Sustaining and scaling innovations in Singapore schools: Issues for school-based learning sciences research

This paper reviews some of the issues associated with scalability and sustainability of educational innovations in schools, and grounds the discussion by basing it on case studies of two innovations, Knowledge Forum (KF) and Knowledge Community (KC) which have been implemented in Singapore schools. We propose that school-based learning sciences research which plans for sustainable and scalable outcomes, needs to consider three key issues: Design, Deploy and Discern. Design of research projects can take an expansive approach, considering outcomes from both the learning and the sustainability and scalability perspectives. In the deployment of the research projects, an effective professional development model is needed so that learning science researchers and practitioners can deepen their understanding of each other's context and perspectives. Discerning adaptability and scalability of innovations requires new methods of analysis which is another important research frontier. Copyright © 2006 ICLS.