of roots and wings

The internship program was a major avenue through which I pursued the wings with which to reach the lofty vision I have of transforming the learning environments through technology. I did my internship on campus, with the LET'S GO project driven by Professor Roy Pea. During my internship experience, I sought after two things – catalysts and connections.

The three quarters we had for the internship program were definitely insufficient for me to learn everything I wanted to learn. This was precisely why I looked out for catalysts instead. The short internship experience was not going to provide me with all I needed to radically transform teaching and learning, but the significant events, experiences, ideas, interactions, opportunities that I could take in acted as catalysts to help me attain my vision. During my internship stint, I immersed myself in educational research. I worked with teachers in a high school. I helped to facilitate a Dreamshop workshop with teachers and school administrators, presenting the affordances of some cool technology tools, and working with teachers, administrators and scientists, to brainstorm learning applications.I helped to design an inquiry-based Ecology curriculum that leveraged on mobile technologies and data sensors. I went out into the field with students, piloting the curriculum, and refining it for teachers' future use. These experiences acted as catalysts for transformation as they fired my imagination for what is possible for the school system in Singapore.

I also sought for connections – connections with people, projects, research, ideas – connections that I could bring back with me to Singapore. During my internship, I connected with people. I connected with teachers and administrators from a couple of schools. I connected with Biology professors from the Stanford Biology department. I also connected my internship experience with my MA project. I connected what I was doing in my internship and MA project with what I hoped to be doing upon returning to a Singapore school. I connected – and even now, I continue to connect, as I bring all that I have experienced back with me to Singapore.

Snapshots of what we did in the LET'S GO project are below ...