Singapore Ministry of Education

About: Singapore Ministry of Education is a government organization based out in Singapore, Singapore. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Curriculum & Educational technology. The organization has 181 authors who have published 176 publications receiving 2431 citations.

Why Robots? A Survey on the Roles and Benefits of Social Robots in the Therapy of Children with Autism

Abstract: This paper reviews the use of socially interactive robots to assist in the therapy of children with autism. The extent to which the robots were successful in helping the children in their social, emotional and communication deficits was investigated. Child–robot interactions were scrutinized with respect to the different target behaviors that are to be elicited from a child during therapy. These behaviors were thoroughly examined with respect to a child’s development needs. Most importantly, experimental data from the surveyed works were extracted and analysed in terms of the target behaviors and of how each robot was used during a therapy session to achieve these behaviors. The study concludes by categorizing the different therapeutic roles that these robots were observed to play, and highlights the important design features that enable them to achieve high levels of effectiveness in autism therapy.

Gaming in a 3D multiuser virtual environment: engaging students in Science lessons

Abstract: Based on the exploratory study of a 3D multiuser virtual environment (3D MUVE), known as Quest Atlantis (QA), in a series of Primary Four (10- to 11year-olds) Science lessons at Orchard Primary School in Singapore, this paper examines the issues of learning engagement and describes the socio-cultural context of QA’s implementation. The students and teacher were observed during the lessons, interviewed after, and the completed quests were analysed to determine the level of engagement achieved. A pre- and posttest on the Science concepts covered was also administered. A seven-level taxonomy of engagement was used to provide the study with a more holistic perspective of engagement, together with the attempt to concretise the element of engagement into observable traits. Although there was a significant improvement of the posttest over the pretest, the level of engagement of the students was low (between 3 and 4). The lack of engagement might be a result of the distractions in the 3D MUVE, the students’ difficulty with language used in the QA, their lack of computer competency for QA tasks, and/or their inability to complete the quests’ section on reflections. The biggest challenges to the integration of QA into the Science curriculum were the interdependent issues of time (or lack of it) and ‘buy-in’ by the school and parents.

A Study of Differentiated Instructional Change Over 3 Years

Abstract: This study examines Title 1 heterogeneous classroom teachers' instructional behavior change through implementing well-designed research-based curriculum units and attending regular professional dev...