Students spotted “strawberries” and did their own research on them.

One student recalled that she saw the “strawberries” before going home and went on to do a little research on her own. She found out that they were the eggs of a type of water snail.

The Science Initiative

This is just one example of how the new Sec 1 Science curriculum at Jurong Secondary School has piqued the interest of the students and motivated them to be independent learners. The new curriculum is part of the school’s approach to “Teach Less, Learn More”. It was designed based on the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) pedagogy - a student-centric teaching approach that presents students with real-life problems, which they have to investigate in order to identify the causes and propose possible solutions.

In this case, the trigger to the “problem” came in the form of a resident’s letter to the press expressing concern about the impact of human activities on the ecosystem in Jurong Lake Park. Working in groups, the students had to establish the learning issues, carry out research and investigations, and subsequently share their findings and present their solutions.

While planning kicked off in March last year, the actual curriculum design by Jurong Secondary School’s Science department took place during the June holidays. What was the result of their collaborative planning? A 14-week scheme of work that creatively integrated three topics from three different Science subjects: ecological systems for Biology, separation methods for Chemistry and heat transfer processes for Physics. In this scheme of work, students were challenged to perform three main tasks:

1. Investigate the impact of human activities on the ecological system in Jurong Lake Park.
2. Investigate the water quality in Jurong Lake.
3. Propose ways to improve heat dissipation in the shelters built around the park.

A new curriculum

The new curriculum was implemented during the second semester in five Sec 1 Express classes in 2006. To ease the students into a new way of learning, the teachers held a two-week introduction programme to teach PBL processes, collaboration skills, and the use of tablet PCs and the Learning Management System (LMS). The LMS is similar to an e-portal where students and teachers could engage in online discussions and share their files and resources.

With this new approach, students found that learning Science wasn’t just about exploring ideas in the abstract. Instead, they learnt to apply scientific methodologies and theories through hands-on activities to solve problems. For example, to test the water quality, they learnt separation techniques and qualitative analysis; to create models of the park shelters, they learnt the different heat transfer processes, and how to use data-loggers to record temperature change in the models.

At different stages of the investigation, teachers evaluated the students through their journal writing, group reports, models and presentations. To support the PBL lessons, the school converted two classrooms into a PBL studio - an innovation in itself with specially designed flexible furniture to facilitate group work, walls that can be used as white boards and a sink with a water supply so that simple experiments can be conducted. A wireless network and tablet PCs were also specially acquired to extend learning beyond the classroom.

Students discussing the temperature change in one of their shelter models with their teacher.

A learning experience for students and teachers

Reflecting on their experience through this new curriculum, Sec 2 student Lim Qiu Ling, who went through the programme last year, said, “PBL is interesting and has made it easier for me to understand Science. I hated Science at first, but now it has become very meaningful to me.”

Another Sec 2 student, Lynn Chiam, enthused, “Even though I disliked PBL at the beginning, I soon adapted to it. Besides knowledge, the skills I have learnt were teamwork, research, presentation skills and independence; these will be of great help to me in the future.”

While students have adopted a new mindset towards learning, the teachers have also taken on new roles. Instead of feeding students with information, they now facilitate the students’ quest for knowledge. For some teachers, this entailed some learning too.

“It was a good experience for a young teacher like me. I got the opportunity to attend various workshops, learn new pedagogies and try them out in the classrooms. Students are also more engaged and they’re able to ask better questions,” reflected Mr Traven Loh, a Physics teacher.

Jurong Secondary School refined the Sec 1 Science curriculum this year and expanded it to include the N(A) stream as well. It also introduced a new Sec 2 Science curriculum for the Express and N(A) streams, again integrating three different topics: the digestive system from Biology, acids and bases from Chemistry and electricity from Physics.

Looking ahead, the school plans to use PBL in the teaching of more subjects. Mr Alvin Lau, the Head of Department for Science, said that it is not the immediate academic results they’re focused on but a more long-term change. “PBL connects students' learning with authentic real-life problems. Instead of just learning content knowledge, students learn the skills of learning, which will empower them to be self-directed life-long learners even after they leave school.”