Tan Kim Chwee, Daniel

Previous research has shown that grade 10 students in Singapore find quaiitative analysis practical work difficult to understand and carry out, and unrelated to the theory they had learned in class. This article describes a teaching package developed explicitly to teach the concepts, processes and thinking skills involved in qualitative analysis.

Previous research (Taber, 1999, 2000a) has shown that A-level students in the United Kingdom had difficulty understanding the concepts involved in ionisation energy. The purpose of this study, which involved the use of interviews and written instruments, was to determine if Grades 11 and 12 students (16 to 19 years old) in Singapore had similar alternative conceptions and explanatory principles of the factors influencing ionisation energy as their A-level counterparts in the United Kingdom (U.K.), as well as to explore students' conceptions of the trend of ionisation energy across different elements in the Periodic Table. The results showed that many students in Singapore applied the same octet rule framework and conservation of force thinking to explain the factors influencing ionisation energy as students in the U.K. In addition, the students resorted to relation-based reasoning to explain the trend of ionisation energy across period 3 elements. The authors believed that the way ionisation energy was taught.and presented in textbooks could be the cause of students' difficulties in understanding ionisation energy. Teachers and textbooks need to focus explicitly on the effects of nuclear charge, the distance of the electron from the nucleus, the repulsion/screening effect of the other electrons present, and the interplay between these factors to explain the factors influencing ionisation energy and the trend in ionisation energy across period 3.

Problems students encounter with understanding the abstract concept of chemical bonding, as revealed in previous research, are outlined. The development of a two-tier multiple-choice diagnostic instrument for assessing alternative conceptions about chemical bonding held by 14–16 year-olds is described. The instrument was administered to 119 chemistry students and the results analysed. The common alternative conceptions they were found to hold are listed and discussed. It was found that this instrument provided an easy-to-administer tool, providing results in a readily accessible form.

This paper draws on Foucault to (a) describe the production of classroom discourse in relation to how ordering manifests within the discourse, and (b) to explicate how chemistry classroom discourses are not fixed but are the site of constant contestations of power as displayed in an eighty minute high school lesson on organic chemistry in Singapore. This microanalysis of discourse provides opportunities to reconstruct how teachers teach and dispels the notion that power is uniquely their sovereign possession. Classroom instruction is in fact a complex activity that coordinates power/knowledge production through communication. Examining classroom instruction through Foucaultian lenses uncovers the taken for granted nature of communication and illustrates the capillary relations of power and knowing.

Datalogging has the potential to facilitate and extend opportunities for inquiry-based science by providing data and different modalities of representation with minimum effort. The real-time data display provides an immediate link between an experiment and its graphical representation, enabling students to visualize the course of the experiment. It also frees experimentation from time constraints as data can be collected over days, and relieves students from tabulating data and drawing graphs by hand, allowing them to concentrate on the interpretation of data. This paper describes some aspects of a national survey of 593 science teachers on the use of datalogging in Singapore secondary schools (Grades 7-10) and junior colleges (Grades 11-12), interviews of three Science Heads of Department, and classroom observations of datalogging activities. The results suggest that the unique affordances of datalogging are not being fully realised in science learning because teachers generally lack the vision for how dataloggers can be used to enhance the student learning experience in inquiry-based science.

Computer games can provide an immersive environment for players (learners) to experience scientific phenomena, reactions and properties according to related theories and laws, and provide a relevant context to assist learners to make sense of scientific concepts involved. Inquiry-based learning is also facilitated as players have to explore, discover, form hypotheses, experiment and make decisions based on outcomes generated in the game in the pursuit of an overall goal. Thus, science-based computer games can allow the player to learn to be a scientist, by thinking and acting as one in the game, instead of merely learning about science. This paper describes the development of a multi-player game, Legends of Alkhimia, and its associated instructional material to facilitate scientific inquiry and the learning of chemistry by lower secondary (Grades 7 and 8) students in Singapore. Challenges faced and lessons learnt in the implementation of game-based learning in the classroom are also discussed.

A sound starting point for the teaching and learning of a difficult chemistry topic would be the clarification of the content framework that is required for the topic. Lists of prepositional knowledge statements and facts, process skills and metacognitive strategies, as well as concept maps should be drawn up to define the content framework for the topic to help teachers and students know what exactly is required for the topic. In this article, the author describes how he defines the content framework for secondary chemistry qualitative analysis to facilitate the teaching and learning of qualitative analysis.

This study seeks to obtain an understanding of the use of dataloggers in secondary schools and junior colleges as well as how teachers use dataloggers to facilitate inquiry-based science. A nation-wide survey was carried out in 2004, targeting science teachers from all secondary schools, junior colleges and centralized institute. The scope of the survey covered the profile of schools and teachers using dataloggers, the ways in which dataloggers were used in the science curriculum, roles of pupils and teachers in the data logging activities, how pupils were prepared to work with dataloggers, how they were guided in inquiry activities with dataloggers, teachers' perceptions on the usefulness of dataloggers, the support structures needed as well as the challenges teachers faced in their use of dataloggers. Responses from 593 teachers from 151 secondary schools and junior colleges indicated that the use of dataloggers in the secondary schools and junior colleges was not pervasive. Teachers generally did not see the relevance of using dataloggers in the science curriculum. Data logging activities were largely teacher-directed with dataloggers used mainly in set experiments and demonstrations. Laboratory technicians, training on how to use dataloggers and the provision of step-by-step instructional manuals were surfaced by respondents as important support structures in their use of dataloggers. Some challenges highlighted by all users included the large amount of time spent on setting up data logging activities, inadequate IT equipment and facilities as well as technical issues. The second part of the study was an analysis of an inquiry-based data logging programme designed by a neighbourhood secondary school teacher for a Secondary. One science enrichment class. The aim of this part of the study was to provide insights into how the affordances of dataloggers could be tapped for inquiry science and the type of scaffolding by the teacher necessary to engage pupils in an inquiry-based learning environment. The analysis of the school's data logging programme revealed it to be content- laden rather than process-focused; the element of inquiry was not extensive and affordances of dataloggers not meaningfully tapped. Though pupils were generally able to set up and use the dataloggers for data capture, they were not engaged to think deeply about the activities and their findings. The teacher's motivation in the use of dataloggers for science learning was clear and some scaffolds were in place to guide pupils through the activities. Some issues which surfaced in the implementation of this inquiry-based programme included the teacher's ability to conduct and manage inquiry- based lessons as well as technical problems. Recommendations were put forth to address the issues surfaced from the survey to promote and support more pervasive use of dataloggers in schools.