EDUCATION STUDIES

Education Studies will acquaint trainee teachers with the key concepts and principles in education that are necessary for effective instruction and reflective practice in secondary schools. The modules will deal with pupil development, the social context within which schooling operates, the application of psychology in teaching and learning, proactive approaches to develop creative and critical thinking skills and the use of instructional technologies in the classroom.

The Education Studies component comprises two groups of modules namely CORE MODULES and PRESCRIBED ELECTIVES. The core modules are compulsory as they deal with basic educational concepts and principles. The prescribed electives allow choices which are intended to provide trainee teachers with an opportunity for in-depth and rigorous study of some significant areas in the field of education and to serve as a basis for the application of educational principles in a variety of instructional contexts.

Education Studies

PED513 Instructional Technology

Learning, thinking, and the effective use of instructional technologies in the classroom; instructional planning models; selecting, creating, evaluating, and integrating instructional technologies and resource materials; promoting creativity and complex thinking through IT project work activities; organising and managing instructional activities with appropriate IT resources in the classroom.

PED514 Social Context of Teaching and Learning

The historical development, structure and organisation of the Singapore education system; roles of schools; key education policies. stakeholders in education; teachers as professions. Sociological perspectives on teaching, learning and socialisation: the school and society; home and school; effective school organisation; teaching as a profession. Philosophical perspectives on teaching and learning: the concept of education; moral education; authority, freedom and education.

PED515 The Psychology of Pupil Development and the Learning Process

Understanding different aspects of adolescent development and how these influence the teaching and learning processes. It covers physical changes in adolescence, stages of moral development, formation of identity and the self-concept, and theories of intellectual development. Application of psychological principles and learning theories to classroom learning, understanding how pupils learn and how some pupils fail to learn; proactive approaches to motivate and enhance learning to develop creative and critical thinking, problem-solving skills and remedial measures to help weaker pupils.

PED516 Teaching and Classroom Management

Emphasis on the application of pedagogical knowledge and instructional skills for facilitating learning, the understanding of different models of classroom management and the role of classroom management in fostering academic achievement and appropriate pupil behaviour in different classroom settings such as, computer and science laboratories and subject rooms, and the process of evaluating the teaching-learning process. In addition, the importance of the practices of proactive classroom management and positive interpersonal teacher behaviour on classroom learning is stressed.

PED551 Assessment for Effective Learning

Role of assessment in the learning process; assessment practices in Singapore schools; basic knowledge and practical skills of monitoring and assessing pupils' learning; essentials of measurement in the cognitive, affective and behavioural domains; the use and construction of classroom tests; item analysis and test reporting; basic statistics for educational measurement; use of computer in educational assessment; evaluation of teaching and learning.

PED552 Guidance and Counselling in Secondary Schools

Principles and practice of Pastoral Care and Career Guidance and its introduction to Singapore schools; group dynamics in the classroom and techniques in developmental group guidance; social and psychosocial factors affecting the personal development and learning of pupils; assessment of guidance needs; career development and career guidance needs of adolescents; the helping process and basic counselling skills.

PED553 Teaching Pupils with Behavioural and Learning Problems

Types and classification of behavioural and learning problems; identification and diagnosis; causal factors; behaviour management; multidisciplinary approach in evaluation and intervention.

PED554 Instructional Design and Computer-based Learning

The application of effective instructional software design principles to design, develop and evaluate a small web-based learning project. The use of a variety of software technologies, including appropriate authoring tools to create web-based learning objects. Participants for this course must have very good computer skills and have to attend appropriate software training prior attendance to this module. Computer skills: Authorware and Macromedia Flash. (Training sessions will be arranged.)

PED558 The Psychology of Learning and Motivation

The role of the teacher as a motivator; motivating and demotivating factors affecting learning; strategies for motivating different types of learners.

PED559 Classroom Management and Discipline

Recent research and development in classroom management and implications for teaching; teacher expectations/behaviours and their influence on pupil behaviour; establishing a supportive learning environment; issues in classroom management approaches and principles and practice of effective classroom management and discipline.

PED560 Strategies for Effective Thinking and Learning

The place of thinking skills in teaching and learning; different types of thinking skills; the role of the teacher in creating a learning environment conducive for thinking; relevant thinking programmes and their implications for classroom practice; teaching thinking skills to enhance learning; observing, monitoring and evaluating the development of thinking skills in the learner.

PED561 Using Pupil Learning Style to Maximise Instructional Effectiveness

Learning styles as one of the crucial factors for pedagogical decisions. The 'mind qualities' of the learners in terms of teaching strategies that can be used to maximise effective learning in the classroom.

PED562 Classroom Planning to Enhance Pupil Learning

Planning of programmes, classroom practices and resources to meet the needs of individual students; making effective use of audiovisual resources; support materials and different strategies to encourage active learning; encouraging students to become autonomous learners.

PED563 Understanding and Helping Gifted and Talented Pupils

Definition of terms; issues; concept of "academic excellence"; nature and identification of high ability pupils; development of the gifted education movement from Plato to the present time; overview of gifted education world-wide; justification for and against special provisions for the gifted; the role of the home and school; strategies to promote the growth and development of gifted and talented pupils.

PED565 Understanding and Teaching Creative and Critical Thinking

Human beings as rational beings.  Thinking: hardware, softwares and validation.  Concepts, theories and instruments to assess creative and critical thinking.  Thinking dispositions and competencies.  Instructional strategies in relation to knowledge acquisition and inquiry.  On becoming a creative and critical thinker.

PED566 Motivating Pupils for Learning and Thinking

Skills that teachers can acquire to promote pupils’ learning and thinking. Enabling pupils to learn for retention. Thinking organisers for critical thinking and structures for creative thinking. Preparing teachers to create a motivating classroom environment for effective learning and thinking.

PED567 Assessment to Promote Thinking in Secondary Schools

Understanding and applying the basic principles in assessment to the classroom situation. Basic knowledge and practical skills to manage and monitor pupils’ learning at the secondary level. Covers alternative modes of assessment to assess different thinking skills.

PED569 Developing Creativity in the Secondary Classroom

The psychological principles of creativity development; essential concepts and techniques for promoting and assessing creative thinking in the classroom; the qualities of the creative product; procedures of the creative process; characteristics of the creative person; conditions of the creative environment; psychometric and consensual approaches to the assessment of creativity and individual differences in creativity.

PED570 Understanding Social Behaviour of Secondary School Students

Social behaviour in the school and classroom; how students and teachers think about and interact with each other; how students think about their own attitudes and behaviour and how these are influenced by situational and social factors; self-esteem; social identity; helping and aggressive behaviour; obedience and conformity; leadership; and close relationships.

PED571 Advanced Social and Educational Measurement

Essential topics in advanced social and educational measurement, particularly in Item Response Theory (IRT) and attitude measurement models; quantitative study and applications; some basic knowledge of probability and statistics; the usage and application of related computer software integrated with the theory of advanced social and educational measurement.

PED572 Instructional Strategies and Learning Effectiveness

Careful planning and implementation of instruction for effective learning; various instructional strategies such as whole-class teaching, small group instruction, group work, individual instruction, out-of-classroom instruction, games and simulation and their effective implementation for facilitating learning in the classroom; the importance of empowerment of students in learning and the teaching of thinking and learning strategies to students during the process of instruction.

PED574 Handling Crises

Preparing teachers for a variety of crises that may arise in secondary school classrooms. Teachers’ responsibilities and options for action in crises. An overview of challenges resulting from substance abuse, street gangs, suicidal behaviour, date rape, family tensions and other personal as well as health-related emergencies. Current community resources available to secondary school teachers handling such crises.

PED575 Computer Applications in Educational Assessment

State-of-the-art computer software for various assessment tasks, including item banking, item analysis, item calibration, test construction, test administration, test scoring and test reporting, and their applications for school-based testing. An examination of some benefits and/or limitations of using computers for educational assessment.

PED576 Motivating Students to Learn and Think

Students learn well when they are highly motivated. Teachers can acquire strategies to instil positive attitude and perceptions about learning among their students. Knowing how the brain learns also enables teachers to use brain compatible teaching strategies so that students will learn better and faster. Using cooperative learning activities and catering to different learning styles will enable more students to acquire learning-to-learn and thinking skills in an enjoyable manner.

PED577 Achieving the Desired Outcomes of Education through Project Work in Secondary Schools

The module attempts to relate the initiatives introduced through the concept of "Thinking School Learning Nation" (1997) to the Desired Outcomes of Education (1998). The rationale for the inclusion of Project Work as one of the criteria for University admission will be discussed. Ways of building teamwork, application of thinking strategies, infusion of thinking skills, development of metacognitive skills, critical thinking, creative thinking, management of group project and assessment of group project work will be the topics covered in this module. Assessment of this module will be by group project. Marks will be given for individual reflective journal writing and peer evaluation. This mode of assessment will give participants a chance to be acquainted with the task awaiting for them in school.

PED578 Using IT for Teaching and Assessment

The use of IT in schools is a key strategy laid out by Singapore’s Masterplan for IT in Education. School teachers are called upon to use IT in their teaching to help pupils with learning skills, creative thinking and communication skills. This module is designed to prepare trainee teachers with some essential IT techniques to create an IT-enhanced learning environment and conduct IT-based classroom assessment. Participants of this module are supposed to have taken the IT workshops or have equivalent knowledge and skills. The techniques covered by this module include classroom presentation, simple data analysis from educational assessment and psychological measurement.

PED579 Facilitating Sexuality Education in Secondary Schools

This course provides teachers with the content knowledge on human sexuality as well as pedagogic skills to deliver sexuality education to teenagers in secondary schools. Course participants will have the opportunity not only to gain basic knowledge of physiological changes and development in adolescents, but also develop an awareness of attitudes and emotional, cultural and moral issues. They will participate in hands-on activities that facilitate and promote discussions. Topics such as gender roles, sexual health and behaviour, and intimate relationships, as well as issues such as contraception, abortion and homosexuality will be addressed.

PED580 Constructive Learning with the Internet

In this knowledge and information age, ability to process information and to construct one’s knowledge has become an important life skill. To remain a confident and competent citizen in this new millennium, one has to be a life-long and self-directed learner. Internet is perhaps the fastest expanding source of information and its potential as educational resources is tremendous. This course aims to provide trainee teachers an understanding of the affordances of the Internet and its various applications in education so that they can use Internet effectively in teaching and in encouraging self-directed constructive learning. (Pre-requisite skills: Creating web pages.)

PED 581 What It Means To Be a Teacher

The course will initiate trainee teachers to two traditional paradigms of teaching: teaching as transmission of knowledge and skills and as transformation of character, virtue and thought.  It will explore the challenge and uncertainty, the personal creativity and commitment, the moral and intellectual dimensions of teaching.  It intends to expose trainee teachers to other aspects of teaching that tend to be overlooked, and lead trainee teachers to a deepened appreciation of being a teacher and a heightened sense of its worth.

PED582 Creating Constructivist Activities with ICT

Use of various IT-based tools to design and create various constructivist activities to help pupils learn; various aspects on the theoretical framework of constructivist and cognitivism; various strategies of using IT tools to promote creativity and thinking; use of IT tools like semantic networking, multimedia authorig tools, and office productivity software.

 PED 583 Schooling in Meritocratic Societies

Meritocracy is one of the "sacred cows" of Singapore’s education system. But does this mean that all students experience schooling in the same way? This module explores the implications of such a system for different groups of students (male/female; different racial/ethnic groups; socio-economic status) and some of the challenges these issues might pose for teachers in Singapore. By drawing on teaching and learning experiences in Singapore, as well as other meritocratic systems across the world, participants will have an opportunity to consider different strategies that can be used to manage these challenges.

PED584 How Schools Really Work

Ask most young adults whether the schools they attended developed their full potential and the answer will probably be "NO". This not surprising as schools have historically failed as many students as they have passed. But nowadays we are constantly being told that the process of globalisation and the shift towards a knowledge-based economy will change this. It is said that all abilities will be developed to the full and students will for the first time have genuine equality of educational opportunity. But how easy is it to change our schools? How are schools related to the broader society? What processes are at work in schools that make change difficult to accomplish? On this module we shall explore a number of sociological themes such as the process of differentiation and subcultural formation, cultural deprivation and cultural reproduction, school and classroom culture, the hidden curriculum, teacher strategies and the role of the teacher. We shall look at case studies of improving schools in Singapore and research into school effectiveness.

PED585 Moral Education Across the Curriculum

It has often been pointed out that every teacher is a moral educator. This module is an attempt to show why and how this saying is true. With help of actual examples, the explores the various facets of a teacher’s work in the classroom, school and community, in order to show that all subject teachers, not only Civics and Moral Education teacher, teach knowledge which are needed for our students’ complete understanding of their moral obligations within their specific life situations. They do this both within the curriculum, and also at co-curricular activities. And beyond promoting the understanding of moral obligations, all teachers also have a role in training students in the commitment, strength of will and skills needed for effective moral practice, no matter what subject they teach and what CCA they conduct.

PED586 A New Learning Paradigm for Schools: The Learning Organisation (LO) Approach

Are we teaching what we ought to be teaching in the way that we ought to teach? Are our students learning what they ought to be learning in the way they ought to be taught? How can teachers promote more effective and efficient learning through the practice of the five disciplines of the Learning Organisation (LO), namely, Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared Vision, Team Learning and Systems Thinking. This module is an introduction to how beginning teachers can be employed for their classroom and school-wide interactions with other participants of the school organisation.

PED587 Rebels with a Cause!

This module examines a number of controversial rebel educators who rocked the boat of established educational ideas and practices throughout history. Examples of rebel philosophy include:

" Do not tell a child anything which learn for himself" (Rousseau).

" Education must harmonize with nature" (Pestalozzi).

" Replace authority in schools with freedom" (A.S.Neill).

" Children should be allowed to follow their own interests" (Bertrand Russell).

" Schools encourage children to act stupidly" (John Holt).

These controversial statements will be discussed in terms of their relevance to the prevailing socio-economic environment in Singapore today. Students enrolled in this module will be encouraged to reflect on the material presented through lectures, tutorials, student seminar presentations, formal debates, films and informal discussions.

PED588 Investing in Social Capital: Building Effective Relationships with Educational Stakeholders

This module explores the key concept of social capital and how school professionals can leverage on social capital to build a positive school-community links with major educational stakeholders. It examines examples of cross-cultural research on the benefits of parental involvement in schooling and provides opportunities for basic research into parent-teacher relationships in Singapore and strategies for creative partnerships at primary and secondary levels of schooling.

PED589 Surviving and Thriving as a Beginning Teacher

This module discusses the various challenges facing beginning teachers in Singapore secondary schools and junior colleges, and aims to better prepare them for their careers. Many teachers find the transition from their teacher preparation year to schools daunting because they often lack an adequate understanding of what lies ahead of them. This module will provide an opportunity for them to a) discuss and clarify their aspirations, expectations, fears and concerns; b) understand some of the key roles, responsibilities and challenges awaiting them in their relationships with other stakeholders in the school system, and c) think about their career progression beyond the initial years.

PED590   Assessing and Improving the Classroom Learning Environment

Educators around the world tend to pay more attention to student achievement and only a little attention to the environment of the classroom. Recent studies show that the nature of the classroom environment and psychosocial interactions can make a difference in how the students learn and achieve their goals. Practicing teachers need to assess the classroom environment from time to time to make sure that learning is conducive. This course aims to introduce some of the concepts in the study of learning environment and how to make use of some of the instruments to measure and improve the nature of the classroom.