Developing Capacities for New Competencies: Use of problem-based innovation in Singapore

Developing Capacities for New Competencies:Use of problem-based innovation in Singapore Prof Dr. Tan, Oon Seng National Institute of Education, Singapore

Outline • The challenges of the 21st century • The call for new competencies • The role of education in developing the 21st century learner • Key focuses of education in the Singapore context • Problem-based learning as the missing piece in the puzzle • The Problem-based learning process • Five models of Problem-based learning • Useful approaches within the Problem-based learning paradigm • The role of Problem-based learning in education reform • Impact of Problem-based learning on learners • Conclusion

Challenges of the 21st century • The current age is an era of global pandemics, environmental disasters, terrorism, and complex political and socio-economic problems. • 21st century: calls for a transformation of thought • Flexible thinking in new environments • Education today lacks effective use of inquiry and problem-solving approaches. • The 21st century worker needs to • think on his feet when confronted with an unfamiliar situation. • be able to adapt positively to rapidly changing demands. • be competent to take on problems with an inquisitive mind. • constantly improve and innovate on processes and products. • creatively integrate information from the various disciplines. • Education plays an important role in preparing citizens to acquire cognitive skills needed to function in new and changing environments.

The call for new competencies • Poll of US employers highlighted some key 21st century skills. • The ability to think outside the box • Creativity, innovativeness and the ability to think across disciplines • New-media/information literacy • The ability to manage, interpret, validate and use information • The ability to research, formulate ideas and defend their own views • Good people skills • Social awareness skills, self-awareness, self-management, communication skills • Critical thinking skills • The ability to evaluate the validity and reliability of information • The ability to reason intelligently and coherently • A telescopic and helicopter worldview • Understanding the past and seeing the future • Rising above the micro and fragmentary and acquiring a bigger picture of things • Knowing how to learn • Ability to self-instruct and self-monitor learning • Ability to interact with multiple modes of learning and engage with creative people

Role of education in developing the 21st century learner • The 21st century is characterised by a knowledge-based economy. • Challenges the traditional notions of knowledge, skills and attitude transmission • To thrive, students need to be equipped with intelligence manifested in the ability to deal with new real-world problems • A different set of intelligences e.g. learning how to do things, ability to deal with novelty, capacity to adapt our interactions with the environment • Education in the KBE should • encourage learning throughout life • foster the transfer of learning across contexts and disciplines • allow the individual to assume greater responsibility for one’s learning • teach the learner how to learn from multiple sources and resources • engage the learner to learn collaboratively • train the learner to cope with change and solve problems

Key focuses of education in the Singapore context • A vision to turn Singapore into a place for people to develop their potential through continuous learning • Mindset changes towards learning are necessary: • Learners need to assume personal responsibility for one’s own learning • Teachers need to believe that innovation in education is necessary • Ministry of Education, Singapore identified core knowledge and skill-sets for 21st century living as new key focuses for education: • Knowledge of world issues and current affairs • Literacy (numerical, linguistic, cultural, scientific and technological domains) • Life-long learning skills • Ability to manage ambiguity, complexity and novelty • Ability to communicate new ideas

Problem-based learning is the missing piece in the puzzle • Problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum is an ideal paradigm for developing the 21st century learner. • Problem presented  Further exploration  Achieve sufficient understanding • Problem can take on various forms. • Problem is unstructured and open-ended in nature. • Problem to challenge students’ current knowledge, attitudes and competencies • Serves as an anchor for opportunities to be advanced • PBL offers opportunities to exercise and develop creativity. • Creative ability is important: the process which gives rise to a change in perception • Valued as an essential capability in an age of information accessibility, globalization • Essential trait for generating new ideas/applications

Problem-based learning is the missing piece in the puzzle • Collaborative knowledge-building and self-directed learning environment • Group members identify information needed and share responsibilities in information searches. • Information then organized into a meaningful conceptual framework • Learner relies on various sources (internet, media, library, etc) for self-directed study. • PBL is a learner-centred approach • PBL pedagogy is based on constructivism: • Learners develop the ability to deal with novelty and complexity. • Problem will call for multiple perspectives takes into account knowledge from different subjects and disciplines • Learners assume major responsibility in information and knowledge acquisition. • Learners’ inquiry and problem-solving skills developed in the process

The PBL process • Problem presented to students • Problem may be in the form of a case study analysis, research paper finding, videotape recording etc • Students pose “learning issues” throughout the discussions to delineate aspects of the problem they cannot understand. • Learning issues recorded and used to generate and focus discussions • Group to decide which questions will be addressed by the whole group/handled by individuals • Process develops into one with a broad overview encompassing analytical thinking, generative and divergent thinking. • Facilitators to scaffold to enable conceptual clarification, knowledge building, argumentation and evaluation and the evolution of new perspective • Students come together to synthesize previous learning issues with/into new knowledge learning as an ongoing process

Five models of PBL (differentiated by the role of learners in process of knowledge construction) (1) PBL for epistemologocal competence • PBL as a means of helping students to acquire required curriculum content and to become competent in applying the knowledge to solve problems (2) PBL for professional action • Students to be empowered with capabilities and mechanisms to apply the ability to other kinds of problem scenarios and situations within given frameworks • Important to integrate this model with skills concepts, cognitive content and professional judgment (3) PBL for interdisciplinary understanding • Learning is knowing and understanding knowledge from the different disciplines, and recognizing the relationship between them.

Five models of PBL (differentiated by the role of learners in process of knowledge construction) (4) PBL for transdisciplinary learning • PBL group used as a platform to examine personal and pedagogical framework • Students to develop an overview of the framework by adopting a critical position towards knowledge, themselves and their peers. (5) PBL for critical contestability • Students required to examine underlying structures and belief systems implicit within a discipline • Students involved in knowledge construction build upon and integrate previously learned knowledge and skills with current material

Useful approaches within PBL paradigm Three levels in terms of increasing authenticity, complexity, uncertainty and student self-direction • Level 1: Academic Challenge • Student work structured as a problem arising directly from an area of study develop in students the capacity for active learning Alex is a school badminton player. He is 14 and his coach has mentioned to him about his potential to be selected for the national team. Apart from rigorous training, Alex is wondering if nutrition would help increase his chances. One day he walked into a store selling nutritional supplements in a shopping center. The salesperson told him that what he needed was more muscle without gaining a lot of weight. Alex ended up buying a jar of creatine tablets that cost $60 and various other supplements costing $80. Alex learned subsequently that creatine comprises amino acids and is taken by many athletes. A family member, however, told him that there are side effects and that got him worried. Many athletes are in situations like Alex’s. You and your group have been selected as “young scientists” for a project on sports nutrition. Your team has been tasked to come up with a report and presentation to advise school sportsmen/women on nutrition.

Useful approaches within PBL paradigm Three levels in terms of increasing authenticity, complexity, uncertainty and student self-direction • Level 2: Scenario Challenge • Reality-based or fictional scenario used • Students casted into real-life roles and asked to perform roles skills and knowledge developed through the process • Incorporates existing curricular material in the process A venture capitalist wants to invest in research on ornamental plants. He is particularly interested in cross-breeding that would produce new flowering plants of multiple forms and colors with characteristics of high rates of flower production, stem resilience, etc. Together with a team of researchers, you are involved in investigating the composition of the ultimate made-to-order multi-vitamin, multi-mineral pill, which is customized according to DNA profiles. How would you go about doing that?

Useful approaches within PBL paradigm Three levels in terms of increasing authenticity, complexity, uncertainty and student self-direction • Level 3: Real-life problem • An actual problem in need of real solutions by real people or organizations As the geriatric population in Singapore increases, there is a growing need for services to help make the lives of the elderly easier and more rewarding. Unfortunately, there is inadequate planning rendered for aid to the elderly. The challenge is to plan, prepare and implement a way for students of your age to assist the elderly in this community. How could we get from here to the delivery of the assistance? • ‘Real’ nature of problem involves students directly and deeply in exploration of study. • Students take action on issues and exert tangible impact in their own communities  Such problems can present as powerful learning experiences

Role of PBL in education reform • Education reform needs to look into developing the intelligences in learners. • Traditional education programmes have an over-preoccupation with content. • Education would fail if institutions continue to teach only content to students  content knowledge becomes obsolete or irrelevant. • Efficacy of PBL paradigm supported by various studies • In trying to relate theory to practice, students • developed a greater ability to retain knowledge better and apply it more appropriately. • displayed increased motivation. • were able to engage in deep thinking. • Changing emphasis of education needed: to foster development of a critical mass of individuals with greater creativity and higher levels of thinking skills • Develop skills of fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration

Role of PBL in education reform • Internet revolution hastens need for curriculum content, delivery and assessment • The authority of teachers as knowledge experts challenged • In this revolution, educators to assume new roles  designers of the learning environment; imparter of transferable skills • PBL approach is the ideal reinvention for education in the knowledge-based era. • “Real-life problems” serve as more ideal anchors to train students how to learn. • Fits in the call for the new era which calls for learners to become active problem solvers and teachers to be mediating coaches • Individuals will be prepared with new competencies • Also: students are allowed to take greater ownership of their learning • Kick-start the mindset change of the present and future generations

Impact of PBL on learners • Engages the learner holistically • Increases the motivation of learners  self-directed learning • Active participation in problem-solving process  learners acquire knowledge and problem solving skills. • Students take on more responsibility for their learning as they delve deeper into issues of interest. • Raises the learner’s sense of self-awareness • Learners encouraged to assemble their own body of knowledge and ideas • Collaborative environment leads to clarification of one’s values, abilities, interests and goals  increased self-awareness • Enhances the social dimension of individuals • Ready forum for exchange of ideas and perspectives  trust  strengthening of interpersonal relationships

Impact of PBL on learners • Promotes higher-order thinking Learners acquire domain-relevant skills, creativity-relevant skills in the process of assessing the credibility and validity of information retrieved • The value of questions in discovering the problem • Questions play a vital role in evoking intellectual curiosity. • The role of constructivism to construct new cognitive structures • Learner requires to make connections to see different perspectives. • Teachers assist by scaffolding learners or by providing structure in knowledge construction. • Encourages process of learning how to learn • Students requires to identify existing gaps in their knowledge  encourages metacognition and self-regulated learning • Fosters new and different learning experiences • Students link new knowledge to past through reflections new meanings derived

Impact of PBL on learners • Maintains authenticity and relevance of learning to the real-world • Real-life problem gets rid of queries about the irrelevance of information (traditional curriculum)  students develop a tolerance for complexity of real-life situations and refined skills needed to solve real-life problems. • Enhances connectivity • Develops flexibility and helicopter views via cognitive strategies • By linking with the following: Prior knowledge, prior experiences, real-world context, theories, other people’s perceptions, new facts and ideas • Fosters collaborative learning, which • stimulates thinking through dialogue (mutual exploration, meaning-making and feedback) • necessitates an atmosphere of critical openness between group members (for collaborative learning to take place)

Conclusion • Educational system in Singapore is one that is continually adapting with the times • As of now: Broad-based and holistic curriculum  diversity within the curriculum structure created • Our Asian roots calls for education as a means nurturing the whole child, in terms of his/her moral, intellectual, social and aesthetic development. • Our physical location makes education also our key to survival. • Education needs to keep up with the times  PBL is the best paradigm for the new era • Addresses the challenges of the 21st century: develops learners’ competency in dealing with information/meaningful application of knowledge and skills • Brings out the best in students: building learning experiences on the interdependent attributes of meaningful learning

Developing Capacities for New Competencies: Use of problem-based innovation in Singapore