Research Brief

Two-hundred and ninety-nine Singapore primary school students (age 7 to 11 years old) completed two separate assessments on implicit and explicit gender identity (me=male/female), math-gender stereotype (math=male), and math self-concept (me=math). Results from these assessments were compared with students’ achievement on a standardized mathematics test and school mathematics examination results. It was found that implicit, but not explicit, math self-concept positively correlated with students’ mathematics achievement. Moreover, both implicit and explicit assessments found that a stronger math-gender stereotype led to stronger math self-concept for male students but weaker math self-concept for female students. Implicit math-gender stereotype was also found to be positively related to students’ mathematics achievement. These findings suggest that implicit math-gender stereotype and math self-concept are crucial predictors of students’ mathematics achievement, even in a country like Singapore, where students constantly excel in the subject.

This study examined the pedagogical practice of an initial teacher education course from the diploma programme in the National Institute of Education and how it contributed to student teachers’ professional growth in terms of pedagogical knowledge and skills, and professional identity as a teacher. This study made use of videographic data of 11 lessons of the course over an entire semester, and end-of-course focus group interviews with the student teachers and the lecturer who conducted the course. The findings have important implications for pedagogical practice in teacher education.

Nonlinear pedagogy (NP) approach encourages exploratory learning with Physical Education (PE) teachers, applying key pedagogical principles that focus on manipulating task constraints and creating representative learning designs to enhance skill-learning. This research project showed that students taught with an NP approach demonstrated more individualized and creative movement solutions to learn a motor skill and, despite the reduced emphasis on prescriptive instruction and drill, still achieved success. Importantly, these students also showed more effective game play characteristics after a series of PE lessons based on NP principles. Interview data from students and teachers provided insights on their positive perception of NP and its potential impact on teacher education and professional development.

This study sought to develop a conceptual framework for new media literacy, and examine Singapore youths’ new media literacy. We developed a two-way continuum framework involving ten finegrained indicators to represent the four quadrants of new media literacy: functional consuming, critical consuming, functional prosuming, and critical prosuming literacy. We developed and validated a self-report instrument. From the data obtained through this instrument, we constructed a set of norms for evaluating the profiles of Singapore students’ new media literacy profiles. Singapore school students were found to be well-equipped with new media skills and consuming media literacy, and their new media literacy was generally related to factors such as grade level, dwelling type and time spent online rather than gender.

This study examines how Singapore teachers develop TPACK in course-based and school-based contexts. The findings indicate that teachers enter ICT courses with different levels of confidence in TPACK and multiple design opportunities during ICT courses are effective for levelling up teachers’ ICT design competencies. This is especially useful for teachers who were less confident in their TPACK when beginning the course. In a school-based context, Cultural/Institutional factors can potentially divert teachers away from extensive discussion of TPACK during lesson design. The presence of agendas and facilitation of design talk by teachers who are experienced educational technologies can deepen the discussion of TPACK.