iPhone

Testing blog entry from ilysa's iPhone. :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The challenges of our SCI: Improving Secondary Two students' History essay skills through Mind-maps

The challenges that we faced during the SCI implementation:

1) Timeframe of the SCI implementation is too short- The SCI implementation period is over a span of 1 term or 10 weeks. Also, the number of History periods is too short as the students only have 1 History lesson (40 min) per week. Students had to go for training, which takes about 2 weeks and resulting in the ending of the SCI being pushed on to the next term. Also, not all the lessons can be used to train students on the essay skills. Content still need to be covered and the teacher also needs to train students on other skills such as the answering of Source-Based Questions. Effectively up to date, students have done one mind-map practice related to essay and another mind-map for their essay test. In total: 2 practice sessions related to mind-maps for writing of essays. Is this enough practuce for them to write good essays?

2) Mind-map template- The vendor gave an essay template which is used as a start-up for students to write their essays. It serves as a guide for students to put a structure to their essay by initiating them to list, describe and explain. In short, it helps students to organise their points. However, which part of the essay is attributed to the mind-map? In an essay, students are marked based on afew critera- one of them is how MUCH the students are able to list, describe and explain their points. In essays, the content plays an important part too.

3) Essay as a high-level thinking process- When writing an essay, students are required use their analytical and synthesis skills. Does a mind-map allow students to do that? From my perspective, the mind-map template allows some form of structure to take place but does it give the students the ability to analyse and sysnthesise so they can write good essays?

4) Research Activist (RA) not an expert in the subject area- It is CRUCIAL that in future, the research person involved in conducting the research should be someone who is familiar with the subject area. As I am more of a Science and Mathematics, I have no problems understanding and analysing of data. However, alot of time was spent on grappling the concepts and the terminology used in the History subject. Time was also spent to understand the teaching and learning processes and the thought processes that comes with essay writing. If the RA is a person who is familiar in the subject area, lesser time could be spent on communicating of instruction and things could be done faster. Until now, I am still trying to understand the whole process behind essaywriting and still wondering whether I have gotten it right this time...

5) Focus is on mind-maps for improving essay skills. Often, we forgot that and there were times when we dwell on mind-maps for content instead.

These are the challenges that we faced. If we were to carry this out next year, the team will need to look into these issues and see how we can improve on them.

SCI outcomes- what if it is NOT met?

We discussed the possibilities of not meeting the SCI intended outcomes during the network meeting yesterday. Several issues came up during the discussion:

1) Timeframe of the SCI project- timeframe to carry out the SCI could be too short. Students need time to adjust to the intervention being used in class. Furthermore, the carrying out of the SCI ususally spans over a period of about 1 term. There were cases shared whereby just when the students were about to get used to the intervention and found the intervention meaningful, it was stopped as data needs to be measured and collected.

2) Teacher development- teacher needs to be very good in using the intervention. Beginning Teachers who are carrying out the intervention might be grappling with other factors such as classroom management and pedagogy. It would be ideal if a senior teacher with years of experience and who is an expert in classroom management is deployed to carry out the intervention with the project class but not all schools might have the resources to do this.

3) Not meeting the expectations of the SCI outcomes- posttest results shows that the effect size is small or trivial, indicating that the intervention did not result in an increase in the students performance. Worse still, sometimes data might even show a decline in the performance, so the big question: what comes next?

I believe that if such an occurence happen and if the results did not meet the intended outcomes, we must be open and upfront about it. Report the results as it is without any qualms about it. The whole idea of the SCI project is NOT the success of the SCI itself. Of course, the success of it will be an added bonus! However, what is more important is the reflection and the depth of the level of thinking that the TEAM went through during the deliberating and the evaluation process. What is more important are questions such as : Why is the SCI useful? Why did it meet or did not meet the intended outcomes? What can be changed or what can be done better in future?

Hence, not meeting the SCI outcomes is actually OK! :)

The Silent Artist : Creativity, artistic intelligence, making decisions and reflection

Master Teacher Alice Poh shared this activity with us yesterday during our network meeting. I found this activity very creative and meaningful.

Activity 1:

Draw a house. Draw a garden round the house. Include some trees. There is a playground near the house.

We were given 5 minutes to draw the items as mentioned in the instructions. No further instructions were given and no questions were to be asked. At the end of the activity, we were asked to peer-mark based on the marking scheme as such:

• 1 mark for a single storey house.
• 2 marks for a double storey house.
• 3 marks for a triple storey house.
• 1 mark for a fence round the garden/house.
• 1 mark for 2 trees.
• 2 for more than 2 trees.
• 1 mark for 1 playground item.

This was what I drew and I was given 3 marks by my partner. There is no limit to the number of marks given. However, I felt indignant with the marks I received because I didn't know that drawing a double-storeyed house would give me 2 marks. If I knew, I would draw a HDB flat! So the effort of me creatively trying to draw a kampong house did not give me extra marks.

Activity 2:

Mr and Mrs Tan live in a double storey bungalow with their two young school going kids. They have two cars. Mr Tan is a man who loves nature. The family spends a lot of their time in their well-shaded garden. Mrs Tan loves swimming and spends a lot of time by the poolside with the kids. Because of this, Mr Tan is very concerned about security and safety of the children.

At the end of the 5-minute activity, we were told to exchanged papers and then peer-mark based on the marking scheme as such:

House:

• 1 mark for a double storey bungalow.
• 2 marks for the two cars parked either inside or outside the house

Garden:

• 1 mark for each tree or shrub planted.
• 1 mark for the swimming pool.
• 2 marks for furniture at the poolside.
• 1 mark for fence round the pool
• 1 mark for fence round the house with a gate.

I was awarded 11 marks for the second activity and was happy with myself for it! Again, there is no limit to the toal number of marks.

What strikes me as interesting is that in Activity 1, there was no context set for the drawing of the pictures. I was clueless of what to draw as there were no particular rubrics given. In the second activity, the context of the Tan family is more extablished and the ideas can be deduced from the instruction. Also, the key words assist us in the drawing and we were more aware of the rubrics of the marker as we had gone through those in the first activity.

To sum up, performance of students would definitely be better if they have a clearer idea of the deliverables (rubrics) and what to do (instructions). Performance of students would also be better if the goals are clear and the task at hand is more focused. How do we translate that to our daily teaching?

T3W5: Feedback in graph drawing

While I was co-teaching with a colleague during a Practical Session, I was not very satisfied with the way the students were drawing their graphs. Although they have been reminded before to draw graphs 'which occupy more than half of the graph paper', many were still drawing small graphs which will definitely not meet the O-Levels standards.

After consulting with my colleague, we decided to do another session on graph drawing. I was determined that that will be the last session that I will spend on graphs with the class and they must draw 'acceptable graphs' from that point onwards. I was aware that perhaps, I was not being very clear during the previous lessons that I spent on graph-drawing. I look through their previous work and came up with a list on the 'possible crimes' that are committed in graph-drawing.

Common mistakes in graph-drawing:
1) AXES: incorrect labeling of physical quantity and unit, labeling of the wrong axes (students labeled the vertical axes as the horizontal axes and vice versa).

2) SCALE: not labeling the scale for every 2 cm on the scale, using inappropriate scale, vertical distance from maximum to minumum y-coordinate not occupying at least 12 cm, horizontal distance from maximum to minimum x-coordinate not occupying at least 10 cm.

3) POINTS: points incorrectly plotted, not using crosses while plotting points.

4) LINE: not drawing of best fit line

During the lesson, a worksheet was given which highlighted the common mistakes made. Special attention was given as to how to use an appropriate scale, how to measure the vetial and horizontal distances from the maximum to the minimum point and what it means by a best fit line. Samples of students work was shown to highlight the common mistakes made so students are aware of them all.

At the end of the lesson, the students were tasked to draw a graph, given the data points. Their work was collected and marked. To ensure that there is a progress in their learning, verbal feedback was given during the lesson and written feedback was given in the marked assignments. The following shows the samples of 3 different students work and the feedback that was given in each piece of assignment.

The first on the right shows a 'Good' piece of work. Marks are given based on 4 points: A (Axis), S (Scale), P (points) and L (line).

The second and third below shows an 'Aceptable' in which the student scores 2 out of 4. The third piece of work shows one which requires 'improvement.' In this case, the student scores 1 out of 4 marks. The mistakes for the second and the third case is shown in the paper as a form of writen feedback for students.

T3 W4: Teaching Sexual Reproduction for Lower Secondary Science

I started teaching this topic somewhere in Week 4 of the term. Initially, I felt anxious as teaching this topic to a bunch of kids who are experiencing hormonal changes would certainly invite large amount of giggles and talk and I do not think that I would be able to tolerate all the cheekiness, especially from the boys.


I decided to start off with a more serious note, instead of jumping straight into the topic. I touched on the topic of abortion first and showed two video clips which are pro-life anti-abortion. The first showed the development of an unborn baby at different stages of their life-form, i.e, at moment of conception, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 11 weeks later up till the point of birth. The second clip is also an anti-abortion clip which described the various abortion methods and also depicted pictures of aborted foetus. The scenes from the second clip could be abit disturbing to some, and hence I advised my students to close their eyes if they feel that it is too much for them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2l1-kvKomg


Ironically, it was the second clip that brought alot of talk and discussion. I was actually glad that my students felt appalled and disgusted by the video, and they all understood the immoral act of taking an innocent life and the psychological effect after abortion. We also discussed about the importance of abstinence before marriage and the harmful consequences of having sexual intercourse without being ready. I felt that showing the anti-abortion clips at the start of the topic was effective as it helped the studentsHaving put that into perspective, I then started the lesson on sexual reproduction and thankfully enough, the cheeky remarks that I initially expected did not surfaced during the whole course of my lesson and the lessons after.

T3 W2: The efficacy of mind-maps...

Last week, we attended a training on mind-mapping skills. This gave me a sudden inspiration to try it out with my 2N1 science class. We have just finished the topic on Digestion in Human Beings and I thought that it will serve as a good summary to the class.

This is what I came up with on my own- before the lesson. The initial plan was to show this to them at the beginning of the lesson and introducing the laws of mind-mapping to them before making them follow the mind-map while I drew a new one. I also found a very useful video on you-tube which highlights the important laws of making a mind-map: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UCXalYcoko

My students were very thrilled with the idea of doing something new and attractive. They had all brought their colour pens with them. However, the software gave a few problems as it took a long time to load while I was trying to draw it on the screen. In the end, I conveniently showed them my mind-map on the screen while they sort of 'copied' mine to get the hang of it.

As an assignment, I told them to come up with a mind-map on 'Human Digestive System' at home. I showed them mine as an example.

On the whole, the mind-map has provided with an effective way to summarise or build-up a lesson. I find it very useful, especially with the 2NA kids as they are more hands-on people and they prefer to do things instead of just listening to a boring conclusion.

One challenge I find is for students to come up with one on their own, as the students are not able to come up with the proper keywords to put in their mind-map. For one to come up with a mind-map, the student must first do the basic essential thing which is to READ the textbook. This is especially very challenging with students who are not even reading their text...

I also find that not everyone can do mind-maps. There were a handful who just find difficulty drawing the images required in their mind-maps. I had to repeatedly encourage them to be creative and be more imaginative in drawing out their mind-maps. Those who have difficulty are more comfortable 'copying' the mind-map example given to them, and dare not vary much from the original.

T3W1: The effectiveness of You-Tube videos

I realised that this year, I have been turning to Internet resources, especially You-Tube videos to assist me in my teaching of Physics.

Just earlier this week, I was busy hunting for videos on the topic for Electromagnetic Induction, so I can show my students how an AC Generator looks like and how it works. Previously last term, I was searching for the DC Motor and vidoes to show the magnetic effects of a current-carrying conductor. With the You-Tube videos, there is lesser need for teachers to hunt the Laboratory for equipment to set up for a demo during class time. It reduces preparation time and I feel that the lesson is effective as within the short frame of time, more videos can be shown.

However, I feel that for You-Tube videos to be effective during a lesson, a teacher must be prepared with the exact resources before class. There are many resources in You-Tube and sometimes, the challenge is to find one that is the most effective in delivering the intended outcomes. Also, some teachers might experience some problems in playing the video during class time, while connected to the Internet as there could be some lag time. My solution to this is by using a You-Tube Downloader, which allows one to download the video and converts it to a format that Windows can recognise.

Another challenge is to balance the lesson between showing videos and using other forms of resources. Showing videos ONLY could be boring for some students as not all students are visual and audio learners. Hence, the teacher needs to be aware of the other learning needs of the students and one must try to find the appropriate teaching resources that can meet the needs of the different students.

Showing the videos in class alone is not enough. Perhaps, one step further would be to provide the links to the videos to students so that they can access it at their own time while they are revising their work. Another alternative is that these videos can also be uploaded to the school's online learning portals so that students can access it anytime.

Also, in the event of school closure due to H1N1 breakouts, then I feel that You-Tube would be an one form of effective resources for students! :)

AFL: A sharing...

We shared a few best practices during our Staff Time. Geraldine shared with us how she uses the Traffic Light System to ensure that the class understood the lesson. She uses a very interesting strategy….those who understood the lesson put up their hands. As long as she sees one hand down, she will explain everything again. At the end of it, she is able to see that everyone puts up their hands if they understood.

Sharon shared with us on “The Continue Story Method.” Its easier to use this for a small class…basically, each student will need to say a sentence about a concept that has been covered in class. The next student will need to continue with another sentence, building up on the concept. At the end of it, the whole story of the concept should be mentioned by the students. This strategy is good because it trains the students to pay attention and build up information. It also allows the teacher to check whether students have understood the lesson. If the class is too big, another strategy can be used to select the students. Sharon gave examples such as “OK, those who have their hair tied up will answer…” or “those wearing spectacles..” She uses this once in a while.

Emily shared her ‘Quiz’ method, which was similar to mine. The only difference is that she prepares the worksheets for the student while I did mine in a Quizbook (a small exercise book). I also shared my marking methods by getting their peers (peer assessment) to mark the quizzes (refer to the post of April 4: The Beginning of an AFL Movement).

I feel these are all good practices but my only challenge- and this is the SAME challenge that ALL of us face, is TIME! Even through my quizbook, I realised that I do not have the time to give written feedback to all students. Even oral feedback via a one-to-one session is not really feasible. Another challenge is that how do I know if the kids are able to make meaning from my written feedback. Where and how do they 'go' from there? I think AFL is a good thing but it will be reap more success if the class size if smaller. Like in Australia, where AFL is prevalent in most classes, their class size is much smaller than ours...

Bourdieu: Theory of Class Distinction

We had our poster presentation last week on a Theorist in Education, Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdieu (1930-2002) was well-known for his book, 'Distinction: A Social Critique on the Judgement of Taste). He was famous for his key concepts such as species of capital, cultural and social reproduction, fields, habitus and symbolic violence.

One of Bourdieu's famous theories is the 'Theory of Class Distinction'.

In it, Bourdieu argues that it is the culture of the dominant groups, and therefore their cultural capital, which is embodied in schools. Such cultural capital is assumed by the school to be the natural and only proper type of cultural capital and is therefore legitimised. Students who possess this legitimate cultural capital use it to gain educational capital in the form of qualifications. Students of the lower classes are therefore disadvantaged, and to gain qualifications, they must exchange their own (usually working-class) cultural capital for legitimate cultural capital, i.e. they must act against their instincts and expectations to learn a new way of relating to the world. In turn, many such students will drop out of school. Hence, schools perpetuate social reproduction by encouraging less-privileged students to eliminate themselves from the system, leaving only a small number who have internalised the values of the dominant classes and used them as their own.

A way out of this cycle would be for schools to provide working-class students the cultural capital that middle-class students get from their families, hence ensuring more equality among students in schools. With self-awareness, teachers and intellectuals could also watch against teaching to the dominant class.

My personal take on this: In my daily teaching, I have also noticed that the lower class students also lack confidence as compared from their peers who come from a different class. From my own personal experience, I remembered my father trying to equip me with a higher 'social capital' (by providing me with a good conducive environment to study, providing me with a computer, buying additional General Knowledge books, subscribing to high level educational magazines which is really costly) although we came from a low-income family. As teachers too, we should try to be more aware of our students who come from the lower classes so we can provide more equality among the education system. There have been monetary schemes, such as the Financial Assistant Subsidy, which are also given to students from the lower classes, in the hope to bring about an equality in the classes. To quote Bourdieu, “Enlightenment is on the side of those who turn their spotlight on our blinkers.”

Term 2 Wk 3: Assessment for Learning in Physics

Term 2 Wk 2: The beginning of The AFL Movement

This is the beginning of my AFL movement...

At the start of the class, I stated the lesson objectives of what I was teaching. Eg: "By the end of the lesson, you must be able to draw the pattern of magnetic field due to currents in straight wires and in solenoids and state the effect on the magnetic field of changing the magnitude and/or direction of the current." Notice the enlarged and the bold words - these are the key concepts that I phrased repeatedly while teaching the lesson...

And then I started teaching the lesson. Via PowerPoint slides, applets and You-Tube videos that I felt was necessary and would be able to provide a better explanation than me. Just like a picture can say a thousand words, a video can do much more than that! At times, I will pause my lessons to allow them to absorb the ideas.I will ask afew questions that make my students think and get them to discuss with their partners.

Once after the section is over, I asked them to keep their notebooks and worksheets away. "Now, take out your test book!" I will then quiz them on what they have just covered...eg: I will test them on how to draw the patterns of magnetic fields for straight wires and solenoids. One point to note is that since I do not have the time to prepare the worksheets for the quizzes, thus the questions will be written on the whiteboard. To help me with it, I try to make the questions brief , using as minimum words as possible so it is easier for students to copy down. The questions are also of certain type- to test their very basic concepts, with reference from the O-Level TYS.

Once done, I will get them to swap books with their friends. We will go through the answers and they will do peer assessment. This will help them to mark their peers answers and know what is expected from the answers. A score is given at the end, which is to be recorded in the contents page.

Once over, we will move on to the next section. If I have time, I will give an overall quiz at the end of the lesson, based on the sections that we have covered in class for the day. As I mark, I will compare with their previous test and indicate (using stamps as this is the most easiest) on whether they did a 'GOOD JOB'or whether they have 'IMPROVED' or whether their work was 'NEAT' or 'MESSY!' The test book will need to be marked by the next lesson, where it will be given back to students, to read the comments I have made and to continue with a series of other tests. Kids must feel that they are able to learn, else there will be no learning.

I suppose this IS AFL, as students are able to gain feedback for their learning almost immediately. I feel my students are more on task and engaged, and I can have up till 2 tests for a double-period to gain feedback on their level of learning. I recalled that my Chemistry teacher, Ms Shanthi, who taught me for O Levels Chemistry, also used this same very technique. I really enjoyed her lessons and she never fails to produce distinction results....it was awesome! Well the difference between us is that, she started this when we were in Sec 3...while I am only starting this while I am teaching Sec 4 students. I guess it is better to start now, than never...

Term 2 Wk 1: Engaged Learning? Not an easy task afterall...

Last Wednesday, I taught one of my graduating classes 'Magnetism' and found them very restless and 'not engaged' in my lesson. It got me very frustrated with the class and the students. I can understand too that it is not easy for them as I meet them for 3 consecutive days and all the lessons are double-periods. They could be seriously sick of me by the mid-week.

When I went home that day, I was reflecting to myself what went wrong and what could be done correctly. The next day, I called up the 'disengaged' students and asked them to write an essay on the way they were behaving in my lesson. Of course, I had to package it as a form of 'punishment' and it was indeed very amusing to find words of 'deep regret' (hopefully they meant it!) and 'sincere apologies' in the essay. Afew actually addressed the essay to me (Dear Mdm Ilysa...) as though it was a letter. Nevertheless, it made me felt better that the students do realise their mistakes and are not as bad as I thought they were! I was more curious to gather feedback on my lesson through the contents of their letter/ esssay.

A couple of students mentioned boredom of sitting down during the double periods. Not to mention - 3 consecutive days too (this can't be helped as I was only in school for 3 days!). Afew 'pleaded' me to change the teaching methods....I understand that Physics can be boring because as a student, I used to find it boring too.

It got me thinking on a recent workshop that I attended. For engaged learning to take place, the elements of effective Pedagogy must be there. Engaged learning takes place when a teacher selects pedagogy that considers the following:

1. Student's readiness: A child is able to understand the knowledge taught if it fits into the view of the world at his current stage of cognitive development.
2. Student's learning styles: How much students learn, have to do with whether the learning experiences cater to that particular learning style.
3. Student's existing knowledge: Teaching approaches are more effective if students are able to make connections in their knowledge. The more students draw on their prior knowledge, the easier it is for them to retain the new concepts and skills taught.

Perhaps, in my haste to prepare lessons, I neglected the needs of my students. I did not take into account their learning styles...probably, I was also not able to tap on their existing knowledge too! Last year, I had single periods with them so time flew very fast and my lecture-worksheets styles worked! A realisation hit me - I need to change my teaching methods and think of my students before I go in for my double periods. In a way, I symphathise the 'agony' that the kids had to go through having to "sit" for the whole of my 2 periods.

Perhaps, next lesson I must try to engage my dear students in different ways...

• catch their attention: use some interesting trigger activity or show some magic shows?
• challenge their thinking: come up with some interesting questions and make them ponder abit...
• help them to make sense of their learning: relate the lessons to real-life examples!
• meet their needs: try to have a variety of techniques in teaching...think VARK (visual, aural, read/write, kinaesthetic)

Well, where do I start? Probably by hunting for more videos from You-Tube....

Term 1 Wk 10 - Holidays SRP

Over the holidays, I met up with my 4E Physics students. It was a small group of about 7 students from 4E3...they were selected carefully because I felt that they were not performing. Out of the 7 students, I have taught 4 of them before...the other 3 were newbies who were still adjusting to my 'teaching style and lame jokes'. 3 are girls and the rest are boys. About 5 of them were attending extra tuition classes after school hours and the other 2 are not. My concern was 'why is it they were not performing?' Was it due to my teaching style...or was it their learning style?

I started off by interviewing each student personally. I asked a variety of questions....studying techniques, the kind of learners they are, the time taken to study, what they do when they study and their confidence level in the subject. I feel that the group is a very nice bunch of kids with very nice personalities and they really deserve to do well...so my heart really went out to them!

From the interview, I managed to gather a few things...

1) Afew of them studied last minute...1 even studied 1 day before the exams! When asked why, they quoted lack of time, too tired, too many activities during school, too many homeworks to finish. At this point, I felt slightly guilty as I do pile them with homeworks sometimes. SO I made a mental note to myself: free them from homeworks when tests are approaching. Give them notice way in advance!

2) On average, they can study only about 40 min- 1hour. There were some lucky ones who can study up to 3 hours (wow!) and there was 1 who told me that he studied only '5 min' and then he must walk around. I advised the student that he must really sit for longer hours and try to concentrate. I strongly discouraged them from listening to walkman or mp3s as Physics is a subject that requires focus and concentration.

3) Most of them study best through audio and visual. I recommended them to use highlighters and mindmaps...and talk to their friends about what they have learnt.

4) Most of them just 'read' the textbook. Only afew tried some 'questions' from the TYS. I told them that reading the textbook is NOT enough...they need to UNDERSTAND. Grab the KEYWORDS and try to APPLY them to new questions. So this is where application is necessary...for them to do well, they must expose themselves to more questions...so they have to do the TYS!

5) Most of the boys felt more confident in Physics but performed better in Chemistry (Azlin will be proud of them for this!) I motivated them by reminding them that "Boys are supposed to do better in Physics! But that doesn't mean that the girls can't do well too! In fact, sometimes, its the girls who do better than the boys....just look at your Physics teacher if you don't believe me!" :)

We ended the session doing Current Electricity and DC Circuits questions before I released them to enjoy their holidays and tonnes of assignments!

The 7 Research Sins

Scenario: A class was given a pre-test just before the holiday period, and the mean of the results was obtained. The students went for their vacation and came back to school 6 weeks later. A similar test was given to the students and the results were collected. This time, it was observed that there is an improvement in the results despite no intervention on the teacher's part.

Why is there an increase in the marks over the holidays?

According to Dr Soh, this is due to the 7 Research Sins, which are due to:

1. Instrument: Topic tested could be easier or marker could probably be more lenient during the second test.
2. Testing Effect: Both topics (before and after) could probably be the same, so students have some recollection of the test.
3. Maturation: Pupils might mature during the holidays based on their experiences, which could be provided by parents.
4. History: In between pre-test and post-test, students might learn from other factors (eg: attending workshops/ tuition classes) despite teacher not teaching.
5. Mortality: A few students might transfer out of school during the holidays and they happened to be the ones that are very weak.
6. Regression to the Mean: This is the most interesting concept that I have learnt and I will explain it later...
7. Performance effect: Students are prepared to work harder because they suddenly developed the impression that the teachers care about them.

Why are they called the 7 Research Sins? According to Dr Soh, if they happened in a research study, then they may mislead the results. As researchers, we might interpret it wrongly too. Hence, this is the reason why there is a need for a control group. A control group will eliminate the '7 Research sins'...and this will help to make the research study more accurate and reliable.

As much as I understand the idea of the '7 Research sins' and the need for a 'control group', I also feel that it depends on the reality of the school context. Ideally, it is good to have one but in the case of a school whereby the whole curriculum is to affect the whole level, then it is almost impossible to have a control group. Of course, there could be alternatives such as comparing to another school of the same standard and by making their students our 'control group'. However, it will be a tedious process as different schools will have different cultures and different teachers. No two schools are alike.

So do we have a control group? Not yet, but I think we can try 'make' one...

1st Subject Based School visit on 6th March

We had our first History subject based meeting yesterday. I was anxious before the meeting as there were many things grappling around in my head which I couldn't really link. There were so many issues that our SCI is facing and many loose ends that needs to be tied up...

The issues that we have discussed and have somewhat resolved:

1. Be more selective in choosing our learner's profile. As our intended target group is the academically weak pupils with NO study skills, then we will need to choose selectively. If possible, we might need to get external vendors to conduct a diagnostic profiling of our Sec 2 pupils.
2. Is there a generic set of study skills for all pupils? Not really, so we will be focusing more on mind-mapping skills, critical reading and memorising techniques.
3. We will be using Assessment for Learning in order to assess pupils on their learning through the use of the skills. Hence, rubrics will need to be created on different skills, so that pupils can gain feedback and improve on a particular study skill.
4. The teachers involved in the SCI will be undergoing a course on mind-mapping before training the pupils. We will need to get a vendor to train teachers on how to impart the skills effectively to the pupils.
5. The PETALS survey will be done by all Sec 2E pupils next Thursday. This is because we will not know the exact number of pupils who will be in our experimental group. After the numbers are confirmed, we will be selecting only the survey results of the involved pupils to be part of the study.
6. The tests conducted after the training need not be the same test conducted before the training. It can be a similar test as an exact test will gather results that could be based on memory recall and not due to the specific study skill.

My concerns:

1. What are we measuring besides pupils academic performance? Are we measuring engagement as well?
2. What are our research methods? Is is only quantitative? Is there a need to conduct a qualitative survey as well? If qualitative, then what kind of questions must be crafted out?

Anyway, I felt relieved after the meeting because I feel that we did manage to settle ALOT of things. I appreciate the fact that the whole team has been supportive and are open to feedback and learning. Now, I definitely have a clearer picture of the SCI in my head and Im glad that the ideas that were loosely hanging is now somewhat secured together. The next step will be to focus on the data collection and the implementation part. Now, we are moving somewhere!

Term 1 Week 9

Through our sharing during the Staff Time, many of my experienced colleagues reminded me that Cambridge regards the O-Level Syllabus document very seriously. Whatever is in the syllabus document can be tested by Cambridge, so it is very important for students to know the scope of their syllabus. Suddenly, words such as "describe, recall, state, explain, understand, define" needs to be taken seriously as they inform students of what is expected of them. The syllabus document is not something that can be taken lightly or just with a glance.

Hence, this week, I made my class of 4E3 bring their textbooks to school. Usually, I seldom use my textbook as I want them to pay attention in class and whatever is necessary- can be recorded in their Physics notebook. To me, the Physics text is just a form of reference and what is more important is the fact that the students understood the concepts covered in lessons.

With much grumbling, my dear kids lugged their heavy textbooks to school. We had just finished the topic on Electricity. The first thing I did was to flash the syllabus document on the screen.Then I went through point by point, and directed them to the page number. For example, if the document requires them to 'describe' something, then I will tell them to turn to a certain page and highlight a certain paragraph. I also asked them to write notes by the side such as "must know how to describe this experiment" or "must recall this formula" or "must know how to apply this formula."

My intention of doing this is that I hope my kids will know which areas to focus on when they study for exams..if they are studying of course (which I hope that they have already started). With this, they will be able to pay particular attention to which particular areas to 'describe' or which 'definitions' they must remember.

Having said all that now I'm wondering...since I have started using this technique for Electricity, how am I going to find time to go through the rest? Imagine going through the Sec 3 topics such as Kinematics, Dynamics, Light, Heat ....I think time will definitely need to be set aside just for going through the syllabus document point by point. With 6 periods a week, we definitely MUST make time for it!

SCI: Teaching & Learning of Study Skills in a History Lesson

We are currently embarking on a project, which is to incorporate the use of study skills in the teaching and learning of the history subject. Why study skills? Because we believe that it is an important set of skills which all students must need in order to do well in exams and be life-long leaners. Also, if the project is successful then it can be extended to other subjects as well.

This study will involve pupils from the Sec 2 Express classess who are academically weak. It will be conducted during Term 3 and study skills (mind-mapping, critical thinking and memorising techniques) will be imparted to the students over a span of 1 term. Students will be assessed to see the impact of the skills on their performance.

My concerns:

1. Are there any factors that affect students performance? Is it just lack of study skills? Are there other factors such as: negative learning environment/ lack of retention/ language barriers? If so, how do we exclude the students having these problems?
2. Is mind-mapping a suitable study skill? Some students might not be able to do mind-maps...
3. Why is mind-mapping taught first? Any possible reasons or study to support this? Is this the mose impactful skill of all? If that is the case, then is there a need to teach other skills?
4. How is the teacher going to teach the skill within the term? Is it just a programme whereby the teachers teach and the students get it? Will there be any activities involved? Are the teachers trained?
5. Are we assessing them one their performance after learning (AOL) or are we assessing them on their learning through the use of the skills (AFL)?
6. How are we assessing the students? Any rubrics?