As a follow up, here are some ideas on what we can ask the students to do for the creation of the video for the project.
After the students have answered the quiz, and gained the knowledge learnt from their field trip to the Singapore museum, they will somehow have a general idea and their own perception on how life was like during the Japanese Occupation. As they will be doing this in a group, then each group member will have their own opinions, thus there needs to be a discussion process whereby they will decide on what they are going to show in the video.
Maybe there could be a group reflection to be done first and that they can seek assistance from the teacher if they are facing any difficulties?
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Meeting #3
Fauzi's idea of incorporating the video to assess their eventual learning was well-received. We thought it was an excellent way to make the assignment more interesting. It also gives us the opportunity to turn this assignment into a inquiry and project based learning where a final deliverable or product will be expected from the students. With a product, teachers may then have a more concrete way to assess their learning. It also gives the assignment a form of direction that the students can adhere to and follow.
We discussed possible ways in which the video could be incorporated into this assignment. After much deliberation we have decided that it should be the final product that students will need to submit for their overall grading and assessment. The video will need to portray their own personal opinion or interpretation of the event which they will first share with the class prior to it. What will be filmed is their group's acting in portraying their historical interpretations. This is in line with one of our objectives of trying to educate students on the way history is often presented and the agenda that tends to accompany it.
This meeting had us finalising all details of the lesson idea so that we may begin on the Powerpoint Package and the Powerpoint Presentation. We also discussed and finalised the way we would like to carry out the presentation and tasked different members with different parts of the presentation. We unanimously decided that due to our increasingly busy schedule and work committment, we should make use of online meeting more often through MSN rather than physical meeting.
We discussed possible ways in which the video could be incorporated into this assignment. After much deliberation we have decided that it should be the final product that students will need to submit for their overall grading and assessment. The video will need to portray their own personal opinion or interpretation of the event which they will first share with the class prior to it. What will be filmed is their group's acting in portraying their historical interpretations. This is in line with one of our objectives of trying to educate students on the way history is often presented and the agenda that tends to accompany it.
This meeting had us finalising all details of the lesson idea so that we may begin on the Powerpoint Package and the Powerpoint Presentation. We also discussed and finalised the way we would like to carry out the presentation and tasked different members with different parts of the presentation. We unanimously decided that due to our increasingly busy schedule and work committment, we should make use of online meeting more often through MSN rather than physical meeting.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Assessment & Development
Hi all,
Here are my thoughts on the development of our lesson plan.
Firstly, to address the issue on whether the students will contribute fruitfully to this project, there should be clear instructions and expectations to be set.
Expectations
Students should be informed that the project that they will be embarking on would constitute a major part of their Curriculum Activity (CA) marks. Therefore, they should not take this project lightly as it will affect their overall results. Students are expected to provide a concise and well-grounded explanation / argument on the effects of the Japanese occupation in Singapore, in terms political, social and economic impact.
Critical thinking is required by the students to assess on the impact of the three factors stated above.
Project
After the history learning journey to the National Museum, students are required to create a video and present to the class on their interpretation of the Japanese occupation of Singapore. For instance, how life was like and what contributed to the predicament. Social expects with regards to the social welfare of the people can be reflected in the video.
Assessment
Students will be graded on:
i) The content of the presentation. (Relevance / accuracy)
ii) Creativity (Visual aspects)
iii) Grammar
To come up with the presentation and video, critical thinking is required by the students as they have to come up with how they are to interpret the various factors into their video. Therefore, teachers have to assist the students to ensure that they are working towards the correct path.
Here are my thoughts on the development of our lesson plan.
Firstly, to address the issue on whether the students will contribute fruitfully to this project, there should be clear instructions and expectations to be set.
Expectations
Students should be informed that the project that they will be embarking on would constitute a major part of their Curriculum Activity (CA) marks. Therefore, they should not take this project lightly as it will affect their overall results. Students are expected to provide a concise and well-grounded explanation / argument on the effects of the Japanese occupation in Singapore, in terms political, social and economic impact.
Critical thinking is required by the students to assess on the impact of the three factors stated above.
Project
After the history learning journey to the National Museum, students are required to create a video and present to the class on their interpretation of the Japanese occupation of Singapore. For instance, how life was like and what contributed to the predicament. Social expects with regards to the social welfare of the people can be reflected in the video.
Assessment
Students will be graded on:
i) The content of the presentation. (Relevance / accuracy)
ii) Creativity (Visual aspects)
iii) Grammar
To come up with the presentation and video, critical thinking is required by the students as they have to come up with how they are to interpret the various factors into their video. Therefore, teachers have to assist the students to ensure that they are working towards the correct path.
Meeting #2 and initial task dissemination
After sharing different ideas and suggestions here, we met earlier today to consolidate what we have and voice our concerns and opinions. The main agenda of the meeting was to finalise the lesson idea and the accompanying activities. Here are some of the points of contentions that were brought up:
- How should the fieldtrip be conducted? Should it be done in pairs, groups, or individually? Logistically, is the National Museum able to accomodate a full class of 40 students? What are some of the issues that need to be taken care of when conducting such a fieldtrip for an entire class? Should students be allowed to roam free? If so what happens if some of them stray? What happens if they do not take the trip seriously and decide to play around mischieviously? Is one teacher enough to take charge of all of them? How much time do we need to spend at the museum? Should it be during school hours or outside curriculum time?
- Some have suggested that the students should be given a handout to guide them to pick out the more important aspects of the exhibition. What format should it be like? Should it be a list of pointers or guiding questions? Or should students be required to answer the questions by filling in the blanks? The difference lies in the motivation of the question. The former format allows for questions that encourage reflective, interpretive and analytical thinking skills such as "Look at the bicycles. Why do you think it was chosen as a form of transportation by the Japanese?". In contrast, the latter demands factual accuracy for eg. "Which year did the Japanese officially annex Singapore?"
- The idea of conducting an online assessment after the trip was well-received. We think it is highly necessary to ensure that the students have learned what they are expected to and that what they have taken back from the trip are factually accurate. This is especially necessary since students are presumably still new to the idea of independent learning. This assessment also needed some consensus from all members. What format should it adopt? Should it be just MCQ, or just Fill in the Blanks (Cloze), or a combination of both as well as other relevant formats? What are the questions that are relevant to the level syllabus? Should it be graded? When should it be conducted, immediately after the trip or at the next lesson? How long should the assessment be? Should it be done online at home or in school?
After much deliberation, we have thus agreed that...
- the fieldtrip should be conducted outside curriculum time possibly on a weekday after school hours. Exploration at the museum will be done individually but students may roam in groups as they wish. To prevent students from getting distracted by other exhibits, students will be pre-informed of the boundaries of the exhibition. They will focus mainly on the exhibits related to the Japanese Occupation. Through our own personal experience at the museum, the trip should not last more than an hour. So students will be given one hour or at most one and a half hour to walk through the museum and study the exhibits. Teachers will have to make this clear so that students do not take their own time and be continuously aware of the limited time they have to gather as much information as possible. This gives students a sense of responsibility of their own learning as well. Manpower should not be a problem but teachers may wish to bring an additional colleague if deem necessary.
- the handout will serve both as a guidance in addition to the Companion provided by the museum as well as a method to allow students to record down crucial information. As such it will incorporate both open-ended and close-ended questions. Students will need to note down and fill in important details such as dates and names and there will also be questions that encourage students to think critically and form their own opinions. This teaches students that the studying of History requires one to go deeper beyond the surface in order to truly make meaning of the content. This also shows students that in History there is a certain amount of flexibility given to create assumptions and to speculate as long as there is enough evidence to substantiate.
- the assessment should incorporate the use of MCQ, Cloze, and Crossword Puzzle. These formats are available in Hot Potatoes. It has been agreed that the assessment should be conducted during lesson time in the next History period that follows the trip. It should not be done at home as there is a tendency for cheating to occur. Students could choose to read up their books to confirm their notes and observations before the test if they wish to. It will not be graded but answers will be checked and teachers will need to rectify errors and ensure that students are clear about the facts and figures. We will however need to check what are the selected contents taught at their level so we know what kind of questions to come up with. Further research on this will need to be done.
From here, I have decided to disseminate tasks to each member of the group for greater efficiency in completing within the time constraint.
Glenn and Zheng Han have been tasked to research on the Secondary 2 World War 2 syllabus. After which, Glenn will come up with a sample of the guiding handout in MS Word while Zheng Han will come up with a suggested sample of the assessment on Hot Pot. Contents for both will need to be synchronised hence they will need to work together on this.
Fauzi and Lynn have been tasked to come up with a way this lesson could be addressed to the students. They have proposed the possibility of turning this into a Webquest. A Webquest however will require students to participate in online learning. This learning is not based on online materials but an actual fieldtrip instead. So they will work around the style and come up with something similar to Webquest to set down instructions and requirements for students to follow in order to make the lesson more fun and engaging.
I will complete the scaffolding of the lesson idea summary based on our decisions and discussions and convert it into a proper document with regular paragraphs.
Hope everyone is clear with their tasks! If there is anything that you are not sure of please do raise your concerns. If there is any way you think our ideas could be further improved do voice your opinions. Lastly, please add in your individual reflection of our progress from the meetings we've had thus far.
THANK YOU AND WORK HARD!
- How should the fieldtrip be conducted? Should it be done in pairs, groups, or individually? Logistically, is the National Museum able to accomodate a full class of 40 students? What are some of the issues that need to be taken care of when conducting such a fieldtrip for an entire class? Should students be allowed to roam free? If so what happens if some of them stray? What happens if they do not take the trip seriously and decide to play around mischieviously? Is one teacher enough to take charge of all of them? How much time do we need to spend at the museum? Should it be during school hours or outside curriculum time?
- Some have suggested that the students should be given a handout to guide them to pick out the more important aspects of the exhibition. What format should it be like? Should it be a list of pointers or guiding questions? Or should students be required to answer the questions by filling in the blanks? The difference lies in the motivation of the question. The former format allows for questions that encourage reflective, interpretive and analytical thinking skills such as "Look at the bicycles. Why do you think it was chosen as a form of transportation by the Japanese?". In contrast, the latter demands factual accuracy for eg. "Which year did the Japanese officially annex Singapore?"
- The idea of conducting an online assessment after the trip was well-received. We think it is highly necessary to ensure that the students have learned what they are expected to and that what they have taken back from the trip are factually accurate. This is especially necessary since students are presumably still new to the idea of independent learning. This assessment also needed some consensus from all members. What format should it adopt? Should it be just MCQ, or just Fill in the Blanks (Cloze), or a combination of both as well as other relevant formats? What are the questions that are relevant to the level syllabus? Should it be graded? When should it be conducted, immediately after the trip or at the next lesson? How long should the assessment be? Should it be done online at home or in school?
After much deliberation, we have thus agreed that...
- the fieldtrip should be conducted outside curriculum time possibly on a weekday after school hours. Exploration at the museum will be done individually but students may roam in groups as they wish. To prevent students from getting distracted by other exhibits, students will be pre-informed of the boundaries of the exhibition. They will focus mainly on the exhibits related to the Japanese Occupation. Through our own personal experience at the museum, the trip should not last more than an hour. So students will be given one hour or at most one and a half hour to walk through the museum and study the exhibits. Teachers will have to make this clear so that students do not take their own time and be continuously aware of the limited time they have to gather as much information as possible. This gives students a sense of responsibility of their own learning as well. Manpower should not be a problem but teachers may wish to bring an additional colleague if deem necessary.
- the handout will serve both as a guidance in addition to the Companion provided by the museum as well as a method to allow students to record down crucial information. As such it will incorporate both open-ended and close-ended questions. Students will need to note down and fill in important details such as dates and names and there will also be questions that encourage students to think critically and form their own opinions. This teaches students that the studying of History requires one to go deeper beyond the surface in order to truly make meaning of the content. This also shows students that in History there is a certain amount of flexibility given to create assumptions and to speculate as long as there is enough evidence to substantiate.
- the assessment should incorporate the use of MCQ, Cloze, and Crossword Puzzle. These formats are available in Hot Potatoes. It has been agreed that the assessment should be conducted during lesson time in the next History period that follows the trip. It should not be done at home as there is a tendency for cheating to occur. Students could choose to read up their books to confirm their notes and observations before the test if they wish to. It will not be graded but answers will be checked and teachers will need to rectify errors and ensure that students are clear about the facts and figures. We will however need to check what are the selected contents taught at their level so we know what kind of questions to come up with. Further research on this will need to be done.
From here, I have decided to disseminate tasks to each member of the group for greater efficiency in completing within the time constraint.
Glenn and Zheng Han have been tasked to research on the Secondary 2 World War 2 syllabus. After which, Glenn will come up with a sample of the guiding handout in MS Word while Zheng Han will come up with a suggested sample of the assessment on Hot Pot. Contents for both will need to be synchronised hence they will need to work together on this.
Fauzi and Lynn have been tasked to come up with a way this lesson could be addressed to the students. They have proposed the possibility of turning this into a Webquest. A Webquest however will require students to participate in online learning. This learning is not based on online materials but an actual fieldtrip instead. So they will work around the style and come up with something similar to Webquest to set down instructions and requirements for students to follow in order to make the lesson more fun and engaging.
I will complete the scaffolding of the lesson idea summary based on our decisions and discussions and convert it into a proper document with regular paragraphs.
Hope everyone is clear with their tasks! If there is anything that you are not sure of please do raise your concerns. If there is any way you think our ideas could be further improved do voice your opinions. Lastly, please add in your individual reflection of our progress from the meetings we've had thus far.
THANK YOU AND WORK HARD!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Initial Idea - The next step
Hey guys,
So here's the build-up to our initial idea. First and foremost, we have to ensure that this project is not too dull and boring, and it should fit the standard of a Secondary 2 student. Apart from the content, students should also have the initiative to make their presentation more creative and to show other aspects, not only based on social, political and economic aspects, that can be seen in the Japanese Occupation.
An assessment in the form of a quiz will be beneficial as it will show how much the students have learn from the field trip to the National Museum. This should be handed out at the start of the trip to all the students, and a better way could be that students will work in groups, and that each of them will take a part or a sub-topic to answer, in this way, collaborative learning can take place. At the end of the day, they should collate all their answers together, and the teacher-in-charge will check and give the correct answers to the students, so then can they proceed to the next step of the project.
We can work something out of this I suppose. The important thing is to ensure that students make full use of this trip and learn as much as they can in an out of the classroom learning experience.
So here's the build-up to our initial idea. First and foremost, we have to ensure that this project is not too dull and boring, and it should fit the standard of a Secondary 2 student. Apart from the content, students should also have the initiative to make their presentation more creative and to show other aspects, not only based on social, political and economic aspects, that can be seen in the Japanese Occupation.
An assessment in the form of a quiz will be beneficial as it will show how much the students have learn from the field trip to the National Museum. This should be handed out at the start of the trip to all the students, and a better way could be that students will work in groups, and that each of them will take a part or a sub-topic to answer, in this way, collaborative learning can take place. At the end of the day, they should collate all their answers together, and the teacher-in-charge will check and give the correct answers to the students, so then can they proceed to the next step of the project.
We can work something out of this I suppose. The important thing is to ensure that students make full use of this trip and learn as much as they can in an out of the classroom learning experience.
After Action Review (AAR)
I was thinking to provide them with a close passage worksheet on the day of their fieldtrip, allow them to fill it up while touring. Following that, when the next lesson in school, we give them the very same worksheet again, without refreshing their memory, to assess how much information was retained.
For the lesson in school, we can use Hot Potatoes as a tool to enhance their learning. Applications such as JCross might draw the student's attention. Also, if possible, we may create different levels of difficulties for the crossword puzzle and make use of Collaborative Learning to get the students to solve the puzzle...
For the lesson in school, we can use Hot Potatoes as a tool to enhance their learning. Applications such as JCross might draw the student's attention. Also, if possible, we may create different levels of difficulties for the crossword puzzle and make use of Collaborative Learning to get the students to solve the puzzle...
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Another add-on idea.
I was thinking that for the worksheet that students will fill in to guide them in their trip and assessment, instead of the boring MCQ ones where the students will choose the answers randomly and take it for granted since it's not examinable. We can make it a worksheet which consist of a mixture of MCQs and fill in the blank questions? This would allow the students to think before they write their answer down. Rewards may be given to students who do very well for the worksheet to motivate them to strive to get most of the questions correct!
I was also thinking that we let the students have a 2 minute reflection session each in class to share with the rest of their classmates on what they have learnt from the fieldtrip. Or maybe they can jot their thoughts down on a piece of vanguard, which would constitute collaborative learning.
What do you all think about my ideas? have a blessed week ahead! (:
I was also thinking that we let the students have a 2 minute reflection session each in class to share with the rest of their classmates on what they have learnt from the fieldtrip. Or maybe they can jot their thoughts down on a piece of vanguard, which would constitute collaborative learning.
What do you all think about my ideas? have a blessed week ahead! (:
Monday, March 15, 2010
Adding on to the initial idea...
I think it is crucial that teachers check the accuracy of the information that students have gathered through the fieldtrip. The fieldtrip is clearly a mean of self-directed learning as students are let to roam the exhibitions on Japanese Occupation and pick up learning points that they could alternatively acquire from their textbooks. However there is a danger of students not putting in enough effort to take the lesson seriously. If this activity was to replace the entire conventional classroom teaching of the chapter, then teachers must make sure students have learned what they are expected to.
As such I personally think an assessment is in order. I strongly suggest an assessment that could check firstly, how much the students have learned from the fieldtrip, and secondly, if what they have taken away from the trip are accurate. So the assessment will have to focus on the factual aspects of the chapter such as key figures and dates as well as chronology of events. Interesting trivias that are not necessarily crucial to the final exam could be included to make the assessment more interesting. For example, we could ask about the kinds of food available for consumption during that period.
The assessment could take the form of MCQ and/or short answers. It could be conducted right after the trip or the next lesson to allow some time for the students to absorb what they have learned.
What do you guys think?
As such I personally think an assessment is in order. I strongly suggest an assessment that could check firstly, how much the students have learned from the fieldtrip, and secondly, if what they have taken away from the trip are accurate. So the assessment will have to focus on the factual aspects of the chapter such as key figures and dates as well as chronology of events. Interesting trivias that are not necessarily crucial to the final exam could be included to make the assessment more interesting. For example, we could ask about the kinds of food available for consumption during that period.
The assessment could take the form of MCQ and/or short answers. It could be conducted right after the trip or the next lesson to allow some time for the students to absorb what they have learned.
What do you guys think?
Pedagogical approaches
Our pedagogical approach will be inquiry-based. Students will visit the National Museum looking at the exhibition on Japanese Occupation and come to their own conclusion on what the people of Singapore went through politically, economically etc. This learning is meaningful as it provides students the opportunity to think creatively and logically for themselves. After they have drawn a certain conclusion on what they think was the political, economical and social impact of Singapore, students will present their idea first among themselves before the teacher will step in to offer his/her views and then correct any views that might be incorrect.
We can probably use Hot Potatoes to help assess their learning.
We can probably use Hot Potatoes to help assess their learning.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Genesis
Hi all! This entry marks the beginning of our group assignment ICT for Meaningful Learning. So far, from the little discussions we have had in class, we have made certain agreements to certain aspects of the assignment.
Firstly, we have decided that since we are all passionate about the subject History, we will be preparing a lesson based on the secondary school History syllabus as stipulated by the MOE. We have also decided to narrow it down to the topic World War II and its impact on Singapore, in particular the political, social and economic impact of the Japanese Occupation on Singapore, under Unit 9 The Turbulent Years. This is a Secondary 2 Special/Express History topic as reflected in MOE's Lower Secondary History Syllabus.
Secondly, based on a recent trip to the National Museum as part of our Singapore History module in NIE, we realised potentially useful materials that the place could provide for the learning and teaching of Singapore History to students. Some of us have thus proposed the possibility of tapping on this opportunity for the purpose of our group assignment. Preliminary activities on lesson planning that incorporates meaningful use of ICT had us suggesting taking students on a fieldtrip to the National Museum. The ICT tool incorporated is the Companion provided by the National Museum. This tool acts as a personal tour guide explaining and giving details to all the exhitions presented in the museum. While this is a good starting point, more on it will have to be developed later for a more useful and concrete history lesson.
I think we have a good foundation laid down for this assignment. For our next meeting, please try to develop this idea into many different possibilites individually. We will share what we have and try to put them together into a cohesive lesson idea. When brainstorming individually, please bear some of these crucial pointers in mind:
- does it comply to the standards of meaningful learning as suggested in one of our previous sessions?
- does it involve self-directed and/or collaborative learning?
- what are the pedagogical approaches?
Please do take time to think about these carefully so that we could have a good round of discussion the next time we meet. Meanwhile, please post your ideas and suggestions here so that each of us is able to read and get a geist of your respective proposals for a speedy and effective collaboration next meeting. Till next time!
Firstly, we have decided that since we are all passionate about the subject History, we will be preparing a lesson based on the secondary school History syllabus as stipulated by the MOE. We have also decided to narrow it down to the topic World War II and its impact on Singapore, in particular the political, social and economic impact of the Japanese Occupation on Singapore, under Unit 9 The Turbulent Years. This is a Secondary 2 Special/Express History topic as reflected in MOE's Lower Secondary History Syllabus.
Secondly, based on a recent trip to the National Museum as part of our Singapore History module in NIE, we realised potentially useful materials that the place could provide for the learning and teaching of Singapore History to students. Some of us have thus proposed the possibility of tapping on this opportunity for the purpose of our group assignment. Preliminary activities on lesson planning that incorporates meaningful use of ICT had us suggesting taking students on a fieldtrip to the National Museum. The ICT tool incorporated is the Companion provided by the National Museum. This tool acts as a personal tour guide explaining and giving details to all the exhitions presented in the museum. While this is a good starting point, more on it will have to be developed later for a more useful and concrete history lesson.
I think we have a good foundation laid down for this assignment. For our next meeting, please try to develop this idea into many different possibilites individually. We will share what we have and try to put them together into a cohesive lesson idea. When brainstorming individually, please bear some of these crucial pointers in mind:
- does it comply to the standards of meaningful learning as suggested in one of our previous sessions?
- does it involve self-directed and/or collaborative learning?
- what are the pedagogical approaches?
Please do take time to think about these carefully so that we could have a good round of discussion the next time we meet. Meanwhile, please post your ideas and suggestions here so that each of us is able to read and get a geist of your respective proposals for a speedy and effective collaboration next meeting. Till next time!
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