To empower teachers to engage in research, Research Scientist Dr Lee Shu Shing from the Office of Education Research conducted a series of Action Research (AR) workshops for teachers at Rosyth School from January to September 2018. The workshops aimed to equip teachers with the competency to engage in research to address issues in the classroom, refine teaching practices and ultimately, to improve students’ learning.
At the final workshop conducted on 19 September 2018, teachers from the school’s English, Chinese, Tamil, Science and Physical Education (PE) departments presented the interventions that they have implemented using the knowledge and skills acquired from the AR workshops. These included: | Read More |
- A Nurturing Buddy Readers programme to improve lower primary students’ reading fluency in English
- Dramatisation to improve students’ oral skills in Tamil
- Flipped learning to motivate students to learn Chinese
- Science argumentation as a pedagogy to teach students how to construct proper scientific explanations
- Use of non-linear pedagogies in PE lessons
Generally, the workshop participants found that engaging in AR has enhanced their understanding of students’ learning needs. The research competencies enabled them to tailor teaching practices suited to specific issues faced in the classroom.
"Through collaboration with my colleagues on AR, I realised that students at the lower and upper primary levels faced similar issues and that prompted us to address a problem sooner rather than later," said English teacher Ms Chen Jing Er.
After implementing the interventions, teachers observed improvements to both classroom engagement and student motivation. "Our students have started to enjoy their Chinese lessons and become more confident about using the language," shared Chinese teacher Ms Lim Huey Chee.
Ultimately, AR benefitted both students as well as teachers. "Participating in AR provided opportunities for us to reflect on our practices and think about how we can improve our teaching strategies to engage students and improve learning outcomes," said Science teacher Ms R Parvathy.