Singapore American School (SAS) is a Pre-K-12 private international school founded in 1956 and located in Singapore, with a community of over 4,000 students from more than 50 nations. The mission of the school is to provide "each student an exemplary American educational experience with an international perspective."
SAS students consistently rank higher on academic achievement tests than their peers in US school systems, yet students with different personal strengths and interests are welcomed based upon the belief that being part of a diverse population will prepare students for the world they will encounter as adults.
Over the last seven years, SAS has been on a process of continuous improvement despite being an already high-performing school. This research and development ("R & D") process has led the school to embrace personalized learning, including competency-based progressions, customized pathways, and flexible learning spaces. This move toward personalized learning has resulted in more project-based learning, interdisciplinary courses, curriculum supporting 21st century learning outcomes, dual language immersion opportunities, advisory, and new advanced topics course offerings. In addition, professional learning communities have become central to the school's work, resulting in recognition as one of the only model PLC schools outside of the US.
State-of-the-art facilities on a rare-to-Singapore 36-acre campus gives SAS students the place and space to explore areas of interest and pursue their passions, all while being nurtured in a tight-knit community.
TRi Time was born out of the reflections and efforts of both the SAS middle school administrative team and the middle school faculty through an "R&D" process that began in 2013. Teachers have been involved in the research, creation, and implementation of the TRi Time program from the beginning, serving as the primary stakeholders of the program. They have test-driven the lessons included here which are meant to guide students through the inquiry process, including lessons on questioning, investigating, creating, and reflecting. The goal of all of these efforts has been to allow 960 middle school students to pursue their own curiosities and to design their own investigations to share with an authentic audience, thus weaving personalized inquiry into the fabric of the middle school. The TRi Time program was first piloted with all middle school teachers and students for four weeks in March and April 2017. Currently, TRi Time takes place over three weeks each semester. At the end of the second semester TRi Time experience, students share their investigative process with an authentic audience of parents, teachers, and other students during our student-led conferences. The TRi Time program continues to be refined based on feedback from teachers, students, and parents.
The TRi Time Toolkit serves as a bank of resources for middle school students and teachers at Singapore American School engaged in inquiry. Many of the resources shared here have been created by SAS faculty members. Some of the resources have been collected and collated from other sources. While the school has tried to give credit to outside sources where appropriate, there may be material included here that has not been properly cited. This site is shared publicly in the spirit of helping others spread personalized inquiry across schools worldwide.
Interested in learning more about TRi Time and the resources shared here? Contact TRi Time Coordinator Dr. Betsy Hall, an SAS middle school instructional coach, at bhall@sas.edu.sg for more information.