TLP1 Presentation (15 Mar 2019)

Secondary School Students’ Perceptions towards ‘Joy of Learning’
in Singapore
 

Elaine Tay¹, Quek Eng Chiew², Frances Ess³, Tan Hoe Teck⁴, Margaret Goh⁵

¹Anglo-Chinese Junior College, ²Bukit View Secondary School, ³Mayflower Secondary School, ⁴School Science and Technology Singapore, ⁵Zhang De Primary School

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to find out secondary school students’ perceptions towards ‘Joy of Learning’ in Singapore and the ways to promote it in lesson design. It aims to explore through the lens of students the way they experience the joy of learning in the classroom, in school, and outside school. The data was collected by tape-recording interviews with students aged 14 to 15 years in 2018. Based on the students’ opinions and experiences, a detailed description of their experiences of the joy of learning in secondary education was documented. This method of data collection is applied until it reaches a level of saturation, where no new themes can be surfaced from the latest interview. Based on the themes in the coding process, the characteristics of the joy of learning were identified. Based on our research, we found that there five themes which we arrange in the following acronym of H.E.C.K.S. HECKS stand for Humour, Experiences, Competency, Knowledge, and Social. By reading in-depth to the five major themes, it will guide educators to design effective lessons that promote the joy of learning in secondary schools and beyond.

Keywords: the joy of learning; perception; experiences; secondary education