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	<title>Conceptual knowledge &#8211; SingTeach | Education Research for Teachers | Research within Reach</title>
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		<title>ST80 Guest Editor&#8217;s Note</title>
		<link>https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/2022/04/19/st80-guest-editors-note/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=st80-guest-editors-note</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Aishah]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Apr 2022 04:52:45 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[issue 80 mar 2022]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conceptual knowledge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Four-life learning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guest editor's note]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life-deep learning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Adaptive expertise]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/?p=20152</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[As educators, we always wonder what kinds of learners we should develop in order for them to excel [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" width="235" height="300" src="https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ST80_editorial_v1-235x300.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-20154" srcset="https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ST80_editorial_v1-235x300.jpg 235w, https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ST80_editorial_v1-802x1024.jpg 802w, https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ST80_editorial_v1-768x980.jpg 768w, https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ST80_editorial_v1.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 235px) 100vw, 235px" />As educators, we always wonder what kinds of learners we should develop in order for them to excel in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) future. Since the future is unknown to teachers now, it is impossible for teachers to teach students all the knowledge and skills they need in the future. So, what can teachers do to prepare for future-ready learners?</p>
<p>To respond to this challenge, a <a href="https://www.nie.edu.sg/docs/default-source/oer/final-compilations-26012018.pdf?sfvrsn=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Four-Life Learning Model</a> was proposed by NIE in 2017 to encapsulate learning for the future. The model recognizes four forms of learning, namely life-deep, life-wide, lifelong and life-wise learning. Life-deep learning is about developing deep content knowledge in domain subjects; life-wide learning involves learning and transfer across formal and informal contexts with interdisciplinary understandings; life-long learning connects learning with purpose for continuous knowledge and skills development throughout one’s lifespan; and life-wise learning involves the development of values, morals, characters, well-being and practical wisdom in life.</p>
<p>The Four-Life Learning Model is well connected to MOE initiatives. For example, to foster the joy of learning, we need to build life-long learning dispositions, distill life-deep expertise and promote life-wide interests. Entrepreneurial dare is about leveraging life-deep expertise and content mastery while, at the same time, engaging life-wide learning for boundary crossing between formal and informal contexts and multiple disciplines, in order to effectively think outside of the box.</p>
<p>What needs to be further unpacked are the relationships among the four forms of learning. Are they referring to four different types of learning that have respective unique development trajectories, or are they the characterization of learning from four different lenses? In schools, there is a long tradition focusing on deep content mastery. Have we sufficiently helped students for life-deep learning? How would the other three forms of learning contribute to life-deep learning and vice versa?</p>
<p>Taking on these questions, this issue of <em>SingTeach</em> explores life-deep learning by underscoring the development of adaptive expertise which is to balance efficiency in applying knowledge and innovation in creating novel knowledge and solutions. Conceptual understanding, procedural knowledge and procedural flexibility contribute to the development of adaptive expertise. While recognizing that Singapore schools are adept at developing students’ procedural knowledge and have also increasingly focused on developing students’ conceptual understanding, this issue highlights the importance of developing procedural flexibility and suggests a few ways of doing so.</p>
<p>In addition, the issue also articulates the developments of the four forms of learning to be both the means and ends for each other: the development of life-deep learning contributes to the other three types of learning and vice versa. Together, they contribute to the optimal development of future-ready learners.</p>
<hr />
<p><span>For more information on the Four-Life Learning Model, please refer to:</p>
<p>Kwek, D., Hung, D., Koh, T. S., &amp; Tan J. (2017). OER-CRPP Innovations for Pedagogical Change: 5 Lessons. Singapore: National Institute of Education.</p>
<p>Download the report</span><span> <a aria-label="Link here" title="https://www.nie.edu.sg/docs/default-source/oer/final-compilations-26012018.pdf?sfvrsn=0" href="https://www.nie.edu.sg/docs/default-source/oer/final-compilations-26012018.pdf?sfvrsn=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" tabindex="-1">here</a>.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>A Life-Long Process of Purposeful Learning</title>
		<link>https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/2022/04/19/a-life-long-process-of-purposeful-learning/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=a-life-long-process-of-purposeful-learning</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Aishah]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Apr 2022 04:23:29 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[issue 80 mar 2022]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Adaptive expertise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Creative transfer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Procedural flexibility]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conceptual knowledge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Four-life learning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Big Idea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life-deep learning]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/?p=20147</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[How can we better prepare our students to be future-ready learners? One of the ways we can empower [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>How can we better prepare our students to be future-ready learners? One of the ways we can empower our young minds to face a future fraught with new challenges is by recalibrating our focus on the meaning of purposeful learning. It encompasses these <a href="https://www.nie.edu.sg/docs/default-source/oer/final-compilations-26012018.pdf?sfvrsn=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">four forms of learning</a> <span>– </span>life-long, life-deep, life-wide and life-wise. The Guest Editor of this </strong></em><strong>SingTeach</strong><em><strong> issue, <a href="https://dr.ntu.edu.sg/cris/rp/rp01475" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr David Huang</a>, a Senior Education Research Scientist at the <a href="https://nie.edu.sg/research/research-offices/office-of-education-research/centre-for-research-in-pedagogy-and-practice-crpp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice</a> at <a href="https://nie.edu.sg/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NIE</a>, shares more about four-life learning and the importance of deep learning.</strong></em></p>
<h1>What is Four<span>&#8211;</span>Life Learning?</h1>
<p><img loading="lazy" width="300" height="199" src="https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ST80_TheBigIdea_v3_for_layout-300x199.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-20148" srcset="https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ST80_TheBigIdea_v3_for_layout-300x199.jpg 300w, https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ST80_TheBigIdea_v3_for_layout-1024x678.jpg 1024w, https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ST80_TheBigIdea_v3_for_layout-768x509.jpg 768w, https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ST80_TheBigIdea_v3_for_layout-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ST80_TheBigIdea_v3_for_layout-2048x1356.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p>While the four forms of learning<span>–</span>life<span>&#8211;</span>long, life<span>&#8211;</span>deep, life<span>&#8211;</span>wide and life-wise<span>&#8211;</span>focus on the different aspects of learning, they do not exist in isolation as their developments are interrelated.</p>
<p>Giving an example, Dr David Huang, who is also Associate Dean of the Office of Education Research (OER) at NIE, explains: “When students draw on their (formal) classroom experience and (informal) everyday experience, they also develop a deep mastery of knowledge. Being able to link the formal and informal experience together in learning contributes to both life<span>&#8211;</span>wide and life<span>&#8211;</span>deep learning.”</p>
<p>Life<span>&#8211;</span>wide learning, he explains, is about learning and transfer across multiple contexts. The process of learning extends beyond the parameters of school as it occurs in informal learning environments as well. Life<span>&#8211;</span>deep learning, meanwhile, is about having a deep understanding of disciplinary content and involves the development of adaptive expertise. As articulated by Hatano and Inagaki (1986), adaptive expertise seeks to achieve both efficiency and innovation.</p>
<p>Expanding more on the interrelatedness of the four types of learning, he says: “Learning is a continuous developmental process as it occurs across one’s lifespan, from infancy to adulthood. Life<span>&#8211;</span>long learning contributes to life<span>&#8211;</span>deep learning. At the same time, life<span>&#8211;</span>deep learning also acts as a stepping stone for future learning.”</p>
<p>He points out that in the dual processes life-deep learning contributes to the other three types of learning and vice versa. This suggests that the four types of learning are both the means and ends for each other.</p>
<h1>More than Just Routine Expertise</h1>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Georgia',serif; color: #333333;"></p>
<div class="shortcode-block-quote-right" style="color:#999999"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><b>“</b>Life-deep learning is about developing adaptive expertise, rather than routine expertise.”</p>
<p><em>– <strong>David</strong>, <i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">on the definition of life-deep learning</span></i></em></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Georgia',serif; color: #333333;"></div>
<p></span></p>
<p>Life-deep learning, says David, is of particular importance to him. “Life-deep learning is about developing adaptive expertise, rather than routine expertise. To develop adaptive expertise, students need to explore new learning opportunities that balance efficiency and innovation,” he says.</p>
<p>He is encouraged to see schools investing in helping students develop life-deep learning, particularly in strong procedural knowledge which refers to how one does something, such as solving a word problem. While there is a concerted effort in strengthening procedural knowledge, he points out that sustaining this strength is not enough.</p>
<p>“Children who receive nothing but efficiency<span>&#8211;</span>oriented instruction may well be adequate in solving routine problems, but limited in dealing with an uncertain future,” he reiterates.</p>
<p>The necessary ingredients of life-deep learning, he adds, also include procedural flexibilities and conceptual understanding.</p>
<h1>The Role of Conceptual Understanding</h1>
<p>Conceptual understanding refers to understanding the principles and relationships that underlie a domain. It plays an important role, for example in problem solving, as it increases the ability for flexibility and adaptability, and provides a criterion to select for alternative possibilities for each step of a solution method.</p>
<p>“The direct application of prior knowledge can hardly give rise to learning new concepts,” he says. “As such, developing conceptual knowledge requires a different kind of interaction.”</p>
<p>He acknowledges that while it may be simpler and more efficient for schools and school leaders to build resources that can help students learn how to solve simple problems in academic settings, efficiency-driven instruction may not do justice to developing student innovation or optimizing their potentials.</p>
<p>“Fortunately, I do see schools paying more attention in helping students develop conceptual understanding. For example, I have observed schools using props combined with self-explanation prompts to help students develop their conceptual understanding in a particular subject and increase their potential for adaptability and transfer,” he shares.</p>
<h1>Developing Students’ Procedural Flexibility</h1>
<p>“Besides continuing the good practices in developing students’ procedural knowledge and conceptual understanding, my research suggests a need for schools to develop students’ procedural flexibility as well,” he says.</p>
<p>Professor Jon Star, an educational psychologist from Harvard University, refers to procedural flexibility as learners knowing multiple procedures to solve a range of problems and being able to choose the best procedure for a particular problem.</p>
<p>David brings up an example of helping students judge whether an integer is divisible by three. “One efficient procedural solution is to sum the digits of the integer and check whether the sum is divisible by three,” he notes.</p>
<p>In contrast, to help students develop procedural flexibility, he suggests that a teacher can first encourage students to come up with as many different methods as possible. Next, the teacher can engage the students in evaluating these methods, choosing the most efficient solutions and justifying their choice.</p>
<p>“By implementing this teaching approach, students can develop both conceptual understanding and procedural flexibility,” he adds.</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Georgia',serif; color: #333333;"></p>
<div class="shortcode-block-quote-center" style="color:#999999"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p>“Besides continuing the good practices in developing students’ procedural knowledge and conceptual understanding, my research suggests a need for schools to develop students’ procedural flexibility as well.”</p>
<p><em>– <strong>David</strong>, <i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">on what more can be done to further develop life-deep learning among students</span></i></em></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Georgia',serif; color: #333333;"></div>
<p></span></p>
<h1>Nurturing Future-Ready Life-Long Learners</h1>
<p>David emphasizes that the purpose of learning should not be limited to the mastery of knowledge (life-deep learning). It should involve guiding students to deal with future transfer tasks (life-long learning) that may be in formal or informal settings (life-wide learning) and may also involve the development and transfer of big ideas or principles such as values, morals, character and historical empathy (life-wise learning).</p>
<p>“Developing all the four forms of learning focuses on constant development (i.e., learn for life) and adaptability. In doing so, we are preparing future-ready learners for an uncertain future,” he affirms.</p>
<p><strong>Reference</strong><br />
Hatano, G., &amp; Inagaki, K. (1986). Two courses of expertise. In H. W. Stevenson, H. Azuma, &amp; K. Hakuta (Eds.), <em>Child development and education in Japan</em> (pp. 262–272). W H Freeman/Times Books/ Henry Holt &amp; Co.</p>
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		<title>Rethinking Learning from Creative Transfer</title>
		<link>https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/2022/04/19/rethinking-learning-from-creative-transfer/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=rethinking-learning-from-creative-transfer</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Aishah]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Apr 2022 03:44:36 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[issue 80 mar 2022]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research in Action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life-deep learning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Creative transfer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Procedural flexibility]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conceptual knowledge]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/?p=20137</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[How do we define learning in the 21st century? According to NIE Senior Education Research Scientist Dr David [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>How do we define learning in the 21st century? According to <a href="https://nie.edu.sg/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NIE</a> Senior Education Research Scientist <a href="https://dr.ntu.edu.sg/cris/rp/rp01475" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr David Huang</a>, learning should not only involve the ability to acquire knowledge efficiently, but also be able to innovatively transfer the newly acquired knowledge beyond specific contexts and instances, a process called “creative transfer”. In </strong><strong>this article, he shares more about his research project that focuses on creative transfer in Math.</strong></em></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" src="https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ST80_ResearchinAction_DavidHuang-_v3_for_layout_edited-300x223.jpg" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-20138" width="400" height="297" srcset="https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ST80_ResearchinAction_DavidHuang-_v3_for_layout_edited-300x223.jpg 300w, https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ST80_ResearchinAction_DavidHuang-_v3_for_layout_edited-768x571.jpg 768w, https://singteach.nie.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ST80_ResearchinAction_DavidHuang-_v3_for_layout_edited.jpg 833w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" /></p>
<p>Creative transfer occurs when students synthesize, expand, combine and adapt their knowledge in transfer so as to create novel concepts and procedures. “An example of creative transfer is a student creating a solution method for a question in a curriculum topic they have never learned before,” says Dr David Huang.</p>
<p>His research project consists of two sub-studies, the first of which (Study 1) was conducted on primary school students across three local schools. Study 1, he explains, explores the extent to which the learners’ domain knowledge of the already learned topics of fraction multiplication and whole number division can influence their creative transfer to the untaught topic of fraction division.</p>
<p>“In Study 1, we found that procedural <em>flexibility</em> and <em>conceptual knowledge</em> are particularly important for transfer to take place,” he notes.</p>
<h1>Discovering Learners’ Potential for Creative Transfer</h1>
<p>In the initial stages of the study, the research team found that there were a number of students who already had prior exposure to fraction division before it was introduced in the formal curriculum.</p>
<p>“After realizing this situation, we took the opportunity to compare creative transfer (by students who had no prior exposure to fraction division) versus application of knowledge in usual transfer (by students who had prior exposure),” he explains.</p>
<p>The direct comparison between the two groups of students led to the finding that procedural flexibility of (previously learnt) whole number division and fraction multiplication was particularly important for those students who had prior exposure to fraction division. Meanwhile, for those who did not have prior exposure, their conceptual knowledge of whole number division and fraction multiplication was important for them to invent their own methods in solving fraction division problems.</p>
<p>“Teachers and researchers were also pleasantly surprised to note that students developed many novel creative transfer approaches to solve fraction division problems, suggesting that students in Singapore have good potentials in creative transfer,” he shares.</p>
<h1>Further Implications of the Study</h1>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Georgia',serif; color: #333333;"></p>
<div class="shortcode-block-quote-right" style="color:#999999"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p>“A deep conceptual understanding of a topic would not only help students learn the topic well, but also prepare them to use the conceptual understanding to deal with new curriculum topics later on.”</p>
<p><em><span class="st"><b><span style="font-family: 'Georgia',serif; color: #333333;">– </span></b></span><strong><span style="font-family: 'Georgia',serif; color: #333333;"></span>David</strong>, on the importance of having a deep conceptual understanding of a topic</em></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Georgia',serif; color: #333333;"></div>
<p></span></p>
<p>The research project has important implications on how teachers can change their approach in teaching new topics and at the same time, foster deep learning in the classroom.</p>
<p>David shares that the research team has given feedback to teachers that students had difficulties in answering conceptual questions, for example drawing models to illustrate and explain mathematical relationships.</p>
<p>“Based on our observations, many students answered the questions by providing procedural steps instead,” he states. “This suggests a need for developing students’ <em>conceptual knowledge</em>, as well as strengthening the disciplinary language in explaining concepts and mathematical relationships.”</p>
<p>Furthermore, the study has shown that students who do not have prior exposure to fraction division have used their prior conceptual knowledge on whole number division and fraction multiplication to solve novel problems on fraction division.</p>
<p>Thus, this implies that having procedural knowledge, while necessary, is not sufficient. “A deep conceptual understanding of a topic would not only help students learn the topic well, but also prepare them to use the conceptual understanding to deal with new curriculum topics later on,” he explains.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, for students who already had prior exposure to fraction division, their procedural flexibility of whole number division and fraction multiplication predicts their transfer in solving fraction division problems.</p>
<p>“To strengthen students’ procedural flexibility, teachers can encourage them to solve problems using as many methods as possible, even if some methods are not as efficient,” he shares. “This flexibility could help students integrate the old curriculum topics they had learned before with new topics they are currently learning.”</p>
<h1>Enhancing Our Understanding of Creative Transfer</h1>
<p>David shares that Study 2 will be rolled out in May 2022.</p>
<p>“Study 1 has provided us with an understanding on the different forms of domain knowledge that can influence creative transfer in learners,” he says.</p>
<p>“Study 2, meanwhile, seeks to examine ‘compare and contrast’ as a pedagogy in developing students’ domain knowledge. It also looks at whether improving domain knowledge of already learned curriculum topics increases students’ performance in creative transfer.”</p>
<p>The creative transfer of knowledge, he emphasizes, should be an essential feature in education. The payoff for meaningful instruction lies in not just an immediate retention of the learned information, but also in transfer to novel situations in future.</p>
<p>“As future novel situations may not be known to the present teachers and learners, students need to be capable of dealing with transfer tasks that teachers cannot (or do not) directly prepare them for,” he adds. “Hence, developing students’ ability for creative transfer empowers them to be the future pillars of tomorrow.”</p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Georgia',serif; color: #333333;"></p>
<div class="shortcode-block-quote-center" style="color:#999999"></span></p>
<p>“The payoff for meaningful instruction lies in not just an immediate retention of the learned information, but also in transfer to novel situations in future.”</p>
<p><em><span class="st"><b><span style="font-family: 'Georgia',serif; color: #333333;">– </span></b></span><strong><span style="font-family: 'Georgia',serif; color: #333333;"></span>David</strong>, on the benefits of creative transfer</em></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Georgia',serif; color: #333333;"></div>
<p></span></p>
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