[Pre-U] ST-MOE Primer Resource

Written by: Nadiah Razali, Adeline Mah, Annie Yong, Nurulhuda Abdul Halim, Angeline Quek & Divya Somasundaram

How the ST-MOE Primer Resource came about

The ST-MOE News Outreach Programme seeks to increase students’ awareness of, interest in, and engagement with local, regional and global current affairs through Primers on contemporary topics. CPDD supports teachers in the use of these Primer Articles for teaching and learning with additional Primer Resources that offer a range of perspectives on the Primer issues covered.

The innovative practices, and impetus and rationale for innovating

1. The use of multimodal resources

The Primer Resources have been further diversified to support a range of learning experiences in a blended learning context. The team included a wide range of resources (i.e., podcasts, videos, and articles) which extend students’ understanding of the issues covered in the Primer Article for the week.

2. The creation of a one-stop resource

In addition, to further support self-directed learning, the team developed the Special Edition Primer Resource in 2021 which functions as a one-stop resource for all 12 Primer Articles and Resources published in 2021. The team also included links to ST-MOE lessons hosted on the SLS. By providing both teachers and students with multiple access points to available learning resources, the team hopes to increase both students’ and teachers’ use of these resources.

3. The use of QR codes and design elements

The team has also included QR codes which are also hyperlinked to the respective resources for ease of use, for both students and teachers. Applying Meyer’s Redundancy Principle, the graphics included in the Primer Resources are strategically selected to illustrate the issues discussed in the resource provided.

The impact of the ST-MOE Primer Resource on Teaching & Learning

From the survey conducted at the end of 2021, 96.0% of teachers surveyed felt that the materials in the Primer Resources offered a sufficient range of perspectives on the Primer issues covered. 93.8% shared that the materials in the Primer Resources catered to a range of student learning needs. 97.5% of the teachers shared that the design of the Primer Resources encourages students to view and access the learning materials in them.

How the ST-MOE Primer Resource contributes to the development of 21st Century Competencies

The Primer Resources, in introducing a greater variety of resources to support the Primer Article, help students understand current issues from different perspectives and build the emerging 21st century competencies of civic literacy, global awareness and cross-cultural skills.

The multiple perspectives also help students to develop critical and inventive thinking by guiding them to understand and evaluate these perspectives before deciding on their own stance.

Learning points

It is important to consider the needs of the end users and the user experience. These should be considered before, during and after the process of creating the resources. Innovation is an iterative process!