community and empowerment 0 To provide a platform for work and play with others At the end of the programme we hope the students would: 0 Be able to start and hold a conversation with another student/teacher 0 Have a healthier relationship and support system in school

 

0 Have established their own social network 0 Increase in social awareness 0 Be more aware of own abilities and able to build on strength 0 Have a stronger sense of belonging and community

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Literature Review Students today must be prepared not only to pass tests at school but also to pass the tests of life. Social-emotional competence and academic achievement are highly related and effective schools are focusing efforts on integrated, coordinated instruction in both areas to maximize students' potential to succeed in school and throughout their lives. As Zins, Bloodworth, Weissberg, and Walberg (2007) have noted, “Schools are social places, and learning is a social process” (p. 191).

The students’ learning is taking place in an environment where they need to collaborate with their teachers and peers and not in isolation. They will need appropriate social skills in order to facilitate their learning.

Susanne and Chavaughn (2010) highlighted that social skills not only “affect children’s success in social relations and personal well-being but also their broader school/classroom adjustment and academic success.” (p. 653).

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Method Two types of approaches were used in the programme - Group Mentoring & Themed Bonding Session.

Group Mentoring During the group mentoring, students participated in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Getting to know youâ&#x20AC;? workshop and in various social skills games. This platform gives them the opportunity to learn and explore social skills through play. Through this, we hope that the students will gain the self-confidence required to engage in new experiences and environments where they need to socialise. The students will also be able to have better understanding of themselves and learn social skills that can help them in forging friendship with their peers.

Themed Bonding Session.

During the themed bonding sessions, students put into practice and apply what they have learned during the group mentoring through having breakfast together. The breakfast session allow students to engage in casual conversation while simulating an authentic social situation yet in a safe and controlled environment. The breakfast session is an imitation of a situation or process similar to eating a meal during recess time. The newly learnt skill during the craft activity is suitable to be customise as a conversation starter not only during StrIdE session but in their daily lives. The activity was designed specifically to meet their needs and geared towards their common interest.

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The timeline for the implementation of the project is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Implementation timeline Date

Activity

July 26 Jul 2018 (7.30am - 8.15am)

Group Mentoring Sessions

30 Jul 2018 (7.00am - 7.25am)

Bonding Sessions

August 6 Aug 2018 (7.00am - 7.25am)

Bonding Sessions

16 Aug 2018 (7. 30am - 8.15am)

Group Mentoring Sessions

20 Aug 2018 (7.00am - 7.25am)

Bonding Sessions

September 17 Sep 2018 (7.00am - 7.25am)

Bonding Sessions

24 Sep 2018 (7.00am - 7.25am)

Bonding Sessions

October 18 Oct 2018 (7. 30am - 8.15am)

Group Mentoring Sessions

Participants A total of 10 students from Secondary One were nominated by their respective form teachers. We are focusing on students from Secondary 1 with the following criteria: -

Students who is facing challenges in making new friends

-

Students having difficulty in transition from primary to secondary school

We have selected only Secondary One students to be in the program. These students were new to the school and were trying to fit into the school cultures and their new class.

It was important for them to settle into the school well so that they can focus on their learning.

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Results Selected students have to complete a pre-survey and post-survey. The survey touch base on 6 social skills checklist: Conversational Skills, Problem Solving, Understanding Emotions, Compliments, Flexibility and Self-Regulation. This survey was also to better understand the impact of the programme on the students. Comparison of the post-survey scores to the pre-survey scores provide an indication of the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; learning outcomes of this programme.

Social skills behaviour and practices in students are also observe through their daily interactions with others. We gathered this through the feedback & observation from the students Form Teacher & CCA Teachers. This also ensure that continuous additional support is provided for improvement of students social functioning after the intervention of the programme to continue working towards achieving desired outcome.

Survey Data S/N

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Questions Programme and content was well organised Teaching materials provided were helpful Scheduling and timing of the session Length of the session Activities were interesting Instructions was clear and understandable Interactions of the mentors and students Total

Very

Excellent

Good

Average

Poor

3

2

1

0

0

3

2

1

0

0

3

1

2

0

0

1

3

1

0

0

3

2

1

0

0

2

3

1

0

0

2

3

1

0

0

17

16

8

0

0

Poor

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S/N 8 9 10 11 12 13

14

Questions I have found out more about myself I have made new friends I have learned new skills Programme objectives was clear Programme objectives was met Programme was relevant to my needs Overall, I found the program to be a valuable experience.

Total

Based on your experience at this 15 programme, how likely are you to attend the programme next year 16 What was your favourite part of the programme?

17 Any other suggestions or comments to help us improve future event?

Yes

No

4

2

6

0

4

2

6

0

6

0

6

0

6

0

38

4

Unlikely

Likely

0

6

• The games • Teamwork when playing games, ice breakers.

• The interactions between others and the games.

• My favourite part of the programme is making new friends.

• Getting to know other people.

• Longer time for games • Sports • Have more creative events or activities that will curious us

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Pre & Post Evaluation Data 1. Conversational Skills (Verbal and Non-Verbal)

Almost

Often

Always

Some-

Almost

times

Never

1. Conversational Skills (Verbal and

Pre

Post

Pre

Post

Pre

1

2

3

3

2

1

1

3

2

1

1

2

1

1

0

2

Pos

Pre

Post

1

0

0

2

3

0

0

3

3

2

0

0

4

1

1

4

0

0

1

5

2

0

3

1

0

2

3

4

1

0

0

0

Non-Verbal)

t

I greet my 1.1 friends when I see them.

I initiate 1.2

conversation around specific topic.

I make a variety of comments, related to the

1.3 topic. (Talking about my hobbies, what I like to do, etc.)

I introduce 1.4 myself to someone new I introduce 1.5 people to each other 1.6

I end conversations

187

appropriately ( Saying â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bye, See you laterâ&#x20AC;? to my friends) I take turns to 1.7 talk during

3

1

2

5

1

0

0

0

3

2

2

3

1

1

0

0

12

11

24

23

11

14

1

0

conversation I maintain appropriate proximity to 1.8

conversation partner (appropriate distance from my friend) Total

188

2. Problem Solving

Almost

Often

Always 2. Problem Solving

Some-

Almost

times

Never

Pos

Post

Pre

Post

Pre

1

1

4

4

0

1

1

0

2

1

0

3

1

1

3

1

0

1

4

4

2

1

0

0

0

1

3

4

0

1

3

0

1

1

1

3

3

2

1

0

2

1

4

4

0

1

0

0

6

6

16

22

6

7

8

1

t

Pre

Pos

Pre

t

I seek help 2.1 from my friends 2.2

I seek help from an adult I am able to

2.3 identify problems I am able to 2.4

find solutions to my problems I solve problems by

2.5 negotiating or compromisin g 0I 2.6

understands the impact of my behaviour Total

189

3. Understanding Emotions

Almost

Often

Always 3. Understanding Emotions

Some-

Almost

times

Never

Pos

Pre

Pos

Pre

Post

Pre

Post

Pre

1

2

5

4

0

0

1

0

4

5

1

1

0

0

1

1

5

5

0

0

0

0

0

2

5

3

1

1

0

0

t

t

I am able to 3.1

identify my likes and

0

0

dislikes I am able to 3.2

identify emotions in myself I am able to

3.3

identify emotions of others I am able to act according to my

3.4 emotion (angry because Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m bullied)

190

I am able to demonstrate 3.5

affection and empathy

0

1

5

4

1

1

0

0

1

3

3

2

2

1

0

0

0

1

2

5

4

0

0

0

1

1

4

5

1

0

0

0

2

1

3

3

0

2

1

0

7

12

36

36

10

6

1

0

towards others I stop myself from 3.6 aggressive behaviours toward others I stop myself from 3.7

aggressive behaviours toward myself I am able to

3.8

read the body language of others I use different tones of

3.9 voice to convey my messages Total

191

4. Compliments Almost

Often

Always 4. Compliments

Some-

Almost

times

Never

Pos

Post

Pre

Post

Pre

1

1

4

5

1

0

0

0

2

2

4

3

0

1

0

0

1

1

2

4

3

1

0

0

3

2

3

4

1

0

0

0

1

1

4

4

1

1

0

0

1

1

1

4

2

1

2

0

9

8

18

24

8

4

2

0

t

Pre

Pos

Pre

t

I know how to 4.1

take compliments appropriately I ask for a

4.2 favour appropriately 4.3

I apologise independently

4.4 I say thank you I give 4.5 compliments to my friends I gives 4.6 compliments to adults Total

192

5. Flexibility Almost

Often

Always 5. Flexibility

Some-

Almost

times

Never

Pos

Post

Pre

Post

Pre

1

1

5

4

0

1

0

0

1

2

5

3

0

1

0

0

3

0

3

5

0

1

0

0

0

2

4

3

2

1

0

0

5

5

17

15

2

4

0

0

t

Pre

Pos

Pre

t

I am able to accept that I 5.1

make mistakes without becoming upset/angry I am able to

5.2

accept consequences of my behaviour I am able to

5.3

accept unexpected changes I continue to try

5.4 when something is difficult Total

193

6. Self-Regulation Almost

Often

Always 6. Self-Regulation

Some-

Almost

times

Never

Pos

Post

Pre

Post

Pre

1

2

5

2

0

2

0

0

1

0

2

5

1

0

2

1

0

0

4

5

2

1

0

0

1

2

3

2

0

1

2

1

2

4

2

1

0

1

2

0

4

3

0

3

2

0

0

0

t

Pre

Pos

Pre

t

I allow others 6.1 to comfort me if I am upset I am able to control 6.2 myself when I am tense or upset I am able to control 6.3 myself when my energy level is high I am able to 6.4

accept being teased by my friend I am able to

6.5

accept being left out of a group I accept not

6.6

being first at a game or activity

194

I accept losing at a 6.7 game without

2

3

2

3

2

0

0

0

1

3

5

3

0

0

0

0

1

3

5

3

0

0

0

0

13

20

28

27

7

5

6

2

becoming upset/angry I am able to say “no” 6.8

nicely to things I do not want to do I accept being told

6.9 “no” without becoming upset/angry Total

Analysis & Discussion Based on the results of the Pre Survey and Post Survey of the students, there were no significant improvement in the social skills of the students. 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.

For the programme, each bonding session was 25 minutes and each mentoring session was 45 minutes. By the time the students warmed up during the sessions, there was not much time left for them to practice the skills. Social skills are complex and take time to 195

master. Under the right conditions most students will show improvements, it was however, difficult to improve without sufficient time and chance to practice.

Findings & Conclusion At the end of this workshop we developed a better understanding of the different approaches that can be applied to develop the social skills of the students.

From the data collected from the survey, the students seemed to enjoy the game bonding session the most. Out of the 10 students participated in the programme, 6 have taken both the pre and post survey. All the 6 students have indicated that they would like to continue with the programme the coming year.

The pre/post evaluation data also indicated that students found that they have learnt some social skills from the programme and can handle many of the situations outlined in the survey, Due to the constraint of time, we were not able to provide the students with sufficient time and opportunities to practice the skills they are learning. And thus, we are not able to achieve as much as we would like to, in improving the social skills of all the students in the programme. Overall, the students had enjoyed the sessions conducted.

Limitations & Recommendations Time factor is definitely a limitation when introducing a new skill and to ensure it is sustainable. Given more time to conduct more sessions with a longer duration, the results could have been more positive and the improvement in the social skills of the students may have been more evident.

196

Potential Future Work We hope to continue with the programme in the coming year, working with students in a more structure setting. We hope to have more sessions, so that we can put in place a series of lessons to continue to work on the studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social skills and provide opportunities for the students to make use of the skills they have learned in the group sessions.

The sessions with the students can be conducted in the afternoon with a longer duration.

We would also like to introduce a buddy system to help students to work on their social skills. The introduction of a learning journey will enable students to have an opportunity to practice the skills they have learned.

197

References Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., & Pachan, M. (2010). A meta-analysis of afterschool programs that seek to promote personal and social skills in children and adolescents. American journal of community psychology, 45(3-4), 294-309.

Durlak, J. A., & Weissberg, R. P. (2007). The Impact of After-School Programs that Promote Personal and Social Skills. Collaborative for academic, social, and emotional learning (NJ1).

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1990). Social skills for successful group work. Educational leadership, 47(4), 29-33.

Joseph E. Zins & Maurice J. Elias (2007) Social and Emotional Learning: Promoting the Development of All Students, Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 17:2-3, 233-255 Salas, E., & Cannon-Bowers, J. A. (2001). The science of training: A decade of progress. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 471–499.

Susanne A. Denham & Chavaughn Brown (2010) “Plays Nice With Others”: Social– Emotional Learning and Academic Success, Early Education and Development, 21:5, 652-680 Whitted, K. S. (2011). Understanding how social and emotional skill deficits contribute to school failure. Preventing School Failure: Alternative education for children and youth, 55(1), 10-16.

Zins, J. E., Bloodworth, M. R., Weissberg, R. P., & Walberg, H. J. (2007). The scientific base linking social and emotional learning to school success. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 17, 191–210.

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Examination of the effect of instructional practices on students’ self-efficacy in Mathematics ____________________________________________________ Ng Song Beng Ng Puay Hoon Yong Kiam Ham

Abstract Past and present experiences shape a person’s judgement of his perceived ability to plan and execute the plan that is needed to successfully perform a task in the future. This is his self-efficacy.

Studies have reported that high self-efficacy predicts students’ motivation, effort, engagement and academic achievement. There are instructional practices useful in developing student selfefficacy, including social learning models where students articulate their thinking processes both individually and with their peers, verbalisation of problem solving process and strategy instruction.

This paper reported on the results of a study to examine the effect of adopting instructional practices on improving students’ self-efficacy and its impact on mathematics achievement in secondary three mathematics classrooms. It has pedagogical implications on the strengthening of academic tenacity in students.

Introduction Human behaviour in a society has been widely studied by social scientists. It is contextual and there are many factors that influence a person to behave in a certain way, in a particular situation.

Some of these factors are personal and are within the control of the person, while others are external and do not fall within the locus of control of the person. The consequences of human behaviour impacts a person’s life in many ways. Some people are successful in life and continue to be more successful, others struggle to cope and continue to struggle. And yet some others experience failures after failures. All these life experiences continue to impact a person and influence his future behaviour. Past and present experiences shape a person’s judgement of his perceived ability to plan and execute the plan that are needed to successfully perform a task in the future. This is his self-efficacy. This field of study has received wide and sustained interest from social scientists and scholars from different fields since the seminar paper published by Bandura (1977) on self-efficacy.

199

In the formative years of a child, he spends a lot of time in school. In school, he spends a lot of time in the classroom. The predominant activity in the classroom is teaching and learning. He draws some of his earliest successes and failures in life from his classroom experiences. Many studies have reported that high self-efficacy predicts students’ motivation, effort, engagement and academic achievement (Margolis & McCabe, 2002; Pintrich & DeGroot, 1990; Riconscente, 2014; Schunk & Pajares, 2002). High Self-efficacy must then be, an extremely sought-after characteristic.

Bandura (1977) argued that the four main sources of self-efficacy are performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and the physiological state of the individual. In schools, these sources may appear in the form of social learning experiences and teachers’ attributional feedback and encouragement (Schunk & Pajares, 2002). Many studies have reported instructional practices useful in developing student self-efficacy, including social learning models where students articulate their thinking processes both individually and with their peers, verbalisation of problem solving process and strategy instruction (Artino, 2012; Fencl & Scheel, 2005; Margolis & McCabe, 2006; Schunk, 1995).

Many of these practices that have been proven to be useful in developing student self-efficacy are also being advocated in the dialogic model of teaching mathematics. This model, also known as the reform movement in the US or the progressive approach in the UK, is based on the constructivist theory of learning. In a comprehensive documentation of a national dialogue involving prominent mathematics educators and mathematicians in the US, Munter, Stein & Smith (2015) compared the practices of the dialogic model to the didactic or the traditional model. Some of the dialogic model instructional practices reported by Munter et al. (2015) include teachers facilitating a classroom environment to stimulate students’ thinking by demonstrating strategy to solve problems, students constantly interacting with their peers and the teacher, and making sense of the content by verbalising their thinking processes. Although there are strong advocates for the dialogic model, it also has its fair share of criticisms. The debate between the dialogic and the didactic models is still heated currently (Munter, et al., 2015; Smith, 2000; Windschitl, 2002).

Mathematics teachers are not convinced of either model serving their needs in helping students in their mathematics achievements. In the final report published by the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (2008), only eight comparative studies, which “presented a mixed and inconclusive picture of the relative effect of these two approaches to instruction” (p. 45), were reported.

200

Purpose of Study and its Significance Many criticisms levelled against the didactic model of instruction aroused because the didactic model has the tendency to focus on mastery of procedural skills and not on deep conceptual understanding. This results in students often only possessing superficial understanding of the mathematics content and fail to develop meaningful insights in the mathematics learned. There are merits in the dialogic model of instruction in the teaching of mathematics. It has the potential in engaging students deeply with mathematics content. However, the inertia to get mathematics teachers to attempt new approaches is just too huge without clear conclusive evidences of effectiveness (National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008) Some of the instructional practices of the dialogic model of instruction highlighted in the Introduction section have been proven to develop student self-efficacy. Given the importance of self-efficacy as a reliable predictor of academic success for students, this present study proposes to adopt an instructional approach which emphasizes some of the characteristics of the dialogic model of instructional practices to test its effect on student self-efficacy. If this study identifies characteristics of the dialogic model of instructional practices to have a positive effect on student self-efficacy, this would provide new impetus for the mathematics teachers to re-examine the merits of the dialogic model of instructional practices.

For this study, the Mathematics Reasoning Approach (MRA) (Akkus & Hand, 2011) was adopted as an instructional approach to facilitate the implementation of the mathematics instruction that emphasises students articulating their thinking processes using a template facilitated by the teachers, interacting with their peers and constantly reflecting on their problem solving strategies.

The MRA was designed to emphasise dialogic interaction by creating a discourse-oriented learning environment in the classroom.

Research Questions 1. What is the effect of adopting the Mathematics Reasoning Approach in the teaching of mathematics on the improvement of student self-efficacy?

2. What is the effect of adopting the Mathematics Reasoning Approach in the teaching of mathematics on the improvement of student achievement?

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Literature Review Self-efficacy Self-efficacy is a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s judgment of his ability to plan and carry out actions to achieve a specific performance goal (Bandura, 1986). Two important characteristics of this definition needs highlighting. Firstly, self-efficacy is a judgment of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capability, this is a perceived capability. It is not the actual capability. Secondly, it is contextual or performance specific. It is not a global capability of the individual to perform any task. Self-efficacy, grounded in social cognitive theory, is a type of motivational process. It suggests that human achievement depends on interactions between three factors: personal behaviours, personal factors and environmental conditions (Bandura, 1986, 1997). In the performance of a task, the experience gained (actual performance), the observation of the performances of others (vicarious experience), the encouragement from others (verbal persuasion) and the physiological reactions (emotional state) of an individual, all contributes to his perception of his self-efficacy (Schunk & Pajares, 2002).

This will in turn affect his decision to exert effort in the chosen task. It will also impact on his resilience and persistence when he encounters adversity in the task. All this will have a bearing on the achievement in the task (Bandura, 1997; Schunk, 1995). Hence, a student with low selfefficacy is likely not to choose to embark on a difficult task because he believes that he is unlikely to do well in the task. Even after he has embarked on a task, he is also more likely to give up when he encounters challenges and this will affect the amount of effort he is prepared to put into the task. Hence resulting in low achievement.

Didactic and dialogic instructions in mathematics The teaching and learning of mathematics is a hotly debated issue for decades. What content should be included in the curriculum, how these content should be taught by the teachers and hence learned by the students, how should the students be assessed on the content learned are some of the issues constantly being debated (Schoenfeld, 2004). Interestingly, the teaching of mathematics has not changed fundamentally despite all these debates. Today, if you walk into any mathematics classroom all over the world, you are still likely to see a teacher standing in front of a whole class demonstrating the procedures of solving a mathematics problem followed by the students practising the demonstrated steps repeatedly to mastery. This is an interesting phenomenon surprisingly common all over the world.

202

Since the late 1990s, research into the teaching of mathematics has increasingly raised doubt on the effectiveness of the traditional teaching approach or the didactic approach. The traditional approach is characterized by teacher transmitting content to the whole class with little or no participation from the students. The content is typically transmitted through teacher defining the mathematical terms followed by demonstration of procedural skills. Students then follow closely the demonstrated procedural skills and practiced to proficiency. Little attention is paid to the deep understanding of the concepts learned and the relationships between the various mathematical concepts. At the same time, a new approach in the teaching of mathematics is also gaining momentum amongst mathematics educators, sometimes called the dialogic approach or the progressive approach in UK or the reform movement in US. This approach advocates that students learn through participating in the classroom discourse facilitated by the teachers. Knowledge is constructed together with the teacher and their peers in the classroom learning community (Baxter & Williams, 2010; Munter et al., 2015; Windschitl, 2002).

One measure of the success of mathematics education in the different countries is the comparative standings on international comparative studies such as TIMSS and PISA. The US has not been doing well. This has partly contributed to the reform movement which advocates for the effective teaching of mathematics through the dialogic approach. On the other end of the spectrum, there are countries like Singapore who has done extremely well. The dominant instructional approach in the Singapore mathematics classrooms can be characterised as student focused but teacher-centred (Kaur, 2009). In this approach, there are three main aspects; teacher exposition (whole class demonstration), student seatwork, and review and feedback by the teacher (Kaur, 2008). During the exposition stage, teacher introduce new concepts clearly through whole class explanation of concepts and procedural steps. This process is supported by teacher using real-life examples and manipulatives to make students better understand complex concepts.

At the student seatwork stage, students are given interesting activities to work on individually or in small groups, facilitated by the teachers giving clear instructions for the activities. Students are also given sufficient practice tasks for preparation towards examination. At the review and feedback stage, teacher reviewed past knowledge learned with the student. Teacher also used individual work/group presentation to give feedback to individuals or the whole class (Kaur, 2009).

Hence, the Singapore approach seem to be a hybrid model of both the didactic and the dialogic approaches. The Singapore mathematics teachers will not be new to instructional practices of the dialogic approaches.

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The relationship between instructional approaches and student self-efficacy One of the sources of self-efficacy is vicarious experience, learning by observing others’ experiences (Bandura, 1977). Social models created in the classrooms to facilitate cooperative learning where peers learn from each other by observing their peers’ coping or mastery actions have been proven to have increased student self-efficacy (Fan, Lindt, Arroyo-Giner, & Wolters, 2009; Pintrich & Schunk, 2002; Schunk, 1995).

Encouraging students to voice their thoughts and articulate their plans, is another key feature of discourse-oriented teaching. By articulating their intentions and reasons in executing a mathematical procedure, teachers are able to provide specific attributional effort feedback. This compares with the didactic or the traditional teaching approaches where only one answer is normally expected from students in solving mathematics problem. By challenging students to produce multiple solutions to a single question, more opportunities are also created for teachers to provide either attributional ability or effort feedback. This will further encourage students to participate in classroom discourse. Such teacher actions have also been proven to have increased student self-efficacy (Margolis & McCabe, 2006, Schunk, 1983, 1995).

The Mathematics Reasoning Approach The mathematics reasoning approach (MRA) (Akkus & Hand, 2011) was designed to emphasise dialogic interaction by creating a discourse-oriented learning environment in the classroom. It engages students by facilitating their negotiation of meaning in their problem solving process. They first engage in their personal reflections in writing through a series of questions provided by the teacher in a template (Appendix A). Next, they compared their peers’ or teachers’ solutions to their own. This is followed by interactions and dialogue with their peers/teachers to clarify on the differences in approaches or answers. The teachers are also guided by a series of questions in the template to integrate their facilitations of the students’ negotiation of their problem solving process and writing process into the teaching and learning of mathematics in the classroom.

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Method Approach The research plan was to conduct the study using a single group pre-test and post-test quasiexperimental method. In this study, the purpose is to study the effect of adopting an instructional approach, the MRA, on the improvement of student self-efficacy, and to determine if there is an improvement in student achievement after the adoption of MRA. The hypotheses are as follows: For research question 1, H1 = the self-efficacy scores of students improved after they were taught mathematics using the MRA. For research question 2, H1 = the mathematics achievement of students improved after they were taught mathematics using the MRA. Research Participants and Operationalisation of variables The student participants of the study comprised of 67 students from secondary three express classes. The students are presumably 15+ years of age.

The intervention variable is the instructional approach, the MRA. The three teacher participants involved in this study are experienced and competent. They enjoy good teacher-student relationships with their students and have consistently achieved commendable and comparable academic results with the classes they have been assigned to in the last 3 years. All three teachers have similar teaching approaches and their approaches do not have heavy emphasis on MRA. And they are all eager and willing to attempt new instructional approaches. For this study, which was conducted over a period of three months in semester two, the following features of MRA were used: 1. The use of reflection template to facilitate studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; articulation and discussion of their mistakes in their solving of mathematics problems. This template also provides for discussion with their peers (Appendix B).

2. The use of questioning approach to teach towards big ideas.

3. A structured two-year study plan based on ten-year-series questions to lay a road-map for self-regulation of effort in the study of the subject (Appendix C).

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4. Providing some choice for students in their study of the subject to increase ownership and encourage self-regulation.

For research question 1, students were administered a self-report instrument to measure their self-efficacy scores. They were administered once, prior to the treatment of MRA and another time after the treatment of MRA. For research question 2, the mathematics mid-year examination result was taken as the mathematics achievement of the students prior to the treatment of MRA; and the mathematics end-of-year examination result was taken as the mathematics achievement of the students after the treatment of MRA. Instrument The self-efficacy scores of the student participants were measured by an adapted version of the self-efficacy sub-scale of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) (Pintrich & DeGroot, 1990) (Appendix D). The Self- Efficacy sub-scale consisted of nine items regarding perceived competence and confidence in performance of class work (e.g., “I know that I will be able to learn the material for this class”, “I expect to do very well in this class”). For each item, students will respond to a 5-point Linkert scale (from 1= not at all true of me, to 5=very true of me) their agreement with each item.

The original self-efficacy sub-scale of the MSLQ was adapted to ensure that the instrument accurately measures the intended self-efficacy of the student participants for the subject of mathematics in the class. Seven of the nine items in the instrument have been rephrased to avoid ambiguities for the student participants. For example, the original item, “I am sure I can do an excellent job on the problems and tasks assigned for this class” has been rephrased to “I am sure I can do an excellent job on the problems and tasks assigned for this subject in this class”. The original version of the self-efficacy sub-scale of the MSLQ was attached as Appendix E for reference.

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Data Analysis and Discussion For Research Question 1 (RQ1), What is the effect of adopting the Mathematics Reasoning Approach in the teaching of mathematics on the improvement of student self-efficacy? a one-tailed paired-samples t-test was used to determine if the MRA has an effect on the improvement on student self-efficacy.

Table 1. Definitions of variables of one-tailed paired-samples t-test for RQ1 Variables

Definition

Independent

pre-instruction SSE

Dependent

post-instruction SSE

Table 2. One-tailed paired-samples t-test on improvement of SSE after instruction with MRA (N = 67) N

Mean

Std. Deviation

pre-instruction SSE

67

3.23

0.877

post-instruction SSE

67

3.39

0.755

t 2.135*

* p < 0.05 A one-tailed paired-samples t test was conducted to evaluate whether teaching mathematics using MRA improved student self-efficacy. The result is shown in Table 2. The result indicated that the mean post-instruction SSE (M = 3.39, SD = 0.755) was significantly higher than the mean pre-instruction SSE (M = 3.23, SD = 0.877), t (66) = 2.135, p < 0.05.

For Research Question 2 (RQ2), What is the effect of adopting the Mathematics Reasoning Approach in the teaching of mathematics on the improvement of student achievement? a one-tailed paired-samples t-test was used to determine if the MRA has an effect on the mathematics achievement of students.

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Table 3. Definitions of variables of one-tailed paired-samples t-test for RQ2 Variables

Definition

Independent

mathematics mid-year examination result

Dependent

mathematics end-of-year examination result

Table 4. One-tailed paired-samples t-test on improvement of mathematics achievement after instruction with MRA (N = 67)

mathematics mid-year

N

Mean

Std. Deviation

67

45.49

21.895

67

58.56

21.075

t 9.481**

examination result mathematics end-of-year examination result ** p < 0.01 A one-tailed paired-samples t test was conducted to evaluate whether teaching mathematics using MRA improved student mathematics achievement. The result is shown in Table 4. The result indicated that the mean mathematics end-of-year examination result (M = 45.49, SD = 21.895) was significantly higher than the mathematics mid-year examination result (M = 58.56, SD = 21.075), t (66) = 9.481, p < 0.01.

Limitations of study There are two main limitations to this proposed study.

Firstly, although self-report instruments can be used effectively to measure student perceptions of motivations such as self-efficacy, the results need to be triangulated with other measures such as the think-aloud studies in a qualitative study (Pintrich & Groot, 1990; Schellings & Van HoutWolters, 2011; Zimmerman & Pons, 1986). The advantages of administering self-report instruments are many, such as the ease of large-scale administration and the ease of data analysis. Participants are not disturbed unnecessarily unlike an observation of the participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; learning behaviour in class. However, the response validity and reliability of the results depends on the participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ability to accurately recall what they have done followed by classifying and 208

deducing their future actions (Schellings & Van Hout-Wolters, 2011). Hence, researchers recommend using a mixed-method study to leverage the strengths of a quantitative study (such as self-report instrument) and a qualitative study (such as think-aloud studies or case studies) to address the inadequacies of each of the approaches, as Dinsmore, Alexander, & Loughlin (2008) termed, the measurement conundrum.

Secondly, the adoption of a new instructional approach always has its challenges. It takes time for both the teacher and the students to acclimatize to the new approach before the benefits of the approach can be harvested. The three month duration of the study could be too short for the full benefits of the approach to bear fruit as it takes time for both teachers and students to clarify initial doubts and for an instructional routine to run its course.

Conclusion Studies on self-efficacy have repeatedly shown that it has a predictive effect on the motivation, effort, engagement and academic achievement of students. It is then significant that studies could inform on how one can improve on studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; self-efficacy. This study proposed to examine the effect of an instructional approach, the Mathematics Reasoning Approach, on the improvement of student self-efficacy. This approach is based on the dialogic model of instruction which encourages deep understanding of mathematical concepts besides mastery of procedural skills.

The quantitative method of research is leveraged to establish statistical evidence to answer the research questions proposed in this study. Given the limitations espoused in the Limitations section, generalizability is not an intent of this proposed study. However, it hopes to contribute to the literature on how studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; self-efficacy can be improved, by leveraging on the strength of statistics in a quantitative study.

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Appendix A. The Mathematics Reasoning Approach teacher and student templates Teacher template Preparation: Identify the big ideas of the unit  Make a concept map that relates sub-concepts to the big ideas  Consider students’ prior knowledge  Consider students’ alternative conceptions during the lesson as they connect the prior knowledge to the big ideas During the unit: Students’ knowledge of mathematics  Give students opportunity to discuss their ideas  Have students put their ideas on the board for exploration Teacher’s knowledge of mathematics  Use your knowledge to identify students’ alternative conceptions  Guide students to the big ideas identified earlier during the preparation Negotiation of ideas  Create small-group and whole-class discussion  Encourage students to reflect on each other’s ideas Writing  Have students write about what they have learned in the unit to real audiences (teacher, parents, classmates, lower grades, etc.)

Student template  What is my question (problem)?  Specify what you are asked (What is (are) the question(s) being asked?)  Outline the information/data given (What information is/are given?)  What can I claim about the solution?  Use complete sentences to explain how you will solve the problem  Tell what procedures you can follow.

What did I do?  Does my method (procedure) make sense? Why?  What are my reasons?  Why did I choose the way I did?  How can I connect my findings to the information given in the problem?  How do I know that my method works?  What do others say?

How do my ideas/solutions compared with others?  

My classmates Textbooks/mathematicians

Reflection  How have my ideas changed?  Am I convinced with my solution?

Why?

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Appendix B. Reflection template to facilitate students’ articulation and discussion of their mistakes in their solving of mathematics problems

N7.7 Solving linear inequalities in one variable, and representing the solution on the number line.

Dear students,



Hope you are doing fine and is coping well in school This year, you have learned how to solve linear inequalities in one variable as well as representing the solution on the number line.

In the TYS assignment, Unit 1.7, which you have submitted on 13 Aug, out of the 27 questions, there were 7 questions testing you on your understanding and skills in solving inequalities. After marking your assignments, we realise many of you are able to solve the inequalities correctly, good job! We have also noticed some misconceptions and presentation problems in your solutions. We wish to show you how you can self-regulate your own learning. What we meant is that we wish to show you how you can learn on your own. For a start, let us first look at your marked assignment. Some parts of your solution are circled, these can be wrong steps, missing steps, wrong answers or wrong presentation. Please look at these circled errors, think through carefully. You may refer to the standard solutions, discuss with your classmates or seek clarification with your teachers. In the following box, please share with us what you have learned through your own errors. Please use complete sentences to explain your learning Following are some guiding questions to facilitate your sharing:



What are the parts of your solution that are circled?

What are your reasons for writing down these parts?

Do you know why they are circled? What did your classmates or teachers say with regard to your circled solution?

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Appendix C. Structured two-year study plan based on ten-year-series questions

Revision Plan for 2019 GCE O LEVEL MATHEMATICS Sec 3

Sec 4

Chapter Chapter

2018 TenYear

Number of Questions

Series Unit

2008 - 2015

2018 3G First Attempt

2018 3I

Test Date

First Attempt

NUMBER AND ALGEBRA Unit 1.1 Numbers and their Operations Unit 1.2 Ratio and Proportion

3

1&2

10 Jul 2018

26 Jul 2018

23 Jul 2018

13 Aug 2018

23 Jul 2018

13 Aug 2018

2 Aug 2018

6 Aug 2018

Paper 2 - nil Paper 1 – 13 Questions Paper 2 – 2 Questions

Unit 1.3

Paper 1 – 6 Questions

Percentage

Paper 2 - nil

Unit 1.4

Paper 1 – 6 Questions

Rate and Speed

Paper 2 – 3 Questions

Unit 1.5

Paper 1 – 19 Questions

Algebraic Expressions and Formulae 5

Paper 1 – 35 Questions

Paper 2 – 12 Questions

Unit 1.6

Paper 1 – 5 Questions

Functions and Graphs

Paper 2 – 8 Questions

Unit 1.7

Paper 1 – 14 Questions

13 Aug 2018

212

1

4

Equations and Inequalities

Paper 2 – 13 Questions

Unit 1.8

Paper 1 – 6 Questions

Set Language and Notation

Paper 2 – 2 Question

Unit 1.9

Paper 1 – 6 Questions

Matrices

Paper 2 – 2 Questions

Unit 1.10

Paper 1 – 13 Questions

Problems in Real-World Contexts

Paper 2 – 6 Questions

TOTAL Paper 1 – 123 Questions Paper 2 – 48 Questions

GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT Unit 2.1 Angles, Triangles and Polygons 9 & 10

11

6&7

8

Paper 1 – 13 Questions Paper 2 – 3 Question

Unit 2.2

Paper 1 – 8 Questions

Congruence and Similarity

Paper 2 – 2 Questions

Unit 2.3

Paper 1 – 5 Questions

Properties of Circles

Paper 2 – 7 Questions

Unit 2.4

Paper 1 – 9 Questions

Pythagoras’ Theorem and Trigonometry

Paper 2 – 12 Questions

Unit 2.5

Paper 1 – 16 Questions

Mensuration

20 Aug 2018

20 Aug 2018

17 Jul 2018

16 Jul 2018

26 Jul 2018

27 Jul 2018

27 Jul 2018

6 Aug 2018

Paper 2 – 9 Questions

213

4

5

Unit 2.6

Paper 1 – 6 Questions

Coordinate Geometry

Paper 2 – 1 Question

Unit 2.7

Paper 1 – 6 Questions

Vectors in Two Dimensions

Paper 2 – 5 Questions

Unit 2.8

Paper 1 – nil

Problems in Real-World Contexts

Paper 2 – 1 Question

TOTAL Paper 1 – 63 Questions Paper 2 – 40 Questions

STATISTICS AND PROBABILITY 3

Unit 3.1 Data Analysis

Paper 1 – 15 Questions Paper 2 – 8 Questions

2

Unit 3.2

Paper 1 – 4 Questions

Probability

Paper 2 – 7 Questions

TOTAL Paper 1 – 19 Questions Paper 2 – 15 Questions

GRAND TOTAL Paper 1 – 205 Questions worth 640 marks take 16 hours Paper 2 – 103 Questions 800 marks take 20 hours

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Appendix D. Adapted Self-efficacy sub-scale of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) (rephrased questions were highlighted)

1. Compared with other students in this class I expect to do well in this subject.

2. I'm certain I can understand the ideas taught in this subject.

3. I expect to do very well for this subject in this class.

4. Compared with others in this class, I think I'm a good student.

5. I am sure I can do an excellent job on the problems and tasks assigned for this subject in this class.

6. 1 think I will receive a good grade for this subject in this class.

7. My study skills for this subject are excellent compared with others in this class.

8. Compared with other students in this class I think I know a great deal about the subject.

9. I know that I will be able to learn the material for this subject in this class.

Appendix E. Original Self-efficacy sub-scale of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ)

1. Compared with other students in this class I expect to do well.

2. I'm certain I can understand the ideas taught in this course.

3. I expect to do very well in this class.

4. Compared with others in this class, I think I'm a good student.

5. I am sure I can do an excellent job on the problems and tasks assigned for this class.

6. 1 think I will receive a good grade in this class.

7. My study skills are excellent compared with others in this class.

8. Compared with other students in this class I think I know a great deal about the subject.

9. I know that I will be able to learn the material for this class.

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References

Akkus, R. & Hand, B. (2011). Examining teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; struggles as they attempt to implement dialogical interaction as part of promoting mathematical reasoning within their classrooms. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 9, 975998.

Artino, A. R. (2012). Academic self-efficacy: from educational theory to instructional practice. Perspect Med Educ, 1, 76-85.

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change.

Psychological Review, 84(2), 191-215.

Bandura A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory.

Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy. Harvard Mental Health Letter, 13(9), 4-7.

Baxter, J. A, & Williams, S. (2010). Social and analytic scaffolding in middle school mathematics: managing the dilemma of telling. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education. 13, 7-26.

Dinsmore, D. L., Alexander, P., & Loughlin, S. M. (2008). Focusing the conceptual lens on metacognition, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning. Educational Psychology Review 20(4), 391-409.

Fan, W., Lindt, S. F., Arroyo-Giner, C. A., & Wolters, C. A. (2009). The role of social relationships in promoting student academic self-efficacy and mimic approaches to assess factorial mean invariance. International Journal of Applied Educational Studies, 5(1), 34-53.

Fencl, H., & Scheel, K. (2005). Research and teaching: Engaging students - an examination of the effects of teaching strategies on self-efficacy and course climate in a nonmajors physics course. Journal of College Science Teaching, 35(1), 20-24.

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Kaur, B. (2008). Teaching and learning of mathematics: what really matters to teachers and students? ZDM – The International Journal of Mathematics Education, 40(6), 951962.

Kaur, B. (2009). Characteristics of good mathematics teaching in Singapore grade 8 classrooms: a juxtaposition of teachers’ practices and students’ perception. ZDM – The International Journal of Mathematics Education, 41(3), 333-347.

Margolis, H., & McCabe, P. P. (2006). Improving Self-Efficacy and Motivation: What to Do, What to Say. Intervention in School & Clinic, 41(4), 218-227.

Munter, C., Stein, M. K., & Smith, M. S. (2015). Dialogic and direct instruction: two distinct models of mathematics instruction and the debate(s) surrounding them.

Teachers College Record 117, 1-32.

National Mathematics Advisory Panel. (2008). Foundations for success: The final report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

Pintrich, P. R., & DeGroot, E. V. (1990). Motivational and self-regulated learning components of classroom academic performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(1), 33-40.

Pintrich, P. R., & Schunk D. H. (1996). Motivation in education: theory, research, and applications. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Pintrich, P. R., & Schunk, D. H. (2002). Motivation in education: Theory, research and applications (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Merrill.

Riconscente, M. M. (2014). Effects of perceived teacher practices on Latino high school students’ interest self-efficacy, and achievement in mathematics. The Journal of Experimental Education, 82(1), 51-73.

217

Schellings, G. & Van Hout-Wolters, B. (2011). Measuring strategy use with self-report instruments: theoretical and empirical considerations. Metacognition and Learning, 6 (2), 83-90.

Schoenfeld, A. H. (2004). The math wars. Education Policy, 18(1), 253â&#x20AC;&#x201C;286.

Schunk, D. H. (1983). Ability versus effort attributional feedback: differential effects on self-efficacy and achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 848-856.

Schunk, D. H. (1995). Self-efficacy and education and instruction. In J. E. Maddux (Ed.), Self-efficacy, adaptation, and adjustment: Theory, research, and application (pp. 281303). New York: Plenum Press.

Schunk, D. H., & Pajares, F. (2002). The development of academic self-efficacy. In A. Wigfield, J. S. Eccles, A. Wigfield, & J. S. Eccles (Eds.), Development of achievement motivation (pp. 15-31). San Diego, CA, US: Academic Press.

Smith, M. S. (2000). Balancing old and new: an experienced middle school teacher's learning in the context of mathematics instructional reform. The Elementary School Journal, 100(4), 351-375.

Windschitl, M. (2002). Framing constructivism in practice as the negotiation of dilemmas: an analysis of the conceptual, pedagogical, cultural, and political challenges facing teachers. Review of Educational Research 72(2), 131-175.

Zimmerman, B., & Pons, M. (1986). Development of a structured interview for assessing student use of self-regulated learning strategies. American Educational Research Journal, 23, 614-628.

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Examination of the effect of using ICT on collaboration and formative assessment in Science _____________________________________________________________________________________

Lee Wen Lin Lee Mun Sum Jane Tan Shin Yuen Michelle Ting Teck Wee Timothy Abstract Recognising the importance of designing and facilitating active learning with technology, this study aims to capitalise on the features of Spiral – an ICT learning tool to encourage thinking and provide feedback through formative assessments and facilitate students in collaborative learning. Using Spiral, lessons on Sexual Reproduction in Humans was designed and conducted with two normal academic classes. Students reaped the benefits of the lessons with positive feedback on the different assessment and collaborative learning features. In a post-lesson survey more than 80% of students indicated that they ‘Strongly Agreed’ or ‘Agreed’ that the use of Spiral had increased students’ motivation and engagement in the lesson activity and promoted the shift to a learner-centred environment. It has allowed students to participate more actively as they collaborated in the discussion segment of using Spiral. In addition, the visual and kinaesthetic learners had benefitted as the use of Spiral allowed them to learn best in their learning styles since they worked in teams to review ideas. A learning environment that promotes active student collaboration and discussion is key to stimulating critical thinking in students. The result of this study has pedagogical implications in fostering of critical thinking in students.

Introduction Pedagogical strategies that rely on technology seek to satisfy four general goals 1) engaging students, 2) increasing learning, 3) increasing performance, and/or 4) improving classroom management/efficiency. The challenges facing educational institutions have prompted educators to turn to technological pedagogy as a way to address the contemporary demands of teaching. Likewise, students increasingly expect to be engaged by the use of technology as part of the learning process. However, does the use 219

of novel technology positively correlate with student engagement?

The team had embarked on the project of using technology with the intent of promoting active learning in students by capitalizing on the learning activities in Spiral which allow meaningful formative assessments and collaborative learning opportunities.

The design of the learning activities in Spiral does not only deliver content through slides and videos but also assesses students' understanding through multiple-choice questions and structured questions which can be answered using text or canvas. Other learning activities allow students to learn collaboratively as they receive comments on their work or when they discuss ideas and work in teams to build shared presentations. These learning opportunities allow ideas to be reviewed, built upon and improved.

There are four activities within the Spiral tool to assist student learning. They are:   



The Clip Learning Activity



The Quickfire Learning Activity



The Discuss Learning Activity and



The Team Up learning Activity.

The 'Clip' learning activity in Spiral delivers lesson content through videos and allow structured and multiple-choice questions to be asked to assess students' learning.

Students are also able to add comments throughout the video in a live feed which allow them to share learning points or to clarify doubts.

The 'Quickfire' learning activity in Spiral allows students to post their responses to questions using tex or canvas in real time. Students' answers can be displayed anonymously to develop confidence and encourage participation. Upon reviewing collaboratively, students can be prompted to improve and re-submit their answer. This activity provides a platform where teachers can review and assess knowledge and understanding before moving onto the next question.

220

The 'Discuss' learning activity invites responses to questions and starts classroom discussion as students comment on each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. This peer evaluation opportunity allows ideas to be reviewed, built upon and improved and for common misconceptions to be addressed.

The 'Team Up' learning activity allows students to work in teams, contribute and review ideas and build shared presentations in the form of slide shows. Tasks, team members and students' roles can be pre-allocated which further facilitates the process and outcomes of the group work. Ongoing group work can also be reviewed on the teacher's screen where proactive and timely feedback can be given.

These ICT elements in Spiral promote active learning to encourage thinking and provide feedback through formative assessments and to facilitate students in collaborative learning.

Literature Review There are many articles citing the impact of using educational technology for teaching and learning. We have selected the following as they are more current and reflect findings that support the direction of our PLT project. Three of the articles have been particularly highlighted from the Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology and the literature review has been categorised under the following two headings.

Impact of Educational Technology on Teaching and Learning Based on the studies below, students who characterized themselves as comfortable with modes of e-learning reported significantly greater levels of perception of learning and engagement. Students who reported a high level of engagement while using iPads reported a high level of learning as well.

The most noticeable difference was how students in the iPad classes moved around the classroom more and seemed to be more engaged in the material. The study suggests that iPads increase engagement and collaboration, acting as a facilitator for easier sharing of information and of learning as well. (Student Perceptions of Classroom Engagement and Learning using iPads [1])

221

Studies also suggest that educational technology should be regarded as a tool to enhance and facilitate learning; and that the learning environment determines the amount of student usage of technology, designed to promote student engagement. Teacher instruction and facilitation are still the most important, positive key feature of technologically enhanced lessons. (Examining the connection between classroom technology and student engagement [2]) As the use of Spiral involves a ‘Clip’ learning activity, we have also selected an article citing that 96% of participants involved in a learning activity blended with video clips responded “Strongly Agree” to the statement “Using films clips makes this class more engaging.” Similarly, almost ninety nine percent (98.66%) strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with the statement “Using films clips in this class helps me learn.” (Using Film Clips in the Classroom: Something Old, Something New? [3]) Collaborative Learning & Formative Assessment One of the articles chosen suggested that when integrated into lesson, that were more constructivist in nature, technology was observed to facilitate higher levels of communication and collaboration between students and teachers. This particularly supports the ‘Discuss’ and ‘Team Up’ learning activities in Spiral.

Particularly of interest was a “students as teachers” model that occurred as students shared their knowledge with others, often coupled with teachers allowing students to have more control of the learning process. The study concluded that integrating technology can positively impact the interactions of learners in elementary classrooms when used as a tool to support constructivist pedagogy. (The impact of educational technology on learner interactions: A multiple case study of elementary classrooms [4])

In another article, it was stated that efficiency in the learning activity can be achieved by means of using modern technologies complementing student- oriented educational strategies focusing on students’ personal learning style.

222

The use of such educational strategies and technologies in the teaching activity allow “teachers to learn how to use learning styles as a cornerstone of their instruction and students can learn to capitalize on their learning style strengths when using educational technology to concentrate on new and difficult material”. (The Impact of Educational Technology on the Learning Styles of Students [5]) METHOD While the use of ICT will enhance engagement in learning, the team wanted to select a topic that will enable them to explore the full range of features that Spiral can offer and at the same time using it as an alternative mode of assessment of students’ learning.

The topic on Sexual Reproduction in Humans, specifically, The Menstrual Cycle, was selected as it was felt that this topic will enable the use of the full features of this particular ICT tool.

The students learning process using Spiral required content preparation and lesson flow to be taken in the following steps: 1) IPads were drawn and every student was issued with a device. They were also given the option of using their own Smartphones if they had data plans, as students can get faster internet access as the school internet connection was intermittent.

2) As students were required to sign-in to the lesson, a specific class code was generated with each student’s name pegged to his class index number to reduce the problem of students disrupting the lesson through the use of inappropriate avatar / names.

3) Lesson Activities were then created and shared with the team, based on the objectives that had earlier been decided.

4) The Clip Activity included a video clip, which was uploaded with appropriate pause markers where questions, that would check for students’ understanding of the video clip, would appear, to ensure that students were following the proceedings; and have their doubts clarified before they become endeared to their understanding. For quick assessment of students’ understanding of the lesson activities, Multiple-Choice Questions, were included as a formative assessment of students’ learning. Students’ answers were reviewed and their responses quickly compiled to check for 223

misconceptions.

5) To check for subject literacy and the use of appropriate terms for the topic, Quickfire Activity, was designed to elicit students misconceptions. One of these included an activity that required students to fill into a table that compared Asexual and Sexual Reproduction while another required students to give short responses. To help students review what have been taught previously, pictures of the Male and Female Reproductive Systems were uploaded and students have to label the parts using the application.

6) To encourage students’ participation, Discuss Activity was designed to draw out any misconceptions students may have in this topic. When students see one another’s’ responses, more discussions can be generated and any doubts can be clarified in the safety of anonymity.

7) To encourage collaboration among students, Team Up Activity was designed, with every participant in the team being responsible for the role they play. For this part, different start dates of a 28-day Menstrual Cycle, was given and each team has to identify the various parts of the cycle, for example, requiring them to give the exact dates for the fertile period, date of ovulation or date of next menstruation etc.

8) A Teacher Evaluation Rubric was formulated to check for student’s understanding of the Menstrual Cycle as well as whether teamwork was evident and to what extent.

Students’ team presentations were similarly assessed and formative assessment marks were given as feedback to students’ collaboration attempts. To strike a balance to the Teacher’s evaluation, which may be subjective, each student is also required to do a Peer Evaluation, with simple questions on whether the peer participated or contributed to the team was observed.

9) Each team member’s Peer Evaluation was then sum up and added to the Teacher Evaluation marks and the total will be the Team’s marks.

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At the end of the lesson activities, the students were given a survey asking them to rate their perceptions of learning and engagement through seven questions using a 4-point Likert scale with possible responses ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree (see Table 1).

Table 1. Survey questions provided to the students Questions about Students’ Perceptions of Engagement I like the ICT activity where questions are embedded in the video for me to answer.

I like the ICT activity where I can do group work with my peers and learn from/with them.

I like the ICT activity where I can look at my peers’ responses to questions and am able comment on them.

Questions about Students’ Perceptions of Learning I like to learn through ICT because it gives me feedback of how well I have understood the lesson.

I like the ICT lessons as it encourages me to have more ownership of my learning.

I enjoy learning through ICT compared to other teaching methods.

Learning through ICT is more effective compared to other teaching methods.

RESULTS Surveys were collected from 76 students from 2 classes. Table 2 shows the collated responses.

Table 2. Response of students to survey questions Questions

Strongly Agree & Agree

Disagree & Strongly Disagree

I like the ICT activity where questions are embedded in the video for me to answer.

87.5%

12.5%

I like the ICT activity where I can do group work with my peers and learn from/with them.

88.9%

11.1%

Students’ Perceptions of Engagement

225

I like the ICT activity where I can look at my friends' responses to questions and am able comment on them.

Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Perceptions of Learning

80.5%

19.5%

I like to learn through ICT because it gives me feedback of how well I have understood the lesson.

83.3%

16.7%

I like the ICT lessons as it encourages me to have more ownership of my learning.

77.7%

22.3%

I enjoy learning through ICT compared to other teaching methods.

83.3%

16.7%

Learning through ICT is more effective compared to other teaching methods.

79.2%

20.8%

A large number of students reported high levels of engagement through the features of the ICT tools which allowed them to answer questions embedded in videos (87.5%), do group work with peers and learn from/with them (88.9%) and look at peersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; responses to questions and comment on them (80.5%).

A large number of students also reported high levels of perceived learning through the ICT tool as it gives them feedback on how well they have understood the lesson (83.3%), encourages them to have more ownership of learning (77.7%), makes learning enjoyable compared to other teaching methods (83.3%) and finds that learning through ICT is more effective than other teaching methods (79.2%).

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Analysis and Discussion In a post-lesson survey more that 80% of students indicated that they ‘Strongly Agreed’ or ‘Agreed’ that the use of Spiral had increased the students’ motivation and engagement in the lesson activity and promoted the shift to a learner-centred environment. It has allowed students to participate more actively as they collaborated in the discussion segment of using Spiral. In addition, the visual and kinaesthetic learners had benefitted as the use of Spiral allowed them to learn best in their learning styles as they worked in teams to review ideas.

Among the survey questions, only two indicated responses of less than 80% ‘Strongly Agree’ or ‘Agree’. In ‘learning through ICT is more effective…’ students may not be able to make the comparison of effectiveness as suggested in the statement. For the statement ‘I Iike the ICT lesson as it encourages me to have more ownership of my learning’, perhaps students may respond differently should the statement be edited to simply ‘‘I Iike the ICT lesson as it gives me more ownership of my learning’.

Generally the outcomes from our PLT Project are supported by the findings based on the review of literature shared above.

From the positive survey results, there are considerations of continuing the use of Spiral in 2019 for Lower Secondary Science to teach the topic, Electricity. Students are able to utilise the interactive features of Quickfire to draw and label circuit diagrams. The Discuss activity will also be a good platform to facilitate learning through the discussion of common misconceptions. Team Up activity will continue to be a collaborative learning feature to enhance learning from and with peers.

227

References Timothy T. Diemer1 , Eugenia Fernandez2 , and Jefferson W. Streepey3- Student Perceptions of Classroom Engagement and Learning using iPads Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology, Vol. 1, No. 2, December 2012. pp. 13 – 25.

R.C. Morris and Loran Carleton Parker Examining the connection between classroom technology and student engagement -Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology, Vol. 3, No. 1, June 2014, pp. 1 – 15. doi: 10.14434.jotlt.v3n1.4720 Brian R. Levey - Using Film Clips in the Classroom: Something Old, Something New? - Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology, Vol. 4, No. 2, December 2015, pp.41-50.

Russell K. Miller, EdD The impact of educational technology on learner interactions: A multiple case study of elementary classrooms - Proceedings of the 3rd Annual GRASP Symposium, Wichita State University, 2007 Caciuc Viorica - Torii, Alexandrache Carmen The Impact of Educational Technology on the Learning Styles of Students - Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 83 ( 2013 ) 851 – 855

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Credits and Acknowledgements Special mention and credits to the following for the publication:Mr. Nick Chan, Mrs. Chithra Venkatraman & Mr. Adam Ahmad (School Leaders), for their commitment, guidance and support to grow staff as reflective practitioners.

Our PLT Leaders and Members, for their engagement in designing and conducting evidence-based lessons as well as writing of quality research papers.

Mrs. Celine Goh (Senior Teacher/ Chemistry), for her consolidating work on the research papers.

Ms. Diana Ghazali (Teacher/ Art), for her designing work on the cover page.

Mr. Kesavan S/O Thangam (Teacher/ EL& SS), for his proofreading work on the research papers.

Mr. Ng Song Beng (Lead Teacher/ Maths), for his editorial work on the research papers.

Mrs. Rita Teo (SSD), for her logistics support in this publication.

Other experts and consultants from AST, CPDD, ESUB and NIE, for their advices and support in our staff professional inquiry journey.

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