The Lab Singapore
| The Lab Singapore | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
Katong V
30 East Coast Rd #03-15/16 Singapore 428751 Wisteria Mall 598 Yishun Ring Rd #01-35/36 Singapore 768698 | |
| Information | |
| Type | Enrichment centre |
| Motto | Learning Without Boundaries |
| Age range | 5 to 16+ years old |
| Website | https://www.thelab.sg/ |
The Lab is a coding enrichment school originating from Singapore. It is the first local education lab to use predictive data analytics and educational psychology to develop a customised coding curriculum for students aged 5 and above. The Lab empowers students with the computational thinking, knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the future economy.[1]
Description
The Lab offers coding enrichment programmes for ages 5 and above. Its programmes are segmented into The Lab Infant for ages 5 - 6 years old, The Lab Junior for ages 7 - 9 years old, The Lab 10 - 16 for ages 10 - 16 years old and The Lab X for ages 17 years old and above.
The Lab also offers holiday programmes to trigger kids' interests in coding. Their workshops include virtual reality, 3D printing, robotics, animation and many others.
The Lab's philosophy is centred around 4 guiding principles: (1) Experiential Learning; (2) Purposeful Exploration; (3) Problem-based Learning; and (4) Personalised and Self-directed Learning.
The Lab Singapore has two centres across Singapore. In the East region, The Lab Singapore is located at Katong V Mall. In the North region, The Lab Singapore can be found in Wisteria Mall, in the suburban area of Yishun. In the South East Asia region, The Lab has centres in West Jakarta as well.
Curriculum
The Lab's curriculum is consulted by a team of industry specialists to ensure that its curriculum meets the high quality and rigorousness required to empower students with the right skills for the future. Its senior team includes Dr Oka Kurniawan, Senior Lecturer for SUTD[2] (Singapore University of Technology and Design), Dr. Scarlett Mattoli, Psychotherapist/Counsellor, Coaching Psychologist & Supervisor and Psychometrist for The Psynamo Group and Dr. Collin, founder and Managing Director of Decision Science Agency Pte Ltd.
The Lab’s Curriculum Framework defines its approaches and outcomes and sets the direction for excellence in teaching and learning. It guides The Lab in delivering a quality student-centric, values-driven and holistic education.
The Lab Infant (5-6 years old)
The curriculum embraces the Learning Goals within the Singapore curriculum, Nurturing Early Learners (NEL). As an introductory course to the world of technology and programming, The Lab Infant focuses on STEAM, which is used as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking. Through play, the curriculum promotes Computational thinking (Programming) and the Engineering Design Process (Building). The syllabus is built upon the MOE (Ministry of Education) Primary 1 Math syllabus, hence providing a sneak preview of the Primary 1 learning journey in a fun and interactive way.
The Lab Junior (7-9 years old)
Building on the foundations of Computational Thinking (Programming) and the Engineering Design Process (Building) established in the infant curriculum stage, The Lab Junior promotes the application of Mathematics and Science syllabus, providing a sneak preview of MOE’s Primary 4 mathematics syllabus in a fun and interactive way. Students will get the chance to build their own Lego Mindstorm EV3 robot. Core computational thinking concepts, such as decomposition, pattern recognition and abstraction are imparted to provide students a smooth transit into computing and programming careers of the future.
The Lab (10-16 years old)
This course trains students to achieve a high competency in Computational Thinking and to code proficiently in the Python programming language. In The Lab, students are trained over an average of six modules to read, understand, and code in native Python independently. After this level, students are encouraged to explore Python further with elective programs such as Data Sciences. Blockly, a development environment that allows users to code real-world tools, is used. This ensures early exposure to the Python language, as Blockly blocks can be translated directly into languages such as Javascript, PHP, Dart, and Python. Blockly uses visual programming and displays native programming language on its interface, allowing students to be more comfortable with the language.
Python is the selected language in The Lab advanced course as it is a high-level open-source programming language that has a very large and growing support community. It is a flexible language that is used by Facebook, Google, Wikipedia[3], and for data analysis due to its numerous functionalities for artificial intelligence and machine learning. It is also a popular choice in the teaching language.[4]
This curriculum is reviewed by Dr Oka Kurniawan, Senior Lecturer for SUTD[2] (Singapore University of Technology and Design), with its framework based upon the Computer Science Degree syllabus.
The Lab X (17 years old and above)
This course is a prelude and foundation course for students who would like to pursue a degree in Computer Science or related fields. It seeks to give students an opportunity to learn about a degree program in which they’re interested, but not yet ready or qualified to enter.
This curriculum is reviewed and verified by SUTD's Information Systems Technology and Design (ISTD) faculty.
The Lab System
The Lab System facilitates the delivery of the curriculum and provides a mechanism for continuous improvement. The Lab uses predictive analytics and psychometric tests to format learning objectives and assessments in gauging a student’s progress. Student performance is measured based on the time taken to finish a challenge and the number of attempts taken. The compiled data will then be transferred to a cloud database, which is made available via The Lab’s parent portal. Parents will be able to keep track of their children’s progress remotely. The progress of students is also closely monitored by trained instructors to ensure that he/she is learning in the most efficient way. The adaptive learning management system allows instructors to personalise lessons based on their learning abilities and behaviours and also consistently adjusts and monitors the performance of its curriculum.
Student Development
The Lab introduces programs which enrich a student’s personal attributes as well as academic.
Monthly Members' Competition
Interactive challenges are introduced during the competition to develop student’s attributes and boost their confidence in approaching problems.
Leaderboard
Gamification of the leaderboard cultivates a fun learning environment.
National Competitions
The Lab participates in Robotics and STEM-related competitions that advantages a student’s credentials, particularly for DSA-SEC (Direct Secondary Admission – Secondary).
Student Industry Tours
The Lab organises student industry tours to expose the students to a different landscape so that they can acquire the knowledge about the basic functionality of a company.
Mentorship Program
The Lab engages established industry veterans to mentor students in charting a career path. They provide insights about niche career sectors and provide tips to navigate the job market.[5]
Learning Environment
The Lab Singapore is the only coding school with an open concept environment. It is modelled on the idea of a playground to achieve a technology-rich experience for children. In a playground, children move and explore, they invent games and stories and they collaborate with peers and negotiate conflicts. They are supervised by adults throughout, but they lead their own experience.
Open Concept Layout
The open concept layout empowers students at The Lab, giving them responsibilities towards their own learning progression. The school places a focus on personalised and project-based learning in an environment where students have a great deal of freedom in determining where and how they learn.[6]
To promote collaborative learning, tables are intentionally structured in groups of 4 and 8 to provide them with greater opportunity to work with their peers and hone their cooperation skills.
The Lab cultivates an innovative learning environment to foster ideas among its students. It encourages the teacher to interact with individuals and small groups of students and greatly increases the communication and interaction among pupils.
Open Classroom
The learning environment cultivates a student’s ability to think computationally, instilling the habit of using creativity and imagination to face challenges.
A Variety of Age Groups
Children of various ages attend the same session together. This allows for a high level of social development and formation of peer relationships, as the students will be interacting with other children of different ages and schools.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Lab". The Lab. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 -, -. "Oka Kurniawan". SUTD. Retrieved 26/12/2019. Check date values in:
|accessdate=(help) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Programming languages used in most popular websites". Wikipedia. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Tollervey, Nicholas. "Python in Education" (PDF) (1). Retrieved 26 December 2019.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "The Lab Facebook". The Lab Facebook. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Harper, Amelia. "EducationDive". Do open-plan schools really work?. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
- ↑ Ang, Kelvin. "6 ways The Lab makes it different for kids compared to other coding schools". CheekieMonkies. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
- ↑ Foerster, Leona. "Dale Little Soldiers" (PDF). Retrieved 26 December 2019.
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