Tan, Kim Chwee Daniel

Previous research has shown that students’ existing conceptions are critical to subsequent learning because there is interaction between the new knowledge that the students encounter and their existing knowledge from previous lessons. Taber (1999a) found A-level students in the UK had difficulty in understanding the principles determining the magnitude of ionisation energy because of their pre-existing octet rule framework. In a related study, Tan et al. (2005) explored the conceptions of ionisation energy of A-level students in Singapore, and found that these students also applied the octet rule framework to decide if an isolated sodium ion would recombine with an electron to reform the sodium atom, and whether another electron could be removed from the sodium +1 (Na+) ion. In addition, the study found that there appeared to be an offshoot of the octet rule framework, the ‘stable fullyfilled and half-filled sub-shell’ thinking, which the students in Singapore used to explain the trend of ionisation energies across Period 3.

Science teachers often use visual images to help students visualise the abstract concepts of science. Yet, they may not support students in making sense of these visual representations, wrongly assuming that the students can intuitively do it on their own. Pre- and in-service teacher professional development programmes also seldom explicitly teach how visual representations can be purposefully selected and utilised to help students comprehend abstract concepts of science. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine how an elementary science teacher made use of visual representations to realise the meaning of the concept of “heat”, and to identify design considerations when using visual representations for concept teaching. Using multimodal analysis, the findings showed how the teacher orchestrated a sequence of ensembles of visual representations which bore conceptual, pedagogical, and epistemological roles in unpacking the concept of “heat” to facilitate his students’ understanding. The findings indicate the importance of teachers developing representation-content-pedagogical competences in order to select representations apt for the targeted content knowledge, the students’ profile, the learning environment, and the nature of the science.

In 1988 a scheme was launched by the Ministry of Education which promoted the use of project work as one of the formal means of assessment in the lower secondary science curriculum. Under the scheme, every lower secondary science pupil was expected to undertake a science project, in teams comprising 2 to 4 members, with assessment based on the products (research reports, models, etc.) and the team’s oral presentation. Besides the formal school science curriculum, science projects have also been given prominence through the annual Singapore Youth Science Festival which features a a science project competition every year, alternating between secondary/junior college and primary science projects. To further encourage project work, the Ministry of Education has revised the admission criteria for university admission to include interdisciplinary project work with effect from the year 2003. This paper discusses recent examples of actual science projects done by secondary school students and considers the lessons to be learned from them with respect to the conceptualisation and execution of projects.

Word Juxtapoz, a new approach which uses words, letters, numbers or symbols juxtaposed in a particular manner or format to convey ideas is shown to be useful for promoting interest in physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology. The juxtaposition of seemingly incongruous elements in the Word Juxtapoz puzzles fosters a scientific way with words that becomes apparent only with some understanding of the topics covered. The etymoloical basis of such puzzles is discussed as well as the methodology for generating the puzzles. Several examples are used to illustrate the approach, and their potential benefits enumerated for teachers and students.

This paper describes findings from a study to explore Singapore A-level (Grade 11 and 12, 16 to 19 years old) students’ understanding of ionisation energy, an abstract and complex topic that features in school chemistry courses. Previous research had reported that students in the United Kingdom commonly used alternative notions based on the perceived stability of full shells and the ‘sharing out’ of nuclear force, but that such ideas tended to be applied inconsistently. This paper describes results from the administration of a two-tier multiple-choice instrument, the Ionisation Energy Diagnostic Instrument, to find (1) whether A-level students in Singapore have similar ways of thinking about the factors influencing ionisation energy as reported from their A-level counterparts in the UK; (2) how Singapore A-level students explain the trend of ionisation energy across different elements in Period 3. The results indicate that students in Singapore use the same alternative ideas as those in the UK, and also a related alternative notion. The study also demonstrated considerable inconsistency in the way students responded to related items. The potential significance of the findings to student understanding of complex topics across the sciences is considered.

The paper presents a case study report of two high school students’ explanation of addition reaction during an interview. It aims to characterise students’ discourse dealing with the concepts of reaction mechanism from a multimodal communication perspective. The research addresses the following questions: (1) What roles do the different communicative modes play within students’ discourse? (2) What are the relationships among communicative modes used by the students? A theoretical framework based on multimodal communication and social semiotics which guided the analysis of the students’ discourse and the results of the analysis are presented in the paper. Implications for teaching and learning of science are also drawn from the study.

This study seeks to obtain an understanding of the use of dataloggers in secondary schools and junior colleges as well as how teachers use dataloggers to facilitate inquiry-based science. A nation-wide survey was carried out in 2004, targeting science teachers from all secondary schools, junior colleges and centralized institute. The scope of the survey covered the profile of schools and teachers using dataloggers, the ways in which dataloggers were used in the science curriculum, roles of pupils and teachers in the data logging activities, how pupils were prepared to work with dataloggers, how they were guided in inquiry activities with dataloggers, teachers' perceptions on the usefulness of dataloggers, the support structures needed as well as the challenges teachers faced in their use of dataloggers. Responses from 593 teachers from 151 secondary schools and junior colleges indicated that the use of dataloggers in the secondary schools and junior colleges was not pervasive. Teachers generally did not see the relevance of using dataloggers in the science curriculum. Data logging activities were largely teacher-directed with dataloggers used mainly in set experiments and demonstrations. Laboratory technicians, training on how to use dataloggers and the provision of step-by-step instructional manuals were surfaced by respondents as important support structures in their use of dataloggers. Some challenges highlighted by all users included the large amount of time spent on setting up data logging activities, inadequate IT equipment and facilities as well as technical issues. The second part of the study was an analysis of an inquiry-based data logging programme designed by a neighbourhood secondary school teacher for a Secondary. One science enrichment class. The aim of this part of the study was to provide insights into how the affordances of dataloggers could be tapped for inquiry science and the type of scaffolding by the teacher necessary to engage pupils in an inquiry-based learning environment. The analysis of the school's data logging programme revealed it to be content- laden rather than process-focused; the element of inquiry was not extensive and affordances of dataloggers not meaningfully tapped. Though pupils were generally able to set up and use the dataloggers for data capture, they were not engaged to think deeply about the activities and their findings. The teacher's motivation in the use of dataloggers for science learning was clear and some scaffolds were in place to guide pupils through the activities. Some issues which surfaced in the implementation of this inquiry-based programme included the teacher's ability to conduct and manage inquiry- based lessons as well as technical problems. Recommendations were put forth to address the issues surfaced from the survey to promote and support more pervasive use of dataloggers in schools.

Traditional modes of chemistry education in schools focus on imparting chemistry knowledge to students via instruction. Consequently, students often acquire the mistaken understanding that scientific knowledge comprises a fixed body of “proven” facts. They fail to comprehend that the construction of scientific understanding is a human and social endeavor. Consequently, there can be alternative and conflicting views and theories. To provide students access to an enhanced learning curriculum, Legends of Alkhimia was designed and developed as an educational game for 13 to 14-year-olds to foster the learning of chemistry through inquiry. The multiplayer game supports four concurrent players. It is played on personal computers connected via a local area network. The game embeds students in problem solving challenges related to the use of chemistry in realistic contexts. In attempting to solve these problems, students must engage in individual laboratory work using an in-game virtual chemistry lab. The game levels take students through a narrative arc that provides coherence to the entire gameplay experience. Legends of Alkhimia, together with its associated curricular materials, instantiates classroom learning based on performance pedagogy: a pedagogy that constructs learning through the lens of performance theory. Leveraging the immersive affordances of 3D game environments, the learning experience is designed to engage students in the dialectic interplay between learning in the first person, based on playing the game, and learning in the third person, based on the Bakhtinian notion of dialog. The learning process follows a developmental trajectory of becoming a chemist. Enacting performance pedagogy in the classroom requires a shift in traditional classroom culture toward that of a professional practice community. We report on an empirical study of a game-based learning classroom intervention where students in the Alkhimia learning program participated in an 8-week curriculum sequence involving six levels of game play. We compared pre- and posttest survey responses from a class of 40 students who learned chemistry using the Alkhimia curriculum. We also compared learning outcomes of students in the said intervention class with a control class of 38 students who learned chemistry through traditional classroom instruction. All students in our study were 13-year-olds from a typical government secondary school. We noted significant shifts in intervention students’ perceptions of their identity, their epistemological beliefs, their dispositions toward science inquiry, and of classroom culture. Students’ understanding of chemistry was evaluated through a common assessment that comprised a complex separation task involving mixtures, solutes, and immiscible liquids. Two evaluation criteria were used: (1) effectiveness of separation, and (2) demonstration of conceptual understanding of chemistry. We found that the Alkhimia students significantly outperformed the control students when assessed on the extent to which effective separation was achieved in the students’ proposed solution (t75 = 2.56, p = .026) and when assessed with respect to conceptual understanding of chemistry in the separation task (t75 = 3.41, p = .002). We discuss, from a theoretical perspective, how and why learning with the Alkhimia curriculum is efficacious. Our findings are significant in that they suggest how inquiry learning can be successfully enacted in a chemistry game-based learning curriculum, and they underscore the efficacy of approaching game-based learning in terms of performance.