Class Contact Details

Hi Peeps Of 3A1,

Pls go to the following link and update your contact details. This would be extremely useful for last minute notifications...Thx a million!

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuqwQQDL5UPEdGNCLWpzZ3NrQnliMGdaU2pSNWZIVWc&hl=en

MEd 858 Last Session

Last session yesterday, but still a lot left to do. At least for me cos I'm not a confident writer of an academic paper. I cannot even write a formal letter properly...:( I know I'm not the only one who is worried and that's comforting to know. I like the jigsaw activity that we carried out in class today. However, it would be a good idea if expert group members could share with other groups about their part face-to-face instead of leaving the notes on WIKI. But I supposed it was done that way as it was almost 5 pm. I would like to replicate the study in my class next year. However, I'm not sure how to analyse the statistics because my group did not get to have a hands-on session on that as we were required to do the literature review. I'm taking a break today and will scrutinise the contents of the group activity on WIKI tomorrow....

Hooked On Facebook....

Woah...I created a Facebook account a few months back but have hardly logged onto it until now. If my group mates do not respond to my smses, I'm hoping to catch them on Facebook or at least wait for their reply there. We're at present confused over the paper that we are supposed to read. I think some of us have accidentally read the wrong ones...ooops! It would have helped greatly if the full title of the paper has been mentioned.
My IT-savvy hubby has been teasing me about all the new terms I've been using lately with regards to WIKI, Facebook and the Blog. I've been getting invites from my students ever since I started the Facebook account but have never accepted till now. I've decided to open up my life to them. Today, on my Facebook, an ex-student asked me to read his tribute to me on his blog...how sweet! His blog is linked to another ex-student and I got to know that the student is going for a tummy op...oh dear..I'd better try to keep in touch with him...

Chinese Language Classroom Learning Environment

Validation Of The Chinese Language Classroom Learning Environment Inventory for Investigating The Nature Of Chinese Language Classroom

Objectives of the study :

(1) Describe validation procedures of the CLEI ( Chinese Language Classroom Learning Environment Inventory
(2) Report validation results obtained from the various statistical procedures
(3) Compare results of the validation with WIHIC

Methodology

Sample : 1460 Express students from 25 schools

Instrument : CLCEI ( Bilingual - Eng and CL )
Scales : (a) Student Cohesiveness
(b)Teacher Support
(c) Involvement
(d)Task Orientation
(e)Co-operation
(f) Equity

4 different forms : student-actual. student-preferred, teacher-actual, teacher-preferred

Data collection : Researcher conducted the procedure personally
Instructions written down to ensure uniformity in the way the survey was conducted in all the 25 schools
CL teachers checked to see if students had left any questions unamswered.
Instructions given in Mandarin
SPSS used to analyse data

Results :

(1) Internal consistency of CLCEI higher than WIHIC
(2) Equity varies according to cultural context : Eg : Value of Equity scale higher in Taiwan than in Indonesia
(3) Each scale of CLCEI is able to differentiate significantly between perceptions of students from different classrooms

Conclusion : CLCEI is a reliable bilingual instrument that can be used to assess CL learning environment in Singapore secondary schools.

Chemistry Learning Environment

Student Perceptions Of Chemistry Laboratory Learning Environments, Student-Teacher Interactions and Attitudes in Secondary School Gifted Education Classes In Singapore.

Learning Points :

First study conducted in gifted chemistry classrooms in Singapore- may provide useful information for teachers teaching chemistry in lab settings.

Student cohesiveness refers to how involved people are in the environment and the extent of support amongst themselves
Open-endedness refers to the extent of personal growth
System maintenance refers to how orderly the environment is and whether there are clear expectations
Low reliability of the open-endedness scale may be due to the method of teaching
( drilling students how to conduct experiments ) because students were preparing for national exams.

Gifted students reported greater student cohesiveness, integration and better material environment compared to non-gifted students for both actual and preferred environment.
Girls reported greater student cohesiveness in actual environment but prefer greater rule clarity and better material environment
Girls perceived greater student-teacher interaction
Recommendations include:
More-open ended learning environment
More lively and practical approach should be incorporated into both lab and theory work
Improve quality of material environment
Dynamic teacher-student interaction will help manage a more effective learning environment
Interpersonal behaviour of teachers affect students’ attitude towards the subject

New Terms Learnt

Open-endedness
CLEI – Chemistry Learning Emvironment Inventory
QOCRA – Questionnaire on Chemistry Related Attitudes

Watch an exploding banana! Any chemistry teacher out there? Care to explain this,pls?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kio29Ob8oIE

My Reflections On Session 4

We were introduced to the SPSS today. I've always wanted to find out how to go about using it. There is really a big gap for me when it comes to IT. I do not know how to use Excel! I usually use it to sort the students' marks after exams. That's about it. I don't usually need the Excel for anything else. I'll just use the template given by fellow colleagues to perform item analysis. So I really should close the gap this holiday by getting my husband to teach me how to use it. And I should really stop relying on my IT support (aka husband) too much.
I bought the SPSS software from the bookshop after class...yes, I am kiasu. But I would really like to use it for action research purposes next year. I thought it was $25. The lady at the counter said it was $52.50 but I paid $54 at the cashier. It was late...I didn't want to argue with her...

Session 3 MED 858

I was not as nervous as I was in class yesterday compared to the pre-session last week. I am slowly getting used to the blog again. I learnt how to include my classmates' blogs to mine. I hope my students do not read this...it's sooooo embarassing...:p:p

I was having problems at home trying to write on the WIKI space. In class, I realised I wasn't the only one having the problem. It's the system...not me after all...:p:p
It is also interesting to learn about Victoria School and Maris Stella School's online project work for the whole school. I wonder how online work can be successfully carried out in my school, especially in Maths. Even though the students have the Ace-learning portal to work with, students are generally not motivated to go through the examples and the exercises unless supervised. Anyone out there have any ideas how to motivate these kids to do the online activities???

I read some of the teachers' blogs and like me, we are having similar feelings about the readings load. But I am really learning a lot from the readings. In Islam, it's important for us to quote the hadith ( the practices of the prophet ) when teaching people about Islamic practices. So I suppose, it'd be good too to share findings with colleagues when we intend to implement certain practices in our classrooms....