Announcement: What to study for the End of Year exams

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Shhh....I'm studying. I want to ace my Social Studies just as Mr Lim says I can!

Chapters to focus on:
Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5

Specific topics
- Covered this semester

1. Solutions to manage an ageing population
2. Serious consequences of an ageing population
3. Serious consequences of a declining population
4. Solutions to manage a declining population
5. The most important principles of Governance
6. Traffic Management solutions
7. Ways to ensure that healthcare in Singapore is affordable 8. Causes of Sri Lanka crisis

- Covered last semester
8. Causes of Sri Lanka crisis
9. Consequences of Sri Lanka crisis
10. Causes of Northern Ireland conflict
11.Impact of Northern Ireland conflict
12. Methods used by Singapore to manage its diversity
13. Challenges faced in managing a multi-ethnic state.

Duration of paper: 1 hr 30 minutes
Structure of paper
(a) 4 SBQ questions [25 marks]
 Parts a to d
 Compulsory
 6 sources provided

Skills tested:
1. Inference
 Message level – 1EE x 2
 Purpose level – Audience – Message (IEE) – Outcome[ change in the audience’s behaviour after understanding the message]

NB: IEE = Inference + evidence + explanation of how evidence proves the inference

2. Reliability
 Cross referencing x 2 [1 or more sources support AND 1 or more sources refute]

3. Compare and contrast
 1 similarity and 1 difference [at message/content level – BOC + IEE vs IEE]
 Similarity or difference [at purpose level – AMO vs AMO]

NB: BOC = Basis of comparison/criteria for comparison

(b) 2 SEQ questions [Parts a and b] [25 marks]
 There will be 3 sets of questions given, do any 1 set [a and b]
 Write each SEQ in the following format of:
o Stand
o Define weighing word; identify issues and identify factors
o Write out the body paragraphs in the FEEL approach

 Factor [ Define factor ]
 Explain how factor addresses issue
 Example [Explain how examples address issue]
 Link back to issue

o Weighing paragraph

 Example:
o Set 1- 2a and 2b
o Set 2- 3a and 3b
o Set 3- 4a and 4b
Do any 1 of the above sets.

NB: If you do 3a, you must do 3b. You cannot do 3a and 4b.

Singapore healthcare - how we keep healthcare affordable.

Singapore uses the concept of :

• Self-reliance [ Medisave and Medishield]
• Government support [Medifund,Restructured hospitals,government subsidies and Means-testing]
• Community support [ Working with community organisations]

To make sure that healthcare remains affordable. Parts of these approaches are linked to our 3M approach - Medisave, Medishield and Medifund. Want to know more about the 3M approach?
Click here : http://mycpf.cpf.gov.sg/CPF/my-cpf/Healthcare/PvdHC2.htm

Homework 9: SEQ: What is the best way to ensure that healthcare is kept affordable in Singapore?

Please work in your pairs to discuss and answer in SEQ format the following question:

"The best way to ensure that healthcare in Singapore remains affordable is through self-reliance." How far do you agree? Explain.

Format
Stand
Explain given factor
Explain other factor 1
Explain other factor 2
Weighing

NB: Define "best way"

Read page 62 to 79 to help you.

Deadline: This Wed 22nd September 9pm.

SBQ - Understanding and answering challenging questions

There are many different ways of asking SBQ questions. We discussed the variation of some of these questions:

1. Study Sources A and C.
Sources A and B have different points of view. Does this make one source more believable than the other? Explain.

2. Study Sources A and B.
Does Source B's agreement with Source A's viewpoint mean that Source A is correct? Explain.

3. Are you surprised by what Source A says about...[Issue]......? Explain.

How would you answer the above questions?
We used the everyday example of a men's colonge to understand what the above questions expect us to do and what are the SBQ skills to be applied.

Issue: Does the use of Davidoff Adventure Cologne make users feel and behave in a more adventurous manner?

Background knowledge
Davidoff Adventure is a Cologne for men. The perfume's tagline is " The thrill of the unknown". According to the company, users of the perfume will experience the following after use, " ...the excitement of going to a distant place you’ve never seen before to grasp a taste for exoticism and feel a rush of emotion you've never felt. With Adventure, you will find your challenge, find your limits, and push beyond them, go your own way, wherever that might take you." Davidoff describes its product as "daring" and "inspired by the world's great wildernesses and raw, masculine emotion".Should we believe what Davidoff perfume company says about its product and the effects it will have on people who use it? Read on to find out.

Source A This is an advertisement by Davidoff men's cologne


Source B Nixon, who recently used Davidoff cologne
Yes, after I used the perfume I certainly felt different. I am now more adventerous, daring and manly.

Source C Vivien's opinion on Davidoff cologne
I do not think Davidoff cologne causes any personality change in anyone. My brother bought a bottle and has been using it. The perfume smells fine and he does smell better of late. Yesterday, he saw a cockroach that day and ran out of the kitchen screaming for me. I had to help him get rid of it and I don't use the perfume myself.

Source D Psychologist , Dr Aw Tia Jing Thomas' opinion on Davidoff
I did some studies with 100 men - getting them to use the perfume and then to ask them to record any changes in their behaviour after 30 days. Majority of the men did not report any change in their personality at all.

Source E Marcus, a Singaporean male
I expected to begin growing a beard quickly once I splashed Davidoff onto my face. I mean I want to look like Ewan McGregor. He's my idol and I have always dreamt of being as macho as him. No, I don't have a licence to ride a motorcycle yet but so what? Anyway, I didn't manage to look rugged. It's all quite disappointing - the bottle of Davidoff cost me almost $60!

How to approach the answering of Q1 to 3. [ Please note that these are NOT the full and complete answers and are merely pointing the direction of how you can answer these questions]
1. Type of SBQ skill: Reliability testing
Cross reference Source A with other sources that agree with it.
Cross reference source C with other sources that agree with it.
The source which has more sources supporting it is more believable.
Clearly more sources support Source C then Source A. Hence, we can say that Source C is more believable.

2. Type of SBQ skill: Reliability testing
Cross reference B with A to see if B supports A, If yes - Source A is more likely to be correct.
BUT cross reference other sources like Source C with A. Since Source C refutes Source A, then Source A is less correct. Compare also Source D with Source A. Since Source D refutes Source A, we can say that overall, more sources refute B. Hence, even if B supports A, we cannot say that Source A is correct.

3. Type of SBQ skill: Reliability testing
Use cross-referencing to state whether you are surprised or not. You would be more surprised if only a few sources support Source A. You would be less surprised if more sources supported Source A.

Today's lesson - solutions for an ageing population

What we revised
1. "Managed an ageing population" = Effectively address/reduce the negative impact of an ageing population
2. We also learnt that an ageing population leads to 4 negative consequences:
- Loss of competitiveness
- Increased expenditure on healthcare and nursing care at the national level
- Increased strain on the working population
- A weakened Defence Force

3. Hence, in a question like:
"The best way to manage an ageing population is through community support." How far do you agree? Explain your answer.

You job is to explain how each factor:
- Helps address/reduce the negative impact of an ageing population
- by lessening or removing the negative impact.

The factors we have explained so far are:
1.Family Support
2.Community Support
3. Individual Responsibility through leading a healthy lifestyle.

Remember to:
1. READ YOUR NOTES on the same day you are taught!

Next Lesson:
1. Last factor: Government support - Read up your textbook ( Last page of chpt 2)
2.  Individual Responsibility through personal financial planning.

A posting for Wei Shan to ask questions

Dear Weishan,
As mentioned to you today, simply post your questions under comments and I will get an email in my email box and I will post the answer to the question in response.

I have include "Wei Shan" under labels so that it is easy for you to find this posting. :-)

Homework 8: Holiday SBQ assignment in LMS

You will find this assignment in LMS as well.

Instead of the N Level paper, I decided to instead upload the Pei Hwa class test which I had set last year for the Sec 4 batch of pupils.
Here is the paper

Source-based Case Study

Study the sources carefully, and then answer all the questions.You may use any of the sources to help you answer the questions, in addition to those sources which you are told to use. In answering the questions, you should use your knowledge of the topic to help you interpret and evaluate the sources.

1a. Study Source A.
What is the cartoon trying to tell us? Explain your answer. [5]

1b. Study Source B
Why do you think the writer made this statement? [6]

1c. Study Sources B & C.
How different are these 2 sources? [7]

1d. Study Source D
How reliable is source D as evidence to show the success level of Singapore’s efforts to boost its population growth? [7]

Issue: Addressing Singapore’s declining birth rate.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

After 15 years of low population growth, Singapore has finally begun taking steps in the last decade or so to try and solve the problem. Yet many are still unsure whether these solutions would work. One of the steps introduced in April 2001 was the Baby Bonus Scheme. The Baby Bonus Scheme was enhanced in August 2004 and gives support to parents’ decision to have more children by helping to lighten the financial costs of raising children. However, many feel skeptical that such a move will help to increase the Singapore population. Some think that it is the mindset of couples that needs to be changed.

Source A

A cartoon drawn by Straits Times cartoonist MIEL published in the Straits Times in 2004.

Source B
The view of Ms May Tan, a Singaporean mother published on the 15th July 2008 in the Straits Times.

“No official sweetener can sway my husband and I to have more children. Our hands are full running our own Web design company and looking after 2 babies. When I gave birth to my 2nd child, I was online with a client. That was the year the Government handed out its baby bonus, tax reliefs and longer maternity leave. I do not agree that the baby bonus is the reason for parents to have more children. It’s the rat race culture here that is causing low fertility rate in Singapore. If we were living in New Zealand, it's likely that one of us would stay home with the kids, as people there are less focused on career. In Singapore, both parents work to support a lifestyle that includes a car, holidays, and enrichment classes for children.”

Source C
The view of Mrs Jill Tan, who has 5 children, published in The Straits Times 15th July 2008.

“Bringing up five children is not without financial headaches and I need to watch every cent. To save money, we downgraded from a seven-seater multi-purpose vehicle to a smaller Nissan Sunny. The family had to forgo luxuries like long-distance travel in favour of short breaks in Malaysia. The older children have given up their music lessons and other costly enrichment classes. But we chose to look at it positively. Even if the children should be deprived of anything now, they can be compensated in adult life when they start working. The pleasures of seeing them grow up - you can't put a price to that.”

Source D
Dr Paul Cheung, Singapore’s chief family planning statistician, gives his views in a Straits Times article published in September 2008

“Childlessness by choice is a world-wide symptom of most developed countries. What we are doing may be too little and too late. The government's Baby Bonus will not make a decisive difference for better-educated parents. For those with two children, the subsidy works out to $2 per child per day over a six-year period - at the end of which, a parent's duty is by no means done yet. The government is ‘barking up the wrong tree’ by offering money. Only the lower socio-economic group will jump on the breeding band-wagon to get a few more dollars from the baby bonus.”