Peter Seow
National Institute of Education, Centre for Research in Pedagogy & Practice, Department Member
Research Interests:
This article examines the potential of mobile computing and Web 2.0 technology to support knowledge building in formal and informal settings. Desktop-based knowledge building tools have limited affordances of supporting one-to-one access,... more
This article examines the potential of mobile computing and Web 2.0 technology to support knowledge building in formal and informal settings. Desktop-based knowledge building tools have limited affordances of supporting one-to-one access, learning in situ, and seamless integration in and out of school environments. In this initial study, we explore how recent advances of mobile and Web 2.0 technologies can be utilized to support seamless knowledge building processes and to enhance contextualized learning experiences ...
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Abstract: Recent advances in computer technology have made the input of Chinese characters more users friendly. These advances, when considered from a pedagogical point of view, may afford new opportunities for students to enhance their... more
Abstract: Recent advances in computer technology have made the input of Chinese characters more users friendly. These advances, when considered from a pedagogical point of view, may afford new opportunities for students to enhance their learning of Chinese language in general and composition writing in particular. In this exploratory study, we engaged six primary school students in using Chinese software and hardware, namely, Chinese input tools (with both the input modes of pinyin and handwriting) and Chinese e- ...
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Abstract: The use of mobile technology can help extend children's learning spaces and enrich the learning experiences in their everyday lives where they move from one context to another, switching locations, social groups,... more
Abstract: The use of mobile technology can help extend children's learning spaces and enrich the learning experiences in their everyday lives where they move from one context to another, switching locations, social groups, technologies, and topics. When students have ubiquitous access to mobile devices with full connectivity, the in-situ use of the mobile devices in different contexts may allow students to make connections to what they learn in the classroom with their daily life experiences outside the classroom. This article proposes ...
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This article investigates very young children's use of a stylus-driven, electronic painting and drawing on the tablet PC. The authors compare their development in the use of this device with their use of other mark-making media, including... more
This article investigates very young children's use of a stylus-driven, electronic painting and drawing on the tablet PC. The authors compare their development in the use of this device with their use of other mark-making media, including those which derive from pencil and paper technologies and also with mouse-driven electronic paintbox programs. After experience of using of electronic paint, two of the children were introduced to simple programming software. The authors wanted to find out how the introduction of electronic, digital, interactive devices impact upon children's development in semiotic understanding.
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Chan, T.-w., Roschelle, J., Hsi, S., Kinshuk, S., M., Brown, T., Patton, C., Cherniavsky, J., Pea, R., Norris, C., Soloway, E., Balacheff, N., Scardamalia, M., Dillenbourg, P., Looi, C., Milrad, M., & Hoppe, U. (2006).... more
Chan, T.-w., Roschelle, J., Hsi, S., Kinshuk, S., M., Brown, T., Patton, C., Cherniavsky, J., Pea, R., Norris, C., Soloway, E., Balacheff, N., Scardamalia, M., Dillenbourg, P., Looi, C., Milrad, M., & Hoppe, U. (2006). One-to-one technology-enhanced learning: An opportunity for global research collaboration. Research and Practice of Technology Enhanced Learning, 1(1), 3-29. Retrieved from http://www.worldscinet.com/rptel/01/preserved-docs/0101/S1793206806000032 .pdf. ... Zhang, B., Tan, N., Looi, CK, Seow, SK, Oh, TT, Chen, W., & Chung, TM (2006). ...
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This paper shares the theoretical and methodological frameworks that are deployed in a 3-year study to examine how Singapore primary school students leverage on mobile technology for seamless learning. This notion of seamless learning... more
This paper shares the theoretical and methodological frameworks that are deployed in a 3-year study to examine how Singapore primary school students leverage on mobile technology for seamless learning. This notion of seamless learning refers to the integrated and synergistic effects of learning in both formal and informal settings, which is distributed across different learning processes (emergent or planned) as well as across different spaces (in or out of class). Drawing insights from the literature and our study, we assert that we should jettison the technology-centric view to adopt a socio-cultural framework. This move puts us in a better position to make sense of the rich complexities coalescing around the students’ in-situ use of mobile devices. We also critiqued the adequacy of our people-centred data collection method, in particular, cooperative inquiry in capturing instances of seamless learning. Challenges of operationalising the cooperative inquiry approaches are also detailed in the paper.
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This article examines the potential of mobile computing and Web 2.0 technology to support knowledge building in formal and informal settings. Desktop-based knowledge building tools have limited affordances of supporting one-to-one access,... more
This article examines the potential of mobile computing and Web 2.0 technology to support knowledge building in formal and informal settings. Desktop-based knowledge building tools have limited affordances of supporting one-to-one access, learning in situ, and seamless integration in and out of school environments. In this initial study, we explore how recent advances of mobile and Web 2.0 technologies can be utilized to support seamless knowledge building processes and to enhance contextualized learning experiences across multiple locations. Using design research as a methodological framework, we analyzed current practices and configurations of mobile learning in one primary school in Singapore, and codesigned a learning scenario with teachers toward seamless knowledge building experiences. The artifacts of primary grade 4 students created in the Google Maps space were analyzed to examine the knowledge building processes based on a location-based mobile learning scenario. We conclude by discussing both possibilities and challenges of knowledge building using mobile Web 2.0 technologies based on our early experiences.
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This paper presents the findings of a research project in which we transformed a primary (grade) 3 science curriculum for delivery via mobile technologies, and a teacher enacted the lessons over the 2009 academic year in a class in a... more
This paper presents the findings of a research project in which we transformed a primary (grade) 3 science curriculum for delivery via mobile technologies, and a teacher enacted the lessons over the 2009 academic year in a class in a primary school in Singapore. The students had a total of 21 weeks of the mobilized lessons in science, which were co-designed by teachers and researchers by tapping into the affordances of mobile technologies for supporting inquiry learning in and outside of class. We examine the learning effectiveness of the enacted mobilized science curriculum. The results show that among the six mixed-ability classes in primary (grade) 3 in the school, the experimental class performed better than other classes as measured by traditional assessments in the science subject. With mobilized lessons, students were found to learn science in personal, deep and engaging ways as well as developed positive attitudes towards mobile learning.
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The history of science education reform has been fundamentally centered around science curriculum development and implementation. The advent of mobile technologies has necessitated a re-examination of how students could better learn... more
The history of science education reform has been fundamentally centered around science curriculum development and implementation. The advent of mobile technologies has necessitated a re-examination of how students could better learn science through these 21st century tools. Conventional teaching materials may not prepare students to learn the inquiry way and to become self-directed and social learners who could learn “everywhere and all the time (seamlessly)” using mobile technologies. This paper is based on our first year of work in our mobile learning research project in transforming primary three science lessons into a “mobilized” curriculum for a classroom context in which students routinely use mobile technologies. Using an exemplar fungi topic, we discuss our approach as well as experiences in deconstructing and reconstructing an existing curriculum through a co-design approach with teachers in a Singapore local school. In doing so, we make a contribution to the methodology for developing mobilized science curricula for in-class learning that also extends to out-of-class learning.
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Abstract: This design-based study uses handheld computers as cognitive tools to facilitate students' inquiry-based learning on environmental issues-3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) in a Singapore primary school. By... more
Abstract: This design-based study uses handheld computers as cognitive tools to facilitate students' inquiry-based learning on environmental issues-3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) in a Singapore primary school. By using handheld computers, 40 Primary 4 students investigated how wastes are produced and what impact 3Rs can have on protecting the environment in a field trip. The results indicate improvements in the students' understanding of 3Rs as compared to before the activity. With the handheld computers, ...
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Over the next 10 years, we anticipate that personal, portable, wirelessly networked technologies will become ubiquitous in the lives of learners—indeed, in many countries, this is already a reality. We see that ready-to-hand access... more
Over the next 10 years, we anticipate that personal, portable, wirelessly networked technologies will become ubiquitous in the lives of learners—indeed, in many countries, this is already a reality. We see that ready-to-hand access creates the potential for a new phase in the evolution of technology-enhanced learning, characterised by ‘seamless learning spaces’ and marked by continuity of the learning experience across different scenarios or contexts, and emerging from the availability of one device or more per student. The challenge is to enable learners to learn whenever they are curious and seamlessly switch between different contexts, such as between formal and informal contexts and between individual and social learning, and by extending the social spaces in which learners interact with each other. In this paper, we review the potential of mobile learning research for designing seamless learning environments that can bridge both formal and informal learning, present a research agenda and discuss important methodological issues that concern research into formal and informal learning.