Book Chapters

Significant attention has been paid to the impact of education research around the world in recent years. Researchers, policymakers and practitioners have collectively argued for a closer nexus between research and policy/practice so as to bridge the research-policy/practice gap. This includes the Science of Learning research which shows promise in informing and improving teaching and learning. So how can research institutions or centers be designed to tighten this nexus? The National Institute of Education (NIE) Singapore recently established the Science of Learning in Education Centre (SoLEC). SoLEC adopts a bi-directional, multidisciplinary approach in a bid to make research more relevant and useful. We argue that through this approach, Science of Learning and Education can be brought together in meaningful and fruitful research endeavors.

Teaching and learning in everyday life are fundamentally social. When children observe demonstrations from adults, for example, what they learn from those demonstrations often depends on their inferences about the intentions and knowledge states of the adults, which in turn depend on the adults’ choice of pedagogical methods. This chapter summarizes the literature on the effects of different pedagogical methods on children’s learning and discusses insights from empirical investigations and computational models of pedagogical reasoning. Specifically, the Bayesian model of pedagogical reasoning has formalized teaching and learning in pedagogical settings where teachers intentionally choose examples to guide learners (Shafto et al., Cogn Psychol 71:55–89, 2014). Applying this model to research with children, studies have shown that presenting the same piece of information in different ways may lead children to learn differently. For example, whereas direct instructions are efficient in transmitting information, they may restrict children’s own exploration and discovery as the model predicted (Bonawitz et al., Cognition 120:322–330, 2011). On the other hand, reframing these instructions into “pedagogical questions” may facilitate both information transmission and further learning at the same time (Yu et al., Dev Sci 21, 2018). Building upon these studies, it has been suggested that computational modeling and data science tools could be used to study how adult guidance can be optimized in terms of timing and form, to facilitate children’s learning during everyday activities (Yu et al., Front Psychol, 9[1152], 2018). Such tools may have implications for both formal and informal education in Singapore and may open up new areas for future research.

Physical activity offers numerous benefits for our overall health and well-being. In the last two decades, physical activity has also gained recognition for its utility in enhancing cognitive functioning. This chapter examines the evidence for this claim, with a focus on the association between physical activity on cognitive functioning and academic performance in the early to middle childhood and adolescent age groups. The review will include a discussion on some of the mechanisms that are postulated to underlie the effects of physical activity on cognition. The chapter will also examine physical activity in the Singapore context, providing an overview of the policies and practices that have emerged and how they have evolved over the last few years. The chapter concludes by highlighting some of the limitations that are present in this area of research and with some recommendation for future research and practice.

Good nutrition is a cornerstone of health essential to physical growth and immunity and for reducing susceptibility to disease. Moreover, good nutrition contributes to the development of brain structure and function across the entire spectrum of childhood by providing nutrient building blocks for creating and maintaining neural connections. This contribution of nutrition to brain development is also associated with cognition and academic performance and this chapter reviews evidence examining these associations from the prenatal through to adolescent years. It examines the role of the overall quality of nutrition supplied in the diet and individual nutrients in contributing to cognition and academic outcomes in childhood and explores the potential mechanisms via which these contributions are made. Differences in the acute versus long-term influence of nutrition on influencing cognitive performance in children are highlighted where appropriate. The evidence for the special role of breakfast as a meal contributing to cognitive and academic performance is explored. Nutrients of special interest which may influence cognition in childhood are discussed, followed by a section on the current pandemic of children with overweight and obesity and the link of this disease with diet/energy intake and cognition in children. Throughout the chapter, where available, studies examining nutrition and cognitive outcomes in children in Singapore are included. Finally, recommendations for future research are made.

Cognitive development involves not only the acquisition of new knowledge, but also the ability to inhibit prepotent responses from interfering with the execution of existing knowledge. At the same time, learning and performance requires not just attention to the task at hand, but also inhibiting distractors from depleting attentional or cognitive resources available for learning or performance. We first consider findings that elucidate how the executive function of inhibitory control plays a role in suppressing biases from previously learnt knowledge and heuristics in the transition from arithmetic to algebra word problem solving. Implications for the structuring of knowledge instruction to minimize needs for inhibition are discussed. Next, we consider a set of studies that examined the effects of a simple deep breathing technique taught to students to ameliorate the adverse effects of test anxiety by enhancing their inhibitory control of attentional focus. Findings elucidate how taking deep breathes before a test can reduce anxiety, enabling a better state-of-mind and allowing for better test performance. Implications for teaching students tools for self-regulation to optimize their affective and cognitive states, so as to maximize their potential for learning and performance, are discussed.