Abstract

This article examines the impact of structured thinking anchors on Singapore students’ ability to respond effectively to data response questions (DRQs) in geography. Through a seven-week action research study using the OHLA (Overall, Highest, Lowest, Anomaly) thinking anchor with Secondary 1 Express (G3) and Normal (Academic) (G2) students in 2022, this research demonstrated significant improvements in student performance and confidence levels during school-based assessments. The findings reveal that thinking anchors serve as effective scaffolding tools that reduce conceptual errors and enhance the quality and structure of student responses to skills-based geographical questions simultaneously.

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Abstract

This paper examines the strengths and constraints of the Singapore Secondary Geography curriculum in advancing sustainability education and suggests that current approaches to sustainability can lead to simplified representations of climate solutions, limited engagement with social and ethical trade-offs, and insufficient attention to unequal impacts across places and communities, even within student-centred classroom contexts.Drawing on lesson examples, learning artefacts and student reflections, this paper illustrates how teacher curriculum-making enables the enacted curriculum to complement the intended curriculum in equipping students to think through systems, recognise contested sustainability pathways, and act as informed stewards of their environment. Through intentional task design, scaffolded inquiry and reflective dialogue, classroom enactment moves learning beyond discrete topics towards understanding the consequences and feedback loops across human and environmental systems. Sustainability is therefore approached not as arriving at a set of correct answers, but as exercising judgment through ethical
reasoning and careful considerations of trade-offs.

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Abstract

Geography occupies a distinctive position in educational curriculum, often being tasked with the role of educating and advancing student knowledge in sustainability. However, contrasting geographical traditions, particularly positivism and humanism, has shaped the framing of sustainability in Singapore’s secondary school geography syllabuses. A close examination of the syllabuses reveals that although sustainability exists as an overarching thematic anchor across the topics, its articulation varies according to topical demands. However, if the curriculum sets out a fragmented landscape of learning about sustainability, its ability to move student behaviours towards sustainable praxis may be limited. This essay argues that there is room for a thorough interrogation of sustainability as a concept within the Singapore secondary school geography curriculum that goes beyond how it is presented in the syllabuses. Furthermore, a more meaningful engagement with the dynamic and highly principled nature of the concept could translate into more thoughtful and practising learners.

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Abstract

Geography education in Singapore has evolved alongside national priorities, shifting toward a concept-based curriculum centred on sustainable development. This paper argues that the effectiveness of sustainability education partly depends on teachers’ underlying philosophical assumptions about geographical knowledge. The current syllabus reflects an interplay of positivistic, humanistic and critical traditions, requiring educators to navigate multiple epistemologies in their teaching. In addition, it is centered around sustainable development as a core anchor for geographical knowledge. As sustainability demands understanding long-term socio-environmental consequences, teachers must intentionally align philosophy, pedagogy and assessment to model conceptual, reflective and critical thinking. Ultimately, geography’s capacity to cultivate sustainability-minded students rests on philosophically aware educators who exercise discernment in classroom practice.

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