Sunday, July 25, 2010

Nan Qiao Primary 1 no more exams, but Pri 2..

Last week, parents of Nan Qiao Primary were briefed on Ministry of Education (MOE) new Holistic assessment.



MOE's maxim is "Teach Less , Learn More".

- schools are encouraged to drop Exams for Pri 1 and 2
- more projects and continual assessment (bite size)
- frequent feedback between teachers and parents
- children will be encouraged to learn at own pace

Before we start the session, we were shown a clip of Tomorrow's teaching medium.
How does K12 students in US embrace technology, and gets equipped for 21st century?



Maybe Wei will be asking for iphone or ipad sooner than later?


Snippet of future assessment model

For more information, please visit http://www.moe.gov.sg/initiatives/peri/updates

How will MOE's new Holistic curriculum
impact Singapore's Pri 1 and 2 children?


1) Teaching and assessment methods
- teachers need to engage new breed of students, who grew up on Internet
- teaching method will change, with emphasize on internet and social medias
(eg Facebook, DigitalStories)
- bite size assessment with more quizes and tasks (easier to digest)
- emphasize on oral skills, expressions of ideas, passion for subjects


2) Exam realignment
- emphasize on Oral Linguistic skills (spoken, show and tell)
- old school teaching focus more on written skills

In the pursuit for academic excellence, Nan Qiao will still focus on character development. We need Firm moral foundation, before we can seek out the truth.


By 2013, two major milestones will impact all Primary 1 and 2 children.

- a) single session schools, the idea is to allow children
more opportunities and "free" time to develop other non-academic interests
- b) No exams for Pri 1 , Pri 2 (maybe)

Exciting times lie ahead.
Will it be more or less stressful for kids (and parents?)
Only time will tell.

Our session ends with a famous quote from Mark Luther :
"Intelligence and Character is the true meaning of Education"


credits ..
ipad pic taken from http://www.apple.com/ipad/gallery/

5 comments:

  1. the same things are being talked about here as well.. abolishing exams etc etc etc...

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  2. hi andy,

    I taught it was Teach Less Learn More?

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  3. hi papabear, I did not know Malaysia also considering less exams :) thanks for the heads up.

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  4. @kole : Yes teacher Kole, thank you for the correction. It is embarassing, but I have a good laugh :p

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  5. haha..no exam for P1 & P2, then P3 streaming , expect more children without exam experience straight to foundation class (EM3),straight train to ITE? I guessed ..haha... :(

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