TheFlippedScientist

Having moved to Malaysia to teach, I have become more aware of the educational achievements of their close neighbor Singapore. In 1965, Singapore became an independent nation with few natural resources. So the country's first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew developed a strategy to develop Singapore's only natural resource - the people of the newly formed state of Singapore. 53 years later, Singapore’s education system is lauded as being one of the best in the world. PISA rankings constantly have the country at the top by a margin as illustrated below.  So with this in mind, surely Singapore must have something to offer the world of teaching. However, it appears few countries are asking just what makes Singapore head of the class. The reasons for this are most likely manifold. Traditionally, Singapore has tended to favor a more teacher-directed instructional approach also known as didactic teaching. That contrasts with the present global preference, at least in W...

In the second week of July, I had the privilege of spending the weekend with some amazing educators from across New Zealand discussing everything from computational thinking to dancing micro-bits as part of inaugural New Zealand Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert hui held in Microsoft's offices in Auckland. Anne Taylor, Teacher Engagement Manager for Microsoft NZ, kicked off the Hui on Saturday morning For those unaware, MIE Experts are part of the  Microsoft Innovative Educator program  who have consistently demonstrated the use of Microsoft Educational applications in innovative ways and who share their knowledge, skills, and expertise with other educators both locally and globally. The efforts on New Zealand's MIEE's are highlighted in the following website:  https://mieexpertsnz.org/ .  The two-day event was organized by MIE Fellows  Nikkie Laing ,  Morgan McKeen ,  Rachel Chisnall  and  Steve Martin  who are a small...

Earlier this month I blogged in response to the keynote of Katherine Birbalsingh made while at the recent ResearchEd conference in Auckland challenging her claim that the only effective way to teach is through employing a primarily teacher-led approach to learning. I received the following response from Ms Birbalsingh. I reflected on the response, as a good Jed'aii must and despite not actually addressing my argument that skills and content need to work in concert, I do concede that in saying in my original post that Ms Birbalsingh advocates for content over skills, I was incorrect as we both agree that both are required as I suggested, although we disagree on the timing on when to teach them. This was further reinforced by my reading of her book the Battlehymn for the Tiger Teacher  which in many parts actually illustrative of what a majority of teachers in New Zealand would actually see as good practice including the teaching of skills explicitly, exactly what I was adv...

Last weekend educators gathered at Auckland Grammar's Centennial theatre  for ResearchED "a fantastic day featuring some of New Zealand’s most interesting and important voices in education, with guests from abroad. ResearchED days are committed to burying edu-myths, raising evidence literacy in the teaching profession and beyond, and creating powerful conversations between anyone affected by the evidence eco-system"   according to their website . The keynote speaker was Katherine Moana Birbalsingh . Ms Birbalsingh  talked about how her educational philosophies are changing the lives of the students currently attending Michaela Community School, a charter school she founded in a poor neighbourhood in inner-city London four years ago. According to Birbalsingh, knowledge in the form of content is important and skills are not and if New Zealand continues on the path of inquiry and discovery learning we will  fall off the edge of a cliff . She is disparagi...