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Revealing the circulation patterns most conducive to regional heatwave in Southeast Asia and the mechanisms behind
No full textThe open access publication is available at https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112190The increasing frequency of heatwaves over Southeast Asia (SEA) is impacting human health, infrastructure and economies. Understanding the relationship between large-scale circulation patterns and heatwaves is crucial for improving predictions and reducing damages. In this study, four distinct circulation patterns conducive to SEA heatwaves are identified by the self-organizing map. Three circulation patterns are associated with high-pressure systems over the mid-latitude Western Pacific and SEA, significantly influenced by El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In addition to these common high-pressure patterns, a low-pressure dominant pattern is identified, characterized by two enhanced low-pressure systems over the Tibetan Plateau and mid-latitude Western Pacific, which deplete a considerable amount of moisture, resulting in diminished cloud cover and rapid warming across continental SEA. Further analysis reveals that all patterns are significantly modulated by Madden Jullian Oscillation (MJO) activities, each showing distinct peak occurrences in different MJO phases, with further links to ENSO and the Indian Ocean Dipole.ARC 2/24 WJ
Challenges and opportunities for early childhood intervention services in Singapore: Addressing user satisfaction
No full textThe open access publication is available at https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1566167Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a gap between primary stakeholders' ex ante expectations of adaptive early childhood intervention (ECI) services and their actual experiences with these services. This is despite governments' and service operators' swift pivot from on-site service delivery to home-based, virtual and hybrid modes, and cross-sector collaboration with private providers and pre-schools. In this article, we share our preliminary evidence from in-depth interviews with parents and clinicians regarding the perceived challenges to post-pandemic ECI services. We discuss how the crisis has triggered a paradigm change, especially regarding potential drivers for satisfactory services in the Singapore context
4‐connected 1‐planar chordal graphs are Hamiltonian‐connected
No full textTutte proved that 4-connected planar graphs are Hamiltonian. It is unknown if there is an analogous result on 1-planar graphs. In this paper, we characterize 4-connected 1-planar chordal graphs and show that all such graphs are Hamiltonian-connected. A crucial tool used in our proof is a characteristic of 1-planar 4-trees.Accepted versio
Using a funds of knowledge approach to support refugee children in Malaysia
No full textHaving been forcibly uprooted from their home countries, refugees represent one of the most distressed, marginalised, and fragmented people groups in the world today. And among them, children are the most in need of support. This paper reports a qualitative case-study that examined the lived experiences of three refugee children at a Malaysian refugee centre. The study adopts an asset-oriented approach known as Funds of Knowledge (FoK), which refers to the knowledge, skills, practices and experiences that contribute to an individual’s wellbeing and identity formation. Collected over an 11-month period, the data comprised interviews, in-class and out-of-school observations, and participant-produced and researcher-generated artefacts. The data were analysed using open and axial coding methods to probe into the refugees’ knowledge, skills, practices and experiences that could be linked to their FoK. Four main types of FoK centred on their literacy practices, family, religion and aspirations were identified. The paper illustrates these FoK and shows how they forge vital qualities of mind, spirit and character in the young refugees, and how they can support their learning and overall wellbeing. It concludes with a discussion of key considerations in implementing an FoK approach to support refugee children in Malaysia and beyond.Accepted versio
From screens to peers: Using deep learning models for visual attention shifts analysis in technology-enhanced classrooms
No full textCollaborative learning interactions in technology-enhanced learning environments are multi-modal, engaging students through verbal discussions, online interactions, body gestures, and gaze behaviors. Within Multi-Modal Learning Analytics (MMLA), students’ gaze behaviors and visual attentions remain underexplored. Recent deep learning models in the AIED field enable automated visual attention detection—without dedicated hardware—toward diverse learning components such as peers, multiple screens, and worksheet in tech-rich classrooms. This study applies these deep learning models to examine students’ gazing behaviors and objects. Sixty-eight students (34 dyads) completed two one-hour collaborative tasks; 56 h of video were processed to generate moment-by-moment analysis of gaze objects, followed by sequential analysis of visual attention shifts across digital or non-digital components. Results show higher-performing groups shifting visual attention among their own screens, peers’ screens, and partner’s face, whereas lower-performing groups transition mainly between their own screen and off-task space. The findings reveal the different visual attention strategies applied by students in tech-rich classrooms, contributing to the current MMLA research regarding gaze behaviors. The study also highlights the potential of deep learning models for understanding students’ visual attention in everyday tech-rich classrooms
The development of gross motor skills in children: Insights from the Motor Assessment Test for Children
No full textThis study investigated the gross motor skills (GMS) of 424 children aged 2.5 to 6 years with the Motor Assessment Test for Children (MATCH). Results from multivariate analysis of variance revealed (a) positive age effects in stability, locomotion, and object manipulation; (b) higher stability scores for girls than for boys and higher object manipulation scores for boys than for girls; and (c) GMS differences even within 6-month age intervals for some motor tasks. The positive age effect indicates that GMS proficiency changes with physical development, whereas gender effects may stem from genetic and/or environmental factors. We recommend that educators be aware of pronounced early childhood motor development and implement varied approaches that cater to diverse developmental levels. To facilitate ongoing monitoring, annual motor assessments are advised. Educators should acknowledge gender-type play behaviors with a naturalistic approach while advocating inclusive play opportunities.abstrac
The scripted computer-supported collaborative argumentation in a secondary school classroom: An exploratory study
No full textComputer-supported collaborative argumentation (CSCA) is an effective pedagogy to help deepen the learners’ understanding of content knowledge and develop their 21st-century competencies such as communication and collaboration skills, as well as creative and inventive thinking. In this study, the Spiral Model of Collaborative Knowledge Improvement (SMCKI) was employed to script learners’ CSCA in a secondary school classroom in Singapore. This exploratory study examined whether students’ argumentation artifacts, English language writing, and argumentation writing improved through the scripted CSCA activity. The results showed that students improved in both English language writing and argumentation writing quality across the various phases of SMCKI. The implications of these findings for the design and implementation of scripted CSCA in authentic classroom teaching and learning settings are discussed.OER 17/19 CW
Affective computing for learning in education: A systematic review and bibliometric analysis
No full textThe open access publication is available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15010065Affective computing is an emerging area of education research and has the potential to enhance educational outcomes. Despite the growing number of literature studies, there are still deficiencies and gaps in the domain of affective computing in education. In this study, we systematically review affective computing in the education domain. Methods: We queried four well-known research databases, namely the Web of Science Core Collection, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and PubMed, using specific keywords for papers published between January 2010 and July 2023. Various relevant data items are extracted and classified based on a set of 15 extensive research questions. Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, a total of 175 studies were selected and reviewed in this work from among 3102 articles screened. The data show an increasing trend in publications within this domain. The most common research purpose involves designing emotion recognition/expression systems. Conventional textual questionnaires remain the most popular channels for affective measurement. Classrooms are identified as the primary research environments; the largest research sample group is university students. Learning domains are mainly associated with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. The bibliometric analysis reveals that most publications are affiliated with the USA. The studies are primarily published in journals, with the majority appearing in the Frontiers in Psychology journal. Research gaps, challenges, and potential directions for future research are explored. This review synthesizes current knowledge regarding the application of affective computing in the education sector. This knowledge is useful for future directions to help educational researchers, policymakers, and practitioners deploy affective computing technology to broaden educational practices
Understanding oral and written proficiency of low-progress Chinese language learners in Singapore
No full textIn Singapore primary schools, a group of students are referred to as “low-progress learners” as they have difficulty to keep pace with their counterparts in learning Chinese language. To better understand the spoken and written proficiency of these learners and provide pedagogical directions to educators, this study draws pre-/post-test scores of an oral picture description test and a written proficiency test of about 200 low-progress learners in an evaluative project of the ABLE Programme. It is found that the students scored better on the oral test than on the written test. In the oral proficiency test students drew substantially on their English repertoires in terms of vocabulary and sentence structures. As for written proficiency, they scored well for listening comprehension, character recognition, and vocabulary. They faced challenges in sentence matching, cloze passages, and comprehension tasks. Interestingly, slightly more than half of them scored reasonably in free-writing when given the option to use Hanyu pinyin in their writing. Drawing on these findings, it seems obvious that low-progress students need advancement in reading and comprehending longer chapters of texts and in speaking accurately with Chinese vocabulary and grammar. This paper suggests teachers emphasise reading comprehension at the sentence level and draw on their code-switching instances to recast Chinese vocabulary and sentence structures in their daily lessons
A study of Singapore geography teachers in responding to curriculum changes
No full textIn Singapore’s education system, teachers are highly encouraged by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to take up professional development (PD) courses to keep abreast with curriculum change cycles for school subjects that occur every six to eight years. The Geographical Inquiry (GI) was introduced in 2012 that included fieldwork (Curriculum Planning and Development Division, 2017) and implemented in 2013 to 2022 (Curriculum Planning and Development, 2023) school geography syllabus. It was an ambitious initiative as it encompassed concurrent changes to the national geography syllabus in terms of content, pedagogy, and assessment. Yet, the literature on curriculum transition, and selection of PD and subsequent practices, have been sparse. This study questions how teachers decide on the type of PD to take and to make sense of the newly acquired knowledge for their daily curriculum making. The qualitative study draws upon grounded theory that is developed from the perspectives and practices of ten geography teachers in their implementation of fieldwork assessment and inquiry in a newly introduced curriculum. To address how teacher PD can address opportunities and challenges in schools during curriculum transitions, the research study proposes an analogical framework, namely the ‘Professional Development Torchlight’ (PDT), that builds upon existing theories of social behaviour and teachers’ decision-making models in the context of curriculum change. Firstly, the research study adopted ‘structuration theory’ by Giddens (1984) to reflect the dynamic social systems in schools that are (re)produced by teachers’ agency while interacting with their existing school structures. The research study also considered teacher’s agency at the center of the ‘curriculum making model’ (Lambert and Hopkin, 2014). The PDT therefore demonstrates various competing concerns and subsequent selections made by Singapore geography teachers during their enactment of the fieldwork inquiry assessment, a new component to the geography curriculum. The methodology used was mainly qualitative and aimed at developing a framework to describe how teachers make decisions about what professional development courses to take. The inductive-deductive methodology used is consistent with both developing the framework through cases studies, as well as finding evidence to support the discussion based on structuration and curriculum making. It sets out to discover the opportunities and challenges situated within teachers’ school contexts that might influence their decision-making of PD activities during curriculum changes. It is also interested in establishing evidence and locating subsequent teacher practices in the classrooms and fieldwork. With the PDT, findings can describe how selections were made and how these were supported by powerful geographical knowledge (PGK). The translation of initiatives from PD activities are informed by teachers’ own interpretations and understandings during curriculum changes across place (schools) and time. For the future, it hopes teachers exercise informed decisions and draw upon their agency to navigate and implement learned practices in their respective PD learning journeys