The Knowledge Building Community Network Learning (KBCNL), titled ‘Seeing Students Voices’ was held on 14 April 2023. This network learning session was held at the National Institute of Education (NIE) in a hybrid setting with both online and physical participants. More than 50 students, teachers, and researchers from Singapore, Hong Kong (China), and Shenzhen (China) came together for an afternoon of cross-community sharing and reflection on KB practice.
The focal point of this session revolves around the collaborative initiative by Chua Chu Kang Secondary School and Clementi Town Secondary School. Twenty students from both schools shared in-depth accounts of their experiences from their KB projects. Students explored real ideas and authentic problems during the interwar period. They discussed and built ideas, culminating into a newsletter in ‘The History Times’ shared across schools. This cross-community connection further supports teachers in expanding their KB knowledge and practice through the collaborative sharing of their KB stories and metacognitive reflection.
Live sharing on KB experience from students
To start off the sharing session, History students (from Chua Chu Kang Secondary School and Clementi Town Secondary School) presented their learning experiences from their KB projects in their respective schools. Students from both schools prepared their sharing in innovative approaches. Those from Chua Chu Kang Secondary School shared with the audiences a deep reflection on how they benefitted from the collective meaning-making processes as well as the rising above of each other’s ideas in a process of idea improvement. Students from Clementi Town Secondary School utilized an abstract method of presentation in the form of drama before concluding with their learning processes to manifest their idea improvement as a construct for the participants.
Teachers sharing of the thinking behind the design
Four humanities teachers Mr. Melvin Chan and Mr. Loh Liang See from Chua Chu Kang Secondary School alongside Ms. Sim Shin Jie and Ms. Tessa Ho from Clementi Town Secondary School shared their History KB design titled ‘The History Times’. The teachers presented their newly added approaches for this second iteration of the programme. The addition of new activities provided insight into the idea improvement journey of the teachers who have collaborated to improve upon the original design of yesteryear. An inclusion of lessons on historical fundamentals and new activities, like the abstraction of concepts into new contexts (e.g., the St John’s Island exploration), culminated in scaffolds that supported students to better visualise the progression of their ideas and to see possible avenues for exploration. The teachers also engaged participants with their reflections on the strategies that were used to support the growth of student ideas.
Metatalk: Reflection of Students
The metatalk was facilitated by Dr Katherine Yuan, where the students engaged in a community discussion.
They shared an appreciation of idea diversity arising from collaborative discussions and felt they had greater agency in building on each other’s ideas. Students from both schools were also keen to express their newly found ideas of the historical content that has been deepened through their partnership.
Closing
Prof Tan Seng Chee was invited to close the session. He identified key moments of the session that had exemplified the theme of ‘Seeing Students Voices.’ Prof Tan also shared his experience learning History and encouraged the students and teachers to continue pushing the frontiers of learning.
Moving Forward
Through the network learning session, educators were able to see and experience the voices of the students as well as take inspiration from the teachers who truly promoted students’ agency and supported the students in their knowledge building endeavour.
In the upcoming network learning sessions, we will continually work closely with teachers in the KB community to produce meaningful and enriching cross-community interactions through the ‘KB metaspace’ to enhance their professional development. We will also be showcasing new research opportunities in education that can provide further opportunities for practitioners and researchers of KB to come together.