Cultivating 21^st Century Skills, Realising Tomorrow’s Dream

As one of the FutureSchools in the FutureSchools@Singapore (FS@SG) Programme, SST seeks to develop engaging and effective learning experiences for our students through the integration of research-based and best practice curricular, instructional pedagogies as well as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Interactive Digital Media (IDM).

Our research collaboration with the Learning Sciences Lab, National Institute of Education will provide valuable insights into how pedagogically-driven and technologically-enriched environments can best foster higher order thinking, collaboration and communication, and skills that are essential for the 21st century learner.

The curriculum innovations in SST are:

(A) Knowledge Building in the Integrated Humanities

The use of one-to-one computing and Web 2.0 applications in SST are essential in designing and implementing mobile learning activities to support the students’ knowledge-building processes.

Through the process of idea generation, idea connection and idea improvement, students are able to make different possible connections and continuously improve their ideas as well as work towards a higher-order understanding of concepts.

(B) Collaborative Inquiry in Science

In SST, students focus on conducting collaborative science inquiry activities, which are supported by the web-based collaborative modeling and visualization technology integrated learning environment. This unique approach is specially designed to mediate, integrate and sustain student-learning activities.

(C) Participatory Simulation in Mathematics

Students contribute and aggregate Mathematical representations to display different Mathematical ideas and solutions through various ICT platforms. In working together to evaluate the range of answers and hypotheses, students develop and extend their awareness and understanding of their thought processes.

(D) Collaborative Learning in Languages

For languages, students use Group Scribbles, which is an ICT networked platform that facilitates collaborative learning activities for brainstorming to generate ideas and enrich discussions for language learning.

Taking The Lead

In SST, we believe that ICT is a way of life as it provides an enhanced and meaningful learning experience for our students. As such, every student is equipped with a laptop, more commonly referred to as a learning device in our school. From social networking platforms to collaborative tools such as online spreadsheets, our rich ICT-enabled environment proves that we are a globally connected institution of science and technology.

 

SST also believes in and strongly encourages professional development for our teachers. Through their participation in the design of curriculum innovations with NIE researchers and development as reflective practitioners in the use of ICT, teachers in SST, together with the rest of the school, are well positioned to take a transformative leap into the future.