20 Years 20 Stories

Dr Dennis Kwek (Centre Director, Centre for Research in Pedaogogy and Practice, National Institute of Education)

“SingTeach is more than just a publication – it’s a bridge between rigorous research and real-world classrooms. I’ve always believed in its mission of bringing evidence-based practices to teachers in a way that’s practical and meaningul to apply.”

I recalled a moment early in my early career when I worked closely with teachers to co-create classroom strategies informed by research. It was in those discussions that I saw how powerful research could be when it’s shared with teachers in impactful ways. SingTeach embodies this philosophy, offering teachers the tools and insights to innovate and make a difference in their classrooms.

Through the NIE flagship CORE research study, my team and I continue to uncover critical insights into Singapore’s educational landscape, from pedagogies to student engagement. I believe the real value of such research lies in its ability to empower educators.

As SingTeach celebrates its 20th anniversary, I look forward to strengthening collaborations with educators. Together, we can ensure that every piece of research translates into real, actionable change that benefits our students and shapes the future of education in Singapore.”

Dr Dennis Kwek, Associate Dean of Strategic Engagement at NIE's Office for Research, has long been a champion of bridging the worlds of research and practice. As Centre Director of the Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice (CRPP) and lead investigator of NIE’s flagship pedagogical study, CORE, his work examines the intricacies of classroom teaching and learning to uncover what truly works for policymakers, educators and students.

Dennis guest-edited SingTeach Issue 75 "Lessons from a Pandemic: What Have We Learnt?"  and Issue 65 "The Heart of Classroom Pedagogies" .

Mr Melvin Chan (Lead Teacher, History, Chua Chu Kang Secondary School)

"Congrats, SingTeach, for reaching a significant milestone in your 20 years of continuous pursuit in imparting knowledge, illuminating practices and inspiring the fraternity! Thank you for being my constant learning compass and accompanying companion throughout my teaching journey. 😊 My colleagues and I are always looking forward to reading the latest articles and amazing write ups in the quarterly SingTeach issues, where the learning and acquisition of established, promising and innovative instructional practices is creatively, critically and concisely presented in a manner that is:

Simple to understand
Inquisitive in nature
Novelty in engagement
Generative in thoughts
Thorough in description
Ease in comprehension
Authentic in orientation
Concrete in application
Humanistic in practice

With the rapid changes and shifts in the educational landscape, SingTeach art of bringing and bridging the research-practitioner nexus within its reach, in a timely and accessible manner, becomes even more precious, valuable and cherished by the teaching fraternity. Thank you for continuing to be our source of information, instruction and inspiration in discovering, deepening and developing our pedagogical and curriculum innovations for a future-ready learning environment.

Happy 20th Anniversary SingTeach!"

Melvin is Lead Teacher (History) at Chua Chu Kang Secondary School and 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. He was featured in an article in SingTeach Issue 90 titled "Beyond Memorization: Implementing Progressive Approaches in the History Classroom" . He also contributed an article in Virtual Staff Lounge in Oct 2022 titled "Empowering Learners to be Future-Ready".

Asst Professor Azilawati Jamaludin (Assistant Centre Director, Science of Learning in Education Centre, National Institute of Education)

"For two decades, SingTeach has served as a crucial bridge between research and classroom practice, empowering educators with insights that enhance their teaching. As an advocate for translating research into meaningful learning experiences, I deeply appreciate SingTeach’s commitment to fostering dialogue between researchers and educators.

The launch of the Science of Learning in Education Centre (SoLEC) marked a pivotal moment in integrating neuroscience and education research. At that time, SingTeach played a critical role in amplifying this momentum by dedicating a special issue to the Science of Learning in Education, catalyzing conversations among educators, researchers and policymakers. It felt like a big bang moment – a bold step toward making the Science of Learning more accessible and actionable in classrooms.

As Guest Editor for this landmark issue (SingTeach issue 76), I was honored to work alongside trailblazing teachers and researchers who are pushing the boundaries of how we understand learning. SingTeach not only highlighted cutting-edge research but also showcased educators who translated neuroscience insights into real-world teaching practices. Their stories were a testament to how research and practice can co-evolve, shaping the future of education.

Looking back, SingTeach’s commitment to bridging research and practice has been instrumental in sustaining this dialogue. Congratulations on 20 years of impact—here’s to many more years of innovation in learning!"

Asst Prof Azilawati is Assistant Centre Director of NIE's Science of Learning in Education Centre . Her research spans the Science and Technology of Learning, Digital Game-Based Learning, Neuroprotective Learning Spaces, Educational Innovation, and Impact. In March 2021, she guest-edited SingTeach Issue 76  "Science of Learning in Education".

Ms Preeti Bhart Sheri (Head of Department of Character and Citizenship Education, Tampines Secondary School)

"Teaching through the COVID-19 pandemic was another important turning point as an educator. It became increasingly urgent to nurture the belief in students that better academic and life outcomes can be achieved by being active contributors. ‘Knowledge building is a way of life!’ (Issue 74, 2020) was a quote I drew strength from. The article had useful insights to reflect and sharpen the mindset of a 21st century educator. SingTeach issues remind practitioners on the importance of routines where students engage in metacognition of the content learnt and see the purpose of doing it. Ideas from research on collaborative pedagogy promoted deep thinking and skills for collective effort to contribute to each other’s learning.

To evolve as an educator, I revisit past issues and use the 2x2 knowledge matrix to navigate teaching complexities. SingTeach issues helps me to recognize ‘Known Knowns’ and reinforce strong foundations, while addressing ‘Known Unknowns’ which encourages inquiry-based learning. ‘Unknown Knowns’ prompt reflection on implicit knowledge overlooked, and ‘Unknown Unknowns’ challenge me to embrace lifelong learning and reflection."

Preeti is Head of Department (Character and Citizenship Education) at Tampines Secondary School. She was featured in an article in SingTeach Issue 87 titled "A Whole-School Approach to Sustainability Education".

Professor Tan Oon Seng (Centre Director, Singapore Centre for Character and Citizenship Education, National Institute of Education)

“I have been a long-time supporter of SingTeach and once had the privilege of guest-editing a special issue focused on Character and Citizenship Education (CCE), where I explored the crucial role of CCE in Singapore. Education is not just about knowledge acquisition – it is about shaping the hearts and minds of our young. In today’s complex world, teachers play an even greater role in developing students’ moral compass, resilience and sense of responsibility to society.

At the Singapore Centre for Character and Citizenship Education (SCCCE), I continue to champion research-informed practices that support educators in instilling values and nurturing civic consciousness in students. SingTeach has been a key platform in this mission, equipping teachers with evidence-based strategies to strengthen Character and Citizenship Education in schools.

As SingTeach marks its 20th anniversary, I hope it continues to be a guiding light for educators – one that not only deepens professional knowledge but also inspires teachers to cultivate character and citizenship in every child.”

Professor Tan Oon Seng, Centre Director of SCCCE at NIE, has long been a strong advocate for values-based education. As a thought leader in CCE, he believes that nurturing students’ character, values, and civic-mindedness is just as crucial as developing their academic abilities.

"Having contributed to SingTeach over the last decade or so in the capacity of a researcher as well as a teacher educator, I can say with certainty that the SingTeach platform is invaluable in bridging the gap between educational research and classroom practice. SingTeach distills complex research into digestible and reader-friendly formats, and fosters a community of practice where educators and researchers can mutually share expertise to enhance teaching with evidence-based insights.

I also appreciate how each article can be updated and linked to new information as evidence unfolds. I return frequently to the SingTeach platform to discover new research and ideas to enhance my professional practice, particularly as these are relevant to our dynamic educational context.

As SingTeach celebrates its 20th year, I would like to thank the people behind the scenes who make it all possible. I have experienced their passion for education firsthand and would like to congratulate the team on its steady accomplishments over the years!"

Dr Tricia Seow is a geography educator and geography education researcher at NIE's Humanities & Social Studies Education Academic Department. She also guest-edited SingTeach Issue 87 (Dec 2023) on Sustainability Education.

"It was a privilege to guest-edit the December 2021 issue of SingTeach on student and teacher well-being, and the experience left a lasting impression on me. SingTeach stands out as a rare and valuable platform that bridges the worlds of educational research and classroom practice in an accessible, engaging and practitioner-friendly way. As a researcher, I deeply appreciated the opportunity to work with a team that was committed to translating complex ideas into meaningful insights for educators on the ground.

What I admire most about SingTeach is its strong focus on relevance and applicability – it doesn’t just report research; it thoughtfully curates ideas that speak to the real concerns of teachers and school leaders. In doing so, SingTeach has become a vital conduit for research-informed practice in Singapore’s education landscape.

Over the years, I’ve seen how SingTeach has empowered educators with new perspectives, connected them to wider conversations, and reaffirmed the importance of continuous learning and reflection. It has also inspired me to think more deeply about how my own work can resonate beyond academia. Congratulations on 20 years of meaningful impact – SingTeach continues to be a model of research-practice partnership at its best."

Gregory Arief D. Liem is currently an Associate Professor at NIE's Psychology and Child & Human Development (PCHD) Academic Department. He was also Guest Editor of SingTeach Issue 79 on "Fostering Student and Teacher Well-Being" in 2021.

"SingTeach has been an invaluable source of support since I embarked on my teacher leadership journey as a Senior Teacher. As a facilitator in our Professional Learning Team (PLT), I constantly seek evidence and research-based insights to guide my team in designing effective interventions. I vividly recall how our team explored Differentiated Instruction (DI) strategies for a project, and SingTeach provided us with numerous insightful articles that enriched our discussions. One article that left a deep impression on me was “Charting Our Own Path(s) Towards Differentiation” by Associate Professor Heng Tang Tang, published in Issue 71 (December 2019). It offered profound insights that shaped our approach to DI.

Last year, I had the honour of being featured in a SingTeach issue after presenting our department’s PLT pedagogy at RPIC. It was incredibly rewarding to see our department’s learning shared with a wider community, inspiring us to continue exploring innovative teaching and learning practices.

Thank you, SingTeach, for providing a platform to share our thoughts, experiences and aspirations. Congratulations on 20 years of empowering educators — I look forward to many more years of insightful learning and collaboration!"

Low Xin Yee is Senior Teacher (Chinese Language) at Queensway Secondary School. She was featured in an article in SingTeach Issue 89 titled "Fostering Critical Thinking with Generative AI".

"In my past and ongoing work with teachers, I’ve been heartened by how teachers have developed themselves professionally with SingTeach playing a key role in celebrating teachers’ learning and in connecting researchers to educators all these years. In journeying with teachers as active inquirers into their classroom practice with inquiry as ‘a way of professional being’ (Reid, 2004), I’ve seen how teachers question their underlying beliefs and assumptions as they investigate the effects of teaching on their students’ learning. This shapes teachers’ ‘being and becoming’ as practitioners when they build capacity over time and strengthen their identity within a learning community.

In an increasingly unpredictable world, the demands to be nimble in confronting new challenges call for different ways of addressing context-specific teaching and learning needs. Being part of an active learning community facilitated by SingTeach reminds us that we are never alone as we contribute to the learning within the wider fraternity through active investigation and collaboration. This is not only critical but essential when we keep our students’ learning at the heart of all that we do throughout our professional lives.

Thank you, SingTeach. Happy 20th anniversary!"

Dr Caroline Ho is Lead Specialist, English Language at the English Language Institute of Singapore. She was featured in an article in SingTeach Issue 50 titled "The Importance of Effective Communication". Caroline was also Co-PI of two NIE research projects that focused on disciplinary literacy in the Science classroom and productive talk in Geography among other studies.

"As we seek to prepare our teachers to be future-ready professionals, platforms that help to engage our teachers in evidence-informed practice is crucial to their growth and agency. SingTeach has demonstrated that it offers such a platform through a multiple pathways approach to supporting professional learning and growth. SingTeach’s 'Knowledge Resources Bank' and 'Ask a Researcher' are examples of pathways that allow better communication and catalyse conversations between the researchers and practitioners.

Over the years, I have tapped on SingTeach to help teachers narrow the gaps among research, theory and practice. This has not only created greater awareness amongst practitioners of the findings of translational-oriented projects but also prompted their inquiry into how the findings might offer ways to address real-world issues and transform teaching and learning in our classrooms to better prepare our learners to be future-ready.

As SingTeach celebrates is its 20th Anniversary, I would like to convey my heartfelt congratulations for how effectively it has played this role over the years. As one who is keen and active in translating research to practice, I look forward to working closely with SingTeach to continue to support the professional growth of our teachers."

Lee Ngan Hoe is Associate Professor at NIE's Mathematice and Mathematics Education Academic Department. He is also Associate Dean (Professional Practice) at the institute's Office of Teacher Education and Undergraduate Programmes. His research project on productive failure is featured in the Knowledge Resource Bank in 2021. He was also featured in Ask a Researcher in 2023 where he shared about how teachers can use virtual manipulatives to teach Math.

"I am deeply honoured to be part of SingTeach’s 20th anniversary celebration. As someone who has journeyed from classroom teaching to educational research, SingTeach has remained a constant and valuable companion.

I first encountered the publication as a young teacher searching for meaningful ways to connect theory with classroom practice. Even then, SingTeach stood out as a platform that made research feel accessible, relevant, and applicable to everyday teaching. Its commitment to sharing real stories, practical strategies, and evidence-based insights has not only shaped my professional growth but also helped foster a connected community of educators passionate about improving education.

In 2021, I had the privilege of contributing an article on student well-being. That opportunity sparked enriching conversations with fellow educators who shared a common belief in nurturing the whole child. Since then, my research has continued to explore the well-being of both students and teachers – through the development of a Children’s Wellness Inventory (CWI) and a digital wellness intervention aimed at supporting teachers’ emotional intelligence, resilience, and self-compassion.

I am truly grateful for SingTeach’s role in elevating voices from across the education landscape, and I look forward to seeing it continue to inspire and empower educators for many more years to come."

Dr Munirah Shaik Kadir is an Education Research Scientist and Lecturer with the Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice, Office for Research at NIE. She was a physics and mathematics teacher and has over 20 years of educational research experience in Australia and Singapore. She was featured in an article in SingTeach Issue 79 titled "Student Well-Being Matters".

"Primary school students often struggle with complex word problems. Teachers providing solutions immediately, though tempting, may be counterproductive to student learning. In my research on the interplay of cognitive and metacognitive processes in problem solving, preliminary findings suggest that metacognitive monitoring alone does not guarantee success, particularly with complex and unfamiliar problems that necessitate the self-regulation of thinking.

Drawing inspiration from Schoenfeld’s (1985) work on cognitive resource regulation, I have adopted an approach that is centred on developing metacognitive thinking. When students are stuck, I prompt them to pause and reflect on their thought processes, encouraging them to ask questions, identify and correct their own mistakes, helping them monitor their comprehension and refine their strategies. This approach significantly builds student confidence and deepens their understanding, while also developing their skills to adapt and apply prior knowledge to devise different solutions for complex, unfamiliar problems.

This highlights the critical role teachers play in translating research into practical classroom solutions. Research literacy and a deep understanding of learning theories are essential; they shape teachers' beliefs, directly influencing our instructional practices and ultimately enhancing student learning. I am heartened to see that over the years SingTeach has been consistently making education research accessible and relevant, becoming an important resource to bridge the gap between theory and practice for busy educators."

Melissa Chew is Head of Department (Mathematics) at St Hilda’s Primary School. She was featured in an article in SingTeach Issue 80 titled, "The Transfer of Knowledge".

"One common question that researchers and policymakers in education often engage with concerns how to prepare students for the future. More specifically, in relation to my work on Global Citizenship Education, I think about how we can prepare students to live hospitably with diverse others in an increasingly connected age.

It was timely then, when the opportunity arose to guest edit SingTeach’s issue on Global Citizenship Education. Today, the world is facing increasing polarization, conflict and environmental crises. Instead of focusing on knowledge and skills, I wanted to provoke reflections on the kinds of civic orientations and values that can anchor our responses to these challenges.

Together with my colleagues at the Singapore Centre for Character and Citizenship Education, we have conducted research and conceptualized frameworks for a system-wide approach to values education. Some of the core values I personally consider important are encapsulated in 3Cs –  Connectedness, Care and Change. Along with research into virtues development and ethical literacy, I wanted to prompt educators to reflect on how they might foster deeper cosmopolitan understandings and ethical engagement in their classrooms. Global Citizenship Education isn’t simply about teaching students to be aware of the world – it’s about cultivating the capacity to care for others and about injustices and to act responsibly across borders and cultural differences.

What I appreciated most about working with SingTeach was its commitment to bridging research and practice. The platform has provided the space for researchers like myself to translate theoretical ideas into practical insights and to reach teachers who are already doing the complex but meaningful work of cultivating values and dispositions in their students.

As SingTeach marks its 20th anniversary, I celebrate its role in reimagining what education can be – not just a transfer of knowledge, but a catalyst for building a more inclusive, compassionate and just society."

A/P Suzanne Choo is Head, Research at NIE's Singapore Centre for Character & Citizenship Education. Suzanne is interested in issues related to education for global and cosmopolitan citizenship particularly in relation to literature education. In Dec 2024, she guest-edited SingTeach Issue 91 "Global Citizenship and Multicultural Education".

"Designing the Cultural Intelligence (CQ) board game marked a turning point in my teaching journey. I wanted my students to go beyond recalling facts and to genuinely appreciate diverse perspectives, even when engaging with contemporary issues that may be challenging for young learners. The article Engaging in Argumentation in Class (SingTeach, Issue 57, 2016) was a key inspiration – it demonstrated how structured, evidence-based dialogue can help students practise empathy, articulate their views clearly, and listen with an open mind.

What makes the CQ board game unique is the way it translates abstract concepts such as bias, respect, and inclusion into age-appropriate gameplay. Students step into different stakeholder roles, respond to realistic scenarios, and use guiding questions to explain their reasoning. This mirrors the pedagogy highlighted in Issue 57, where structured talk routines nurture critical thinking, perspective-taking, and respectful dialogue.

I continue to revisit past SingTeach issues for fresh insights and encouragement. Articles like those in Issue 57 sharpen my craft and inspire me to design classroom experiences that cultivate 21st Century Competencies. Most importantly, the CQ board game has affirmed for me that with the right scaffolding, even young students can meaningfully engage with diversity, empathy, and social responsibility."

Fadilah Abdul teaches English Language and Social Studies at Wellington Primary School. She was featured in an article in SingTeach Issue 85 titled, "Cultural Intelligence: Engaging Students’ Voices on Diversity through Gameplay".