Li-Ching Ho
Biographic Data
| ID | 138775 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Li-Ching Ho |
| GIVEN NAMES | Li-Ching |
| FAMILY NAME | Ho |
| SIGNATURE | HO L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6124-4805 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 58 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Collaborative deliberation in the classroom
To expand students’ preparation for civic life, many teachers regularly engage students in discussions related to contentious issues. These discussions, however, typically restrict the range of communicative styles allowed and prioritizes disagreements between fixed and competing choices. Keith C. Barton & Li-Ching recommend that educators instead engage students in collaborative deliberation — an authentic problem-solving model of discussion tha…
Social studies education research for sustainable democratic societies
Social studies education and research can and must play a central role in sustaining democratic societies. As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of this vital journal that aims to strengthen social studies education, democratic societies face numerous serious challenges. Although today’s circumstances are unique, many of our current challenges have existed (and will continue to exist) in some form throughout the history of democracy. In this art…
Critical harmony
This paper makes the case for including critical harmony as a complement to justice within civic education. The concept of harmony is significant for civic education because it acknowledges the crucial role that relationships play in society—an important moral, ethical, and social ideal in many cultures around the world. Harmony must also incorporate a critical dimension, however, by embracing conflict and tension, valuing difference and diversit…
‘Our students do not get that equal chance’
This study explores how Singapore social studies, geography and history teachers make meaning of the concept of meritocracy and its role in the education system. The findings indicate the participants simultaneously adopted and challenged the meritocratic values and beliefs promoted by the Singapore state. The teachers strongly believed that the principle of meritocracy helped promote educational and social equality, but they were also deeply con…
Cultivating sprouts of benevolence
A central goal of civic and multicultural education is preparing young people to participate in deliberatively informed action on important social issues. In order to achieve this goal, educators need to cultivate young people’s innate but partial ‘sprouts’ of benevolence, which are rooted in feelings of empathy and compassion. Without a sense of benevolence, students are unlikely to be motivated to deliberate and take action on the needs of othe…
Preparation for civil society
Civic education historically has focused primarily on preparing students to influence politics and government policy. Less attention has been paid to the curricular implications of civil society, even though it is a crucial site for deliberatively informed action and one of the primary ways in which students will enter the public sphere. This article highlights the importance of civil society as a component of civic education and critically exami…
Teaching Controversial Issues in Geography
In this article, the authors investigate 6 Singaporean geography teachers’ understandings of climate change education. The findings indicate that the participants held very different beliefs about the primary purposes of climate change education, in spite of the highly centralized national curriculum and the unambiguous state support for the science of climate change. The findings suggest that the diversity in teachers’ understandings of the purp…
Geographies of online spaces and intercultural citizenship
In this article, we explore the potential of social media for production and distribution of ideas, public deliberation, and political participation, and as civil spaces and public platforms. We offer an analytical template for critically examining images, discursive structures, and multicultural civic participation promoted by websites aimed at diverse youth in Singapore. Focusing on the controversial issue of immigration, we examine how the iss…
Meritocracy, Tracking, and Elitism
Numerous studies have highlighted a clear civic achievement gap between students from different ethnic and economic backgrounds in countries such as Singapore and the United States. Concurrently, researchers from both countries have noted that access to government and civics classes and curricula differs considerably across and within schools and school districts. Drawing on research studies conducted in both countries, this article compares the …
Global Multicultural Citizenship Education in Singapore
Drawing on individual interviews with 24 students from three secondary schools and an examination of official curricular documents and materials, this study investigates how Singapore, a young, diverse, postcolonial nation with a history of ethnic and religious conflict, manages the promotion of a common national identity, ethnic and religious diversity, and global perspectives. The study critically examines the Singapore state’s deliberate attem…
Civic Disparities
Drawing on individual interviews with 62 students from three secondary schools, the authors of this study investigate how Singapore students from different educational tracks understand their role as citizens in a democracy. In contrast to most countries, the constitutionally democratic state of Singapore explicitly assigns separate citizenship roles to students from different education tracks. Premised on the principle of meritocracy, the Singap…
So, where do they fit in?” Teachers’ perspectives of multi-cultural education and diversity in Singapore
Don't Worry, I'm Not Going to Report You”
This case study examined how Singapore adolescents from different socio-economic, academic, and racial backgrounds positioned themselves as citizens within a highly-regulated, centralized educational context. Through interviews, classroom observations, and the author investigated students' conceptions of citizenship and their perspectives of the official historical national narrative. Despite their different backgrounds, participants from all thr…
Global Multicultural Citizenship Education
In a world that is, on the one hand, determined to sustain distinct national and group identities and, on the other hand, becoming increasingly globalized, interconnected and interdependent, social studies educators are regularly faced with the challenge of supporting diversity, creating a unified national community, and promoting global perspectives through education. This paper explores how the Singapore education system addresses these dispara…
So, where do they fit in?” Teachers’ perspectives of multi-cultural education and diversity in Singapore
Global Multicultural Citizenship Education
In a world that is, on the one hand, determined to sustain distinct national and group identities and, on the other hand, becoming increasingly globalized, interconnected and interdependent, social studies educators are regularly faced with the challenge of supporting diversity, creating a unified national community, and promoting global perspectives through education. This paper explores how the Singapore education system addresses these dispara…
Don't Worry, I'm Not Going to Report You”
This case study examined how Singapore adolescents from different socio-economic, academic, and racial backgrounds positioned themselves as citizens within a highly-regulated, centralized educational context. Through interviews, classroom observations, and the author investigated students' conceptions of citizenship and their perspectives of the official historical national narrative. Despite their different backgrounds, participants from all thr…
Social studies education research for sustainable democratic societies
Social studies education and research can and must play a central role in sustaining democratic societies. As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of this vital journal that aims to strengthen social studies education, democratic societies face numerous serious challenges. Although today’s circumstances are unique, many of our current challenges have existed (and will continue to exist) in some form throughout the history of democracy. In this art…
Preparation for civil society
Civic education historically has focused primarily on preparing students to influence politics and government policy. Less attention has been paid to the curricular implications of civil society, even though it is a crucial site for deliberatively informed action and one of the primary ways in which students will enter the public sphere. This article highlights the importance of civil society as a component of civic education and critically exami…
Teaching Controversial Issues in Geography
In this article, the authors investigate 6 Singaporean geography teachers’ understandings of climate change education. The findings indicate that the participants held very different beliefs about the primary purposes of climate change education, in spite of the highly centralized national curriculum and the unambiguous state support for the science of climate change. The findings suggest that the diversity in teachers’ understandings of the purp…
Meritocracy, Tracking, and Elitism
Numerous studies have highlighted a clear civic achievement gap between students from different ethnic and economic backgrounds in countries such as Singapore and the United States. Concurrently, researchers from both countries have noted that access to government and civics classes and curricula differs considerably across and within schools and school districts. Drawing on research studies conducted in both countries, this article compares the …
Civic Disparities
Drawing on individual interviews with 62 students from three secondary schools, the authors of this study investigate how Singapore students from different educational tracks understand their role as citizens in a democracy. In contrast to most countries, the constitutionally democratic state of Singapore explicitly assigns separate citizenship roles to students from different education tracks. Premised on the principle of meritocracy, the Singap…
Geographies of online spaces and intercultural citizenship
In this article, we explore the potential of social media for production and distribution of ideas, public deliberation, and political participation, and as civil spaces and public platforms. We offer an analytical template for critically examining images, discursive structures, and multicultural civic participation promoted by websites aimed at diverse youth in Singapore. Focusing on the controversial issue of immigration, we examine how the iss…
Global Multicultural Citizenship Education
In a world that is, on the one hand, determined to sustain distinct national and group identities and, on the other hand, becoming increasingly globalized, interconnected and interdependent, social studies educators are regularly faced with the challenge of supporting diversity, creating a unified national community, and promoting global perspectives through education. This paper explores how the Singapore education system addresses these dispara…
So, where do they fit in?” Teachers’ perspectives of multi-cultural education and diversity in Singapore
Don't Worry, I'm Not Going to Report You”
This case study examined how Singapore adolescents from different socio-economic, academic, and racial backgrounds positioned themselves as citizens within a highly-regulated, centralized educational context. Through interviews, classroom observations, and the author investigated students' conceptions of citizenship and their perspectives of the official historical national narrative. Despite their different backgrounds, participants from all thr…
Global Multicultural Citizenship Education in Singapore
Drawing on individual interviews with 24 students from three secondary schools and an examination of official curricular documents and materials, this study investigates how Singapore, a young, diverse, postcolonial nation with a history of ethnic and religious conflict, manages the promotion of a common national identity, ethnic and religious diversity, and global perspectives. The study critically examines the Singapore state’s deliberate attem…
Civic Disparities
Drawing on individual interviews with 62 students from three secondary schools, the authors of this study investigate how Singapore students from different educational tracks understand their role as citizens in a democracy. In contrast to most countries, the constitutionally democratic state of Singapore explicitly assigns separate citizenship roles to students from different education tracks. Premised on the principle of meritocracy, the Singap…
Geographies of online spaces and intercultural citizenship
In this article, we explore the potential of social media for production and distribution of ideas, public deliberation, and political participation, and as civil spaces and public platforms. We offer an analytical template for critically examining images, discursive structures, and multicultural civic participation promoted by websites aimed at diverse youth in Singapore. Focusing on the controversial issue of immigration, we examine how the iss…
Meritocracy, Tracking, and Elitism
Numerous studies have highlighted a clear civic achievement gap between students from different ethnic and economic backgrounds in countries such as Singapore and the United States. Concurrently, researchers from both countries have noted that access to government and civics classes and curricula differs considerably across and within schools and school districts. Drawing on research studies conducted in both countries, this article compares the …
Teaching Controversial Issues in Geography
In this article, the authors investigate 6 Singaporean geography teachers’ understandings of climate change education. The findings indicate that the participants held very different beliefs about the primary purposes of climate change education, in spite of the highly centralized national curriculum and the unambiguous state support for the science of climate change. The findings suggest that the diversity in teachers’ understandings of the purp…
Cultivating sprouts of benevolence
A central goal of civic and multicultural education is preparing young people to participate in deliberatively informed action on important social issues. In order to achieve this goal, educators need to cultivate young people’s innate but partial ‘sprouts’ of benevolence, which are rooted in feelings of empathy and compassion. Without a sense of benevolence, students are unlikely to be motivated to deliberate and take action on the needs of othe…
Preparation for civil society
Civic education historically has focused primarily on preparing students to influence politics and government policy. Less attention has been paid to the curricular implications of civil society, even though it is a crucial site for deliberatively informed action and one of the primary ways in which students will enter the public sphere. This article highlights the importance of civil society as a component of civic education and critically exami…
‘Our students do not get that equal chance’
This study explores how Singapore social studies, geography and history teachers make meaning of the concept of meritocracy and its role in the education system. The findings indicate the participants simultaneously adopted and challenged the meritocratic values and beliefs promoted by the Singapore state. The teachers strongly believed that the principle of meritocracy helped promote educational and social equality, but they were also deeply con…
Critical harmony
This paper makes the case for including critical harmony as a complement to justice within civic education. The concept of harmony is significant for civic education because it acknowledges the crucial role that relationships play in society—an important moral, ethical, and social ideal in many cultures around the world. Harmony must also incorporate a critical dimension, however, by embracing conflict and tension, valuing difference and diversit…
Collaborative deliberation in the classroom
To expand students’ preparation for civic life, many teachers regularly engage students in discussions related to contentious issues. These discussions, however, typically restrict the range of communicative styles allowed and prioritizes disagreements between fixed and competing choices. Keith C. Barton & Li-Ching recommend that educators instead engage students in collaborative deliberation — an authentic problem-solving model of discussion tha…
Social studies education research for sustainable democratic societies
Social studies education and research can and must play a central role in sustaining democratic societies. As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of this vital journal that aims to strengthen social studies education, democratic societies face numerous serious challenges. Although today’s circumstances are unique, many of our current challenges have existed (and will continue to exist) in some form throughout the history of democracy. In this art…
Political science (14 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Global Education and Multiculturalism (13 works) · Pedagogy (12 works) · Law (10 works) · Politics (8 works) · Socioeconomic Development in Asia (8 works) · Curriculum (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Citizenship (6 works)