Southeast Asia's location as a crossroads between East and South Asia, marks it as a region deeply entrenched in difference, with a history of complex identities. Apart from indigenous cultures that have survived the tides of change, there are several deeply embedded cultural influences from near and far that constitute what is local. Education…

This article discusses peer apprenticeship learning (PAL) as situated within networked learning communities (NLCs). The context revolves around the diffusion of technologically-mediated learning in Singapore schools, where teachers begin to implement inquiry-oriented learning, consistent with 21st century learning, among students. As these schools…

This article is a personal view of the application of results from three areas of research that I believe are relevant to developing second language speaking in the classroom: task repetition, pre-task planning and communication strategies. I will discuss these three areas in terms of level of research application--where research is not applied…

This paper describes the design of a technology platform for supporting content-independent collaborative mobile learning in the classroom. The technical architecture provides mechanisms for assigning different content or materials to students and then guiding them to form groups with other students in which the combination and integration of…

In an increasingly global world, where events in one corner of the world simultaneously affect other remote areas of the planet, global competition is becoming a continuously evolving phenomenon. Competition is also increasingly becoming an individual endeavor. Individual's own knowledge and skills will be the differentiators in a global economy.…

This article provides an overview of research in the Learning Sciences from a Design Research perspective, as it has been framed in Singapore by the National Institute of Education (NIE). The initial research agenda is considered in the light of challenges and the subsequent re-casting of objectives, based on the working out of a tripartite…

Information Technology brings about rapid changes in working environment, quickly rendering skills and knowledge gained in formal learning institutions obsolete. Even as they prepare students for their first career, institutions also need to equip students with skills necessary for lifelong learning. The Nanyang Technological University (NTU),…

The number of distance education providers and learning options has increased rapidly in recent years with the emerging flexible learning technologies. The main challenge facing Australian and other universities aiming to deliver distance education programmes nationally or internationally is to find economical ways to encourage and enable…

Reports on a study that explored the types of questions that students ask for open-ended science investigations. Discusses how teachers can help students identify problems and pose questions that are feasible for investigation. (Contains 55 references.) (DDR)

Time and acceptance are criterion often used to measure the legitimacy and worth of an idea. Two decades have passed since the first publications that introduced Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) as a means to conceptualize games teaching and learning. For over two decades various professionals have advocated for TGfU as a sound idea, which…

"Thinking schools" will be sites of learning for everyone declared the Singapore Prime Minister, Goh Chok and Minister of Education Teo Chee Hean's in 1997 also spoke on the model of "thinking schools, learning nation". Gardner's model was used for the thinking school model in Singapore, in order to develop critical and…