Melvin Chan is Lead Teacher (History) at Chua Chu Kang Secondary School. He is a prominent leader and co-founder of the Knowledge Building Community in Singapore. He has written and presented at numerous educational conferences on his practitioner papers that ranges from pedagogical practices in history to structures and processes in professional development.

Classroom Perspectives

issue 90 sep 2024

Beyond Memorization: Implementing Progressive Approaches in the History Classroom

Progressive pedagogies emphasize that education should be an active and constructive process for learners. Key characteristics of progressive pedagogies include student-centredness, and inquiry-based and interdisciplinary learning. How can such approaches be applied to the way history is taught and learnt? In this issue of SingTeach, Mr Melvin Chan, Lead Teacher (History) at Chua Chu Kang Secondary School, shares more about the school’s signature History programmes that place students at the heart of the learning process.

Melvin and Dr Teo Chew Lee, Senior Research Scientist at NIE’s Office of Education Research, at the “Heart of a Teacher” exhibition held at the MOE Heritage Centre. The exhibition offers a sneak peek into the lives of eight real-life teachers in Singapore – one for each decade from the 1950s till today – to uncover inspirational and heartwarming stories centred on teacher identity (“Heart of a Teacher”). For more information on the exhibition, visit the website: go.gov.sg/hoat

A Cross-School Initiative to Support Interdisciplinary Learning

There is a misconception that learning history is all about accumulating and memorizing facts about the past. Mr Melvin Chan, Lead Teacher (History) at Chua Chu Kang Secondary School (CCKSS), wants to change how society perceives History as a subject.

“It is important that society, including our young learners, understand history through the lens of its philosophical nature, historiographical changes and interdisciplinary discourse,” he says.

A conversation with a History colleague from Clementi Town Secondary School on the teaching and learning of history sparked an idea of a cross-collaboration project between teachers and students of both schools.

“We had a common interest to promote students’ collaborative agency towards disciplinarity growth and mastery of history,” he explains. “After many brainstorming sessions, we embarked on a programme called ‘The History Times’, where students are tasked to produce a history newsletter and share their findings, approaches and masteries to the community.”

Student-Centred Learning in the History Classroom

“Centrality of students’ voices refers to putting student voices at the heart of the lesson, culture of build-on refers to students gathering data and exercise reasoning, while course of rising above refers to students engaging in reflective thinking.”

– Melvin defines the 3Cs

Progressive approaches to education prioritize learning through experience and place students at the centre of the learning process. At CCKSS, all History lessons are grounded in the social constructivist approach, with inquiry-based learning – strongly supported and anchored by Knowledge Building (KB) pedagogy – as well as elements of collaborative and crossover learning infused into the way teachers teach History.

“CCKSS has adapted and localized the 12 KB principles into 3Cs – ‘Centrality of students’ voices’, ‘Culture of build-on’ and ‘Course of rising above,’” Melvin states.

With these pedagogical underpinnings in mind, the combined History team from both schools engaged in a few rounds of initial dialogue and conversation to come up with a lesson plan for “The History Times” programme. They conceptualized the 4Cs of “Connect, Comprehend, Conceptualize, Create”.

Connect

Students present a historical figure in their preferred mode. They then use the KB scaffold in the Knowledge Forum, an online platform to facilitate KB inquiry, and rethink their ideas. Based on their revised interests, students are grouped accordingly. Since this activity is conducted online, teachers from both schools create a Zoom platform and facilitate ice-breaker activities.

Comprehend

Students engage in curated activities, such as conducting historical research and attending guest speaker sessions, with teachers guiding them toward a deeper understanding of the topic they are researching on.

Conceptualize

In each of their groups, students start building on their ideas, conceptualizing and theorizing to develop a unifying theme that synthesizes their diverse perspectives. Each group shares the progress made on the Knowledge Forum and cross-group collaboration is encouraged. Teachers are on hand for online consultations and feedback.

Create

Each group creates their own history newsletter and submits a draft for peer review by another group. After incorporating the necessary revisions, the teachers conduct a final review. Once approved, the newsletters are ready for presentation.

“This programme is open to all interested Secondary 3 History students, including those from the Express and Normal Academic streams as well as those taking Core History and Elective History. We usually take in a maximum of 20 student participants with 5 teachers in charge,” he elaborates. “For 2023, the newsletter focused on the theme ‘The Interwar Period’.”

Cultivating Historical Consciousness in Students

Unlike traditional approaches to teaching and learning, progressive education regard knowledge as dynamic, shaped by context and arises through the learning process. Melvin is heartened to see that students are capable of not only going beyond memorization of historical facts, but also equally competent in stepping out from the perspectives of hindsight and concept of determinism.

“When the students presented their ‘The History Times: The Interwar Period’ newsletter, they were able to deduce that ‘Every historical period deserves to be studied on its own’ and ‘The Interwar Period should not be overshadowed by the idea of wars’. This shows that they can understand that history is never static and that historians should not practice determinism when analysing historical period,” he says.

He also emphasizes that teachers should not underestimate youths’ adaptability to new learning approaches as well as their cognitive advancement. He advocates adopting a less didactic pedagogical approach to the teaching and learning of history, with a focus on incorporating diverse perspectives into the curriculum.

“This project shows that students are capable of effectively using the KB scaffolds to advance their group’s historical knowledge and understanding. These series of cognitive build-ons facilitate the various moves towards the integration of historiography and an interdisciplinarity approach to each group’s inquiry theme,” he remarks.

The success of this programme has inspired other teachers in the school to adopt aspects of progressive pedagogies such as KB and crossover learning in the subjects they teach.

“It is important to crystallize the key essences of the pedagogical mechanisms underlying these approaches so that colleagues will not feel overwhelmed,” he advises. “Distilling the KB principles into the 3Cs, for instance, simplifies the approach and builds confidence among teachers.”

Moving forward, Melvin hopes to scale up the cross-community history work. “Our team hopes that more cross-collaborations with colleagues from the history fraternity will occur,” he shares. “We are also in the midst of integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the formative feedback and build-on process.”

– Melvin, on why we should not underestimate youths’ adaptability

Nurturing the Next Generation as Heritage Curators

In addition to “The History Times”, Chua Chu Kang Secondary School (CCKSS) offers another signature programme for Secondary 2 history students called the “Heritage Curatorship and Immersion Programme (H-CIP)”. H-CIP is based on the same pedagogical principles as “The History Times”.

“In this programme, students create a trail booklet and compose songs that highlight the history of the Teck Whye neighbourhood,” Melvin explains. “The Teck Whye neighbourhood, where the school is located at, is a mature and ageing estate. However, its past has not been rigorously studied and archived despite it being the first town established in the area.”

He notes how it is important for the younger generation to put in effort to preserve and appreciate the rich history and heritage of their neighbourhood. “With that goal in mind, our team of History, social studies and music teachers conceptualized the programme based on three key components,” he says.

The first is heritage orientation, where students are introduced to the concept of heritage through a multi-sensory experience that engages their senses of sight, sound and smell, with class discussions to exchange ideas.

The second component is historical investigation, where students work in groups to come up with an inquiry question on the history of the neighbourhood. They then select three locations within the area that best address their inquiry.

“The students conduct thorough historical research on these locations and supplement their findings with insights gathered from oral interviews with residents and/or family members. They then compile all the research and interviews, and use them to conceptualize inter-disciplinarity activities for each location into a trail booklet. Each activity incorporates elements of History, arts and another subject,” he explains.

The third component focuses on lyrics and music composition. Based on their activities in their trail booklet, they are then tasked to create lyrics and compose songs that capture the essence of the neighbourhood’s heritage and history. It culminates in a group presentation where students perform their completed songs.

Melvin notes how the programme encourages critical thinking among students and allows them to draw authentic connections between the subjects they study.

“A focus group discussion with the students revealed that upon reflecting on the songwriting process, they realized how music can be used as a tool to shape the perceptions of their neighbourhood in a positive way,” he says. “This highlights the value of interdisciplinary learning which gives students a better understanding of the interconnectedness of knowledge and the relevance of their studies to the real world.

Another key element of H-CIP is the emphasis on crossover learning – an educational approach that blends formal and informal learning experiences across different contexts. Melvin shares an anecdote on a student who interviewed an elderly resident.

“In the interview, the student suggested that the elderly resident digitize an old magazine that he had. He then became quiet and looked sad, explaining that the magazine held a deep meaning to him as it was what he had last read with his wife,” Melvin shares.

Through this experience, the student realized that not all artefacts should be digitized, as some owners may hold too deep an emotional attachment to the physical object.

“This anecdote shows that our youths are capable of understanding and expressing the concept of historical empathy. They are able to relate the emotional impact of history to their own lives,” he states. “We hope that this programme can play an important role in nurturing an empathetic generation who are committed to creating positive changes in their communities.”