(Re)constructing the nation? Representations of public housing in school geography textbooks
The sustainability learning lab: Enhancing geographical inquiry in the field and classrooms
How high’s the water, Mama? A reflection on water resource education in Singapore
Context and embodiment: Investigating the subject conceptions and practice of pre-service geography teachers in Singapore
Research on teachers' subject conceptions of geography has contributed to a better understanding of how teachers perceive geography, and has explicated the relationships between teachers' conceptions and their practice. However, such research tends to neglect two important influences on teachers' subject conceptions and classroom practice: power structures and embodiment. The paper argues for an interrogation of the influence of power structures on the way pre-service secondary geography teachers in Singapore think about the subject, and how they teach it. In addition, this article also articulates the importance of considering the ways in which bodies are implicated in the construction of conceptions of geography, as well as in notions of how to teach it effectively. An analytical framework that incorporates power structures and embodiment into a study of pre-service teachers' subject conceptions and teaching practice is suggested as a means of integrating these two elements within research in this area.
Framing human-environment connections through waterscapes: A geographic lens for teaching and learning about water resources
The concept of “waterscapes” is examined, with a focus on applications in secondary schools and the pedagogy for undergraduate geography students. The waterscape emphasis on external flows of capital, political relations, and policy that interact with the physical watershed, as well as the hydrosocial cycle, are particularly well suited to support teacher pedagogical content knowledge because of the flexibility in interpreting and applying concepts using what we have termed “the shallow sustainability approach”. Employing case studies from the Singapore geography curriculum, we explore new pathways for the traditional interpretation of waterscapes that include linking mathematical modelling of hydrologic systems with rich local narratives.
Whose place is this space? Exploring place perceptions and the cultural politics of place through a field-based lesson
Inquiry-based learning in geographical and environmental education: The example of water quality studies in the Singapore context
Understanding teachers’ knowledge and practice of lower secondary geographical investigations
The current syllabuses for geography place an emphasis on Geographical Investigations (GI)/ fieldwork to give students opportunities to appreciate the real world application of geographical knowledge and skills, as well as to help them acquire 21st century competencies. To better support teachers in conducting meaningful and purposeful fieldwork, we need to identify strengths and gaps in teachers’ knowledge and the ways they apply their knowledge in their practice. As such, we employed a qualitative case study approach to gain an in-depth understanding of teachers’ knowledge and its relationship to their practice of fieldwork.