Skip to main content

Tan Seng-Chee

Nanyang Technological University, National Institute of Education, Faculty Member

Followers

90

Following

52

Co-authors

3

Public Views

I am a teacher educator and a researcher in learning sciences who pioneered research in knowledge building pedagogy supported by computer-supported collaborative learning platforms and tools in Singapore. I have also been contributing to teacher education, particularly in the use of technologies in education. I have co-developed and taught about 20 courses in the National Institute of Education. In terms of service, I have held several administrative and leadership positions, most recently as the Acting co-director of the Centre for Research

less

Norwich University of the Arts

Anne-maree Sawyer

Nanyang Technological University

Interests

Uploads

Papers by Tan Seng-Chee

Why the spiral moved": Seeking for knowledge building

This paper tracks the learning experiences in science of three students using Knowledge Forum. We... more

Solving ill-structured problems mediated by online- discussion forums: Mass customisation of learning

ASCILITE Publications

To foster students’ learning of critical-thinking skills, we incorporated ill-structured problems... more To foster students’ learning of critical-thinking skills, we incorporated ill-structured problems in a Human Diseases module for third-year Life Sciences students. Using a problem-solving rubric and working in groups of three, students attempted to solve problems presented to them. We mediated their discussions by asynchronous online discussion forums (AODFs) as part of mass customisation of learning for 40 students where personalised learning was constrained by structure of the module. We examined the quality of students’ discussion, focusing on the feedback group members provided to one another, using an interpreted Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy to code students’ feedback. Our analysis indicated that the students were able to provide uni-structural and multi-structural level in relation to solving an ill-structured problem, even though they are not used to solving ill-structured problems. This indicated that in a mid-size class, while personalised-learnin...

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

Educational Technology Research and Development, 2021

This paper examines the alignment of education with the needs for knowledge creation in the digit... more This paper examines the alignment of education with the needs for knowledge creation in the digital age using the Knowledge Building model and Knowledge Forum® technology. Knowledge Building is akin to knowledge creation as practiced in research laboratories and other frontier-advancing organizations, with added focus on value to the individual, community, and society. Knowledge Forum has evolved with theory and pedagogy over the years, and makes knowledge-creation processes available to school-aged students. Despite reform efforts, misalignments for educational innovation continue to prevail in schooling, and changes often create more disruptions. Without a coherent framework and sustained progressive change, innovations may fail to make their way into policy and practice, creating an endless catching-up game and fragmentation at different levels. This paper draws from the Knowledge Building model and research to discuss alignments for knowledge creation in seven areas: (1) views of knowledge; (2) 21st-century educational competencies; (3) education and equity; (4) pedagogy and technology integration; (5) assessment, learning and collaboration; (6) teacher learning; and (7) student learning outcomes. Through decades of sustained design implementation research, using a systemic approach involving school-university-government alliances and globally distributed hubs of innovation, Knowledge Building teams have engaged in the reconstruction of educational practices to establish self-improving systems for continual alignments in knowledge creation. The mobilization of educational stakeholders worldwide, such as the EduSummIT, provides opportunities for bridging research and practice and educational improvements. Implications of Knowledge Building for developing self-improving systems and communities that leverage technology for realigning education in knowledge creation are discussed.

A metacognitive approach to enhancing Chinese language speaking skills with audioblogs

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2010

Situated in the field of computer assisted language learning (CALL), this article reports an inst... more Situated in the field of computer assisted language learning (CALL), this article reports an instrumental case study on the use of audioblogs for developing students' Chinese speaking skills. The intervention focused on scaffolding students in metacognitive reflection of their oral performances. The case focused on seven students who completed substantial part of the activities, and the main sources of data came from the oral recordings and interactions in their audioblogs. A significant improvement in the mean scores of pre- to post-test oral performance was found, which indicated the benefits of this approach. The students were found to adopt a systematic approach in their reflection: evaluating --> monitoring --> planning, with greater amount of attention devoted to the monitoring strategy. However, a disproportionate distribution of metacognitive knowledge usage was found in students' self-assessment. Task knowledge was the predominant metacognitive knowledge used ...

Technology and Knowledge Creation

2015 IEEE 15th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2015

This talk is situated at the nexus of these interacting changes: knowledge creation, learning, an... more This talk is situated at the nexus of these interacting changes: knowledge creation, learning, and technology. In particular, it focuses on how technologies can support learning through knowledge creation. This talk will answer a few pertinent questions: What does learning through knowledge creation look like? How does learning occur through knowledge creation? How do current technologies support this learning process? How can we harness emerging technologies to support learning as knowledge creation?

Understanding Personal Epistemology

Conceptions of Knowledge Creation, Knowledge and Knowing, 2020

This chapter presents a literature review on the theoretical models of personal epistemology unde... more This chapter presents a literature review on the theoretical models of personal epistemology under three major frameworks: a uni-dimension developmental trajectory, a multi-dimension system of epistemic beliefs and manifold epistemological resources. Following that, we discuss cultural specificity of personal epistemology, in particular, the traditional Chinese epistemology that might influence the participants in our study.

Teachers’ Conceptions of Knowledge and Knowing

Conceptions of Knowledge Creation, Knowledge and Knowing, 2020

This chapter presents the findings to the first research question—“What are the qualitatively dif... more This chapter presents the findings to the first research question—“What are the qualitatively different ways in which Singapore Chinese Language teachers understand knowledge and knowing?”. The qualitatively different ways of how Singapore Chinese Language teachers conceptualise the two phenomena, knowledge and knowing, will be presented consecutively. For each phenomenon, following the methods described in Chap. 4, the key dimensions of variation are first presented, followed by the categories of description, and finally the entire outcome space in a diagrammatic form. After each outcome space is presented, an in-depth look at the individual categories of descriptions, where the quotes from participants that made up the dimensions of variation in each category, will be taken. This is followed by the review of some non-critical aspects that emerged from participants’ descriptions; in other words, themes that do not fit into any hierarchical relationship in the outcome space. Finally, drawing upon the structure of awareness, an overall view of the teachers’ conception is presented.

Learning with computers: Generating insights into the development of cognitive tools using cultural historical activity theory

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2019

Using computers as cognitive tools or mindtools has created impact in education since their intro... more Using computers as cognitive tools or mindtools has created impact in education since their introduction in the 1990s. One main characteristic is the notion of learning with computers as intellectual partners: engaging learners in higher level thinking while taking away the lower level cognitive load such as computing and digital storage. In recent years, the element of social interactions has been integrated, leading to the development of social cognitive tools or social mindtools. However, the differences between and underlying values of these applications may not be apparent. This article applies cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) to analyse these developments so as to generate insights into the nuanced differences among various applications, including the roles of computers in distributed cognition within an activity system. CHAT can be applied to analyse contradictions within and beyond an activity system, which can help to identify opportunities for innovation and enha...

Pedagogical Transformation and Teacher Learning for Knowledge Building: Turning COVID-19 Challenges into Opportunities

Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 2021

This paper reports on the continual effort of the Knowledge Building Community (KBC) connecting t... more This paper reports on the continual effort of the Knowledge Building Community (KBC) connecting teachers within and across schools for knowledge creation and community building during the COVID-19 disruptions. During this crisis, schools around the world are challenged with the issues of implementing online learning. Three areas of misalignment were identified: disjoint in learning with home-school separation, piecemeal technologies to mimic physical teaching, and disconnect between teacher professional development and classroom practices and we discussed emerging realignment efforts for transformative learning. Through analyzing the three case examples of how teachers responded to COVID-19 challenges in inter-related areas of curriculum, pedagogy, technology and community, we identified several themes on emerging alignments conducive for transformative pedagogy and technology through community advancement. These themes include: innovating practice around the centrality of ideas; pe...

Teachers’ understanding of knowledge creation: A phenomenography of Singapore Chinese language teachers

Knowledge creation approach of education is critical to prepare our children for the knowledge so... more Knowledge creation approach of education is critical to prepare our children for the knowledge society. However, uptake of redesigning learning activities using knowledge building approach by school teachers is slow and one possible factor lies in teacher’s understanding of knowledge creation as a phenomenon, but research in this area is lacking. This is a phenomenographic study with 16 Chinese Language teachers in Singapore to explore their understanding of knowledge creation. Four categories of teachers’ understanding of knowledge creation emerged: limited creation by specialized few; creation by anyone for self and others; interpersonal creation for self; interpersonal co-creation with others. These four categories are marked by variations along three key themes: types of creator, individual/group involvement, and purpose. We examine differences between teachers’ understanding with the 12 principles of Knowledge Building and suggest future interventional study that might facilita...

Learning with Technology: Learner Voice and Agency

Educational Media and Technology Yearbook, 2009

Abstract This chapter discusses one of the research perspectives of the Learning Sciences and Tec... more

Developing 21st Century Teachers as a Knowledge Builder

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2010

The capacity to engage in deep discussion about knowledge should be an expected outcome of all un... more The capacity to engage in deep discussion about knowledge should be an expected outcome of all university graduates. This paper describes an attempt to develop teachers as a knowledge builder through a master's level course. Based on the socio-cognitive determinants of knowledge building proposed by Scardamalia and Bereiter, I identified and applied instructional tactics that could help foster knowledge building behaviors among the participants. These tactics include case study, reciprocal teaching, online discussion, and working on a consequential task. The participants consisted of 11 teachers aged between 27 to 50 years old. They actively contributed to the online forum by frequently querying, clarifying, adding and revising their notes. They led group discussions in class and introduced additional reference materials to their classmates. In short, the participants demonstrated high degree of epistemic agency by taking ownership of their learning and contributing to deep understanding of theories related to knowledge building.

Computer-Supported Collaborative Problem Solving and Anchored Instruction In a Mathematics Classroom: An Exploratory Study

International Journal of Learning Technology, 2004

... Ahmad Ibrahim Etheris ... 1, No. 1, pp.1639. Biographical notes: Ahmad Ibrahim Etheris is an... more

Discussions on Teachers’ Conceptions on the Phenomena of Knowledge, Knowing and Knowledge Creation

Conceptions of Knowledge Creation, Knowledge and Knowing

This chapter discusses the findings presented in Chaps. 5-7. The research questions that guided t... more This chapter discusses the findings presented in Chaps. 5-7. The research questions that guided this study were used to frame the discussion. For each section, we first compare the dimensions of variation against the existing theories of knowledge creation reviewed in Chap. 2. This is followed by comparing the categories of conception as a whole. Finally, implications of the findings to the theoretical, practical and policy perspectives are presented. 8.1 Discussion on Research Question 1 The first research question of this study is "What are the qualitatively different ways in which Singapore Chinese Language teachers understand knowledge and knowing"?. As presented in Chap. 5, Chinese Language teachers' qualitatively different ways of understanding knowledge and knowing constitute two separate outcome spaces related to knowledge and knowing. 8.1.1 Discussion on Conceptions of Knowledge The meanings in the three-category outcome space of knowledge are interrelated through the dimension of certainty of knowledge. The categories of understanding are recapitulated and matched with the positions of Perry's (1970) developmental framework in Table 8.1. As seen in Table 8.1, Chinese Language teachers' understanding of knowledge appears to span between the fourth and fifth position-relativism-in Perry's scheme of intellectual development based on their conceptions of knowledge. The relativist position is characterised by the understanding of knowledge to be relative instead of the dualistic view of knowledge or that truth is attainable. Perry had subdivided relativism into four types: (1) relativism subordinate (also termed multiplicity correlate), (2) relativism correlate, (3) relativism competing and (4) relativism diffuse.

Science teachers’ engagement with ICT in Singapore: Different perspectives

A Learning Journey in Problem-based Learning in a Physics Classroom

Most educational theorists now promote activity in context and authentic activities to engender m... more Most educational theorists now promote activity in context and authentic activities to engender more meaningful forms of learning. Problem-based learning (PBL) is one of such pedagogy whereby students work in groups to solve “real world” problems. However, when these practices from the real world are introduced into classrooms, school teachers could encounter many challenges, such as curricula and individual constraints. In this ethnographic study, we describe what happened when a high school physics teacher adopted PBL in his classroom in an attempt to move toward inquiry-based instruction. Using cultural-historical activity theory, we compared his instructional activities with a referent PBL model derived from literature, so as to surface the tensions and contradictions in the activity system as he introduced new practices into his classroom. We found that the challenges he faced arose from disparities between the motives driving everyday practices and schooling, which we attribut...

“But I have not started teaching!”: Knowledge building perils

This paper was presented at the International Science Education Conference (ISEC 2006), held in S... more

Reconciling individual differences with collective needs: The juxtaposition of sociopolitical and neuroscience perspectives on remediation and compensation of student skill deficits

Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 2016

Abstract The increasingly diverse student population within classrooms potentially stretches the ... more Abstract The increasingly diverse student population within classrooms potentially stretches the competencies of every teacher. Differentiated instruction has been offered to help teachers accommodate diverse learners, but most instructional strategies are typically directed at compensating for – not remediating – cognitive and academic skill deficits. This differentiated instruction approach is contrasted with the extant learning science and educational neuroscience literature, which suggests early intervention and remediation of skill deficits is the preferred evidence-based practice. To overcome these competing and apparently contradictory positions, we argue children should be provided with systematic brain-based differentiated instruction in inclusive classrooms to prevent skill deficits, with compensatory accommodations provided only as necessary to help children access the general education curriculum. For those who continue to struggle, we argue remedial efforts should occur outside of, and in addition to, inclusive general education instruction, given the empirical evidence supporting both practices. Implications for training and system-level reform will be addressed.

CoP project technical report

This project is a case study of building communities of practice (CoPs) among Heads of Department... more This project is a case study of building communities of practice (CoPs) among Heads of Departments of Information Technology ((HOD (IT) s) in Singapore schools. As part of the second MasterPlan for Information Technologies in Schools initiated in 2002, there has been a stated goal to employ the CoP approach as a key strategic initiative to develop a more integrated “IT across the curriculum” approach in schools.

Translating Educational Neuroscience to Meet Diverse Needs of Children in Schools: Feasibility and Infrastructure

This project seeks to develop the infrastructure to begin the translation of educational neurosci... more This project seeks to develop the infrastructure to begin the translation of educational neuroscience into classroom practice. As part of the project, we established the norms of Test of Word Reading Efficiency – Second Edition (TOWRE-2) and Singapore Reading Maze Test (SRMT) as benchmark measures of reading in Singapore. TOWRE-2 and SRMT were administered to 1418 children (Primary 1 to Primary 3) from two Singapore schools, two times in the same year.

Why the spiral moved": Seeking for knowledge building

This paper tracks the learning experiences in science of three students using Knowledge Forum. We... more

Solving ill-structured problems mediated by online- discussion forums: Mass customisation of learning

ASCILITE Publications

To foster students’ learning of critical-thinking skills, we incorporated ill-structured problems... more To foster students’ learning of critical-thinking skills, we incorporated ill-structured problems in a Human Diseases module for third-year Life Sciences students. Using a problem-solving rubric and working in groups of three, students attempted to solve problems presented to them. We mediated their discussions by asynchronous online discussion forums (AODFs) as part of mass customisation of learning for 40 students where personalised learning was constrained by structure of the module. We examined the quality of students’ discussion, focusing on the feedback group members provided to one another, using an interpreted Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy to code students’ feedback. Our analysis indicated that the students were able to provide uni-structural and multi-structural level in relation to solving an ill-structured problem, even though they are not used to solving ill-structured problems. This indicated that in a mid-size class, while personalised-learnin...

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

Educational Technology Research and Development, 2021

This paper examines the alignment of education with the needs for knowledge creation in the digit... more This paper examines the alignment of education with the needs for knowledge creation in the digital age using the Knowledge Building model and Knowledge Forum® technology. Knowledge Building is akin to knowledge creation as practiced in research laboratories and other frontier-advancing organizations, with added focus on value to the individual, community, and society. Knowledge Forum has evolved with theory and pedagogy over the years, and makes knowledge-creation processes available to school-aged students. Despite reform efforts, misalignments for educational innovation continue to prevail in schooling, and changes often create more disruptions. Without a coherent framework and sustained progressive change, innovations may fail to make their way into policy and practice, creating an endless catching-up game and fragmentation at different levels. This paper draws from the Knowledge Building model and research to discuss alignments for knowledge creation in seven areas: (1) views of knowledge; (2) 21st-century educational competencies; (3) education and equity; (4) pedagogy and technology integration; (5) assessment, learning and collaboration; (6) teacher learning; and (7) student learning outcomes. Through decades of sustained design implementation research, using a systemic approach involving school-university-government alliances and globally distributed hubs of innovation, Knowledge Building teams have engaged in the reconstruction of educational practices to establish self-improving systems for continual alignments in knowledge creation. The mobilization of educational stakeholders worldwide, such as the EduSummIT, provides opportunities for bridging research and practice and educational improvements. Implications of Knowledge Building for developing self-improving systems and communities that leverage technology for realigning education in knowledge creation are discussed.

A metacognitive approach to enhancing Chinese language speaking skills with audioblogs

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2010

Situated in the field of computer assisted language learning (CALL), this article reports an inst... more Situated in the field of computer assisted language learning (CALL), this article reports an instrumental case study on the use of audioblogs for developing students' Chinese speaking skills. The intervention focused on scaffolding students in metacognitive reflection of their oral performances. The case focused on seven students who completed substantial part of the activities, and the main sources of data came from the oral recordings and interactions in their audioblogs. A significant improvement in the mean scores of pre- to post-test oral performance was found, which indicated the benefits of this approach. The students were found to adopt a systematic approach in their reflection: evaluating --> monitoring --> planning, with greater amount of attention devoted to the monitoring strategy. However, a disproportionate distribution of metacognitive knowledge usage was found in students' self-assessment. Task knowledge was the predominant metacognitive knowledge used ...

Technology and Knowledge Creation

2015 IEEE 15th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2015

This talk is situated at the nexus of these interacting changes: knowledge creation, learning, an... more This talk is situated at the nexus of these interacting changes: knowledge creation, learning, and technology. In particular, it focuses on how technologies can support learning through knowledge creation. This talk will answer a few pertinent questions: What does learning through knowledge creation look like? How does learning occur through knowledge creation? How do current technologies support this learning process? How can we harness emerging technologies to support learning as knowledge creation?

Understanding Personal Epistemology

Conceptions of Knowledge Creation, Knowledge and Knowing, 2020

This chapter presents a literature review on the theoretical models of personal epistemology unde... more This chapter presents a literature review on the theoretical models of personal epistemology under three major frameworks: a uni-dimension developmental trajectory, a multi-dimension system of epistemic beliefs and manifold epistemological resources. Following that, we discuss cultural specificity of personal epistemology, in particular, the traditional Chinese epistemology that might influence the participants in our study.

Teachers’ Conceptions of Knowledge and Knowing

Conceptions of Knowledge Creation, Knowledge and Knowing, 2020

This chapter presents the findings to the first research question—“What are the qualitatively dif... more This chapter presents the findings to the first research question—“What are the qualitatively different ways in which Singapore Chinese Language teachers understand knowledge and knowing?”. The qualitatively different ways of how Singapore Chinese Language teachers conceptualise the two phenomena, knowledge and knowing, will be presented consecutively. For each phenomenon, following the methods described in Chap. 4, the key dimensions of variation are first presented, followed by the categories of description, and finally the entire outcome space in a diagrammatic form. After each outcome space is presented, an in-depth look at the individual categories of descriptions, where the quotes from participants that made up the dimensions of variation in each category, will be taken. This is followed by the review of some non-critical aspects that emerged from participants’ descriptions; in other words, themes that do not fit into any hierarchical relationship in the outcome space. Finally, drawing upon the structure of awareness, an overall view of the teachers’ conception is presented.

Learning with computers: Generating insights into the development of cognitive tools using cultural historical activity theory

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2019

Using computers as cognitive tools or mindtools has created impact in education since their intro... more Using computers as cognitive tools or mindtools has created impact in education since their introduction in the 1990s. One main characteristic is the notion of learning with computers as intellectual partners: engaging learners in higher level thinking while taking away the lower level cognitive load such as computing and digital storage. In recent years, the element of social interactions has been integrated, leading to the development of social cognitive tools or social mindtools. However, the differences between and underlying values of these applications may not be apparent. This article applies cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) to analyse these developments so as to generate insights into the nuanced differences among various applications, including the roles of computers in distributed cognition within an activity system. CHAT can be applied to analyse contradictions within and beyond an activity system, which can help to identify opportunities for innovation and enha...

Pedagogical Transformation and Teacher Learning for Knowledge Building: Turning COVID-19 Challenges into Opportunities

Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 2021

This paper reports on the continual effort of the Knowledge Building Community (KBC) connecting t... more This paper reports on the continual effort of the Knowledge Building Community (KBC) connecting teachers within and across schools for knowledge creation and community building during the COVID-19 disruptions. During this crisis, schools around the world are challenged with the issues of implementing online learning. Three areas of misalignment were identified: disjoint in learning with home-school separation, piecemeal technologies to mimic physical teaching, and disconnect between teacher professional development and classroom practices and we discussed emerging realignment efforts for transformative learning. Through analyzing the three case examples of how teachers responded to COVID-19 challenges in inter-related areas of curriculum, pedagogy, technology and community, we identified several themes on emerging alignments conducive for transformative pedagogy and technology through community advancement. These themes include: innovating practice around the centrality of ideas; pe...

Teachers’ understanding of knowledge creation: A phenomenography of Singapore Chinese language teachers

Knowledge creation approach of education is critical to prepare our children for the knowledge so... more Knowledge creation approach of education is critical to prepare our children for the knowledge society. However, uptake of redesigning learning activities using knowledge building approach by school teachers is slow and one possible factor lies in teacher’s understanding of knowledge creation as a phenomenon, but research in this area is lacking. This is a phenomenographic study with 16 Chinese Language teachers in Singapore to explore their understanding of knowledge creation. Four categories of teachers’ understanding of knowledge creation emerged: limited creation by specialized few; creation by anyone for self and others; interpersonal creation for self; interpersonal co-creation with others. These four categories are marked by variations along three key themes: types of creator, individual/group involvement, and purpose. We examine differences between teachers’ understanding with the 12 principles of Knowledge Building and suggest future interventional study that might facilita...

Learning with Technology: Learner Voice and Agency

Educational Media and Technology Yearbook, 2009

Abstract This chapter discusses one of the research perspectives of the Learning Sciences and Tec... more

Developing 21st Century Teachers as a Knowledge Builder

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2010

The capacity to engage in deep discussion about knowledge should be an expected outcome of all un... more The capacity to engage in deep discussion about knowledge should be an expected outcome of all university graduates. This paper describes an attempt to develop teachers as a knowledge builder through a master's level course. Based on the socio-cognitive determinants of knowledge building proposed by Scardamalia and Bereiter, I identified and applied instructional tactics that could help foster knowledge building behaviors among the participants. These tactics include case study, reciprocal teaching, online discussion, and working on a consequential task. The participants consisted of 11 teachers aged between 27 to 50 years old. They actively contributed to the online forum by frequently querying, clarifying, adding and revising their notes. They led group discussions in class and introduced additional reference materials to their classmates. In short, the participants demonstrated high degree of epistemic agency by taking ownership of their learning and contributing to deep understanding of theories related to knowledge building.

Computer-Supported Collaborative Problem Solving and Anchored Instruction In a Mathematics Classroom: An Exploratory Study

International Journal of Learning Technology, 2004

... Ahmad Ibrahim Etheris ... 1, No. 1, pp.1639. Biographical notes: Ahmad Ibrahim Etheris is an... more

Discussions on Teachers’ Conceptions on the Phenomena of Knowledge, Knowing and Knowledge Creation

Conceptions of Knowledge Creation, Knowledge and Knowing

This chapter discusses the findings presented in Chaps. 5-7. The research questions that guided t... more This chapter discusses the findings presented in Chaps. 5-7. The research questions that guided this study were used to frame the discussion. For each section, we first compare the dimensions of variation against the existing theories of knowledge creation reviewed in Chap. 2. This is followed by comparing the categories of conception as a whole. Finally, implications of the findings to the theoretical, practical and policy perspectives are presented. 8.1 Discussion on Research Question 1 The first research question of this study is "What are the qualitatively different ways in which Singapore Chinese Language teachers understand knowledge and knowing"?. As presented in Chap. 5, Chinese Language teachers' qualitatively different ways of understanding knowledge and knowing constitute two separate outcome spaces related to knowledge and knowing. 8.1.1 Discussion on Conceptions of Knowledge The meanings in the three-category outcome space of knowledge are interrelated through the dimension of certainty of knowledge. The categories of understanding are recapitulated and matched with the positions of Perry's (1970) developmental framework in Table 8.1. As seen in Table 8.1, Chinese Language teachers' understanding of knowledge appears to span between the fourth and fifth position-relativism-in Perry's scheme of intellectual development based on their conceptions of knowledge. The relativist position is characterised by the understanding of knowledge to be relative instead of the dualistic view of knowledge or that truth is attainable. Perry had subdivided relativism into four types: (1) relativism subordinate (also termed multiplicity correlate), (2) relativism correlate, (3) relativism competing and (4) relativism diffuse.

Science teachers’ engagement with ICT in Singapore: Different perspectives

A Learning Journey in Problem-based Learning in a Physics Classroom

Most educational theorists now promote activity in context and authentic activities to engender m... more Most educational theorists now promote activity in context and authentic activities to engender more meaningful forms of learning. Problem-based learning (PBL) is one of such pedagogy whereby students work in groups to solve “real world” problems. However, when these practices from the real world are introduced into classrooms, school teachers could encounter many challenges, such as curricula and individual constraints. In this ethnographic study, we describe what happened when a high school physics teacher adopted PBL in his classroom in an attempt to move toward inquiry-based instruction. Using cultural-historical activity theory, we compared his instructional activities with a referent PBL model derived from literature, so as to surface the tensions and contradictions in the activity system as he introduced new practices into his classroom. We found that the challenges he faced arose from disparities between the motives driving everyday practices and schooling, which we attribut...

“But I have not started teaching!”: Knowledge building perils

This paper was presented at the International Science Education Conference (ISEC 2006), held in S... more

Reconciling individual differences with collective needs: The juxtaposition of sociopolitical and neuroscience perspectives on remediation and compensation of student skill deficits

Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 2016

Abstract The increasingly diverse student population within classrooms potentially stretches the ... more Abstract The increasingly diverse student population within classrooms potentially stretches the competencies of every teacher. Differentiated instruction has been offered to help teachers accommodate diverse learners, but most instructional strategies are typically directed at compensating for – not remediating – cognitive and academic skill deficits. This differentiated instruction approach is contrasted with the extant learning science and educational neuroscience literature, which suggests early intervention and remediation of skill deficits is the preferred evidence-based practice. To overcome these competing and apparently contradictory positions, we argue children should be provided with systematic brain-based differentiated instruction in inclusive classrooms to prevent skill deficits, with compensatory accommodations provided only as necessary to help children access the general education curriculum. For those who continue to struggle, we argue remedial efforts should occur outside of, and in addition to, inclusive general education instruction, given the empirical evidence supporting both practices. Implications for training and system-level reform will be addressed.

CoP project technical report

This project is a case study of building communities of practice (CoPs) among Heads of Department... more This project is a case study of building communities of practice (CoPs) among Heads of Departments of Information Technology ((HOD (IT) s) in Singapore schools. As part of the second MasterPlan for Information Technologies in Schools initiated in 2002, there has been a stated goal to employ the CoP approach as a key strategic initiative to develop a more integrated “IT across the curriculum” approach in schools.

Translating Educational Neuroscience to Meet Diverse Needs of Children in Schools: Feasibility and Infrastructure

This project seeks to develop the infrastructure to begin the translation of educational neurosci... more This project seeks to develop the infrastructure to begin the translation of educational neuroscience into classroom practice. As part of the project, we established the norms of Test of Word Reading Efficiency – Second Edition (TOWRE-2) and Singapore Reading Maze Test (SRMT) as benchmark measures of reading in Singapore. TOWRE-2 and SRMT were administered to 1418 children (Primary 1 to Primary 3) from two Singapore schools, two times in the same year.

Learning Sciences Research in the Asia Pacific Countries

by Tan Seng-Chee and Cher Ping LIM