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Wong, Yew Leong
- PublicationEmbargoLiving well in adversity and its implications for learningHuman flourishing is often defined in terms of a collection of positive human factors. However, many people around the world are living in conditions that block human flourishing and find themselves powerless tochange those circumstances. I argue that it is more useful to examine instead the idea of living well. Drawing upon Yu Hua’s novel To Live and Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist thought, I sketch an account of how we can live well, even in adversity. This notion emphasizes authentic living, being fully present in the moment, and being open, compassionate, and optimistic to anything life may have in store for us. This notion of living well is then applied to the matter of learning in the classroom.
35 68 - PublicationMetadata onlyCurriculum making as design activityCurriculum making is challenging work. The curriculum is a complex system involving multiple stakeholders with different, potentially conflicting, needs, motivations, and concerns. These different needs, motivations, and concerns are intricately interconnected, which means that no curriculum issue can be adequately addressed in isolation from the other parts of the curriculum. The complexity of the curriculum also means that curriculum making is necessarily an ongoing process that is never truly finished. How, then, can educators develop and implement a curriculum that addresses the concerns of all stakeholders involved? This chapter suggests that educators may find the methodology of design useful for curriculum making. It does this by seeing curriculum issues as design problems and attempts to show how some of the values and tools of designers may be applied to curriculum making.
Scopus© Citations 1 75 - PublicationOpen AccessPromoting spiritual ideals through design thinking in public schoolsAgainst a backdrop of the debates on the place of religious education in public or state schools, we argue for the introduction of spiritual ideals into the public school curriculum. We distinguish our notion of spiritual ideals from religious ideals as conceptualised by De Ruyter and Merry (2009). While we agree with De Ruyter and Merry that ideas drawn from religious/spiritual sources play a significant role in the students' identity formation, development into reasonable liberal democratic citizens, and flourishing as adults, we highlight some problems with the conception of religious ideals. Instead of religious ideals, we propose the promotion of spiritual ideals in schools using a design thinking approach that acknowledges and welcomes the students’ diversity in understandings of spirituality. We further give examples of student projects that illustrate the potential of design thinking as a pedagogical tool for students to acquire spiritual ideals.
WOS© Citations 16Scopus© Citations 22 155 506 - PublicationOpen AccessDesigning school libraries of the future: Toolkit 2024(National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University (NIE NTU), Singapore., 2024)
; ; Wong, Daniel Kin HengThe Designing School Libraries of the Future toolkit emerged from our desire to offer resources for schools working to improve their school libraries. The principles are informed by findings drawn from our studies, OER5/16 Building a Reading Culture Study (2016 to 2020) and DEV02/20 Designing School Libraries of the Future study (2020 to 2024), as well as informal consultations with schools.
With the toolkit, we hope to offer a resource to guide schools through the complicated business of refreshing their school library space, collection and programming to meet their school’s needs.
The toolkit is divided into three sections. While each section can be utilised independently, they work best as complementary resources.
To deal with societal, technological and educational changes, school libraries must continually evolve to meet these changing needs. We hope that this toolkit is helpful for you, whether you are embarking on a redesign journey or looking for a way to evaluate your school library for evidence-based change.
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