Research Interests of Singaporean Subject Education Researchers : Current Trends(International Symposium 2)

Abstract

This study examined current trends regarding research interests held by subject education researchers in the only Singaporean teacher education institute-the National Institute of Education, Singapore (NIE). Concretely, their keywords on NIE's official website were categorised and those categories were analysed in quantitative and qualitative manners. The results indicated that the subject education researchers have highly practice-oriented research interests. They are mostly concerned with 'how to teach' and 'what to teach', or in other words, with pedagogy, teaching methods, and curriculums. Further, they have a strong interest in children's learning, particularly children's understanding and comprehension of subjects. A major question, however, is whether the research conducted by the subject education researchers so far has led to significant changes in pedagogical practices in Singapore. Additionally, the results suggested that subject education researchers are less likely to put the first priority on understanding children's cognition, relationship with others or internal thinking. Rather, the subject education researchers seem to be more likely to deal with children's understanding as dependent on teaching. Therefore, further studies should be conducted to determine how the researchers rethink and change such views.