ROAD TO THE SCHOOL OF THE FUTURE part 1
Singapore 4D Class
Some steps had been done by some countries to go towards the school of the future. The ones that will be informed in this chapter are the future class in Singapore and Philadelphia.
Singapore is developing 5 future school projects: Beacon Primary, Canbera Primary, Cresent Girl's School, Hwa Chong Institution and Jurong Secondary, including the professional teaching technique for the educators.
The future school concept is real ICT-based school. The students will be facilitated with all ICT means available, such as doing internet conference with biologist when learning in the zoo while the student actively report his or her observation via computer in hand, while the absent students can use the virtual jungle program as a ‘habitat’ from biological object they learn.
Chemistry teacher won’t be worried about accidents or damages when doing practical work because the process will be done virtually by holding the images of laboratory instruments like comical flask, separating funnel, or measuring cylinder, and see the color change of reaction or the simulation of fumes and scent that appears. This concept is called “the 4-d class”.
The laboratory is designed with multisensory functions, along with ICT facilities that can mimic surroundings that are needed by the students. This facility can be enjoyed by pupils by the end of 2008. This spectacular megaproject is supported by not less than 4 international consortiums such as Hewlett-Packard, SingTel, ST Technologies, and CIVICA, with cost exceeding S$ 80 million.
One of the staff of the Ministry of Education of Singapore, Dr. Koh Thiam Seng, said: “ICT will erase the 4 classroom walls in the school with learning chance equal to the students’ need trough holistic facility”.