Hello,


It's Kenneth, Academic Director here from The Pique Lab.

Please also allow me to address the feedback left behind by Data:

Data\" post_id=\"2072182\" time=\"1656438721\" user_id=\"198550:

My experience with pique lab is that they don't teach according to moe textbook syllabus and this does not help children to revise according to their weighted assessments. This method of teaching will affect grades. Be aware of this.

Thank you Zeal mummy, Grr_roxy and san20sg for sharing how curriculum is usually covered in schools:

Zeal mummy\" post_id=\"2072358\" time=\"1656505015\" user_id=\"58173:[quote=\"Zeal mummy\" post_id=2072358 time=1656505015 user_id=58173]Hi Data, there isn’t a fixed schedule to do a specific topic for science in our primary schools. The primary schools are free to decide which topic to teach first. As such, all the schools could be doing different topics at any given time.[/quote]

Grr_roxy\" post_id=\"2072741\" time=\"1656662386\" user_id=\"123375:

san20sg\" post_id=\"2073066\" time=\"1656833630\" user_id=\"76391:[quote=san20sg post_id=2073066 time=1656833630 user_id=76391]TLL has only 2 different clusters. However, every MOE school has their own sequence of topics, so even TLL may not be able to follow the exact sequence of topics in the different schools. It is wise to ask the tuition center what will be taught for the term or year before signing up.

Just a couple of weeks back, we got to know of a parent who was distressed upon realisation that the topics taught in school are not synced perfectly with our Secondary 2 Science curriculum.

Our initial response was similar to what the three parents brought up. We explained that different schools teach different topics at any point in time. In fact, it is only possible to have perfectly synchronised curricula that can cater specifically to a student’s school if:

(a) The student is taught by a private 1-1 tutor, who is able to cater his/her curriculum specifically to what the student’s school is teaching.

(b) The Centre is able to organise groups of students from schools that teach the exact same set of topics.

Given the different possible permutations in terms of topic sequences, it is typically logistically and commercially challenging to do so. This is because the Centre has to account for sufficient replacement lesson opportunities, in the event if the students are unable to attend the lesson in their original class.

Even centres with bigger cohorts of students cannot run a tailor-made curriculum as they are giving group tuition, and not individualised tuition. In the latter arrangement, a larger degree of flexibility may be exercised because the teacher only needs to take into account the learning needs of one student.

(c) The Centre takes in groups of students, but covers different topics concurrently within the same session, depending on what the student needs. With this approach, there are likely to be certain limitations in terms of the depth of content the teacher is able to cover (again – it depends on the diversity of schools within the group).

How Do We Manage The Topic Differences?

The sequence of topics that we decided on was based on our curriculum team’s experience and discretion. It is important to note that we do take into account the logic when assessing the order of the topics to be taught.

For example: if we’re teaching a Biology topic on Transport in Animals, it will be counterintuitive not to cover Transport in Plants, since they belong to the same theme.

Based on our Secondary 2 Science curriculum, we are expected to cover entire level’s syllabus by July, giving us a comfortable bandwidth to revise topics that were previously taught for the final year examinations.

While the topic mismatch is bound to exist at varying scales, we try our best to help our students within our means:

(1) Learning materials for each term are typically sent to our students 6 to 8 weeks ahead of time. Students with a different curriculum from what we’re teaching are able to make use of these materials to catch up with what was taught in school.

(2) All students enrolled in our regular classes have a direct line of communication with their teachers via WhatsApp message. Students with a different curriculum from what we’re teaching are able to seek help from their teacher – be it asking questions on a topic that has not been covered or even having the teacher give them a quick crash course on a particular topic.

Students who made use of the available support channels were able to better prepare for their weighted assessments. However, to demand a perfectly synchronised curriculum is too big of an ask for a group tuition provider.

Actions Taken After The Feedback

(1) When the feedback was first brought up, the parents requested to speak to the Principal. Within our operations, each teacher is responsible for their own students and communicates directly to them & their parents.

The student’s teacher returned a call promptly to address his questions and how we typically handle the topic mismatch for affected students.

(2) We intended to dig deeper into the grades for the affected weighted assessment as we wanted to see if which topics were impacted. However, we were informed that the paper was withheld by the school and we couldn’t diagnose that student’s challenges.

(3) The support channels were not explored over the past 6 months, which unfortunately amounted to a mismatch in expectations. If the parent had raised his/her concerns earlier, we would have been able to explore the support channels together as a parent-teacher cooperative.

(4) At the point when the feedback was raised, the fees for Term 3 (July to September) had already been paid. As the parent disagreed with our curriculum direction, it is within reason that we arrange for a refund for the fees for Term 3 since the lessons have not been attended.

(5) However, the parent further requested for a refund for previous term’s fees on the basis that the topics were mismatched and that was an arrangement we could not accommodate.

Ultimately, we understand that different students have different needs & expectations for their learning progression in Secondary Science. While we're glad to be able to benefit most students, we are regrettably unable to cater to students with specific needs at this point.

Moving forward, we hope to seek Data's understanding in this matter and wish their child all the best in their journey in learning Science.

Dear Mummies & Daddies,


This is Kenneth, Academic Director from The Pique Lab.

I would like to thank the parents that have given us the opportunity to be a partner in their child’s learning journey for their trust & support. Without you, we will not be able to grow and improve to provide the best learning experience for our students.

To begin, I appreciate the kind words about our teachers & I’m glad to hear that most parents share similar sentiments on this forum.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to address the feedback and concerns brought up by Blokus in this thread and shed some light on our strategy for making Science simple for students.

#1: Curating Questions For Practice

Blokus\" post_id=\"2070492\" time=\"1655203049\" user_id=\"68342:

It’s known that past-year examination questions are integrated into our worksheets, which are used in our weekly classes. We do that for a good reason - to expose students to commonly tested question types and hone their answering techniques.

There’re many ways a particular Science concept may be tested during the examinations. Let’s broadly categorise questions into two types:

(a) “Commonly tested”
(b) “Out of the box\"

We approach this challenge using a data-driven approach. We focus on analysing past year examination papers (our data set has hundreds of papers & growing) & categorising questions into various “question types”.

By breaking the questions down into question types, we’re able to help students approach each Science topic methodically, getting them up to speed for “commonly tested questions”.

Students who typically come to us for help (especially in the open-ended section) struggle to handle commonly tested examination questions. This is typically attributed to weak fundamentals (e.g. misunderstanding a concept) or even a lack of vocabulary to answer these questions.

Now, let’s talk about the effectiveness of this approach.

We’re able to shorten the learning curves for students in the above group by:

(a) Sharing with them exactly what the concepts they need to know
(b) Tips on how to remember concepts easily
(c) How questions may be tested – i.e. the question types
(d) How to answer these questions by having the right vocabulary – i.e. equipping them with useful key words, key phrases and even template answers, which will essentially be part of their ‘prep work’.

As for out-of-the-box questions, these may also be understood as “challenging” or “tricky” questions that school teachers set from time to time. Similarly, they will be covered in our lessons as and when we encounter them.

Parents familiar with our YouTube Channel would also have seen us discussing these types of questions online. These are also the exact same questions that were taught in our weekly classes.

Now, let’s talk about inventing new questions:
[quote]Would we be able to help more students tackle “out-of-the-box” questions?

Well, the short answer is maybe.

Typically, most examination papers are made up of questions with varying difficulties & the out-of-the-box questions tend to be the ones that help to separate the high scorers apart.

Assuming that our students are all fantastic at tackling every “commonly tested” examination question because of their rigorous, regular practice, they would have secured a significant portion of the marks in their examination.

As for those challenging questions in the same paper, they’ll have to rely on their own judgement, which is based on their aptitude, analytical skills & how well they can connect the dots. Our examination answering techniques will definitely come into play when they’re trying to put together a coherent answer.

If our curriculum is designed strictly on the “out-of-box” or “challenging” questions, we wouldn’t be able to help the majority of our students. Even if we create our own questions, it does not make past year examination questions less relevant or useful in helping students understand and apply concepts.

#2: CCI Course As A Pre-requisite For Primary 5 Students

In order to best cater to the majority of our students, the P5 Complete Concept Integration (CCI) Science Course is designed to complement the weekly classes and help students consolidate their understanding of what they’ve learnt over the past 2.5 years.

Blokus is correct that this is a mandatory course for students enrolled in our P5 Grade Accelerator Programme (P5 GAP - weekly classes).

As mummyof3angels has pointed out, we have been very open and upfront about the compulsory CCI course before any student enrolls in our P5 weekly classes.

mummyof3angels\" post_id=\"2071225\" time=\"1655869438\" user_id=\"194437:

... they were quite open and upfront about the compulsory CCI and trial lesson required for new students before I signed my daughters up.

It is news to us that the P5 CCI Course came as a surprise to Blokus.

Blokus\" post_id=\"2070492\" time=\"1655203049\" user_id=\"68342:

Based on our written correspondence with Blokus, the CCI Course requirement has been brought up several times before and during enrollment. In fact, Blokus also provided her feedback and concerns in March, and our Customer Care team subsequently reached out and addressed them, before they proceeded with the registration.

Blokus pointed out:

Blokus\" post_id=\"2071310\" time=\"1655893261\" user_id=\"68342:[quote=Blokus post_id=2071310 time=1655893261 user_id=68342]As compared to most other tuition centers where holiday workshops are optional and yet these centers are able to cover all the syllabus + revision in good time. It just puts pique lab in a very bad light. How to have faith in pique lab like that?

I can’t speak for the other tuition centres because different centres have different strategies. For us, we chose to do it our way & we have been very transparent and open about the entire learning progression and fee structure from the get-go.

Now, this leaves two main issues to unpack:

(a) How essential is the CCI for Primary 5 students enrolled in our regular classes? … or did we intentionally make it mandatory to “milk more money from parents”, as Blokus put it? (See 3A)

(b) If it’s as essential as we say it is, could this issue stem from a misalignment of expectations? (See 3B)


#3A: About The CCI Course

Let’s talk about the rationale behind this arrangement.

As we know, more topics are taught in the P5 year (as compared to the P6 year) as the P6 year is shorter, given that the PSLE is conducted at the end of September.

Before the P5 CCI Course was implemented as a requisite course to the P5 regular classes in 2017, we observed:

(1) Many of our students tend to forget the content learnt at the start of the year and the previous years (P3 & P4) when they move into the revision phase for their P5 SA2 Science examinations.

(2) One of the key challenges for students transitioning from lower block to upper block Science is that they tend to use the P3 & P4 style of answering questions to tackle P5 questions. As a result, students tend to lose marks unnecessarily as they miss out on the correct key words/key phrases. Hence, students are expected to “upgrade” their answering techniques to meet the expectations required at a P5 & P6 level.

(3) Once the overall revision is completed, more time will be required to gain exposure to applying the important structures of writing and key words/phrases by tackling past-year examination papers. If we only commence revision in September, it would mean a shorter runway for preparation and less desirable outcomes.

(4) Most students who are revising their examinations tend to jump straight to using past-year examination papers for revision without undergoing an overall revision of content first. This method is ineffective as students tend to get “stuck” when answering questions, further reinforcing that Science is a difficult subject to master.

(5) We have seen many hardworking students read and memorise content that they’re then unable to apply correctly, leading to frustration. As many of the resources students use usually provide only the content and not the techniques to tackling examination questions, students tend to answer incorrectly based on “feeling” instead of “rules”.

Students often face a dilemma at this point:

If they were to spend their time on overall content revision, they will have less time to work on past-year examination papers. Additionally, the method used for overall content revision may not be effective. Conversely, if they were to focus their time on past year examination papers only, they may get \"stuck\" because their foundation is not strong enough.

To address these challenges, we adopted a slightly unconventional strategy as compared to many other tuition centres:

(1) We aim to teach the P5 content at an accelerated pace (compared to the syllabus in school). We have consistently been able to complete the syllabus by July during our weekly classes.

(2) Next, we leverage the June Holidays to ensure that all students undergo one round of overall revision with our teacher with the P5 CCI Science Course. This aids students by consolidating the content they have learnt in the past 2.5 years. Students are also provided with an aggregated set of materials they can use as a reference to phrase their answers in a scientific manner.

(3) Completing the above steps by late July allows our students to have a headstart of 3 months (Aug to Oct) to practise past-year examination papers (both graded and ungraded).

This strategy has proved effective in helping our students bridge the learning curve for Science. Despite the additional fee for this 4-day content-packed workshop, we’ve over a thousand testimonials from parents sharing that this recap has been worthwhile.

So why did Blokus’ child have a completely different experience from others?

#3B: Expectations

Blokus brought up her main gripes:

(a) The CCI was very basic & catered more to students who have not been exposed to the topics OR have completely forgotten these topics.

(b) She wouldn’t have minded so much if the CCI was more in-depth.

Students who enroll in our classes at The Pique Lab have different academic abilities – ranging from average to high achieving. They come to us because we came highly recommended by their friends or family or their existing tutor/ tuition classes are not working out well for them.

What we’ve noticed for some high achieving students is that they don’t know what they don’t know. As such, it is challenging to impose a standardised assessment to determine the necessity for the CCI as it is unlikely going to be comprehensive enough to identify all areas of weaknesses and potential misconceptions that even high achievers may have and do not know about.

Now, is the P5 CCI not useful to this group of students?

There are above-average, highly intelligent students who have found the CCI beneficial because it served as a great recap & helped them identify misconceptions that they did not know they had.

We take our work very seriously & we actively check in with parents on what they think about our classes - the good, bad or ugly, because having these feedback will help us improve the quality of our programmes. Amongst the reviews that we've gotten, we also hear of below-average students who find it challenging to keep up with the pace because it’s too fast.

So, where do we then draw the line in terms of what’s necessary or not?

We leave it up to the parents’ discretion to select a programme that best suits their needs. Additionally, we also make trial lessons a compulsory requirement for all regular classes, so that students can get a quick feeler about the lesson experience before taking up a long-term commitment with us.

It all boils down to managing expectations. Think about it: If the child did not enjoy the lessons, nor benefitted from them, parents would feel upset that they wasted time and money.

And in this case, unfortunately, we did not work out for Blokus’ case & we heard her concerns.

#4: Offering Alternative Solutions

(c) Blokus also pointed out that her kid fell sick during the week that the kid was scheduled to attend the P5 CCI & was forced to attend the P5 CCI course while being sick.

When we were told that Blokus’ child was sick and was not in the best shape to attend lessons with us, replacement lessons were offered in any of the upcoming intakes, which could also have been attended after she felt better.

However, Blokus refused to consider any replacement lessons, requested to skip the rest of the course entirely and refund the CCI fee while remaining enrolled in our weekly classes.

As we were not able to accommodate such an arrangement, it was regrettable that we are unable to reach an agreeable solution. Following this, Blokus made the decision to withdraw her child from both the CCI & GAP.

As a gesture of goodwill, we also refunded the fees for the unattended lessons in the CCI, as well as that of the weekly classes, according to her intentions.

Moving Forward

We hope to seek Blokus’ understanding on this matter. We’ve also reflected internally on how we can better improve our communication of The Pique Lab’s strategy to parents to avoid a similar misunderstanding as this.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post! We wish you a pleasant week ahead.

Hey Mummies &Daddies,


My name is Mervin & I'm the co-founder of The Pique Lab.

My team and I have been reviewing some of the comments left behind by some parents in the community & I'd like to take this opportunity to answer some questions around our primary school Science programmes in an open setting.

About Our Science Programmes

moment3w3:

However, there was an occasion where my child uses their standard template and only got half the mark. Her school teacher told her that keyword is missing from the answer. I believe piquelab is still new and in the process of collating standard answers from students schools exam papers and build their experience, since none of the founders are NIE trained school teachers. I told my child to just use combine whatever points that both the school and piquelab gave. ( I am not sure about the keywords too )

I'd like to assure that our materials have undergone extensive vetting by qualified professionals from the teaching forces, including MOE/NIE trained teachers. We recognise that creating the perfect primary school Science curriculum is a continuously evolving process. Rest assured, my team and I are fully committed to provide our students with only the very best. :rahrah:

About The Right Fit

moment3w3:

There is a boy in her class that didnt pass his tests and SA 1 since he joined (the boy join for about 8 months when I asked him, joined for all the extra holiday programs like the CCI). There are also pupils who did fairly well in their exams. I think students diligence and parents help are still essential in the child's journey. Cannot totally depend on the tuition centres.

mummyxoxo:

Truly agree that 3 days are too short to create miracles. Those workshops are probably more useful for students who are slightly above average. That's why during that time, I opt for long-term tuition for my dd. More money spent definitely, but the result is more practical I feel.

In addition, we also recognise that our primary school Science programme (regular classes/ workshops) isn't a one-size-fits-all solution for all learning challenges. Our Science programmes are designed to equip students with the thought processes and answering techniques needed to tackle primary school Science examination questions. Aside from getting access to these proven techniques, we need to understand that the student also need to possess a positive learning attitude in order to do reasonably well in Science.

We have been very upfront with parents about the right fit whenever they share their child's learning challenges with us. For instance, 1 to 1 tuition have been recommended to parents who shared that their kids are highly resistant to change or unable to function well in group environments. Of course, we felt that these tutors would be better able to meet their learning needs. :imanangel:

As part of our post-programme support, students who have been through our programmes can clarify any doubts or misconceptions they have on our Parent Support Group on Facebook. We'd strongly encourage any student who have doubts to clarify with us directly, so we can personally understand the issue and ensure that the child takes away the right learning points.

For more information, you may check out: https://www.facebook.com/groups/279058918884463/

Seeking The Right Answers

mummyxoxo:

There was 2 occasions when the teacher cannot answer my child's questions on that topic that he is teaching and went to search for the internet for the answers. I found that unacceptable.

One of the greatest assets children possess is their natural inquisitiveness. That is the fashion in which they learn quickly and satiate their curiosity. As teachers, we often receive a broad range of questions that sometimes venture beyond the realms of the subject being taught.

Far be it for us as educators to dismiss the questions, we are trained to be receptive to all types of questions and where it helps, leverage on wider information sources to answer them. This could come in the form of asking a colleague, checking higher level textbook or conferring with Internet sources.

While we can't expect our tutors to be human encyclopaedias, we surely can equip them with the tools they need to help them cope with the daily demands, quickly and accurately.

For instance, on the topic on Adaptations: If a student is curious about a particular animal and we have never came across such an animal, it's our responsibility to conduct the necessary research to make sure that the facts shared with the student are accurate. Of course, we'll also go the extra mile to help the student link the facts with what is expected of them in the PSLE Science syllabus.

About Our Teaching Team & Track Record
[quote]Hello raisintan, i have replied to your post at MS. I think you should not consider Pique Lab as they are not NIE-trained leh. The centre informed 41.1% of their 2017 students scored A/A*. Research more in this forum and you can find out more. Between Pique Lab and MS, the latter is a much better choice. But do find a good teacher. Before you plunge into it, go for trial lesson to test out the teachers first.[/quote]Over the past 4 to 5 years, our students have clocked an average of 80% A/A*s in the PSLE Science examinations. Among the parent community, we're known for building rapport with our students fast and helping them to achieve tremendous improvements in their Science results in under 3 to 6 months.

Don't just take my word for it. In fact, I'd like to invite you to check out what parents have to say about our Science programmes on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/ThePiqueLab/reviews/

We also have a huge collection of testimonials that we receive on a weekly basis from students who have been through our programmes. If you'd like to see them, we can share them with you as well.

I also agree that the best way to start exploring a Science programme is to attend a trial lesson or a workshop, so that your child can better assess if the Science programme (and teacher) is a right fit for his/her learning needs.

If there're any parents who need further clarifications, you can also reach me directly at [email protected] :rahrah:

Thank you & have a great week ahead!

I believe that starting early is the key. You might want to monitor your child’s progress and in any case you decide he/she needs help, get help EARLY. Ive seen too many last minute panickers and their child really suffers from the sudden increase in tuition/school work load.

Dear Parents,


I will be sharing my own PSLE experience as well as experiences working with different children and their parents in a closed-door seminar. PM me if you are interested to join me in this discussion(:

TPL

Nowadays the PSLE mathematics involve a lot of "techniques" that are introduced by popular assessment books such as "raffles math tricks" and "on sponge". Subsequently, schools do actually pick up these difficult questions to test the student’s ability to analyse the question. In case u are looking for enrichment, it should be to enforce and impart knowledge on these "techniques" to solve challenging questions. Since you mentioned that your child is doing rather well, then enrichment should serve to help your child do 4/5 mark questions faster. With techniques, a 5 mark question can be solved easily under less than 5 minutes. Hope this helps!