iCTLT 2016

Since its inception in 2009, lessons at the School of Science and Technology, Singapore (SST), have been conducted in a 1-to-1 computing environment. Staff members are well-versed in ICT-enabled pedagogies, integrating applied learning as schoolwide teaching practice. 

There is impetus to provide research opportunities and enhancements through both its physical infrastructure and pedagogical approaches. The world of consumer technologies has advanced exponentially. The advancements and their effects influence not just the way people work, play and learn, but also impact how teachers incorporate technology to plan, customise and deliver teaching pedagogies suited to students’ needs. The present reality set us asking, “How can we capitalise on advancement in consumer technology to inject flexibility and student autonomy into the learning environment while engaging students?”

Over a term, we observed what teachers and students do in the classrooms and scanned for possible technologies to supplement the learning activities. Students surveyed reveal they want more group work and engagement in meaningful discussions and intellectual sparrings. This resulted in The Beta Lab Project and our key Research Question: How does the use of a re-designed technology-enhanced classroom make thinking more visible in a Future School in Singapore.

Employing the principles of design-based theory, the project investigates how advancements in consumer technology can redefine teaching and learning in the classroom. We consulted two key works - (i) the seminal Project Zero study by Harvard Graduate School of Education and (ii) Ritchhart’s book on Making Thinking Visible (MTV). The experimental group comprises twenty-five mixed-ability students taught by six subject teachers in the BetaLab designed with a robust digital display system and colour-coded collaborative furniture. Ethnographic classroom observations, survey responses, participant interviews and artefacts serve to triangulate data collected. We examine if lessons taught in a re-designed technology-enhanced classroom incorporating thinking routines will necessarily strengthen applied teaching and learning dispositions, practice and metacognition designed to promote students’ understanding.

The aim of the lessons in the BetaLab seek to:
a) embrace self-directed and collaborative learning, 

b) focus on learning as a process, and

c) making learning visible in different products (e.g., text, comics, podcasts). 

In all, the study seeks to inform teacher-practitioners, school leaders and policymakers of a possible design and implementation model for the next generation classroom setup. We will also share some challenges we faced and our plans for future research bearing that the results are inconclusive at this first cycle of investigation.