Secondary School Archives - Page 7 of 10

Index

Peh Shi Yun

Secondary School

Negotiating the Role of the (Beginning) Teacher in the Classroom

Author/s:

Peh Shi Yun (Innova Junior College, Singapore) Keywords Geography Junior College Secondary School Teachers’ Geographical Knowledge Teachers’ Practice Cultures Of Influence Introduction What is the role of the geography teacher in the classroom today? This is a complex question that has surfaced as a result of the recent (and upcoming) changes to the Singapore geography curriculum […]

Peh Shi Yun (Innova Junior College, Singapore)

Keywords
Geography
Junior College
Secondary School
Teachers’ Geographical Knowledge
Teachers’ Practice
Cultures Of Influence

Introduction
What is the role of the geography teacher in the classroom today? This is a complex question that has surfaced as a result of the recent (and upcoming) changes to the Singapore geography curriculum both at secondary and tertiary level. But perhaps the more important questions we should be asking are those that Brooks (2006) attempts to evaluate in her paper on Geography teachers and the making the school geography curriculum. She examined the “sort of geographical knowledges (that) trainee teachers are recreating in their classrooms” and questioned the “geographical knowledge the students may actually understand” (p. 75). Therefore, this paper attempts to review her paper by briefly outlining the main arguments and supporting evidence in Brooks’ (2006) paper whilst critically reflecting on its implications for teaching and learning geography in the Singapore context.

Argument 1: The Importance of (Accurate) Subject Knowledge Representation to Students
The first major argument in Brooks’ (2006) paper is how geography teachers influence the students’ takeaway of what school geography is by acting as a “mediator of geographical knowledge and a maker of the curriculum” (p. 77). She uses her lesson observations of 3 trainee teachers to bring out this complex role of the teachers in recreating geographical knowledges in the classroom. For example, through the study of the first trainee teacher’s lesson on solving acid rain, she noted how the study of acid rain had been simplified to a mere problem that could be solved using scientific means. She argued that the geographical aspect of the lesson was lost since the link between the “borderless nature of acid rain and its consequences in terms of the difficulty of establishing legislation and preventive measures” (Brooks, 2006, p. 78) across different countries due to differing political agendas was not brought out during the lesson. Hence, in presenting the issue of acid rain to students in this simplistic problem-solving manner, the geography teacher had mediated (or to put it in a more direct manner for this case study, restricted) the students’ understanding, both of the complexity of the issue of acid rain and the geographical nature of the problem. Brooks (2006) even went as far as to say that the “geography teacher has failed to teach them geography” (p. 83) if solving the issue of acid rain as a problem was all they took away from the lesson. This style of evaluating the geographical aspects (or lack thereof) in the lesson was similar across all 3 case studies presented in her paper. This was then used to illustrate how the geography teacher plays an important role in mediating the geographical knowledges of the students and even with the right materials, subject knowledge and pedagogical skills are required to effectively tease out the (accurate) geographical knowledge for the students.

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Disaster prevention literacies: Assessing the knowledge, skills and attitude of Taiwanese students for an earthquake disaster

Author/s:

Norfarahin Binte Abdul Rahim

Norfarahin Binte Abdul Rahim (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Bing Sheng Wu (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Keywords Geography Junior College Secondary School Physical Geography Education Introduction Earthquakes can have significant and catastrophic consequences to populations and the areas where they live and work. One way to mitigate the negative effect of the hazard on lives is […]

Norfarahin Binte Abdul Rahim (National Institute of Education, Singapore)
Bing Sheng Wu (National Institute of Education, Singapore)

Keywords
Geography
Junior College
Secondary School
Physical Geography Education

Introduction
Earthquakes can have significant and catastrophic consequences to populations and the areas where they live and work. One way to mitigate the negative effect of the hazard on lives is by building the preparedness of people in at-risk areas (Panić, Kovačević, Miljanović, 2012). However, the level of preparedness for earthquakes in not only developing but also developed countries is still problematic (Shaw, Shiwaku, & Kobayashi, 2004). Traditional approaches such as lecturing or book-reading about natural disasters rarely equip students with the skills and attitude of preparedness to respond effectively and survive future disasters (Panić, Kovačević, Miljanović, 2012). Effective education is especially important for earthquake-prone countries to reduce the vulnerability to death when a disaster strikes (Chang & Lin, 2012).

Ranked by the World Bank as the fifth highest risk country in the world in terms of full-spectrum disaster risk, the social, economic and geologic environment of Taiwan is highly volatile to the real threat of earthquakes (Lai, Lei, Fang, Chen, & Chen, 2012). The destructive impact of the 921 earthquake in 1999 led to 2415 people killed, 11305 injured, and monetary damage that totalled $300 billion (Seplaki, Goldman, Weinstein, & Lin, 2006). The 921 earthquake along with the recognition that earthquakes have been occurring so frequently in Taiwan has motivated the Ministry of Education (MOE) to revamp its definition of what the achievement of disaster prevention literacy should encompass. Instead of teaching earthquake prevention through textbooks, Taiwan’s educational effort focused on the development of skills to act and respond appropriately during natural disaster and attitudes to improve people’s preparedness for disaster in the future (Chen & Lee, 2012). Disaster education in Taiwan now begins in elementary school (Sharpe, 2009). Once taught to students through mere theories in the school curricula, this crucial component has been infused into experiential learning processes which put drills at the centre of the learning cycle (Sharpe, 2009). In addition, all schools are required by MOE to conduct mandatory drills at least once in a semester (Chang & Lin, 2012). This ensures that all students are equipped with the skills needed to respond to an upcoming earthquake disaster, should it occur on school grounds.

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Impacts of the development of tourist facilities on the transition of villages: A case study of Gubugklakah Village, Malang, Indonesia

Author/s:

Adelina Chandra

Adelina Chandra (Department of Geography, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia) Diah Rossy Pratiwi (Department of Geography, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia) Noer Sulistyarini (Department of Geography, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia) Keywords Geography Junior College Secondary School Spatial analysis; tourist facilities; tourism village; transition INTRODUCTION Tourism villages in rural areas that offer unique tourist attractions such as physical features of the natural environment or […]

Keywords
Geography
Junior College
Secondary School
Spatial analysis; tourist facilities; tourism village; transition

INTRODUCTION
Tourism villages in rural areas that offer unique tourist attractions such as physical features of the natural environment or social and cultural activities in rural communities can support economic development (Department of Culture and Tourism of Malang, 2006). Tourism villages are also a form of integration between attractions, accommodation and support facilities that integrates community life with traditions (Nuryanti, 1993). As a result, the development of tourist facilities should be a key factor in forming a tourism village and should be easily accessed by visitors. Two types of facilities which should be considered in the tourism village: primary and supporting facilities (Burton, 1995). The primary facilities are the main construction of tourist attractions while the supporting facilities represent the secondary facilities and conditional facilities. The secondary facilities are facilities that serve tourist’s needs, such as accommodation, restaurants and shopping centres. The conditional facilities consist of infrastucture and public transportation. In the supporting facilities, accommodation is a key consideration for tourists (Inskeep, 1991). When tourists stay in certain areas, it is important to experience local people’s daily lives and their physical environment if an accommodation package is well planned. It will also help tourists have a better understanding of the culture in the tourism village, which integrate attractions, accommodations, and support facilities in a local life’s structure (Nuryanti, Wiendu, 1993).

Gubugklakah village, located in the eastern of Malang, Indonesia, is famous for its abundant natural resources and a wide variety of vegetables. It is also well-known for tourist attractions such as Coban Pelangi Waterfall, Apple Agrotourism, and Ndayung Adventure along the main road to the tourist center of Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. To enrich the tourist activities along the main road to the tourist sites of Bromo Tengger Semeru Park, Lembaga Desa Wisata (LADESTA), there has been an initiative to develop tourist facilities to help Gubugklakah transfer its status from a traditional village to a tourism village. The purpose of this change is to increase local participation and develop a friendly village for tourists. This initiative was approved by the local government in 2011. In terms of the initiative, there have been significant changes in the landscape of Gubugklakah. More houses have been converted to homestays to make tourists feel the real life of the local community. Residential development located on the main street of Bromo Tengger Semeru also has undergone dramatic changes due to the spatial restructuring in this region. As a result, this study will focus on the spatial-temporal changes of Gubuglakah village and explore how the development of tourist facilities changed the status of Gubugklakah.

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Why Singapore Succeeded: Applying the Acemoglu and Robinson-Sachs Debate

Author/s:

Goh Chor Boon

Goh Chor Boon (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Keywords History Junior College Secondary School History of Singapore’s growth Why are some nations rich and some poor? Who are the winners and losers of colonialism and why? These questions have recently gained much attention, not only amongst historians but also economists who are now looking into global […]

Goh Chor Boon (National Institute of Education, Singapore)

Keywords
History
Junior College
Secondary School
History of Singapore’s growth

Why are some nations rich and some poor? Who are the winners and losers of colonialism and why? These questions have recently gained much attention, not only amongst historians but also economists who are now looking into global history to provide a fuller understanding of why and how had nations developed. One of the most recent works was Why Nations Fail by economist Daron Acemoglu and political economist James Robinson. They hypothesise that the nature of political institutions are the causes of why some countries are rich and some are poor today. Their works raised lively debate and comments, including those made by Jeffrey Sachs who argues that such mono-causal explanation is too simplistic. Both works made references to Singapore as one of the many case examples to illustrate their arguments. How is Singapore’s economic transformation explained in the light of this debate? The small city-state had a history of 145 years of colonial rule under the British and for about three years it was known as Syonan-to or the “Light of the South”, under the Japanese Imperial Empire. Acemoglu and Robinson are pessimistic that former colonies of European empires are ever able to become rich nations. The economic transformation of Singapore, a colony of the British Empire, has proven otherwise.

By the end of the Second World War, the British Empire was effectively gone. At its apogee, it was one of the largest territorial empires the world has ever witnessed and it profoundly shaped the lives of people both in Britain and overseas. The debate as to whether former colonies of Britain – and the other European empires – came out as “winners” or “losers” is still popularly debated. Undoubtedly, some imperial nations were better rulers than others and their colonies performed better after gaining full sovereignty and independence. For the Spaniards, the conquest of the Americas was accomplished with much cruelty and treachery, and all in the name of seeking and controlling the treasures of the lands. For the Portuguese in Asia, fortresses and defensible strongholds such as Goa had to be built in order to control trade, the local merchants and the population at large. As for the Dutch, their rule of the Indonesian archipelago was largely exploitative. Economic historians have also debated much on the impact of “developmental colonialism” in former colonies in the East and Southeast Asia. It is well documented (Myers & Beattie, 1984; Fuess, 1988; Haggard, Kang & Moon, 1997; Kohli, 2004) that the two former Japanese colonies of South Korea and Taiwan have achieved remarkable economic growth post-1945. In her comparative study of the economic performance of colonies in East Asia and Southeast Asia, Anne Booth concludes that those who argue that “it was post-colonial policies which were crucial in transforming both states [Korea and Taiwan] and in holding back South East Asian countries would still seem to be on stronger ground” (Booth, 2005).

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Review Essay Of “Jacques de Coutre’s And Matelieff’s Singapore and Johor”: Exploring Sources On Pre-Modern History of Singapore

Author/s:

Teddy Sim Y.H.

Teddy Sim Y.H. (National Institute of Education (Singapore)) Keywords History Junior College Secondary School History of Singapore before Raffles’ coming Brief survey of the field The education and awareness of the pre-Rafflesian Singapore history has seen much progress since the turn of the millennium. First, there is the publication of Early Singapore 1300-1819: evidence in maps, text […]

Teddy Sim Y.H. (National Institute of Education (Singapore))

Keywords
History
Junior College
Secondary School
History of Singapore before Raffles’ coming

Brief survey of the field
The education and awareness of the pre-Rafflesian Singapore history has seen much progress since the turn of the millennium. First, there is the publication of Early Singapore 1300-1819: evidence in maps, text and artefacts and Iberians in the Singapore-Melaka area and adjacent regions: 16th to 18th century in 2004. In 2009, the publication of Singapore: a 700-year history, Sino-Malay trade and diplomacy from the tenth through the fourteenth century and Singapore and Melaka Straits: violence, security and diplomacy in the 17th century provide the general public and the specialists alike a chance to explore the subject comprehensively or delve into the China-Malay Archipelago relations in the post Classical period as well as the relations between European empires and native powers in the Western Malay Archipelago in the early modern period. In between, there is the appearance of the Maritime heritage of Singapore which adds on to the list that the general readers can delve into. In 2013, the publication of Singapore and the Silk Road of the sea summarizes years of painstaking archaeological work done by J. Miksic in Singapore. The appearance of the Memoirs and memorials of Jacques de Coutre and Journal, memorials and letters of Cornelis Matelieff de Jonge as well as their abridged versions in quick succession enrich the narrative of the European empire-Malay native power interaction across a spectrum of audience immeasurably. To top it off, the CPDD-produced textbook for Singapore in 2014 has incorporated the pre-1819 developments of the island substantially compared to previous versions of the text.

Works by J. Miksic (2013) and Derek Heng (2010) have been urging for the pre-1819 history of Singapore to be seen from the large perspective of the trade passing through the region as well as from the intimate angle of activities occurring on the island. The broad phases of pre-1819 Singapore developments can be seen in the context of the chronology of Southeast Asian history: 1. post-Classical kingdom period (600-1400 C.E.), 2. early modern period (1450-1750 C.E.). Focusing on the latter half of the early modern period (17th and 18th centuries), this essay is written with three objectives: 1. as a brief review to the abridged version of P. Borschberg’s Jacques de Coutre’s Singapore and Johor and Matelieff’s Singapore and Johor; 2. to connect the coverage of Borschberg’s works to other primary sources and archaeological findings so as to delve into certain aspects of the subject and period in question; 3. as an in-service orientation of Borschberg’s 2015 works for Ministry of Education (MOE) teachers.

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Anxieties Over Singapore Students’ Conceptions About History and The Past

Author/s:

Suhaimi Afandi

Suhaimi Afandi (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Mark Baildon (National Institute of Education (Singapore)) Keywords History Junior College Secondary School Approaches to teaching history Understanding history can be an intellectually challenging task for many students in schools. It requires students to contemplate issues, events and people who had lived in the distant past and who are often […]

Suhaimi Afandi (National Institute of Education, Singapore)
Mark Baildon (National Institute of Education (Singapore))

Keywords
History
Junior College
Secondary School
Approaches to teaching history

Understanding history can be an intellectually challenging task for many students in schools. It requires students to contemplate issues, events and people who had lived in the distant past and who are often far removed (from them) in time and familiarity. Such challenges, however, have seldom been satisfactorily addressed in many history classrooms in Singapore. Where historical instruction in schools takes on a heavily content-transmission approach, students are more likely to conceive history learning as the uncritical absorption and memorisation of knowledge that has little bearing to their everyday lives. This is especially so when the existence of a prescribed textbook and a pre-selected content is viewed as sufficient learning materials for direct historical instruction. Additionally, the attention spent on developing methods to train and prepare students to answer examination questions has reduced historical thinking and reasoning to sets of somewhat rigid, algorithmically-devised skills-related procedures (Afandi & Baildon, 2010). While these may help build students’ capacity to deal with the requisite assessment objectives tested in the examinations, they do little to build student’s knowledge of history. Amidst a schooling context that places emphasis on rigid procedures to produce “the right answers” and driven by a strong purpose to meet assessment requirements and accountability in the examination, it is unsurprising if many believe that history teaching need not go beyond simply the transfer of (historical) knowledge or content. This, however, should not be confused with learning history. As Lee (1991: pp. 48-49) maintained, [it is] absurd … to say that schoolchildren know any history if they have no understanding of how historical knowledge is attained, its relationship to evidence, and the way in which historians arbitrate between competing or contradictory claims. The ability to recall accounts without any understanding of the problems involved in constructing them or the criteria involved in evaluating them has nothing historical about it. Without an understanding of what makes an account historical, there is nothing to distinguish such an ability from the ability to recite sagas, legends, myths or poems.

Implicit in Lee’s assertion is the suggestion that acquiring the kind of knowledge that is deemed historical goes beyond information acquisition and rote memorisation of facts; it must equip students with “more powerful” ways of understanding history and the historical past (Lee & Ashby, 2000, p. 216). Among other things, this would involve getting students to come to grips with the disciplinary basis of the subject and having them understand how knowledge about the past is constructed, adjudicated and arbitrated.

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The Phasing-Out Of Venice In The Social Studies Curriculum: No More Lessons To Be Learnt?

Author/s:

Teddy Sim Y.H.

Teddy Sim Y.H. (National Institute of Education (Singapore)) Keywords Social Studies Secondary School Survival Of Venice Learning Lessons In History The Problem The notion of linking Venice to Singapore is not new. As Singapore reaches 50 years old, books have appeared to question the city-state’s survival or its next phase. In the social studies textbook of […]

Teddy Sim Y.H. (National Institute of Education (Singapore))

Keywords
Social Studies
Secondary School
Survival Of Venice
Learning Lessons In History

The Problem
The notion of linking Venice to Singapore is not new. As Singapore reaches 50 years old, books have appeared to question the city-state’s survival or its next phase. In the social studies textbook of Singapore, the chapter of Venice in which students have been studying for more than a decade is about to be phased out from 2016. Has the chapter achieve its aim of making students learn some lessons of survival from Venice? Are there alternative ways to help the students discuss the developments of Venice? This paper will venture to make an attempt of last voyage to see what can be gleaned from a city which has survived a thousand years.

The first question and issue to deal with must be: can lessons of history be learnt? And then, can lessons be learnt from Venice by Singapore? “Learning lessons from history” has almost become a cliché. Some thought the derivation of these was the only utility of history. Figuratively speaking, “those who were doomed to repeat history failed to learn from it” (rendition from Winston Churchill). From the different perspectives (realist, Dawinian, biologist), peoples or civilisations which do not learn their lessons very well became extinct in history. In truth, practitioners of military history know that lessons from battle were only learnt after simulating the various alternative scenarios or having pondered deeply. If no two situations were ever alike in history, it is not surprising that the key to diffusing a new situation is sometimes linked with being able to anticipate or predict it. At the other end of the extreme, Michael Howard in his inaugural Regius Professor Chair lecture in 1981 at Oxford University (entitled “Lessons of history”) questioned the potentiality of learning lessons from history. While he accedes there might be a need for history to be more ‘relevant’ and ‘civic conscious’, one needs to be very careful and more open (or ignorant). Being ‘ignorant’, according to Howard, means not to be constrained by any type of parochialism. Howard also cautions against judging the ‘usefulness’ of histories and events in terms of their contemporary-ness; ‘lessons’ can come from all periods and geographical areas in history. In this direction, the topic of Venice in the Singapore social studies textbook can offer insightful lessons if issues in both societies and their overlap (or lack of) is discussed in a more open and in-depth manner (Howard, 1992).

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Economic Pragmatism and the ‘Schooling’ of Girls in Singapore

Author/s:

Kho Ee Moi

Kho Ee Moi (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Keywords Social Studies History Junior College Secondary School History of Education Introduction Women in Singapore today are considered by many to be modern, liberated and progressive. They have been accorded many opportunities for education and employment since the 1960s and appear to have made great strides in many […]

Kho Ee Moi (National Institute of Education, Singapore)

Keywords
Social Studies
History
Junior College
Secondary School
History of Education

Introduction
Women in Singapore today are considered by many to be modern, liberated and progressive. They have been accorded many opportunities for education and employment since the 1960s and appear to have made great strides in many areas of economic and social life in Singapore. An official survey outlined women’s socio-economic and educational achievements in Singapore between 1987 and 1997 thus (Department of Statistics, 1998, p.1):

Along with Singapore’s economic progress, women in Singapore have achieved significant improvements in various aspects of their life. Their educational level is almost on par with men, they participate actively in economic and social activities, and they have access to good health care and live longer lives. Concomitant with these changes is the marked improvement in the status of women in Singapore society.

Indeed, since the People’s Action Party (PAP) was elected into power, Singapore women have made great strides in the socio-economic arena as a result of the ruling party’s policy of equal opportunities. Between the years 1959 and 2010, the educational profile of the female population has improved markedly. Women’s literacy rate rose significantly from a mere 34% in 1957 to 93.8% by the year 2010 (Singapore, 1964 & Department of Statistics, 2012). The mean years of schooling for girls more than doubled from 4.6 in 1980 to 9.7 in 2010 (Department of Statistics, 2012). The increase in the number of years of schooling means that most girls were going on to secondary and even tertiary education. By the year 2010, approximately 93.6% of females aged 15–24 years and 93% aged 25–34 years had received at least a secondary education.[i] Women’s economic position has improved significantly as a result of education and their greater participation in the workforce. The female labour force participation rate (FLFPR) rose to 58.6% in 2014 from a mere 21.6% in 1957 (Singapore, 1964, p. 80; Ministry of Social & Family Development Research Room, 2015). The financial position of women has also been enhanced over the years as a result of a significant increase in the income of females. The median monthly income of women rose from $2,863 in 2010 to $3,518 in 2014 (Ministry of Social and Family Development Research Room, 2015). Based on these statistics, it looks like access to modern education and job opportunities has empowered many Singapore women. For many in Singapore, gender issues are not significant areas of concern because the ruling party’s declared policy of equal opportunities has allowed women to achieve much in society.

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(Re)constructing the Nation? Representations of Public Housing in School Geography Textbooks

Author/s:

Tricia Seow

Tricia Seow (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Diganta Das (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Julian Chang (Dunman High School, Singapore) Keywords Geography Junior College Secondary School Geography Textbooks Within education literature, scholars have argued that schools play an important role in social reproduction. However the literature on the role of specific subjects in this process is less examined. […]

Tricia Seow (National Institute of Education, Singapore)
Diganta Das (National Institute of Education, Singapore)
Julian Chang (Dunman High School, Singapore)

Keywords
Geography
Junior College
Secondary School
Geography Textbooks

Within education literature, scholars have argued that schools play an important role in social reproduction. However the literature on the role of specific subjects in this process is less examined. Within geography education, there is a growing interest and critical examination of the purposes of geography teaching. These accounts suggest that the content of school geography fulfils particular social purposes and national ideologies. In fact, political geographers like Radcliffe (1999) have argued that geographical professionalism and skills have provided the knowledge/power with which to promote certain “imagined” geographies upon which a social or national sense of identity can rest. In Singapore, geography scholars like Kong and Yeoh (2003, p. 2) have examined the specific strategies that the Singapore state uses to construct the Singapore “nation” using both ideological and material practices. They suggest that the public housing landscape has been an important means to this end. The role of public housing in the construction of the Singapore’s national identity has been documented by academics – from scaling up to a first world nation through public housing, to Singapore’s public housing being emulated as a successful model. However there is little analysis of the ways in which public housing has been represented within school geography in order to promote certain imagined geographies in the population.

This paper, therefore, considers the representations of public housing in school geography textbooks from the 1970s to present day. It analyses the role that these textbook chapters on public housing play in augmenting the state’s modernist projects and goals, as well as the symbolic meanings attached to the content on public housing in reproducing particular types of Singaporean identities. It further compares the textbook content to the larger developmental goals of the state throughout these periods, and surfaces the realities that are obscured in the process.

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The Place of History in Multicultural Education

Author/s:

Jackie

HSSE Online

Index

Peh Shi Yun

Authors List

Authors List

Negotiating the Role of the (Beginning) Teacher in the Classroom

Disaster prevention literacies: Assessing the knowledge, skills and attitude of Taiwanese students for an earthquake disaster

Impacts of the development of tourist facilities on the transition of villages: A case study of Gubugklakah Village, Malang, Indonesia

Why Singapore Succeeded: Applying the Acemoglu and Robinson-Sachs Debate

Review Essay Of “Jacques de Coutre’s And Matelieff’s Singapore and Johor”: Exploring Sources On Pre-Modern History of Singapore

Anxieties Over Singapore Students’ Conceptions About History and The Past

The Phasing-Out Of Venice In The Social Studies Curriculum: No More Lessons To Be Learnt?

Economic Pragmatism and the ‘Schooling’ of Girls in Singapore

(Re)constructing the Nation? Representations of Public Housing in School Geography Textbooks

The Place of History in Multicultural Education

HSSE Online

HSSE Online