Science education research in Singapore: Adapting to the winds of change

Y.-J. Lee (Ed.), World of Science Education: Science Education Research in Asia, 51–70. © 2010 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

AIK-LING TAN

3. SCIENCE EDUCATION RESEARCH IN SINGAPORE: ADAPTING TO THE WINDS OF CHANGE

This chapter provides insights into science education research in Singapore from 1971 to 2008. Singapore is a young city-state that has earned herself a reputation for commendable mathematics and science education reflected in good performances at international competitions such as the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study [TIMSS] (Gonzales, Guzman, Partelow, Pahike, Jocelyn, Kastberg, et al., 2004). However, nested within these achievements are questions about science education here that demand answers: How does Singapore achieve such good science test scores? Does research in science education influence science education policies and curricula in Singapore or do science education policies shape science education research in this country? What is the role and impact of science education research in a country that flourishes on a national science curriculum and where central control of education policy is prevalent? While the answers to these questions may appear elusive, this chapter attempts to demystify the affiliation between science education and science education research by the examination of science education research done prior to 2007 and provides a crystal-ball perspective of science education research in Singapore in the next five years. In this chapter, the scope of science education research includes research carried out by graduate students, teachers, curriculum developers, policy makers, and teacher educators on science education in different social, cultural, historical, and institutional contexts. Since categories of science education research are broad with different taxonomies of classification, I will use chronological development as well as the categories suggested by Tsai and Wen (2005) to examine science education research. These nine categories are: (1) teacher education; (2) teaching; (3) learning-conception; (4) learning-context; (5) goals and policy; (6) culture, social, and gender issues; (7) history, philosophy, epistemology, and nature of science; (8) educational technology, and, (9) informal learning.

THE GENESIS

Science as a subject of study was introduced to Singapore schools in 1937 (Tseng, 1969). While the origin of science education in Singapore schools was clearly documented, the genesis of science education research in Singapore can best be described as ambiguous. In the 71-year history of science education in this city state, little has been documented about the beginnings of science education

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research. Despite the fact that this may be of little interest to early educational policy makers here, the importance of the historical events in science education research in the country are crucial as precursors on which present day science education research can be built on. It has been observed that science education research is now largely carried out by two institutions in Singapore: The Ministry of Education (MOE) and the National Institute of Education (NIE). These two institutions are closely associated with science education and science education research because of their raison d’être—science education and science teacher education. The MOE is generous in providing funds for educational research and with this monetary support, academics at the NIE are able to actively carry out education research in all fields related to education. Research areas included projects that are suggested by MOE to help with educational policy decision making and projects that are suggested by academics according to the research trends as reflected in international research communities. This MOE-NIE partnership is symbiotic in nature and appears to have served science education well to date. To establish the historical origins of science education research in Singapore, a search was conducted on three main sources of information largely from the NIE. These are, namely: (1) educational research grants awarded and associated technical reports; (2) staff publications, and, (3) dissertations and theses in the field of science education research. For research grants and technical reports, the official records of the granting bodies (NIE & MOE) were examined and projects related to science education were highlighted. For NIE and MOE staff publications, a search was conducted using online databases with the search terms “science” and “education” and “Singapore” from the 1980s to 2008. The search yielded 531 hits and 20 were found to be directly related to science education research in Singapore. Finally, the search for dissertations and theses was carried out using a combination of online dissertation databases at the NIE as well as searching for hard copies of the theses among the library shelves. The dissertations presented in this chapter dates from 1971 to 2007. While it is often argued that the amount of science education research output in Singapore is dismal when compared to the S$5 billion national budget (for 530 243 children from grades 1-12) spent on education (see http://www.mof.gov.sg/ budget_2008), it is not absent. Although the number of publications in international journals is considered small (about 20 in the last two years, as compared to some 510 in the area of natural sciences and educational research in other fields during the same period of time in the same database), there are science education research that have been carried out locally that are not published in international journals. These research projects are reported in annuals and society newsletters, abstracted in conference proceedings, accounted for in technical reports and finally reported in graduate students’ theses. For the purpose of this paper, I will report all studies (technical reports, books, graduate students’ theses, conference proceedings and journal publications) carried out within Singapore on Singaporean students and their learning environments. Studies published by local researchers but not focusing on Singaporean students and contexts are not included in this chapter.

SCIENCE EDUCATION RESEARCH IN SINGAPORE

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Two reviews on science education research in Singapore were completed in the early 90s (Toh, 1992; Toh, Diong, Chia, Boo, & Yeo, 1991). These reviews focused on science education research activities from the 1970s to 1980s. The authors reviewed journal publications, technical reports as well as students’ theses. The objectives of the reviews were to present the state of science education research in Singapore, to suggest implications of the research work, and also to identify the factors that would be meaningful and effective for teaching and learning science. The five categories used by Toh, Diong, Chia, Boo and Yeo (1991) in their review were (1) teaching and learning of science; (2) assessment and examination in science; (3) pre-service and in-service training of school science teachers; (4) development projects in science, and, (5) science curriculum development, implementation and evaluation. These reviews showed that science education research mainly addressed the local context with few avenues for sharing research findings. Science education research at that time was largely characterized by research problems that were highly contextualized, research findings that were localized, and publications of research findings in international journals are limited. Subsequently, there was no review of science education research in the last 16 years.

GRANTS AND TECHNICAL REPORTS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION

There are no official sources of information on grants awarded for education research in general before the birth of the Educational Research Fund (EdRf) in 1999. From official records, there were four grants totaling S$649 333 awarded in the last nine years to a science education project with the objective of developing and validating instruments to measure innovation in science among secondary school students, examining use of computer technology in science classrooms, and examination of teachers’ content knowledge in science. In 2004, the Centre of Research in Pedagogy and Practice (CRPP) was set up at the NIE with support from MOE. The main objective of CRPP was to support and carry out education research in Singapore. The research grants awarded by EdRf and CRPP from 2002 to 2008 for science education projects totaled 18 and amounted to S$730 799. Projects fell mainly in the category of learning, examining both classroom contexts as well as learning characteristics. These projects included examination of creativity in science education, using data-loggers in science education, examining the effectiveness of demonstrations in science education, examination of classroom interactions in science education, and more recently, formation of learning communities within science teachers in schools. The grants have been awarded for a diversity of research foci that meets the needs of the schools in Singapore. The grants awarded for research into science education in recent years have allowed science education research to permeate communities of science educators locally and forms the foundation of science education research post-2000.

RESEARCH/PUBLICATIONS BY SCIENCE EDUCATORS

In this section, the research and publications by science educators in Singapore are presented in a time chronological order beginning from the 70s. This time sequence is significant to trace the nature of the relationship between policy changes and

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science education research—do policy changes precede science education research or do science education research drive policy changes or do they exist in a dialectical relationship? In one of the earliest academic papers in science education here, Yeoh (1979) commented on the role of values and affect in biology education in Singapore and commented on the vital role of values education in the changing the societal landscape of the country. He was indeed ahead of his time in suggesting the need and the potential of values in science education in the late 70s. After the publication of this manuscript, there were no other publications on values education in science education. In recent years, however, there seemed to be a revival of interest due to increasing emphasis on values and ethics education in science in school in response to the advancement of newer and more advanced techniques in the scientific arena. In 1986, the Singapore National Academy of Science organized a science seminar and Kuok and Das (1986) edited the proceedings for this seminar. The eight papers presented focused mainly on reviewing the development of the science curriculum prior to 1986. Although each sub-discipline of science, biology, chemistry, microbiology, biochemistry, and physics was represented, there was no empirical study presented during the seminar and the focus was confined largely to the examination of curricular goals and policies (Tsai & Wen, 2005, category 5). While this probably reflected a need during the 80s to develop a holistic science curriculum that encompasses a diverse perspective of science, it also suggested that empirical science education research had not gained recognition and popularity at that time. A year after the science education seminar, Yeoh and Tan (1987) published results from what was likely to be the first large scale survey of 13500 students on science achievements in grades 5, 9, and 12. Motivated by Singapore’s membership to the Second International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement (IEA) Science Study (SISS) in 1984, their study examined factors such as academic abilities, general numerical and verbal abilities, gender, and opportunities available for students to learn. They found that gender differences persisted across all three populations in favor of males. In this study, they also presented a causal model to explain the complexity of the interacting variables. This study has also resulted in a few theses publications by students in the same period of time (CT Lim, 1986; CK Ng, 1989). K-W Lee (1986) started working on how problem-solving can be used to improve students’ experiences in science learning. Following these key publications in the 1980s, K-W Lee (1993) continued with her work on problem solving and examined secondary school science teachers’ problem-solving abilities using the think-aloud protocol and general problem-solving strategies and recommended that problem-solving skills be emphasized and taught independently to students to enhance their science learning experiences. Building on the trend of researching on learning approaches in science, K-WL Lee, Goh, and Chia (1995) used the Association Test (AT) and Problem Translating Test (PTT) to examine pre-university


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students’ linkage and translation skills for electrochemistry and found that idea association and problem translation are important to help students learn electrochemistry. Within the same institution of NIE, Boo (1995a) used interview-about-events method to elicit the ideas that pre-university students have about chemical reactions. Boo’s students painted a dismal picture of students’ low level of understanding about the fundamental aspects of chemistry despite relatively high levels of attainment in standardized test scores. Boo (1995b, 1996) broadened her study by comparing students’ ability to reasons chemically in the UK and in Singapore. Similar to her earlier study, she found that students had limited abilities to reason scientifically, often exhibiting highly limited abilities to use chemical concepts in their explanations. Research activities in science education in the early 90s depended largely on the interest and expertise of individual faculty members at NIE. There was little evidence that science education research in Singapore was heading for a particular direction or was trying to achieve any specific goals. In 1997, three key innovations in education were introduced by MOE in Singapore: Use of IT in education; national education, and thinking skills. These three policy changes seemed to fuel science education research and provided the much needed focus for science education activities in the country. Following in these system-wide initiatives, there was a surge in research into students’ thinking and conceptions in school science. For example, Boo and Toh (1997) examined the scientific thinking of a group of science graduates when they are presented with a range of chemical phenomena and showed that the majority of science graduates that they sampled were unable to think scientifically despite having gone through formal university science course. Tay and Quah (1997) worked with children from ages five to eight to determine scientific thinking in children before they were exposed to formal science curriculum in schools. Using a Piagetian lens, they found that young children developed some scientific understanding through their everyday experiences even before they learnt science formally. Yap (1997) took a different route to studying thinking and instead examined the role of thinking skills among teachers in physics using both hands-on experiments as well as inquiry principles. Embedded within this bout of research activities on students and their learning, Wong, Young, and Fraser (1997) and Wong and Fraser (1996) investigated the relationship between students’ chemistry-related attitudes and their perceptions of their chemistry classroom environment and found positive correlations between the two. Besides all these research activities on thinking, another group of researchers were studying how information technology can be integrated into science education. This area of research was an ongoing area of research in science education after the initial launch of IT in education and researchers continued to work on different aspects of use on IT in science education even 10 years after the launch (CP Lim, Nonis, & Hedberg, 2006; KCD Tan, Hedberg, Koh, & Seah, 2006). The research activities in thinking and IT in education sustained for a prolong period of time due to continued funding in these areas of research as well as sustained general interest in thinking and IT in education.

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At the turn of the millennium, when there was an increased emphasis on developing creativity in schools, K-WL Lee, Tan, Goh, Chia and Chin (2000) carried out a study with 348 elementary science teachers to determine the extent of problem-solving teaching approaches used in teaching science. They found low adoption of the problem-solving approach as the teachers were concerned about completing the science syllabus on time for assessment, the physical constraints of the learning environment and the low students’ abilities and motivation in elementary schools. Motivated by diverse and numerous studies done on problem-solving strategies and creativity in science, A-G Tan, Lee, Goh, and Chia (2002) published a collection of papers, that examined how problem-solving strategies and creative teaching can be used in the teaching of chemistry and primary science. In 2004, yet another new policy initiative was announced. MOE declared that they were putting emphasis on building students’ spirit of innovation and enterprise, an official endorsement of the creativity and problem-solving activities that have been continuing in local schools. Highlighting the spirit of innovation and enterprise was an attempt to ensure that our students were competitive and relevant in the new knowledge economy (Tharman, 2004). In that year, C Chin (2002, 2004) published a review on teacher questioning and discussed how teachers used oral questioning strategies to encourage in-depth thinking among students studying biology. Building on earlier work in problem-solving and creativity, four more publications focusing on the various aspects of thinking, questioning, and problem-solving skills were written by Chin and her students (C Chin & Chia, 2004a, C Chin & Chia, 2004b, C Chin & Chia, 2006; C Chin & Kavylvizhi, 2005). These studies offered valuable insights for teachers and policy makers on how innovation and enterprise can be realized in the classrooms. Beyond examining generic problem-solving and questioning skills, students’ knowledge and conceptions of specific scientific concepts were also important and of interest to teachers as well as researchers. Research work in this area is ongoing and KCD Tan, Goh, Chia, and Treagust (2004) published their findings of the difficulties 13-16 year old students in Singapore faced regarding basic inorganic qualitative analysis. They reported that students found qualitative analysis difficult to understand and that practical work in qualitative analysis appeared unrelated to what they learnt in class. The following year in 2005, the Teach Less, Learn More (TLLM) initiative was introduced to give teachers and school leaders more space and support to plan and implement quality interaction with students. With this initiative, the new syllabus review included an added emphasis on science inquiry. As such, research work on teachers’ conceptions in various aspects of science was carried out by researchers as such as KCD Tan (2005) and Khinel and Fisher (2004). Science inquiry became the guiding philosophy of the new science curriculum from primary 3 (9 year-olds) to secondary 4 (16 year-olds). In the years following, there would be many more research and publications from Singapore focusing on this aspect of science education. For example in 2007, at least two out of the three full time science education research students pursuing their doctoral studies had inquiry as their topic in their dissertations. With the setting


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up of CRPP in 2004, activities around educational research were plentiful and science education research was given a boost. This resulted in many publications (in terms of quantity as well as diversity) by academics working in science education. While we have seen how changes in local education policy seemed to shape science education research activities in the 90s and in the early years of the new millennium, there appeared to be a lack of clarity in the way science education research was heading in recent years judging from the publications of NIE faculty (assuming that publication is reflective of research activities). Different individuals are publishing in areas of their own interest and there is no visible evidence of common strands or trend that is indicative of where science education research is heading for. Publications span an entire continuum from developing a curriculum for specific areas in science to providing content knowledge about pharmocogenomics to critical analysis of science education reforms in schools. The lack of a common trend in research is compensated by the diversity of research work produced. For example, Imelda and Subramaniam (2005) examined the impact of a cryogenics-based enrichment program using nitrogen on fifth graders attitudes towards science and their learning of low-temperature science. They found that students’ motivation and interest in science are elevated as a result of being involved in the program. C Chin (2007) developed an analytical framework to examine classroom talk and questioning in science. She specifically determined how teachers use questions to engage students in thinking about science conceptual content and how they use feedback to maneuver interactions in the classroom. Wee, Harbor, and Shepardson (2006) studied students’ perception of the environment using the draw-and-explain methodology and interviews. They found that students’ views about their environment is dependent upon the socio-cultural experiences of the students. CP Lim, Nonis and Hedberg (2006) examined grade 4 students’ learning of science concepts through their engagement in Quest Atlantis. They found that students’ learning through this mode of computer instruction is dependent upon students’ language ability, computer literacy, and their ability to engage in the reflection task. Hoh and Boo (2007) published a paper on information of pharmacogenics to inform high school teachers about the knowledge of pharmacogenomics, that is beginning to show its presence in high school biology in Singapore. Hoh (2007) examined pre-service biology teacher’s beliefs about women in engineering -elated professions and found out that teachers often hold gender stereotypes about science and technology related professions among females. KCD Tan et al. (2008) examined A-level students’ conception of ionization energy in Singapore, China, New Zealand, and Spain and found that students had similar alternative conceptions and conservation of force thinking. The students tended to relation-based thinking when answering questions that involves the trend of ionization energies across Period 3. Y-J Lee (2008) examined science education in Singapore through the lens offered by Deleuze and Guattari and argues that the extremes of top-down reforms and the radical innovations by individuals does not lead to improvements and change in science education. The recent reforms of

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science practical assessment in schools have also resulted in two research publications using micro-genetic analysis of laboratory interactions. Towndrow (2008) published his work on how a teacher-researcher partnership can be developed to bring about changes in science education within the context of science practical assessment reforms while AL Tan (2008) highlighted the tensions in the biology laboratory that can result when teachers tried to “do science” amidst tight curricular time and succeed only in “doing the lesson.”

THESES ON SCIENCE EDUCATION

In this section, I present theses written in the area of science education by graduate students at the NIE. As the sole teacher education institute in the country, it is safe to assume that the institute contributes to the bulk of science education research in Singapore. Graduate students’ theses whose work focuses on science education or aspects of science education from 1971 to 2007 are presented. A total of 47 theses were analyzed. Among these theses, theses written by students who were awarded the degree of Master in Education and Master of Arts (Instructional Design and Technology) by Nanyang Technological University (or National University of Singapore prior to 1994) totaled 39. There were four doctoral degrees awarded in science education in the same period of time. The rest of the five theses were studies carried out in Singapore but the degrees were awarded by other universities. As the theses were written by different students in different periods of time, there was no obvious pattern observed in terms of the types and nature of research carried out during different periods of time. Although there are different taxonomic means to classify theses and research publications, I chose to group the theses based on categories suggested in Tsai and Wen (2005) as these are categories are commonly used in international journals and conferences. There are some theses that can be assigned to more than one category but for the purpose of this paper, they will be grouped based on the research findings and implications presented in the thesis.

Theses Focusing Mainly on Teacher Education

Research into pre-service science teacher education and continuing science teacher professional development among graduate students’ in Singapore can be described as dismal. One possible reason could be that the graduate students are not teacher educators themselves and hence have little interest to carry out this form of research. The only study in this area was conducted by Roy (1987) on 233 pre-service science teachers. In his study, he examined the relationship between academic background, understanding of science, scientific attitudes and attitudes to science, and science teaching for pre-service primary teachers using instruments such as the Test on Understanding Science (TOUS), Science Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ), and Attitudes to Science and Science Teaching Questionnaire (ASSTQ). He found some correlation between understanding of science and scientific attitudes, and attitudes to science and science teaching.


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Theses Focusing Mainly on Teaching

Research into science teachers’ thinking, pedagogical content knowledge, and teachers’ forms of learning are important aspects for science education development in any country. This is largely based on the assumption that teachers are the crucial factor when it comes to curricular reform and change. Teachers’ competencies, attitudes, and growth become areas of government, community, and public interests because they have direct impact on classroom instruction. CHI Lee (2003) examined what mattered to 432 primary school science teachers in their practice and surfaced five key factors: (1) Subject matter knowledge; (2) operations of science; (3) experience; (4) pedagogical knowledge, and, (5) nature and application of science. In the arena of teachers’ knowledge in the specific discipline of science, Y-J Lee (1998) found that secondary school teachers have more misconceptions or alternative conceptions regarding evolution and ecology when compared to junior colleges teachers. Teachers’ subject matter knowledge is an area of grave concern for primary school teachers but Lee’s study highlighted that subject matter knowledge among secondary school teachers and junior college teachers is also deserving of attention. Complementary to teachers’ content knowledge is teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Ho (2003) examined teachers PCK for four topics in physical science (heat, refraction, mass, air pressure). Teachers’ theories about teaching and about their own practices often impact their behavior in the classroom. L-L Tan (1997) showed that in her sample of 348 teachers, they believed that their roles as science teachers were to impart knowledge to the students. Although they used a variety of teaching methods in their practice, they were deeply concerned with external demands such as examinations and completion of the prescribed syllabus. In another study, B Tan (2007) examined teachers’ beliefs about creativity in chemistry education and the teachers classified traits such as ability to generate new ideas, being able to teach/learn in unconventional ways and not bound by rules. These beliefs are likely to be important in assessing and realization of creativity in the teaching of chemistry. Lastly, in one unconventional study, that related religious ideology to science, Othman (2006) examined 34 in-service science teachers teaching in Madrasahs (Islamic religious schools) for their views about science education and Islam. These teachers felt that science and Islam could be integrated and science should be taught in classrooms but they disagreed that science is more important than religion. This study is described as unconventional as there are few studies in Singapore that addresses issues of religion and race.

Theses Focusing Mainly on Students’ Conceptions and Conceptual Change

Research on students’ conceptions and conceptual change in science examines students’ understanding and suggests instructional approaches for conceptual change. This form of research gained prominence in the early 1980s and has since generated large amount of research worldwide (Anderson, 2007). In Singapore, it is surprising to find that among the 47 theses examined, only three focused

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specifically on students’ conceptual change. Woon (1998) carried out his study on the concept of light and used instruments such as Structure of Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) and Taxonomy and Students’ Seeing Framework (SSF). He found that students did not have a complete understanding of light and factors such as age, gender, and familiarity with the concept determined the level of understanding of light. Zaman (2003) examined the learning of meiosis and Mendalian genetics among polytechnic students. She found that students had difficulties with the labeling of chromosomes and deduction of wrong chromosomes numbers using the Bajema strategy that is a meiosis template. Chew (2007) developed a program of innovative, biology-infused demonstrations in junior college physics and showed that these demonstrations had effects on physics achievement, conceptual change, and attitudes among students at junior college level.

Theses Focusing Mainly on Classroom Contexts and Learner Characteristics

Research into classroom contexts and learner characteristics in science education dominated science education research in Singapore as evident from 16 graduate students’ work in this area. The popularity could perhaps stem from the fact that many of the graduate students are also teachers seeking to understand their own classrooms and the students whom they interact with everyday. Another possible reason lies in the fact that the funding available for this form of research is generous as the Ministry of Education in Singapore constantly seeks innovations in science pedagogies to stay relevant. The earliest thesis in this area of research was carried out by Kam (1985) on a group of 426 grade 9 students subjected to two different science curricula: One that was more inquiry biased while the other more content-oriented. She found that students’ attainment of practical skills was related to the achievement level of students and the type of curriculum they had at the lower secondary level. From the 1990s onwards, research in this area focused on science teaching and learning strategies and models and their effects on students’ learning. For example, the impact of being involved in investigative laboratory work or explicit instruction of science process skills in enhancing the students’ science achievement was studied by Toh (1990), Singh (1999) and Ganesan (2001). With the popularity of problem-based methodologies in education, studies were done on strategies that were designed around a problem or a task to engage the students in science learning (Carrie, 2003). Chia (2002) found that in the process of Problem-Based Learning (PBL), sources of inspiration for the teacher stemmed mainly from cultural beliefs/old wives tales, wonderment about media propagation, curiosity from personal or family experiences. Students enjoyed PBL because they are given the freedom to choose the topic. There are studies that focused on specific learning strategies and their impact on science learning (LKE Tay, 1993). The use of concept maps in science learning was done by Mohammed Nasir (1992) on grade 9 students and Ling (2006) carried out her study on grade 4 students. Both studies found that the use of


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concept maps had a positive effect on students’ science performance. In yet another study carried out on 59 lower-tracked students, Gwan (1996) found that self-questioning techniques in the science classroom led to improved science scores as well as generation of higher order thinking questions. In contrast to individual learning, Low (1996) found that students working in cooperative groups outperformed students working individually for content and process skills. There are however no significant differences in attitudes towards science for both groups of students. More recently, research on classroom environment in science and how students perceive their learning environment was carried out (TY Chin, 2000; WC Seah, 2006; Yeo, 2003). BE Ng (2004) studied how students’ science reasoning skills could be improved from being exposed to inquiry treatment while Theng (2005) found that using demonstrations could lead to a conceptual change among primary students on the topics of levers and pulleys. Quek (2005) examined the impact of a special gifted program on the development of science talent. She found that participants’ intrapersonal qualities were crucial for their achievements in science: Sense of curiosity, passion for science, and persistence. AL Tan (2006) compared laboratory and classroom instruction in high school biology in ecology and reproduction in plants. She examined the classroom and laboratory interactions between teachers and students when these two topics were taught. Guo (2004) conducted a study about university students’ learning of science and engineering by examining the discourse of tertiary science textbooks using systemic functional grammar. He found that teachers organized their teaching along a meaning-based pedagogy according to the text types and lexicogrammatical realizations of textbooks.

Theses Focusing on Goals and Policy, Curriculum, Evaluation, and Assessment

There are three theses that can be categorized under the category of goals and policy, curriculum, evaluation, and assessment. In the 70s, Chong (1978) carried out a small scale study that evaluated a physical science curriculum. In his study, he used questionnaires to obtain perception data on physical science course to determine if the curricular objectives of the course were attained. In the 80s, Singham (1987) carried out an in-depth analysis of the planned curriculum for science process skills in primary schools called the Primary Science Project (PSP) and compared it against the enacted form of the curriculum. Using lesson observations of 30 classrooms, Singham found that teachers tended to underestimate the capabilities of children in process skills and this impacted the enacted curriculum. There was silence from this area of research in the 90s and it was not until 2006 when Venthan (2006) used classroom coding data from the Singapore Coding Scheme to examine the enacted science curriculum in the Singapore schools. His data corpus was made up of 1000 lesson observations from 57 schools. His study reported that in the secondary science classroom, teachers’ tools included Powerpoint slides, laboratory apparatus, and the products that students produced as a result of science classes are usually completed worksheets or work from the workbook.

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Theses Focusing on Cultural, Social Status, and Gender Issues

Issues of culture, social status, and gender were addressed by seven studies done from 1971. Mackie (1971) did a comparative study of science education in Singapore and Scotland in secondary schools. He examined the historical developments of science education after World War 2 by analyzing state curriculum documents. In the mid 80s, this area of research became active in Singapore due to increased emphasis on science and technology education for economic growth and this is seen by three theses that examined the relationship between science learning and achievements with respect to general abilities, interest in science, gender, social economic status (CT Lim, 1986; CK Ng, 1989; Woo, 1989). These studies were all carried out on large groups of students using instruments such as the Description of Science Learning (DES), Attitudes to Science (ATS) and Reed Science Interest Inventory (RSAI). Following these three studies, Foong (1993) completed a study on 100 grade 7 students using causal modeling procedures to test causal inference about hypothesized relationships among ability, prior achievement, motivation, peer influence, classroom environment, amount of television watched, home environment, parents’ educational level, student perception of science teacher, homework, attitudes to science, and science achievement. Ten years later, two other studies were done to compare achievements in science learning across different societies and cultures. These two studies using the Trends in Mathematics and Science Scores (TIMSS) as their comparison was carried out during a period of time when the TIMSS achievements of the Singapore students were highlighted and given emphasis by the media. Khoo (2003) used population two of TIMSS that is equivalent to 8650 grades six and seven students in Singapore and compared the students’ achievement in Hong Kong, England, Switzerland, United States, Israel, and Singapore. His intention was to determine if culture affected science achievements. He found correlation between motivation and cognitive demands on the students’ science achievements across the different countries. A year later, KHG Tan (2004) carried out a study on 504 grade four students ability to carry out the TIMSS-95 performance tasks and found that the grade four students in Singapore were able to outperform their peers in the international community.

Theses Focusing Mainly on History, Philosophy, Epistemology, and Nature of Science

The next classificatory category used by Tsai and Wen (2005) deals with the history, philosophy, epistemology, and nature of science. This area of study is less popular and there was only one study that examined pre-service teachers’ perception of nature of science (LT Tan, 2004). Tan found that the 215 pre-service teachers he sampled had a relatively poor grasp of what science is. There were no theses that dealt with students’ conception of what science is.


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Theses Focusing Mainly on Educational Technology

The use of technology in science education research was given attention in Singapore in the mid 1990s and gained popularity after 1998 when the use of information technology (IT) became a focus in education with the beginning of the IT Master Plan 1 by the MOE. Funding and recognition was given to those who were interested in this form of research. This drove the research community (including science education) to explore ways to integrate IT into the classroom and develop methods to assess online learning. Six theses within a span of 10 years from 1996 to 2007 were written on various aspects of use of ICT in science education. SC Tan (1996) published the first student’s thesis on the use of computer-assisted instruction in chemistry learning. In his study, the students received computer-assisted instruction on the topic of organic chemistry for about 7.5 hours. Students were randomly assigned to three different groups: Partial map group (partial concept maps in the program and assigned the task of constructing complete concept map after each topic); complete map group (provided with complete concept maps and students performed note-taking activities during the lessons), and, menu-selection group (traditional menu-selection system and they performed note-taking activities). He concluded that there were no significant differences in attitudes towards chemistry or attitudes towards computer-assisted instruction among the three groups of students. After 1998, a rush of research activities for use of IT in science education ensued. LK Ng (2001) examined if the use of computer technology could enhance general creativity as well as creativity in science for a group of 40 grade 4 students in the gifted programme. Her study indicated significant improvement in students’ attitudes toward science for students who were not using computer technology. TH Tan (2003) studied students’ online behavior and their science achievements. Using a sample of 90 grade 10 students, he showed that there was a linear correlation between the log-on time and the learning outcome in science although there is no corresponding relationship between log-on times and students’ motivation in science learning. So (2004) later examined the learning of 71 grade 7 students using three science investigative activities and monitored their discussion using an online discussion forum called Knowledge Forum. She found that using appropriate scaffolds to structure the students’ thought processes on Knowledge Forum led to better performance in science inquiry. More recently, with the emphasis on science practical skills as well as inquiry in the new science curriculum, the use of data-loggers in science learning is in the spotlight. WC Seah (2006) examined the use of data-logging devices to facilitate inquiry. In her sample of 593 teachers and 151 grade 8 students, she found that data-loggers were used in a content-laden manner rather than a process-laden manner. The elements of science inquiry were not extensive and the affordances of data-loggers were not meaningfully tapped. Lastly, Tsoi (2007), as part of his doctoral work developed a pedagogical model to enable teachers to engage in more meaningful and feasible pedagogical structure in multimedia design.

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Theses Focusing Mainly on Informal Learning

Informal learning is an area of research that is gaining popularity in Singapore and is identified as one of the three major research trusts for science education research in the National Institute of Education in the next five years. Learning journeys (where students are brought outside their classrooms to places around Singapore to learn about their country) became a compulsory part of every child’s education from 1998 with the introduction of a formal National Education curriculum. Learning journeys are planned across all disciplines and in science, places such as the science centers, nature parks, water treatment plans and many areas managed by the health and environment authorities serves as sites for information learning for the students. To date, there are three graduate students working on the impact of informal learning on students’ science learning. One of the earliest studies was carried out by Chang (1974) on the effects of enrichment activities such as films, excursions, projects, quizzes on development of scientific interest and scientific concepts. She found that students exposed to these enrichment activities did better as compared to those who were not. Eleven years later, Chang’s student, Lam (1985) carried out her study that compared science centre activities and effects on science interest. She used the RSAI (Reed Science Activity Inventory) and cooperative science test to measure students learning. She reported that participation in science enrichment activities that were meaningfully related to familiar topics facilitated the development of science interest and improvement science achievements among 180 Grade 8 girls. Also based in the science centre as a venue for informal learning, Caleon (2005) developed a cryogenic-based program in Snow City (part of science centre) and reported large significant learning gains in terms of the students’ knowledge of nitrogen immediately and two weeks after their cryogenic-based enrichment program experience.

THE NEXT LAP

Over 43 years, science education in Singapore has gone through different winds of change. Changes in the political landscape and societal demands are a prelude to changes and innovations in science education. While some may argue that science education research is a securely insulated arena housed in ivory towers, these winds of change appears to penetrate and ooze in through many aspects of science education research in this small country and has certainly influenced and shaped the research direction. The literature reviewed implied that, with few exceptions, science education research in Singapore largely lag behind policy changes—policy changes are made independent of science education research findings in Singapore. In 1997, when thinking skills were emphasized in the curriculum, research activities in science relating to thinking processes burgeoned and the number of studies carried out involving inquiry also increased after the revamp of the science curriculum in recent years to give emphasis to inquiry. If local science education research findings do not inform policies decisions, it is perhaps appropriate to wonder how science education policies are crafted and the role science education research plays in Singapore. It is possible that science education policies in


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Singapore are informed by science education research literature published internationally and this subsequently shape the science education research culture in Singapore. Singapore science education research, has to date, been focusing on small scale, short term studies carried out to study students’ conceptions, learning and classroom environment. To develop a more thorough and perhaps critical understanding of the age and cohort effects of science education on students, a possible way forward could possibly be to emphasize large-scale longitudinal studies. Longitudinal studies have the capacity to dissect the components within a population under study and show changes of individual learners over time (Diggle, Heagerty, Liang, & Zeger, 2002). Coupling the recommendations of large scale longitudinal studies such as those from CRPP to inform theory in science education would be emphases on micro-genetic and qualitative work. This form of science education research has taken root in Singapore in a small way with publications from YJ Lee (2008), Towndrow (2008) and AL Tan (2008). Such studies enhance results obtained from longitudinal studies and inform local policies in their decision making. However, carrying out such studies will require expertise, interest and funding be made available, factors that are still being developed locally among our academics. With recent effort and interest to boost science education research in Singapore, generous funding from the government has been approved to support academics in their research. As a result of the varied direction in which science education research has been going in the last five years, in 2008 at the NIE, science education researchers got together to deliberate on a more concerted direction in which science education research in Singapore should progress in the next five years. Guided by information from the international science research arena, the current strengths of academics and the needs of stakeholders and funding agencies such as the MOE, three key areas of research surfaced as important: (1) conceptual change and learning; (2) teaching and teacher education in science, and, (3) informal science learning (National Institute of Education, 2008). Each of these areas has their own unique deliverables spelt out to meet the needs of the funding body. For conceptual change and learning, the research will address the immediate needs in science instruction and also to produce locally relevant curriculum packages that will facilitate teaching and learning among students and teachers. For the strand on teaching and teacher education in science, the group is focusing on evaluations of interventions in schools and building the capabilities of teachers to engage in action research. In informal learning, the focus is on identification and utilization of new informal learning environments and programs and examination of how people learn with a closer alignment with school science. These three areas of science education research that have been given priority for the next five years are not novel areas of research. The challenge for Singapore is to offer new insights and knowledge to existing fields of knowledge and to cast new light in the midst of rapid changes in technology and scientific advancement, both locally and globally. The contribution from science education research in Singapore to the global academic community can further be enhanced in the future with this increased support and emphasis on science education research.

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Aik-Ling Tan National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Science education research in Singapore: Adapting to the winds of change

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