Briefing Document: Loo Kang's Contributions to Open Source Physics Education
1. Overview
This document reviews the work of Loo Kang, a recipient of the Ministry of Education Service Excellence Award in 2012, for his significant contributions to physics education through the creation and sharing of open-source computer models and simulations. His work emphasizes innovative pedagogy, the use of technology, and a commitment to improving access to quality educational resources. The document highlights not only his technical skills but also his dedication to service and his collaborative approach to education.
2. Key Themes
- Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Source Physics: Loo Kang's core contribution lies in developing and freely sharing open-source physics computer models. He embodies the OER philosophy by creating resources accessible to anyone, anywhere, promoting a culture of sharing and collaboration in education. As the document states, he "leverages on his specialized skills and knowledge to create new, freely available open-source physics computer models to benefit anyone, anywhere in the world."
- Innovative Pedagogy through Technology: Loo Kang's work focuses on making physics more engaging and understandable through interactive computer models, simulations, and video analysis tools like Tracker. His key project, "gravity-physics by inquiry," is highlighted as a "fundamental breakthrough in how Physics was taught" which demonstrates the power of technology to revolutionize teaching methods, fostering active inquiry and making abstract concepts more concrete.
- Service Excellence and Collaboration: The document emphasizes Loo Kang's commitment to service, going beyond basic requirements to create customized resources and providing support to teachers, both locally and internationally. His work ethic is highlighted as being driven by a "desire to bring about engaging science learning in every classroom," demonstrating his commitment to both teaching and those he serves. He not only creates resources but actively works to improve them based on user feedback and also promotes the adoption of his methods by other educators.
- Impact and Scalability: Loo Kang's work has been successfully implemented in multiple schools and has been noted to show “positive gains even for first time implementations.” His models have influenced the creation of teaching resources like the Teacher's Handbook for Teaching Secondary Physics, demonstrating that his ideas have tangible impact and a potential for wide-scale adoption.
- Evangelist of Open Source Tools: Beyond creating resources, Loo Kang is an "active evangelist" of tools like Tracker and the use of video analysis and modeling pedagogy. He is proactive in sharing his knowledge through blogs, social media, and publications. His active blog draws "more than 1500 visitors daily" illustrating his vast reach and impact on global education.
3. Important Facts & Ideas
- Quantity and Scope of Resources: Loo Kang has created or adapted "more than 75 Physics simulations" for the local curriculum. The document lists an extensive array of simulation topics and models, showcasing the breadth of his work in areas ranging from Newtonian mechanics to quantum physics.
- Recognition and Awards: Loo Kang's work has been recognized with numerous awards including the MOE Innergy Gold award for his "gravity-physics by inquiry" project and several Service Excellence Awards, and an extensive list of other awards, highlighting the significance of his contributions. These awards are evidence of his success in bringing innovative ideas to fruition.
- Customization and Responsiveness: Loo Kang actively seeks feedback from educators and tailors his resources to meet specific curriculum needs. He provides extraordinary service by "developing computer models at no cost, free for access in the public internet domain by everyone." This commitment to responsiveness and customization reflects a deep understanding of the needs of educators.
- Use of Multiple Platforms: Loo Kang uses a variety of platforms, including blogs, social media (Facebook, Google+), Wikipedia, and peer-reviewed journals, to share his work and engage with educators.
- Adoption and Influence: His work is being shared and adopted by 10 schools, and also by CPDD, AST colleagues, and the NIE. His work has been integrated into teaching guides and handbooks, ensuring a lasting influence on physics education in Singapore.
- Positive User Feedback: The document notes consistent positive feedback from educators about the usefulness and quality of his resources, noting how teachers are "impressed" and even "amazed" by his work. This underscores the practical value of his work within the educational community.
4. Key Quotes
- "Loo Kang constantly seeks to find new ways of improving learning and teaching in our schools... to create new, freely available open-source physics computer models to benefit anyone, anywhere in the world." (Illustrates his dedication to OER)
- "his key project “gravity-physics by inquiry” was awarded the Innergy Gold...The evaluation panel mentioned that the idea was a fundamental breakthrough in how Physics was taught and created significant value-add that was previously not possible." (Highlights the impact of his innovative work.)
- "He is also an active evangelist of video analysis and modeling pedagogy using Tracker..." (Demonstrates his commitment to spreading effective teaching practices.)
- "He goes the extra mile to develop computer models at no cost, free for access in the public internet domain by everyone, not just for local educators but also for all educators from around the world." (Showcases his dedication to service beyond organizational boundaries)
- "The quality of his simulations are high and many teachers and professors around the world who have used the simulations have testified of their effectiveness." (Demonstrates his impact)
- "Driven by a desire to bring about engaging science learning in every classroom, Loo Kang constantly seeks to address teachers’ needs and requests for meaningfully engaging simulations." (Highlights his motive for this work)
5. Conclusion
Loo Kang's contributions demonstrate a powerful intersection of technical expertise, pedagogical innovation, and a commitment to service. His dedication to creating and sharing open-source resources has not only transformed physics education in his local context, but has also reached a global audience. His work serves as an example of how educators can leverage technology to create engaging learning experiences, foster active inquiry, and democratize access to quality educational resources. This has also created opportunities for further collaborations and dissemination of his work.
About
Ministry of Education Service Excellence Award 2012Nomination
Nomination for MOE Service Excellence Award
 |
| MOE Service Excellence Award |
http://intranet.moe.gov.sg/csb/qualityservice/msea.htm
Award Criteria and Rating
Rating Scale:
1–2 The nominee shows such qualities some of the time.
3–4 The nominee frequently shows such qualities.
5 The nominee continually shows such qualities.
1 Developed creative and innovative programmes/ activities to enhance service quality.
Loo Kang constantly seeks to find new ways of improving learning and teaching in our schools. He lives the ethos of the teaching profession and leverages on his specialized skills and knowledge to create new, freely available open-source physics computer models to benefit anyone, anywhere in the world.
To date, he has contributed or adapted more than 75 Physics simulations for use in our local curriculum. Most importantly, physics comes "alive" and is meaningfully fun to inspire curiosity and imagination.
His key project “gravity-physics by inquiry” was awarded the Innergy Gold (the highest form of recognition) at MOE Innergy Award[1]2012. The evaluation panel mentioned that the idea was a fundamental breakthrough in how Physics was taught and created significant value-add that was previously not possible. It is the world-first gravity computer models to serve as powerful tools for students’ active inquiry, based on real data, syllabus-customized, free and rapidly-prototyped with Open-Source-Physics researchers-educators. His active inquiry lesson packages with computer models has been scaled up in at least 5 schools (River Valley High, Yishun Junior College, Serangoon Junior College, Anderson Junior College and Innova Junior College). His research suggests students and teachers not only believed in the usefulness of these computer models but there are positive gains even for first time implementations. This has led to future collaborations with the Principal Master Teacher (Physics) who will extend Loo Kang’s ideas into the Teacher’s Handbook for Teaching Secondary Physics meant for all schools. In addition, he is also active evangelist of video analysis and modeling pedagogyusing Tracker, a free open source physics tool, for Physics learning. This has been shared and adopted by
- 10 schools
- CPDD and AST colleagues
- NIE
2 Regularly participated in quality improvement activities, demonstrated team-spiritedness and service excellence beyond the immediate organisational level, while ensuring optimal use of public resources (i.e. cost and manpower savings).
Loo Kang actively blogs and twits via an open access blog (http://weelookang.blogspot.sg/) to share resources and ideas in physics education to Singapore teachers and the world. This also includes sharing useful implementation tips and research strategies. There are more than 1500 visitors daily to his blog from all over the world. Educators local and overseas have given very positive feedback on the usefulness of the free resources provided. Through requests and feedback given, Loo Kang constantly improves and fine tunes the simulations and models to meet curriculum needs. All this done for the love of the subject and the desire to see that education benefits all students and teachers around the world.
He writes on some of the current affairs news to make physics relevant, an example being the analysis of the speed of the Ferrari 599 GTO that crashed at Bugis in May 2012. (http://weelookang.blogspot.sg/2012/05/what-evidence-of-speed-ferrari-was.html)
He publishes extensively in peer reviewed journals and creates computer models on Open Source Physics to promote and scale innovative use of open source ICT tools in education.
He is also an active contributor on the Wikipedia.com on physics learning (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:ListFiles/Lookang)
3. Exceeded customer expectations or delivering extraordinary service by adopting a solutioning mindset, proactively offering customers alternatives, yet serving with fairness and impartiality.
Driven by a desire to bring about engaging science learning in every classroom, Loo Kang constantly seeks to address teachers’ needs and requests for meaningfully engaging simulations. Many teachers have given feedback on the extraordinary service provided by him to ensure that his computer models and simulations are customized to the Singapore syllabus and learning needs of their students. He goes the extra mile to develop computer models at no cost, free for access in the public internet domain by everyone, not just for local educators but also for all educators from around the world. Regardless of where the requests might originate, his service quality is always top notch.
4. Showed personal qualities, work attitude, etc. that reflect C.A.R.E
(Courtesy, Accessibility, Responsiveness and Effectiveness), People/ Customer Centricity, Empathy and Heart in service delivery.
Courtesy – He always serves with a big smile.
Accessibility – He is highly accessible to educators around the world. This is made possible by leveraging social media such as Facebook, Google+ and Blogspot.
Responsiveness – His response time to requests for help is very fast and sometimes even amazing as testified by many teachers who have benefited from his support.
Effectiveness – The quality of his simulations are high and many teachers and professors around the world who have used the simulations have testified of their effectiveness.
People/ Customer Centricity – He places educators and students in the centre of all his work. His desire is to ensure that teachers get the help needed and have access to relevant simulations and models to bring about effective learning of Physics.
Empathy Heart – Being a teacher himself, he understands the challenges and frustrations of teachers in helping students understand Physics concepts. He wants to help as many as he can and his work is made available free to anyone who wish to advance physics education or learn about Physics.
5. Garnered compliments, laudatory comments or special recommendations from internal or external customers.
Loo Kang has garnered compliments from all levels ranging from teachers in schools to MOE’s senior management (e.g. PS and DGE), from local tertiary professors (Dr Darren Wong and Dr Zhang Bao Hui) to overseas ones (Dr Hwang F-K and Vasudeva Rao Aravind).
Everyone is indeed impressed by his dedication, passion and contributions.
Many school teachers are impressed and some even “amazed” by the quality of his physics computer models and thank him for sharing them freely with them. Even now ETD, AST and CPDD do refer teachers to check out his blog.
6. Had a positive influence on other colleagues or Division in terms of enhancing service standards. Having tangible influence on moving the Division/ School towards a culture of service excellence
Now, CPDD and AST colleagues are able to confidently share with school teachers about the open source physics tools that he champions.
His work has been included into the CPDD teaching and learning guide, AST handbook for secondary physics etc.
Now, teachers need for useful tools and strategies are more readily met, thanks to his work and leadership.
Write-up/ Justification
Account of Extraordinary Service Delivery and/or Quality Improvement Activities and Initiatives
Loo Kang goes beyond the call of duty to continually customize Physics resources to make them suitable for use in the different schools and project contexts. With his close hand holding of schools e.g. HCI and YJC, Loo Kang successfully helped them to scale the use of the video tracker for the learning of Physics. Loo Kang always listens to teachers to understand their needs and challenges. Every feedback is taken into account to explore how the simulations can be improved. These qualities coupled with Loo Kang’s ‘strong support’ have resulted in HCI's HOD ICT and his 4 other physics teachers designing and creating the necessary Physics videos and worksheets. Similarly, YJC’s HOD Science and his 6 Physics teachers were appreciative of Loo Kang’s support that helped them to scale the use of the video tracker for a level-wide lesson involving 200+ students.
Other Service Excellence Related Types of Awards Received in Year 2010 to 2012:
- Innergy Award Winner 2012 (Gravity-Physics by Inquiry) Gold Award
- Innergy Award Winner 2012 (Bringing Innovative Ideas to Practice Through Propel-T Projects) Gold Award
- Innergy Award Winner School Commendation 2011 (Learning Physics through video analysis RVHS) Commendation
- Appreciation Award by Academy of Singapore Teachers 2011
- Public Service Excellence in Service Award (EXSA) Star 2011
- Public Service Excellence in Service Award (EXSA) Gold 2010
- Public Service Excellence in Service Award (EXSA) Silver 2009
Titles of supporting documents
- RGS teacher thank you for re-designing the computer model to their specifications
- CPDD thank you for lesson plan inputs
- ETD thank you for enhancing the edumall flash lesson
- DGE thank you for passionate PS21 presentation
- IJC teacher thank you for re-designing the computer model to their specifications
- PPMT thank you for sharing on ePLC at Science Subject Chapter Meeting
- Prof Zhang Baohui thank you for sharing on Open Source Physics computer model design
Ceremony Town Hall
Townhall sessions held on 3 April 2013
Excellent Service Award (EXSA) 2012
MOE Service Excellence Award 2012
 |
| MOE Service Excellence Award 2012 |
MOE’s awards at the PS21 ExCEL Convention Awards 2012
 |
| MOE’s awards at the PS21 ExCEL Convention Awards 2012 |
MOE’s win at the Public Service Star Games 2012
MOE’s awards at the FutureGov Awards
MOE’s awards at the 2013 Human Resource Management Awards
View the video clip (available only to MOE intranet folks)
thanks to Nicholas for sharing http://intranet.moe.gov.sg/townhall/apr-2013.htm
Credits
[SIMU_CREDITS]
FAQ
1. What is the primary focus of the project highlighted in the provided source?
The project focuses on creating and sharing free, open-source physics computer models and simulations. These resources are designed to improve learning and teaching, making physics more engaging and accessible to students and teachers worldwide. The project also emphasizes inquiry-based learning using real data, customized to specific curricula and rapidly developed.
2. How does the project promote accessibility and global reach in education?
The project utilizes open-source tools and freely available online resources, such as a blog and Wikipedia contributions. This allows educators and students globally to access and benefit from these materials without cost. The project actively seeks and incorporates feedback from users worldwide to refine the resources. The simulations are designed to be curriculum-relevant, with many customized for the Singaporean syllabus.
3. What is "Tracker" and how is it used in this project?
Tracker is a free, open-source video analysis and modeling tool. It is used by educators to analyze real-world physics phenomena, by recording video of an event then extracting data points from it. The project encourages the adoption of video analysis and modeling pedagogy using Tracker. A variety of examples of usage are shared within the provided sources.
4. How does this project align with the Ministry of Education's (MOE) goals?
The project directly aligns with MOE's mission by enhancing service quality and contributing innovative ideas to education. It was recognized with the MOE Service Excellence Award and Innergy Awards. It exemplifies the pursuit of creative and innovative programs to improve teaching and learning. The scaling up of his approach in multiple schools and the integration of his ideas into teacher handbooks signifies an effective move toward improving national education standards.
5. What specific characteristics demonstrate the project's service excellence?
The project demonstrates service excellence through creativity, accessibility, responsiveness, and effectiveness. Loo Kang, the creator, is highly accessible, responds rapidly to requests, delivers high-quality simulations, and customizes them to meet specific needs. There's a strong focus on user needs, as simulations and models are tailored based on feedback, and he has an empathetic approach to education, understanding teacher's challenges. The project shows customer-centricity and a commitment to continuous improvement based on user input.
6. What kind of resources and tools does the project provide?
The project provides a wide range of open-source resources including, but not limited to, Javascript and HTML5 applet simulations and models on a variety of topics in physics. Furthermore there is a large repository of Tracker video analysis models and projects that cover many topics. They are designed to be interactive and engaging for learners. Easy JavaScript Simulation (EJS) is also mentioned as an authoring and modelling tool that is championed in the project.
7. How has the project impacted the educational community both locally and internationally?
The project has garnered positive feedback from educators globally, with many finding the free resources to be highly useful. The work of this project has been included in teaching guides and handbooks, and is shared with other teachers by colleagues in central planning divisions. The project is also being used by local and overseas educators and professors, many of whom have provided compliments and special recommendations for the quality of simulations and the dedication of the creator. There is a significant amount of traffic (over 1500 visitors daily) to the project’s blog, demonstrating international interest.
8. What awards and recognitions has the project and its creator received?
The project and its creator have received numerous awards, including the Ministry of Education Service Excellence Award 2012, and several Innergy Awards (including a Gold Award for "gravity-physics by inquiry"). The creator also received the Public Service Excellence in Service Awards (EXSA) at various levels, along with recognition and thanks from various colleagues, teachers and university professors. These awards reflect the high impact and quality of work.