iMatter Learning Centre: Latest News and Blog Posts on Education

31Mar 2021 by Principal

A Checklist of Reasons Why Students Perform Poorly – Are you looking at the right ones?

Cognitive skills, English, Non-cognitive skills, Opinion, Tuition

Over here in iMatter, we make use of this simple checklist to evaluate our students against their performance in school. Through discussions with our students about their learning, It enables us to at least have a grasp of the possible issues they are grappling with. Though this post is aimed at students performing poorly, it can very well be used as a checklist to explain why students excel in school by reversing the viewpoints below. (We have a longer and more descriptive version of this checklist guest posted at Singapore's Finest website. It includes several suggestions on how some of these reasons can be managed.) A Caveat Many factors/reasons tend to overlap one another and determining the underlying cause(s) may not be easy as the obvious reason may not be…

25Mar 2021 by Principal

Training RGS Teachers for their School’s Learning Journey

Biology, Chemistry, Enrichment, Humanities, News, Opinion, Science

It has always been our stand that education should involve out-of-classroom activities. They expose the student to hands-on work and real life observations not possible to replicate in the classroom. The obvious choice to apply this principle is Science, with its branches of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. However, it can certainly apply to other subjects such as History, Geography, Social Studies and more. Raffles Girls' School (RGS) has brought this principle into practice by organising a series of Learning Journeys to MacRitchie Reservoir for its students. The Learning Journey is loosely based on the ABC Waters Learning Trail @ MacRitchie published by PUB (Public Utilities Board). It involves getting to know Singapore's Water Story, history of the reservoir, the story behind World War II hero, Lim Bo Seng, geography of…

26Feb 2021 by Principal

Grand Prix with Toy Cars – Learning Science Through Play

Science, Tuition

In iMatter, we are strong advocates in experiential learning involving experimentation, hands-on work and the use of real world examples to reinforce the content we teach in class and what the students learn in school. For our PSLE Science students, Forces and Energy are taught in their syllabus and will definitely feature in their year-end national examination. Learning these two topics can be challenging for some as Forces and Energy are essentially abstract concepts and certainly invisible. However, their effects are very real, ranging from the feel of wind in our faces to the destructive aftermath of an explosion. Experiential Learning To study these two topics in a realistic yet playful and safe manner, we ran our very own Grand Prix with.... Toy Cars! Admittedly, we do not have a…

24Dec 2020 by Principal

Project Solar House: Experiential Learning for Our Science Students

Physics, Science, Tuition

Despite COVID-19 stealing the limelight in our daily news, climate change is still very much alive in the world's consciousness. Being a strong contributor to the mitigation of climate change, Solar Power is all the rage as society moves towards greener energy sources. As we make a global shift away from carbon based energy sources (read Combustion), solar power is the next natural step as it is cleaner and renewable. Solar panels used to be reserved for those with deep pockets but now we see them everywhere, from the apartment rooftop to the cell phone charger. In our Science lessons, we introduce to our students how solar energy works and get them to work on an individual project to construct a miniature solar house that harnesses solar energy to light…

04Dec 2020 by Principal

Parachuting Cats into the Borneo jungle – a cautionary tale for Science

Biology, Chemistry, Opinion, Science, Tuition

This is one of those stories that approach urban myth status. We have not found corroborating evidence to prove the veracity of the story. Interestingly, Singapore is briefly featured in the story. If you have not heard of it, here's a link to an online video. To avoid giving out any spoilers here, we will only touch on the barest of background information. Regardless of how historically correct the story is, we shall focus on the lessons for our readers and students. The story was set in 1950s Borneo where malaria ran rampant. Unfortunately, the solution was not as straightforward as planned and brought about many unforeseen consequences. 4 Lessons from the Story In Science, one of our favourite quotes is from Albert Einstein, "In theory, theory and practice are…

23Sep 2020 by Principal

Are our students out of touch with nature?

Biology, Opinion, Science

Here is our article published in The Straits Times Forum on 23 Sep 2020. Click on the link to continue reading. Over in iMatter, we believe in experiential learning and real life application of knowledge. For example, our Science tuition lessons are always enriched with real life examples, case studies and practical experiments. Read the posts in our News to find out more. The following science tuition programmes are available in our centre. Primary School ScienceLower Secondary School Science'O' Levels Chemistry'O' Levels Biology'O' Levels Physics'A' Levels Chemistry We also run enrichment programmes during the holidays. These include field trips and hands-on activities. (Due to COVID-19, out-of-classroom activities are minimised for the health and safety of our staff and students.) The ubiquitous coconut found in the tropics of which Singapore is…

15Sep 2020 by Principal

Learning about Science, Chemistry and Biology from the Fascinating Leech

Biology, Chemistry, Science

Leeches are one of my favourite animals because they are so tough. When one latches on to your delicate skin, popular media suggest using fire, salt, medicated oil and a plethora of other substances to dislodge it. Salt does work but does anyone actually carry a vial of salt for a jungle trek? Fire should work but the leech will outlast the fire long after you cringe away from the heat. As for medicated oil, well, it is probably the most practical solution though personally, I make use of a different approach. More will be discussed about this approach in a future post. A Living Classroom in a finger sized package Do not mistake a leech as a brute latching on your skin, biting its way through and sucking its…

08Sep 2020 by Principal

When your child does NOT need tuition

Opinion, Tuition

Parents enrol their children in tuition for various reasons. The 2 most common ones are: My child is weak in subject X so I want him to do better; my child is good in subject Y but I want him to do even better (i.e. I want a guaranteed distinction for him). Scratching below the surface However, parents often do not look beyond the surface to find out exactly why their child is not doing well. (We shall leave out the 2nd reason of obtaining a distinction for the purpose of this post.) This investigative step is critical as it is the key to solving the problem of poor grades in the child. Could it be due to a lack of understanding? Unfortunately, such an explanation is still vague so…

19Aug 2020 by Principal

Experiential Learning of Acidity in Science through Experimentation

Chemistry, Science, Tuition

By Mr Chen In iMatter, Science is a passion among our tutors and we work to inculcate it in our students. Perhaps sounding cliched, we wholeheartedly believe that Science is Everywhere. Science is not a subject to be studied solely by theory. Book knowledge has to be reinforced and nurtured through hands-on experimentation and observation. If the Science student has the opportunity to conduct field work, more power to him! The Trouble with COVID-19 Unfortunately, the past few months of the COVID-19 situation has somewhat dampened the experiential aspect of Science. Schools and their laboratories were closed. Public venues e.g. Science Centre, Marina Barrage were likewise closed to the public. A student interested in biology, hydrology or ecology could not even visit our parks and nature reserves to observe Science…

07Aug 2020 by Principal

Students in Primary 5, Secondary 3 & JC1 in 2020: Do they get the worst deal from COVID-19?

COVID-19, Online Teaching & Learning, Opinion, Tuition

By Mr Chen By now, no one can live in denial that COVID-19 has impacted all of us in our daily lives. A year ago, the acronym HBL (home based learning) was only known to teachers and students (at least the more attentive ones) but now, it has entered the consciousness of the country, if not, the world. In the old days, parents were forced to deal with HBL, say by taking leave to help their kids at home for only a handful of days a year. However, in 2020, HBL has grown into a 3-month horror in the eyes of some parents. In the old days, HBL was mostly limited to asynchronous learning i.e. kids logged into SLS or whatever proprietary platform and learned at their own pace through…