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international audience listens keenly to the research
results presented by distinguished scholars. |
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The conference was a showcase of the results of high-calibre
research conducted by CRPP, and distinguished overseas researchers
and teachers. The objective was to discover innovative and emerging
pedagogies for the new learning environment, characterised by
more critical and creative thinking, project work, cooperative
learning and greater autonomy for student-centred learning,
in a technologically rich environment. As such, it served as
a platform for useful interaction between education practitioners
and researchers.
“It is clear to us that changes by themselves cannot transform
pedagogic practice, and without that change, we cannot fashion
new and more appropriate learning environments, involve students
more actively in their own learning and prepare them better
for productive and responsible lives after school. Teacher educators
need therefore to re-examine their values, principles, frameworks
and practices as they prepare a new generation of teachers,”
said Professor Leo Tan, Director of NIE, in his welcome address.
More than 640 papers concerning the influences of change, and
how educators can respond using new and innovative teaching
and learning methods were submitted. The papers were divided
into strands that encompassed Language and Literacy Education,
Mathematics Education, Multiliteracies and Multimodalities,
Science Education, IT Education, Affective Education, Humanities
and Social Sciences, School Change and Leadership, Innovation
in Curriculum Development and Classroom Practice, and Student
Performance and Assessment. Shortlisted here are the synopses
of four of the 10 keynote presentations (click on each item
to find out more):
Culturally Responsive Instruction:
Application to Multiethnic Classrooms
By Prof Kathryn Au,
Professor of Education, College of Education,
University of Hawaii, USA
Early studies of culturally responsive instruction
gave the impression that this approach required
a precise one-to-one matching between teaching
practices and the cultural background of students.
Prof Au’s presentation aimed to correct this
misimpression and showed how the concept of
culturally responsive instruction can be applied
in multiethnic classrooms. The literacy achievement
gap between mainstream students and students
of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds
was the context for this discussion. Two dimensions
of culture - stability and dynamism - as well
as educational anthropology were presented.
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Thinking about Meaning and Learning
in a World of Instability and Multiplicity
By Prof Gunther Kress,
Professor of English and Head of the School
of Culture, Language and Communication, Institute
of Education, UK
Meaning and learning are interrelated. Each
entails the other, and both invoke the means
through which meanings are made and learning
is done. Much of our thinking about these two
concepts is related to the era which is now
history to the societies we live in today. Prof
Kress’ presentation showed some of the features
of the contemporary world which are reshaping
ways of meaning-making and ways in which learning
needs to be seen. Fundamental questions such
as, “What can be the meaning and the shape of
a curriculum in the era of personalised learning?”
and “What curricular forms and pedagogic relations
will do justice to the needs of a locality in
the environment of globalisation?” were discussed.
These issues were examined within a theory of
communication and representation, particularly
that of multimodal social semiotics. |
The Pedagogies of Globalisation
By Prof Joel Spring,
Queens College and the Graduate Centre of the
City University of New York, USA
Educational problems have emerged following
the expansion of the global economy and the
transnational movement of workers. These problems
are associated with vocational education; instability
of workers’ families and lifestyles, human rights,
the undermining of the nation state, economic
inequalities, multicultural integration, and
language diversity. Prof Spring’s presentation
reviewed the pedagogical responses to these
global issues and proposed alternative methods
of instruction and school structures to meet
the future challenges of globalisation. |
Making New Asian Pedagogies: Classroom
Interaction in Singapore Classrooms
By Prof Allan Luke,
Dean of CRPP, NIE, NTU, Singapore
Drawing from quantitative and qualitative data
from the CRPP Core Research Programme, Prof
Luke’s presentation began with a broad description
of the “framing” and “classification” of knowledge
in Singapore's primary and secondary classrooms.
A series of theoretical and practical questions
were then discussed, concerning the shaping
of classroom talk and interaction, and about
student/teacher knowledge and power relations
in schools. Prof Luke asked whether the binary
analyses of “student/teacher” centred, “implicit/explicit”
instruction, “dialogue/monologue” and “rote/critical”
were adequate for the analysis and reform of
classroom interaction. These discussions were
also based on leads and suggestions derived
from some real-life cases and classroom transcripts
of Singaporean teachers. |
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Research findings will have far-reaching implications
on educational policies with regard to teaching and learning,
on curriculum and pedagogies, both in Singapore and abroad.
“As we look to the future, revise our strategies and occasionally
reinvent ourselves, we can never lose sight of this unchanging
core in education, of nurturing students with the values and
strength of character to face the future with confidence,” advised
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Education, in his opening
speech at the conference.
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