Exploring Interconnections Between Real-World and Application Tasks: Case Study from Singapore

Abstract

Some findings from an interdisciplinary project work (PW) implemented with Year 7 and 8 students (13–14 years old) from three Singapore schools are reported. These are part of a study examining the impact of PW in terms of its learning outcomes (LO). Of interest are findings associated with LO: the extent to which the PW brings about student-perceived “interconnections” between school disciplines, within mathematics, and between school-based mathematics and real-world problem solving. There was an overall increase in mean scores on the scales measuring perception of interconnectedness of mathematics and inter-subject learning (ISL) and beliefs and efforts at making connections (BEC) after PW. ANOVA showed a significant impact of the PW on ISL but not BEC scores. Qualitative results revealed that these seemingly positive results disguised issues with students’ ability to make the desired interconnections in a meaningful manner.