3 February 2023 ─ SEAMEO STEM-ED’s Research and Evaluation (R&E) department has brought a project to enhance students’ literacy skills (titled “Using Picture Books to Enhance Critical Thinking and Meaningful Reading”) project to networking schools in the northern region.

Using Picture Books to Enhance Critical Thinking and Meaningful Reading was initiated by SEAMEO STEM-ED and sponsored by Chevron Enjoy Science (on 15 October 2022 at Rembrandt Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand). In particular, the project was established in response to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report which addressed Thailand’s fundamental issue in youth’s learning processes.

As a solution, the centre has sought collaboration with Prof. Kate Montgomery, an International Education Consultant and Curriculum Designer for Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University. Together, the centre and Prof. Montgomery have crafted a framework to elicit literacy skills through enjoyable experiences by using picture books as a medium. The frameworks for this included thinking literally, thinking interpretively, and thinking critically.

In this workshop, the R&E team visited Ban Arunothai School (Chiang Mai, Thailand), one of the schools (among other 15 schools throughout Thailand) that partook in the first workshop in October 2022 and adopted the use of the literacy enhancement frameworks.

Accompanied by the school Director Mrs. Rattikorn Sukdee and the networking school executives, the R&E team has observed Ban Arunothai School classrooms that utilized picture books ─ and witnessed how picture books have evoked much joyful learning experience, as the team found creativity and interpretation skills are voiced by the students.