Speaker : Mdm N Vijaya Rani
Date :Wednesday, 13 May
Time : 10.30 am - 11.30 am
Venue : 3-02-29

About the Topic

Over the last two years, Jurong Secondary school has taken a PBL approach in the teaching and learning of environmental issues such as water shortages, increasing waste in the environment and global warming. What makes learning of this theme interesting is that Learning Journeys are conducted relevant to the environmental issues at task, such as NeWater Centre, Tuas Incineration, and others. Furthermore, students work on various tasks and contribute to their learning through CIP hours through the design of materials (brochures, calendars, exhibition posters) and software (video, website) that would educate their peers on these issues and, more importantly, on participating in environmental projects that can help towards a sustainable environment.
The teachers have taken efforts to redesign the SOW over a 10-week module using the Understanding by Design (UbD) model to infuse real world problems, with LJs, CIP and actual fieldwork with the use of GPS and GIS to make learning engaging and authentic. As one of the Future School@ Singapore, one of the aims is to take learning beyond the school walls and work with the community at large. The PBL approach lends itself in developing an adaptive, productive learner and team player – a must to meet the needs and demands of the 21st century workforce!

About the speaker

Mdm N Viyaya Rani is HOD Humanities at Jurong Sec School. She has been teaching since 1978 in both primary and secondary schools and was attached at MOE CPDD as a curriculum officer from 2000-2002. She has been working with her teachers in the design and implementation of PW since 2005 at Jurong Sec School for S2 students. She is currently on her Enhanced Professional leave at NIE for 10 weeks.

Speaker : Dr Frank CT Voon
Date : Wednesday, 29 April
Time : 10.30 am - 12.30 pm
Venue : 3-02-27

About the Topic

How do we think, what do we learn and why do we forget?
The brain is structure. The mind is process.
Where in the brain (in which parts?) are the processes that engage in higher order thinking?
What goes on in our minds when we are thinking?
Are the parts and processes different when we teach and when we learn?
Does emotion have a role in cognition?

Neuroscience teaches us about neurons and the neural circuitry involved in learning and memory formation. Brain research using newly developed neuroimaging techniques has uncovered and mapped cognitive areas that are involved in both the intellectual processes of thinking and the emotional processes of feeling, as well as their interrelationships with each other.

This two hour symposium is structured along three conceptual parts: Thinking-Doing-Being. These conceptual parts deal basically in sequential order with new knowledge (of thinking), new skills (of doing) and most importantly a different attitude (of being) that teachers might want to consider in order to get across the theory-practice gap encountered in the real-life classroom. Spending a half-hour on each of these conceptual parts may enable us to reach a deeper level of thinking and knowledge, as we embark on a journey of thinking about teaching and learning, one that promises to be insightful, engaging and enlightening.

About the speaker

Dr Frank CT Voon teaches medical and dental students, doctors, dentists and surgeons at the National University of Singapore. He is a medical doctor, anatomist, embryologist, information technologist. In February this year, he spoke to an international audience about the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual growth of human beings and the technological evolution of human civilisation in terms of neuroanatomy, cognition and the mind in relation to attention and memory. For this talk, he has further developed those ideas for education in terms of the thinking processes involved in learning, recall and forgetting that are based on recent advances in the scientific understanding of visual recognition, symbolic representation and cognitive prediction.

Speaker : Ng Siew Fong Date : Wednesday, 01 April Time : 10.30 am - 11.30 am Venue : 3-02-28

Issues for Conversation:

How can we tell if student teachers demonstrate the competencies and professional qualities as specified in the APT form? How would a Distinction student be/look like? How may NSCs distinguish between a Distinction case from a near-Distinction case, a fail case from a near-fail case?

Speaker : Lian Lay Cheng, Mark Baildon
Date : Wednesday, 25 February
Time : 10.30 am - 11.30 am
Venue : 3-02-28

Why?

Conversation can help us consider different viewpoints, reflect on our assumptions, and make reasoned choices. Being willing to talk and listen to other people and weigh the consequences of our actions upon others helps us develop shared understanding and a sense of community. What to Converse

WHAT ?– What are our understandings about theory and practice? About the relationships between theory and practice? What are our current practices to bridge the gap between theory and practice?

SO WHAT ?– So what evidence do we have that the gap is bridged or not bridged? What does this say about our practices?

WHAT NOW? - How does this help us think about our practices?