THE Education Ministry (MOE) is establishing a new primary school to serve as a model for how students can be prepared for a future dominated by technology and information. The school, to open in 2008, will be one of the 15 'schools of the future' the Government envisioned in its 2015 Intelligent Nation plan to exploit the latest infocomm technology to transform various sectors.
It will lead the way in harnessing infocomm technology for teaching and learning, drawing on everything from smart cards and PC tablets to digitised textbooks, interactive white boards and even virtual reality laboratories.
Its pupils and teachers will be encouraged to experiment with new technologies.
The 'future schools' plan differs from the first IT masterplan, which concentrated on 'IT-enabling' schools, teachers and students. MOE's second IT masterplan, introduced in 2002, sought to use IT more widely and effectively to engage students. The future schools will help further the aims of the second plan.
Details of the new school, such as its location and name, have yet to be decided, but MOE said it would be headed by Ms Lim Boon Cheng, principal of Pasir Ris Primary.
It has also started recruiting teachers for the school.
Minister of State for Education Lui Tuck Yew told The Straits Times yesterday that his ministry had briefed 78 schools - 35 primary and 43 secondary - on its plan for the schools of the future.
Those interested have been asked to submit proposals. Based on their responses, a few will be chosen to be among the first batch of future schools.
But Rear-Admiral (NS) Lui said the objective was not to 'chase after the latest technology' but look at how it could be used to help pupils learn more effectively.
'We want to teach children from young to be comfortable with the latest technology... to be savvy in extracting relevant information and be able to analyse and synthesise information from across disciplines,' he said.
He said his ministry, together with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, was talking to vendors such as Microsoft and Oracle to share ideas on the kinds of technologies which could be tried out in these schools.
He said the possibilities were 'exciting', citing an example of how a teacher can run a spot quiz and have it marked instantly. 'Within a few minutes, the teacher gets a good idea of the strengths, interests and inclinations of an individual child. He can customise homework to fit the needs of each individual child.'
This is one of the technologies used in a School of the Future, set up with expertise from Microsoft, which opened in the United States three months ago.
There, students use smart cards to register attendance, open their digital lockers, and track the calories they consume. They carry laptops, not books, and the entire campus has wireless Internet access.
Teachers have interactive smart boards that allow them to zoom in and out, write or draw, and link directly to the Internet.
There is no library, but an interactive learning centre where information is digital.
The laptops have software which assesses how quickly students learn a lesson. If they understand it, they can delve deeper into the subject. If not, they receive remedial help.
The principal-designate of the new primary school, Ms Lim, said that when drawing up her curriculum she and her staff would use the strengths of a new generation of student, the 'digital native'.
'If you give a child a cellphone, he is able to figure out its functions much quicker than an adult,' she said.
Rear-Adm (NS) Lui said these schools would be the pathfinders for the rest of the education community. He said the knowledge gained would be adapted to benefit other schools.
