When Ms Elaine Lim chose to study Humanities subjects for her O- and A-levels, someone told her it was a “suicidal combination”. She went ahead anyway and excelled in her studies. Now Deputy Director of the Humanities Branch at MOE, she shares with us how the Humanities can prepare our students for the future, and why an inquiry approach in the Humanities will benefit them.

Q: What is the role of Humanities education in today’s world?

First of all, the study of the Humanities offers students opportunities to really understand societal and related issues, and understand the complexities, whether it’s the ambiguity, the issues that matter, the phenomenon that we see in the world today. It’s not just at the local and national levels, but also the international.

The other fact is that students are given the opportunity to not just read but analyse a whole range of types of information. If you look at the Humanities, a wide range of data is provided – textual, media related, graphical – and it’s a lot of analysis, or making sense of information, and being able to develop our own opinions and conclusions as a result.

We’re not just talking about societies or people. It’s also the environment, the processes, the economy. Look at Geography, it’s really about understanding different kinds of environments. So it’s people and processes, the interaction and relationships that happen, and how the discussions we have about the issues that matter in the end.

To me, it’s not just about learning the content. It’s also how the skills, competencies, dispositions, perspectives and ways of thinking that students have will actually influence their analysis of issues, problem-solving and approaches.

Q: How does the inquiry approach enhance the teaching and learning of the Humanities?

Whenever we think about inquiry, people will say it’s always been in the field of science. But if you look at inquiry as a pedagogical approach, it is within a larger theory of learning and constructivism, where students are engaged and co-construct their learning, to reach a deeper understanding of learning. As a result, we developed the Humanities inquiry approach, and customize it to each Humanities subject.

If we were to look at inquiry in action, we will see questions being used, whether it’s from the teacher or students, and we will see use of evidence. We would see a whole range of sources of information being used. This relates to the point I made before.

Then there is the process of inquiry, where students use questions to start their investigation, select a whole range of information, evaluate, analyse and provide reasons, and reflect on their own thinking. When we unpack inquiry, we talk about these elements. This helps with knowledge construction, which must be there because when you inquire about an issue or phenomenon, there has to be something that matters which emerges from the process.

It’s also about the culture and environments you set out in the classroom, the roles and responsibilities of the teachers and students, and the continuum of how much guidance a teacher provides. We’re not saying that if it’s more teacher-directed, that’s bad inquiry. It depends on where the students are at and what they’re ready for. We do believe in an inquiry that is guided, but it could become student-led towards the end.

Q: What kind of student outcomes do you want to see?

When we think about the dispositions of students, we’re thinking about people who are very curious, open to ideas and flexible in the way they think about things. We also want to see the way they manage ambiguity and increase sensitivity to issues that matter.

There is also the importance of being able to empathize and connect, and having a larger world view of not just themselves, not just their own personal interest and what matters to them personally but also what matters to groups of people, to community, to society. With the Humanities, the connection between knowledge, skills and values is important.

The other outcome is students being able to analyse issues from different points of view. Also, the skill of understanding multiple perspectives, and being able to engage with these perspectives while exercising a sound reasoning, all the while engaging in reflection.

And because we deal with issues that matter with society, where there are no tried-and-tested solutions, that process of reflection, making sense, making meaning is very important.

Useful Resource

CPDD’s Humanities Branch has designed a wide range of lesson packages for teachers, which can be found in OPAL (One Portal for All Learners). To access OPAL, teachers can log in via the Academy of Singapore Teachers website.