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Teaching for understanding in a Singapore classroom via WIDE World

In Victoria School of Singapore, an urban all-boys secondary school, there is a quiet educational revolution taking place. A revolution that leads a student like Sean Chin to remark: “Before, in primary school, I had learnt some basic geography and I thought that the subject was very boring. Now, I realize that geography is so much more. It is about the relationship between Man and his environment ––how the environment affects Man and how Man can affect the environment too. I have come to understand that geography is more than just facts, but something applicable to my own life.”

Sean’s insights into geography are the result of his teachers’ training in the Teaching for Understanding (TfU) Framework, a pedagogical approach to professional development delivered via online courses by WIDE World, developed at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Adrian Lim, vice principal of Victoria School, found that Teaching for Understanding, which emphasizes student understanding over rote learning and focuses on thoughtful classroom activities and learner participation, was a perfect fit for the school:

“In a classroom of 40 students, a teacher’s time and attention is really stretched fully, especially when personalized feedback needs to be given to students at various points of their learning...We believe that a deeper understanding of the Framework, as well as the collegial sharing fostered during and after the online course, would help to sharpen teachers’ professional practice, and give them a common language for exchanging ideas with their colleagues in the future.”

Teaching for Understanding and its Framework arose out of thirty years of research at Harvard’s Project Zero by David Perkins, Martha Stone Wiske, and their colleagues. It asks teachers to challenge their students to be active contributors and provides educators with key elements to incorporate into their day-to-day teaching.

These elements include choosing curriculum topics that are engaging and focused on important ideas, stating clear goals about what is important for students to understand, devising a rich sequence of learning activities to demonstrate understanding of these goals, and using ongoing formal and informal assessment methods.

Sharma Poonam, a teacher at Victoria School, has seen some significant effects when using this approach: “The most striking thing to me was that the students were always so curious and had so many questions about the Earth. In fact, what was even more impressive was that often the students would take the lead to answer the questions posed by their classmates.”

“Students are viewed as an integral part of teaching and learning, not empty vessels into which we pour facts and figures,” Mr. Lim added.

The Ministry of Education has taken note of Victoria School’s decision to adopt the TfU approach and has identified it as a lead school in the use of innovative pedagogy. The Cluster Superintendent has also asked it to take the lead in sharing Teaching for Understanding strategies with twelve other K-12 schools.

Mr. Lim believes that in the end, for his students, that learning will not be just about absorbing facts and content, but an active pursuit of understanding. “Ultimately, we want them to develop a love and joy for learning.”