ERIC Number: ED639279
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2003-May
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Global Themes in Singaporean Secondary Social Studies Textbooks
Reima Al-Jarf
Online Submission, Paper presented at Principles and Starting Points Curriculum Development Conference (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13-14, 2003)
This study aimed to find out whether Singaporean secondary social studies textbooks contain global themes, in which grade level those global themes are introduced, the percentage of global themes in each textbook, and which global themes are emphasized. A checklist consisting of four main global themes was developed. Those are (1) global systems such as cultural, political, economic, ecological, technological, social, educational and healthcare systems, international organizations and international law; (2) global issues such as peace and conflict resolution, refugees; (3) human values like tolerance and cooperation, and (4) global history such as ancient civilizations, history of world religions, the industrial revolution, colonization and liberation movements. It was found that 33 % of the social studies themes in the four high school grades combined were global. Global themes constituted 16% of the first secondary grade textbook, 1.5% of the second secondary grade textbook, 65% of the third secondary grade textbook and 39.5% of the fourth secondary grade. It was also found that the first and second secondary textbooks mainly focus on world history. In the third secondary textbooks, 14% of the themes were allocated to global systems and 17% to human values, 27% to global issues, 7% to global history. In the fourth secondary grade textbook, 7% of the themes were allocated to global systems, 16% to global issues and 17% to global history. It was concluded that Singaporean secondary school social studies textbooks develop global awareness in Singaporean students through a theme-based approach and a selection of a variety of current global issues in well-designed textbooks that develop independent and critical thinking skills and participation goals.
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Secondary Education; High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Singapore
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A


