The current study was a translational study on creating educational effectiveness in secondary schools with students from the Normal (Technical) (NT) stream studying the Elements of Business Skills (EBS) subject. This expanded on an earlier study at NIE with EBS students (Koh, 2012) that investigated whether students learnt better when they were able to make meaningful connections between the school curriculum and their learning experiences outside of school at workplace environments. The findings revealed that experiential learning gained from the authentic environment of students’ work attachment contributed to their conceptual understanding of the EBS subject. The study also noted a cross transfer of knowledge and skills from the classroom to the workplace and vice-versa. The aim of this TALE study was to investigate how technology, in the form of a mobile learning application, can enable redesign of the formal curriculum to be expanded to seamlessly accommodate learning that occurs outside of classrooms to align with the goals of the ICT mp4. Mobile learning can be defined as “any kind of learning that takes place inside or outside traditional learning environment via mobile devices [that] are able to move with the learner to allow learning anytime, anywhere” (Alavi, Nematbakhsh, & Zeraati, 2018, p. 113).

We investigated instructional, sex and school-level determinants of students’ financial attitudes among 4801 students in 25 secondary schools in Singapore. A two-scale financial attitudes questionnaire was developed to assess students’ attitudes to financial management and attitudes to financial literacy programs. Data analyses revealed that the attitude questionnaire was valid and reliable when used with these Singaporean school students. A three-way MANOVA for instructional, sex and school-level differences in student attitudes revealed that: students who attended financial literacy programs had significantly more positive attitudes on both scales; females had significantly more positive attitudes to financial literacy programs than did males; and upper-secondary students had more positive attitudes to financial literacy programs than did lower-secondary students.

At many teacher education institutes around the world, preservice teachers are empowered to use pedagogical tools and strategies that engage their students. A modified version of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) to evaluate the effectiveness of a pedagogical model known as the Mixed Mode Delivery (MMD) model in terms of the CLES’s five scales of Personal Relevance, Uncertainty, Critical Voice, Shared Control and Negotiation was used. Comparisons were made between secondary school students taught by the preservice teachers in an MMD group and students in a control group in terms of the relative magnitudes of the gap between the actual and preferred learning environment in students' school classrooms. The findings supported the positive impact of using MMD in terms of students’ perceptions of their classroom environments for all CLES scales.

This paper explores the infusion of financial literacy into the Mathematics curriculum in a secondary school in Singapore. By infusing financial literacy, a core theme in the 21st century framework, into mathematics education, this study investigated the impact of using financial literacy-rich mathematics lessons by using validated learning environment instruments. This study is part of a larger study to design, monitor, and evaluate an innovative pedagogical approach of using authentic financial literacy examples to reposition mathematics education in schools.

There has been some research into ICT in pre-service teacher training (see Aslan and Zhu, 2014; Teo, 2009; Yücel, Acun, Tarman & Mete, 2010; Aslan & Zhu, 2014). In investigating 1230 Singaporean pre-service teachers' ICT competencies, pedagogical beliefs, and their beliefs on the espoused use of ICT, Chai (2010) affirmed the link between the pre-service teachers' ICT competencies, their pedagogical beliefs and their espoused use of ICT. However Chai (2010) has also highlighted the need to do further research as ‘the relationship between teachers' level of ICT skills and how they would use ICT in classroom is however an area that has not received much attention’ (p. 388).

"The project was carried out to investigate if experiential learning in authentic learning environments were effective in: (1) enhancing the learning environment of the EBS classroom and students' attitudes towards EBS; and (2) enhancing engagement among REAL students vis-aÌ⁰-vis the cross transfer of knowledge and skills between the classroom and the " -- p. 9.

The Retail Experience for Active Learning (REAL) project was implemented in Singapore with support from local retailers. The project was a pilot test to find out if students learn better when immersed in authentic learning environments where they can make meaningful connections between their school curriculum and their experiences. One hundred Secondary 3 Elements of Business (EBS) students voluntarily participated in the programme to experience a real customer service setting where the lessons learned in the EBS classroom could be applied at the workplace and vice versa. REAL students reported higher levels of engagement in the EBS classroom and perceived their learning environments as being more constructive. Qualitative data was also showed students' ability to transfer the knowledge and skills learned between the classroom and workplace. Implications of integrating a work attachment experience to complement classroom lessons and recommendations of strategies for integration for all students are discussed.

The project was carried out to investigate if experiential learning in authentic learning environments were effective in: (1) enhancing the learning environment of the EBS classroom and students‟ attitudes towards EBS; and (2) enhancing engagement among REAL students vis-à-vis the cross transfer of knowledge and skills between the classroom and the workplace.