Student and Teacher Responses to Collaborative Problem Solving and Learning Through Digital Networks in Singapore

Abstract

As a founder country of the ATC21S^TM project, Singapore contributed actively in the task concept check, cognitive laboratories, pilot studies and field trials throughout the development of the ATC21S task prototypes. (The acronym ATC21S^TM has been globally trademarked. For purposes of simplicity the acronym is presented throughout the chapter as ATC21S.) In all, 87 teachers/education officers and about 2,000 students aged 11, 13 and 15 from four elementary and eight secondary schools were involved in the project from 2010 to 2012. Besides capturing data on student performance in the tasks, Singapore researchers also interviewed teachers and students in order to better understand their attitudes toward the assessment of collaborative problem solving and learning through digital networks, and the challenges they faced in it. We found that teachers had to deal with “troubling” concepts in the new teaching and assessment paradigm – including the introduction of ambiguity into assessment tasks, tracking dynamic behaviours in collaborative settings, and the debate over content-rich and content-free assessment of 21st century competencies. Singapore students had fewer problems with learning through digital networks tools and skills than with skills of negotiation, group decision-making, communicating effectively to manage group dynamics and dealing with ambiguity and a less structured assessment environment. These lessons learned from the project provided useful pointers for Singapore as we enhance efforts in the teaching, learning and assessment of 21st century competencies in our schools.