This exploratory study introduces the systemic approach and the explicit teaching of a meta-language to provide conceptual tools for students for the analysis and interpretation of multimodal texts. Equipping students with a set of specialised vocabulary with conventionalised meanings associated with specific choices in multimodal texts empowers…

This paper presents the customization of Easy Java Simulation models, used with actual laboratory instruments, to create active experiential learning for measurements. The laboratory instruments are the vernier caliper and the micrometer. Three computer model design ideas that complement real equipment are discussed. These ideas involve (1) a…

This article illustrates how findings from a study of teachers' and students' uses of laptop computers in a secondary school in Singapore informed the development of an Innovation Configuration (IC) Map--a tool for identifying and describing alternative ways of implementing innovations based on teachers' unique feelings, preoccupations, thoughts…

This research paper explores students' motivation and teachers' teaching practices towards the writing of compositions in the conventional paper-based (paper and pencil) and the online blogs mode. Six classes of Grade 5 (224 students) and four English teachers in an elementary-level future school in Singapore were involved in this study. A total…

This exploratory case study research describes the integration of Information Communication Technology (ICT) into the teaching and learning of English, mathematics and science in an elementary school in Singapore. The school in this case study research is one of the first primary-level future schools that was set up under the…

In this paper, we describe and discuss an information and communication technology (ICT)-based intervention designed to improve secondary school students' "revision" (in contrast to "learning") of physics concepts. We show that students' engagement in joint activities via our ICT-based intervention can provide them (and their…

Many current ICT-supported reform efforts demand teachers to assume the role of epistemic facilitator of knowledge construction supported by technology. It is thus important for teacher educators to understand teachers' epistemic beliefs. This qualitative study investigated seven Singaporean in-service teachers' epistemic beliefs and their…

This paper examines how a game-like 3D Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE), Quest Atlantis (QA), is used in an after-school programme to engage a group of 14 academically at-risk primary students in their learning. It adopts an activity theoretical perspective to identify the disturbances and contradictions during the implementation of the…

With rapid developments in information technology (IT) and the increasingly sophisticated abilities of IT users, schools have the inevitable task of integrating IT in their school curriculum. Owing to the prevalent use of educational technology in schools, it is often questioned whether information literacy (IL) is necessary in the school…

This article examines the strategies employed by four Singapore schools (two primary and two junior colleges) to manage barriers to information and communication technologies (ICT) integration. Based on the observations of ICT-mediated lessons and face-to-face interviews with teachers, ICT heads-of-department and school principals, six strategies…

This study explores three teachers' perceptions and developments as a result of experiencing learning and teaching in a knowledge-building community (KBC). To understand the teachers' views, in-depth interviews were conducted. The transcripts were coded using a grounded theory approach. The findings indicate that KBC is reportedly viewed by the…