Singapore’s Ministry of Education provides a curriculum and teaching materials that encourages conceptual learning – it does not “facilitate mere rote learning”, asserted a ministry official.
The written response was addressed to a letter from a parent that insinuated Singapore students attend additional tuition due to the inadequate textbooks provided in schools.
In the letter, the parent suggested that school textbooks do not prepare students well for examinations as the questions asked are often “way above the level” of information in teaching material.
She said that her son did not use MoE-endorsed science textbooks to study for the Primary School Leaving Examination as the questions are known to be more complex than the lessons taught in the books.
She then urged the ministry to review its teaching materials to align with what is expected in exams.
Sin Kim Ho, MoE’s divisional director, curriculum planning and development division responded accordingly.
“The school curriculum and teaching materials are geared towards helping students understand fundamental concepts, and then progressively helping them acquire skills which they can apply in a variety of contexts and real-world situations,” he said.
“The textbooks are accompanied by workbooks which provide practice examples and activities for hands-on learning.”
Science textbooks in primary schools thus aim to build on understanding of concepts over a four-year curriculum, while providing opportunities for students to apply and contextualise the theory.
Sin gave an example of learning about light, where students experience hands-on activities to understand the effects of light sources on shadow formation.
“In addition, when assessing our students' understanding of a topic, one objective is to test their ability to apply their understanding in novel contexts,” he added.
“This is why our textbooks and exams are designed the way they are – not to facilitate mere rote learning, but to stimulate and encourage conceptual learning and application.”
The ministry will continue to work closely with schools and educators to meet students’ needs as well as ensure the effectiveness of teaching materials.
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