Principles of Design & Learning

Principles of Design

Our IP curriculum is designed with the following principles:

• Concept–centric & Inquiry–based: Students’ curiosity and motivation to learn will be enhanced through meaningful connections within and between disciplines, building deep knowledge and developing levels of thinking to make sense of the content, knowledge, processes and systems of the world via teachers’ skilful questioning and inductive pedagogical approaches.

• Authentic: Students will immerse in positive engagements and interactions with teachers, peers, and information, set in an authentic context, designing solutions to solve real–world issues.

• Relevant: Students will learn knowledge and develop skills and attributes that are relevant to the future world they will inhabit.

• Experiential: With a ‘Head On, Heart On and Hands On’ approach, students will develop a heart and mind for the community through service learning within and beyond Singapore.

• Developmentally Appropriate and Differentiated: Programmes and activities are designed and curated to cater to the different needs of the students, allowing them to learn at the level and pace that meet the different levels of cognitive, socio-emotional and physical development of different students.

Teachers individually will serve as mentors to their students; teaching, coaching and demonstrating the learning for life framework as role-models. Just like an incubator for a new-born child and also an incubator for potential start-ups, the NYGH environment created collectively by all staff, is caring and nurturing, open and encouraging to ideas and innovations, daring students to challenge new frontiers.

Above all, a sense of place and identity together with individual passion and purpose will be seeded and nurtured.

Principles of Learning

In NYGH, we adopt the six Principles of Learning as follows:

1. Learning is Active
   Active learning goes beyond providing opportunities for hands-on, experiential learning. It involves engaging the learner’s mind and encouraging the learner to question and evaluate information critically. The emphasis on inquiry, processes, and skills promotes transference.

2. Learning is Holistic
   Learning is rooted in the disciplines and flourishes when connections are made across and beyond disciplines. Learning is also made more coherent with regular opportunities to see the application of learning to real life.

3. Learning Requires Metacognition
   All learners are capable of being proactive, self-reflecting and self-regulating. Metacognitive processes should be taught explicitly and opportunities must be made available for learners to self-regulate.

4. Learning is Social
   Learning is influenced by social interactions, interpersonal relations and communication with others.

5. Learning is Contextual
   Learning is facilitated by conducive environmental factors that simulate real-life situations, arouse curiosity, promote inquiry, and ignite creativity and innovation.

6. Learning is Meaning-making
   Deep learning takes place when students demonstrate deep understanding of content that goes beyond the surface knowledge of facts and information. Learning is deepened by enabling individuals to make sense of knowledge, experience, relationships and the self.