Tag Archives: Wheelock College Singapore

Start teaching maths and science early

(Op-ed published by Today, June 24, 2014)

By Trisha Craig

Recently, Mr Heng Swee Keat, the Education Minister, highlighted the importance of transforming Singapore’s education system to keep up with changes in the economy. In particular, Mr Heng stressed the need to help students build skills in problem-solving and applying knowledge.

Among other ideas, he said schools must provide our children a strong foundation in literacy and numeracy, and give them a good grounding in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). How do we do that? One of the ways to promote an affinity for STEM is to start early by incorporating maths and science into the early childhood curriculum.

The National Science Board (NSB) in the United States said exposing young children to scientific concepts makes them more comfortable with those ideas when they are older.

Additionally, early knowledge of maths is a good predictor not only of aptitude in the subject later in life, but also of reading ability. The NSB has encouraged the introduction of STEM into pre-school education, an idea that has been supported by many business groups that also worry about the workforce of tomorrow.

Such a suggestion is likely to make some parents recoil in horror, fearing that this will further chip away at the carefree aspect of childhood, pressuring children with more academic work at ever younger ages. Actually, though, that idea of rote learning, which many of us associate with our own experience of learning maths and science, could not be further from the notion of how children best learn science and maths. Continue reading …

 

 

Mind the word gap

(Op-ed published by Today, May 2, 2014)

By Trisha Craig

Singaporean parents famously spare no expense when it comes to ensuring their children’s educational success, with estimates that up to 90 per cent of youngsters take tuition classes from early ages. But one of the most important investments parents can make to improve children’s learning outcomes is free. It turns out to be much more critical than enrichment programmes: It is talking to them.

This may sound like common sense and part of every family’s daily routine but a growing body of evidence shows that a massive word gap exists between children from disadvantaged families compared with their middle-class counterparts. Researchers in the United States note that by the time a poor child is three years old, she will have heard 30 million fewer words than a wealthier peer.

This is because of the patterns of interactions between parents and children in different kind of households. It turns out that, on average, less well-off parents speak less to their children, especially before children have developed language abilities, and the kind of speech tends to be more directive: “Stop that” or “Pick up your toys”.

Children are less likely to develop expansive vocabularies with directed speech because it requires little in the way of response and does not elicit conversation.

Interactive speech, more common among the middle class, forces children to search for words and use them: “What should we do at the playground today?” or “Let’s tell your little brother a story — what kind would he like?” Continue reading …

Pre-school teachers: Leaving before they’ve even started

(Op-ed published by Today, Nov. 8, 2013)

By Trisha Craig

Over the past year, the Government has announced new measures and sources of funding to improve pre-school education in Singapore.

In addition to incentivising operators to hire more qualified teachers at better salaries, proposing schemes to keep pre-school affordable for low- and middle-income families and offering more scholarship money for prospective teachers, the creation of 16,000 more pre-school places is envisioned by 2017.

More places mean more choice for parents, which should be especially welcome news to working mums and dads if centres are nearer their homes or jobs. Yet, it also means, at least in the short run, that the shortage of teachers is likely to be an issue with which the sector will continue to grapple.

High teacher turnover at the pre-school level is a feature of Singapore and among the factors that account for its relatively low ranking globally in pre-school quality. Continue reading …