A new approach to learning

New institution has a fresh take on teaching style and examinations

by Lin Yan Qin

04:02 PM May 08, 2009

Mr Chua Chor Huat, principal of the School of Science and Technology. Photo by Lin Yanqin

 

TOSS out conventional textbooks and design a curriculum from scratch. Assess students on an ongoing basis, rather than the usual exam or test framework.

To keep apace with students who have been brought up to consider online socialising the norm and the Internet their main source of information, these are some of the big steps the School of Science of Technology (SST) in Clementi - which opens next year - plans to take.

And such steps are key to providing an applied-based curriculum where students will learn across disciplines, such as learning about mathematics and geography by looking at the issue of carbon footprints and the environment, said principal Chua Chor Huat.

The school is also prepared to embrace what Mr Chua describes as a “new generation of learners”.

For one, students these days are not averse to approaching authority figures via Facebook and adding them as friends, as one prospective student apparently did with Mr Chua, through SST’s Facebook site.

“He said that he would really love to come to (the) school,” said Mr Chua.

“We’re really dealing with a very new generation of learners ... I could not imagine a student in Primary 6 going up to a principal that you don’t know and say this face-to-face, but technology allows that to happen ... and I think we ought to encourage that.”

Teachers would then become key facilitators in helping their students make use of all the information available, rather than simply passing on knowledge.

And since they joined the school, SST’s teachers have also been hard at work designing and creating their own learning materials from scratch.

“We’re trying to teach real world problems and interdisciplinary learning, and where are you going to find textbooks with physics and chemistry and math all put in?” said Mr Chua.

For example, a Chinese lesson to teach new characters will be accompanied by a video found on YouTube showing the development of Chinese characters through history and punctuated by pop tests where students can enter their answers on laptops instantly.

The school is also putting in place an assessment framework that is “ongoing”, rather than the traditional semestral exams and tests each year.

“We want methods that demonstrate learning,” said Mr Chua. This can be through project work, assignments, blogs and podcasts.

 

The School of Science and Technology's interim campus at Clementi. Photo by Lin Yanqin

 

To ensure its pedagogy is sound, SST has inked a tie-up with the National Institute of Education.

And as one of six FutureSchools - schools pioneering innovative teaching methods based on information and communication technology (ICT) - SST will be exploring such methods, which will be shared with other schools if successful.

Such an approach has appeared to attract parents so far - the school has received 150 applications since the Direct School Admissions exercise kicked off in mid-April for its 200 places.

Mr Alvin Sng is one parent who likes what he has heard about the school. “I think its applied-learning approach suits my son’s way of learning and it will stretch him further,” said Mr Sng, 44, who works in business development.

The School of Science and Technology's interim campus at Clementi. It will move it its permanent campus in 2012. Photo by Lin Yanqin

 

But there are also those who are concerned as to whether the school’s unconventional curriculum will adequately prepare its students for the O-Level exams waiting for them at the end of four years.

Acknowledging that pen-and-paper tests and exams will still have their place, Mr Chua said the aim of applied learning is to have a deeper understanding of the subjects which will then enable students to do well, if not better, in conventional tests.

He is not ruling out the possibility that the school could eventually develop a six-year programme and bypass taking the O-levels altogether.

After all, a six-year programme - such as the Integrated Programme - has the advantage of being able to deliver the school’s teaching philosophy consistently.

“We want to prove that this is a successful model, and once people see the results, I think that’s when we can look at the next phase of development,” Mr Chua said.

Find out more about SST’s Parent Seminars and its Open House on May 23 at www.sst.edu.sg.

From TODAY, Home – Friday, 08-May-2009