Teo, Chua Tee

The state of mental health and related high rates of depression in youth is a growing concern worldwide. Some populations, however, seem to be more vulnerable than others; and this is the case with polytechnic students in Singapore. Positive psychology interventions (PPIs) have been found to enhance the level of happiness and well-being of students when delivered in the school context. Intervention efforts have often been limited to a single or two to three PPI activities and rarely offered as a consolidated programme with multiple PPIs that would allow students to identify and adopt strategies that would best support their well-being. This quasi-experimental pilot study tested the effects of a school-based happiness mentoring programme largely based on the PERMA model on a small sample of full-time students of a polytechnic in Singapore. Over a period of 10 weeks, the programme conducted by a mentor offered multiple PPIs aimed at enhancing participating students’ level of happiness, well-being and student life satisfaction. While no statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups were reported at pre- and post-intervention, statistically significant differences were found within each group. The results of paired t-tests showed significant statistical improvements in all variables within the experimental group, but the control group did not show significant within group improvements in Engagement, Meaning, Accomplishment and Student Life Satisfaction. These findings were supported by post-intervention structured interviews during which students reported having benefitted from specific PPIs in enhancing self-awareness, awareness of others and acquisition of several strategies that build positive emotions to sustain their well-being. Implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions for future research provided.

This pilot quasi-experimental project examines the effectiveness of an adapted flipped classroom approach for the teaching of 2 teacher education courses over a semester of 13 weeks. Both the experimental and control groups would be matched at programme level. The control group would be two comparable classes not using the flipped classroom approach but using the didactic or traditional approach of teaching. The flipped classroom approach is also known as the Thayer Method or the inverted classroom or reverse teaching. It involves interactive student-centred engagement pedagogy with individualised online learning before the course. In the adapted flipped classroom, additional guiding questions and power-point slides would be deployed. Students learn content online through e-worksheets and guided discovery before face-to-face classroom time. Students worked through activities, watched videos, navigate websites, read up on articles and answered questions posed to them in the lesson worksheets. In class, students would share their prior learning with each other and they would be encouraged to ask questions of each other and with the tutor. Concepts, theories, controversies and ambiguities will be discussed with the aid of power-point slides. The students in the control group would receive lectures through power-point slides during class time, and learning activities would be conducted. Students in the control group would have no pre-lesson learning activities. The effectiveness of the flipped classroom lessons will be assessed through newly developed surveys, focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews of participants in the experimental and control groups. Results will be analysed using paired sample t tests, ANCOVA and thematic analyses. Findings will enable the lecturers to review and re-design the flipped classroom lessons and thus make evidence based pedagogical changes for the following semester.