Exploring the use of asynchronous online discussion and vicarious learning in Citizenship Education: a case study of a Singapore School

Abstract

This paper is part of a larger study investigating how teachers can foster positive student attitude toward their country. Specifically, in this paper presentation, we described the use of vicarious experience along with asynchronous online discussion forums at a Singapore primary school in an attempt to teach one major citizenship education messages – Singapore is our homeland; this is where we belong. In an asynchronous online discussion environment, students have more time to make explicit their preexisting personal beliefs about Singapore, and reflect on them – one of the key prerequisites of promoting belief change. Vicarious experience is learning through the experience of others. In our case, it was students learning through the experience of other people such as teachers, and their peers of what Singapore meant to them by means of written narratives, pictures or video clips. We provide some preliminary findings about what students felt about this learning approach, as well as the challenges in conducting it.