Page 19 - Education Change and Economic Development: The Case of Singapore Dr. Goh Chor Boon National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University

Education Change and Economic Development: The Case of Singaporec79

Electronics, Exercise and Sports Science, Drama, Robotics and Smart Electrical

Technology, catering to students who have the interest in and aptitude for
specific fields of applied study. Tapping on the tech-savviness of Singaporeans
and the excellent digital infrastructure of the “wired” nation, schools are now

developing programmes based on the Internet of Things (IOT) and use of data
collected from several sensory sources relevant to the programme. In short, the
ALP broaden students’ educational experience, particularly in areas of their

choice which could be part of their subsequent career options.
To ensure an effective implementation of a thinking curriculum, schools
today need to be creative and innovative, particularly in their adoption of
teaching approaches. Entrepreneurs and educators alike have suggested the

need to inculcate design thinking and ideation as critical capabilities required
by workers who could not just value add, but also to value create. Design

thinking is now used in many organisations and is gaining importance in
Singapore schools where it is applied to areas like Project Work and Community
Involvement Programmes. In Design Thinking, students learn to be human-
centred problem solvers. They identify human needs and real-life problems,

generating ideas based on the discovered insights, and finally, work in teams
to prototype and test innovative solutions that meet those needs. In the process

of solving these problems, students learn empathy, collaborative skills and the
value of radical ideas.
Closely associated with the design thinking as an innovative approach in
teaching is the creative process of generating new, useful ideas or ideation. There

is the urgent need to motivate the Singapore kids to think creatively, to create
and to innovate. The school becomes an important place for the nurturing of