Lee, Christine Kim-eng

WebQuest is an approach which uses the Internet as an integral part of teaching any subject at any grade level. Developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University in 1995, it has generated lots of interest. There are now numerous examples of WebQuests available on the World Wide Web. WebQuest has the potential in bringing about more critical thinking and student engagement. This article will (1) explain what WebQuest is all about and explore examples in primary social studies to show its applicability in achieving important instructional goals in social studies teaching and learning, (2) demonstrate how WebQuests were used in a pre-service course for primary social studies teachers at the National Institute of Education, Singapore; and (3) share the responses of pre-service teachers towards the use of WebQuests in learning primary social studies content.

This qualitative study seeks to establish a deeper understanding of how and what teachers and teacher educators learn collaboratively during the lesson study process in a Singapore primary school. We used the boundary theories to conceptualize this learning process and delineate the learning mechanisms to foster mutual learning between the teacher educators and teachers in the case school. It was found that the teachers’ practical concerns and the improvement proposals from the teacher educators were constantly being negotiated considering the perceived and received consequences, which drove the boundary actions that include both boundary making and boundary crossing to form a learning space for the participants. Findings from this study provide a practical perspective that explains the complexities, challenges, and possibilities of implementing lesson study and working with boundaries to support teacher professional learning.

The urgency of teaching diverse learners is aptly demonstrated in many parts of the world as the ethnic, racial, class, and linguistic diversity grows rapidly. Such diversity not only brings about opportunities for creative teaching, but also challenges for ensuring educational equity and providing high-quality teaching for all students from diverse backgrounds, especially those presently underserved by the educational system (Buehl, & Beck, 2014; Civitillo, Juang, & Schachner, 2018). Researchers have found that teachers prepared for working with students from diverse cultural backgrounds need to embrace beliefs that recognize the strengths of cultural diversity (Anagnostopoulos, 2006; Banks et al., 2005; Fives & Buehl, 2014; Gay, 2010). Thus, exploring and challenging teachers’ beliefs about cultural diversity should constitute a major objective in teacher professional learning. However, only a few studies have examined how in-service teachers’ beliefs are enacted and shaped in professional learning community practices (Little, 2003; Tam, 2015; Turner, 2011), and focused even less on teachers’ beliefs about cultural diversity (Pang, 2005; Sleeter, 1992). There are a few studies examining teachers’ cultural beliefs about diversity in Singapore, and found that Singaporean teachers are influenced by prevailing political ideologies, and have ambiguous perceptions towards students from less advantaged backgrounds (Anderson, 2015; Alviar-Martin & Ho, 2011; Dixon & Liang, 2009; Ho & Alviar-Martin, 2010; Ho et al., 2014; Lim & Tan, 2018). However, these studies discussed teachers’ individual perceptions of disadvantaged learners without further exploring how these perceptions are mediated by influences from professional development practices, where teachers’ cultural beliefs about diversity issues are in (inter)action as ideas emerge, clash, change, and (dis)agree with each other when teachers work together.

Many teachers have voiced their frustration in trying to teach academic geography courses to their less able pupils. Such pupils appear to be lacking in basic skills of reading, writing and numeracy. Their poor concentration span and limited retention of information have made it difficult for teachers to arouse their interest or stimulate sustained efforts (Pick and Renwick, 1984). The prevalent forms of expository teaching found in most classrooms do not meet the need of less able pupils for variety. 'Variety' is the keyword when teaching less able pupils - variety of resources, teaching strategies, content, tasks, locations and in class organisation. The example of the role play described in this article is an attempt to provide classroom teachers with a teaching strategy that will break the monotony of expository teaching.

Many large-scale studies (Berman and McLaughlin 1975; Emrick and Peterson, 1978) and reviews (Fullan and Pomfret, ,1977) have indicated the need for curriculum developers to pay more attention to the process of implementing new curriculum materials. This study draws upon the tools of the Concerns-based Adoption Model developed by Hall and Loucks to gather information about teacher implementation behaviour in relation to the Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore (CDIS) Social Studies curriculum package. The Innovation Configurations checklist and an open ended teacher-concerns questionnaire were administered to 725 teachers from 70 primary schools .during two survey periods, March to May 1986 and July to September 1986. Analysis of the data provided understanding of teachers' actual use of the various components of the curriculum and their main concerns. Unacceptable and weak teacher practices were revealed in the fieldtrips, project work, testing and the teaching of concepts components of the curriculum package. In addition, teachers seemed more concerned about the content area of Social Studies rather than the skills which the curriculum package advocated. The data forms a basis for the development of more effective implementation-facilitating activities.

Singapore River, even without its slipper-like bumboats and familiar faces of coolies, still evokes feelings of nostalgia among Singaporeans. There is so much history along that little stretch of water. One needs only to stand in front of a colonial building like Parliament House and face the old godowns along Lower North Boat Quay to realise that this river basin has seen much comings and goings. If only Singapore River can talk, the tales it will tell will fire the imagination of our young children. How can a teacher make both the history and geography of the river come alive for our primary school children? All it takes is a little walk on a fine day around the 'belly of the carp', so named because the river basin bounded by Cavanagh and Elgin bridges is shaped much like a Chinese carp. The Chinese believe that the carp is a symbol of good luck and that businesses operating off the side of the river along the full belly of the carp will thrive and prosper.