Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be a powerful way to teach students in schools about spatial distribution. When I was at the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Singapore, I was at the forefront of the Educational Technology Division’s (ETD) attempt to encourage teachers to use GIS software as a teaching and learning tool.

While most of the teachers who took part in our workshops and projects involving the use of GIS software have generally found the tool to be powerful, I do not think we have been very successful in encouraging the widespread use of GIS even among the teachers who were involved in our workshops and projects.

In my view, there are a few reasons why GIS has not caught on among teachers in Singapore schools then. I believe one important reason for this is due to the fairly steep learning curve with regards to the use of GIS software. Many of the teachers found the software quite intimidating. This was at a time when the Masterplan for IT in Education (MPITE) was in its first phase. Teachers were still struggling with incorporating ICT into their lessons. Many of these teachers are veterans of the teaching service and generally less ICT-savvy. This made learning GIS software difficult for them. A lack of exposure to the software meant that they never acquired adequate mastery of the software for it to be useful. The lack of exposure to GIS software is also due to the relatively high costs of GIS software. Schools and HODs were reluctant to spend limited budgets on expensive software acquisition especially if the software is seen as useful only for a small portion of the examinations-oriented syllabi.

In addition to the software, to use GIS effectively, it can be argued that it needs its partner which is Global Positioning Systems (GPS). using GPS will also imply the need for GPS hardware like GPS receivers and also GPS software. This again increases costs. Effectively this means that few schools actually bought the software and hardware for using GIS and GPS for teaching and learning. Many teachers are limited to using the software only during workshops and projects undertaken in conjunction with the ETD, which admittedly were at best only sporadic.

Another reason for the lack of enthusiasm for GIS (and GPS) in schools is because the teachers have not undergone a fundamental change in the way they approach teaching. Teachers in Singapore still adopt a very traditional  approach to teaching. It is made worse, by teachers teaching only to the exams. This is largely due to Singapore’s over-emphasis on high stakes examinations that not only decide the academic fate of students but also the professional fate of teachers. Content is over-emphasized as opposed to the acquisition of skills or appropriate attitudes that will lead to independent learning. If perhaps, the emphasis had been on the learning of skills and the inculcation of proper learning attitudes, GIS might not have been seen as useful for only a small portion of the school syllabi. For example, if correct attitudes like getting students to learn to ask good questions for investigation and learning to analyze, gets the proper emphasis in Singapore schools, teachers and school administrators will probably not see the use of GIS as just a niche and expensive thing.

However, all is not lost I hope. There is available for free, legal GIS and GPS software. These are Open Source Software (OSS). They are a viable alternative to the expensive, proprietary (usually) Windows-based GIS software. This would make cost issues no longer relevant. More importantly, their ready availability means that teachers will have the chance to get properly acquainted with GIS and hopefully master the software. Alternatively, the availability of Google Earth offers an interesting alternative option for teachers to use. GPS receivers are also getting cheaper and easier to use too. Perhaps the more difficult aspect of promoting GIS use among schools is the mindset of the teachers and perhaps the policy makers. As long as learning is seen as only for the examinations, teachers will not change their view of tools like GIS to enhance and deepen learning despite its clear real-world application. Hopefully this will change with the influx of new trainee teachers exposed to GIS at the university level especially at the National Institute of Education (NIE) in Singapore. They can act as the catalyst for the widespread use of GIS in Singapore schools.

Some time ago, while I was with the Educational Technology Division (ETD) of Singapore’s Ministry of Education (MOE), a colleague of mine and I was asked to accompany a visiting master teacher from the United States as she went round a few places in Singapore. We visited the Sungei Buloh Wetlands Nature Reserve.

During the course of our conversation there, the topic of acid rain came up. She regaled us of how an American senator, in his attempt to show off his green credentials while talking about acid rain, said that he would like to bring the pH level to zero! We had a good laugh then. But a few moments later while still taking about how students could study the water quality in the area to check for acid rain and its effects, I received a first-hand experience of scientific ignorance (now that’s contradiction of terms). While she was explaining how it could be done, she asked what the water quality would be like if the rain clouds had passed over industrial areas before pouring into the reserve. My colleague, who was a Science teacher, promptly answered, “It would be acidic!” He did it with a big knowing smile like a child who had provided the teacher with the correct answer in school.

On my part, I think I looked stumped by the answer. The master teacher also looked a little surprised. I am not sure if she was annoyed but we both knew that the water from the rain may not be acidic. It may be alkaline. It all depends on the kinds of pollutants in the air! The master teacher then proceeded to explain with a  straight face why the rain water might not be acidic as my colleague had blurted out.

Even then, I felt that my colleague’s “answer” was a reflection of the kind of science teaching that goes on in Singapore schools. All too often what goes on is the teaching to the examinations. This implies again rote-learning and mechanical operations.  Little time time is spent to teach the scientific approach which is about asking questions and testing hypothesis. Little effort is spent at making observations and inferences or deductions and classifying data and trying to understand processes. Laboratory work in schools usually only have students follow written set of instructions about what to do and is left for them to carry out the experiment and draw their conclusions from “their” experiments. Students don’t create their own experiments to answer their own questions. We in fact don’t teach them to ask questions. We don’t encourage them to be curious. This was a point raised by the American master teacher too. At Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve, she noticed that at the exhibits were all in the “telling” mode. Information was given about the plants and animals found there. But what about the questions? I remember her saying that it is not important to provide the answers to the questions as what we want the visitors to do is to think. This is what science education is about.

On the other hand, in Singapore, concepts are over-simplified (see what happens to the idea of acid rain) and memorized rather than understood and applied outside of the examination papers. Little knowledge transfer is attempted by teachers to make the learning meaningful. It is because of this approach to the teaching of science in Singapore schools that many false or wrong ideas are carried to adulthood. I have often come across many “educated” people who believe all fishes lay eggs. Or that all mammals give birth to their young. Simplistic ideas are taught and these tend to stick in the students’ heads till adulthood due to what is known as contiguity. Perhaps this is the reason why we are importing scientists from overseas to pad our R & D pool in Singapore. We simply don’t teach our students science. What we teach them is bordering on science fiction sometimes. I will end this post with a quote from Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics and also tough critic of Science education. He said:

“…I couldn’t see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, and teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything.”

(PS My thanks to Kelvin for the quote and for inspiring me to write this piece.)

Addendum: Just for a comparison with the way Science is taught in Singapore’s , read this article.

When I was an officer with the Educational Technology Division (ETD) of the Ministry of Education (MOE), Singapore , some of the most exciting experiences I had was when I worked with schools using sophisticated Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment and Geographic Information System (GIS) on two projects (see here and here) . I was new then to the technology but I learned in a very short time the use of the equipment as I had to test it in the field for its potential educational benefits, and then teach it. GIS turned out to be a wonderful tool for me.

Today, I have a chance to renew my acquaintance with GIS and GPS. Only difference with what I did six years ago is Google Maps. I am now in the midst of testing a GPS receiver and tying it with GIS and Google Maps. I am keen to offer mys ervices to schools again so students can learn to use these wonderful tools. The use of this tools will of course mean extending the classsroom beyond the four walls of the traditional classroom. Learning can become more authentic. I look forward to sharing with you my experiences with GPS, GIS and Google Maps.