Weng Kin Ho,
Mathematics & Mathematics Education (MME),
National Institute of Education,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Supporting documents

Here are the slides of the presentation. The videos are on eCampus.

Abstract

The pace at which computer technology advanced in recent years is remarkable, and its impact can be felt in every facet of the modern society.  The landscape in education has seen many fast evolving changes ranging from the hardware to the software of things.  Indeed, such changes are becoming more pronounced during the present Covid19 pandemic period.  Singapore has long been recognized as an global educational hub, and her readiness to embrace and harness information-communication technologies, networks, and big-data to create tech-enabled solutions had even been formalized through a national initiative – Smart Nation.  Realizing this initiative in the educational sector, the Ministry of Education in Singapore has recently rolled out concrete changes in the school curriculum to nurture and build a SMART generation. 

Central to this curricular change is a paradigmatic shift towards Computational Thinking.   In this talk, I begin with the various interpretations of computational thinking, and explain how computational thinking is ‘infused’ in the lessons taught in Singapore.  I would focus on the impact of this new paradigm on mathematics lessons and share with you some recent findings of my research team that were derived from various collaborations with some secondary schools, i.e., our work with teachers, students and school leaders.

In my talk, I shall also share with you the story of how I, as a mathematician and computer scientist, got so passionate about pedagogical research.