Musical behaviours of primary school children in Singapore
In this ethnographic study, the musical behaviours of 28 primary school children in Singapore were examined for their meaning and diversity as they engaged in the school day. A large part of these children’s musical behaviours stemmed from their exposure to the mass media. Children’s musical inventions emerged in the context of play, occasionally using musical play as an aid to academic learning. Instances of rhythmic play were more prevalent compared with melodic utterances. The children tended to motivate and encourage each other in their daily activities through the use of rhythmic play while melodic utterances seemed more prominently tied to expression and communication.
Creating polyphony with exploratory web documentation in Singapore
We introduce and reflect on Images of Teaching, an ongoing web documentation research project on preschool teaching in Singapore. This paper discusses the project’s purpose, methodological process, and our learning points as researchers who aim to contribute towards inquiry-based professional learning. The website offers a window into some Singaporean ways of working with young children in preschool settings; it contains video examples of authentic classroom teaching, contextualised with teacher reflections, artefacts, and interview transcripts. Based on two years of reflection and research meetings, we discuss four key learning points: a) utilising the affordances of web technology to create heteroglossia; b) the need to diversify ‘best practices’; c) encouraging dialogue and interrogation; and d) the need to see ourselves as knowledge brokers.