3rd Reflection: 2nd Group Meeting on 9 September 2010

Prior to the 2^nd meeting, I tried to look for available resources such as books but given the short period of time, I was unable to find any. So I decide to make use of the technology i.e. the powerful tool of internet to search for initiatives between 2000 and 2002. Not sure whether I am on the right track, I managed to find information on Compulsory Education for 2000, Innovations for 2001 and School Systems for 2002. I was excited and looking forward to the 2^nd meeting as I was waiting for my ‘missing pieces’ of the puzzle.

During our meeting, we used the CL learning i.e. the roundtable (round robin) strategy to facilitate us in our sharings. Each of us managed to share our findings and there was a lot of information on initiatives being shared among us. A bit of information overload though we tried to focus on the main ones according to the era of our initiatives that we were in charge of. J Nevertheless, we managed to filter out 6 main educational initiatives from the rest to focus on for our assignment. They are

1. TSLN à Jihan
2. ICT Masterplans à Swarna
3. TLLM à Jihan
4. The PETALS Framework à Jeanette
5. Review of the Primary Mathematics Syllabus à Wan Lee
6. PERI Recommendations à Vincent

We decided to use the CL structure of ‘Jigsaw’ again to work on the main initiatives based on these guided questions:

1. What is the initiative?
2. What are the rationales or objectives of the initiative?
3. How has it impacted the Math curriculum with regards to the teaching and learning of Math?

We also decided to include videos, pictures and powerpoint slides in our e-learning package.

With these in mind, we ended our meeting and went back home to zzz…

I learnt that through this collaborative experience, we were engaged in an interactive manner when we share our information. In this way, we will gain more in terms of retaining the relevant information. We feel more comfortable in having face-to-face meetings although we can make use of technology i.e. online chat to discuss.

As such, it also has enhanced our interpersonal relationship among group members.

2nd Reflection: 1st Group Meeting on 9 September 2010

Our Math group consist of Wan Lee, Jihan, Swarna, Vincent and me.  We had our first group meeting at NIE Student Hub. It was quite a cosy place to have our discussion there.

Based on the topic of the assignment ‘E-learning Initiatives in Singapore Education System 1997-2010., we had to look at educational initiatives in Singapore between 1997 and 2010 i.e. 14 years. Thus, we decided to adopt the one of the cooperative learning strategies i.e. the Jigsaw structure. We divided the readings into 5 expert areas according to the timeline of the educational initiatives.

1997 to 1999 : Wan Lee

2000 to 2002: Jeanette

2003 to 2005: Jihan

2006 to 2008: Swarna

2009 to 2010: Vincent

I felt it was a good start for us and we were looking forward to working together as we were still getting to know each other better.

The meeting ended and we went for dinner together at NTU before we go for our English Literature lesson.

Our next meeting would be on 14 September 2010 @ Sengkang Macdonalds @ 7p.m.

AKM101 1st Reflection - 7 September

I was looking forward for the 1st lesson in NIE again! I enjoyed the lesson and I have gained much insights about initiatives discussed in Math curriculum with my tutor and my course mates.


Dr Yeap has modeled the strategy of using experiential learning (using concrete materials i.e. tangrams) which I feel is very useful for young learners especially pupils in lower primary. Pupils nowadays are more visual and kinesthetic learners so they learn better through hands-on activities. These activities will create moments of joy and excitement in terms of the affective aspect.

Also, we moved on from using concrete to pictorial approach whereby we drew the shapes after making squares. I feel that it is meaningful in this way. Using relevant ICT tools can also be used to enhance visualization among learners. They will be more engaged and enjoy learning mathematics more.

We were encouraged to share our views freely in a conducive environment which promotes a professional learning community. In addition, Dr Yeap also modeled one of the reflection models i.e. doing his blog reflection.

I think in the weeks to come… there will be more fruitful discussions to be discovered through group meetings, readings and tutorials… :)