Dr Muhammad Nazir Amir

Profile

Nazir graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) from the University of Surrey in the UK, and obtained his PhD in Education from the National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. He believes in instilling a love for learning by creating positive learning experiences and unlocking the creative potential of both students and teachers.

Prior to joining AST, Nazir was a Lead Teacher in Greenview Secondary School, where he taught for over 13 years. He was also leading the East 1 Senior/Lead Teacher Cluster Collaboration Group for over three years. He is very passionate about developing feasible teaching approaches that appeal to students, and has mentored teachers to carry out collaborative classroom projects and presenting them at the cluster, zonal, national and international levels. In addition, he has also published numerous research articles in international peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. Nazir is honoured to have been invited to present his work both locally and at international platforms.

Nazir’s interest lies in working with communities of teachers to co-develop feasible instructional strategies to motivate and engage students, who are especially lower in progress. He developed the ‘Relevant, Appealing and Personal’ (RAP) pedagogical guideline in getting students to be cognitively and emotionally connected to the learning content across subjects. In mentoring teachers, Nazir highlights how ‘RAP’ principles can be infused into various pedagogical approaches to get students intrinsically motivated and on-task in their lessons. This contributes to students developing positive attitudes towards their studies, which in turn builds their confidence that can lead to positive academic achievement.

Nazir has been awarded ‘Fellow of AST’ in 2012, the ‘President’s Award for Teachers’ in 2014, and the ‘Fulbright Distinguished Awards for Teaching’ in 2016. He also led a Professional Learning Community of teachers in his school to co-develop and implement a RAP-infused multi-disciplinary curriculum that led them to clinch the Innergy (Gold) Awards in 2015.

Publications in International Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters

Amir, N. (2014). Showcasing the creative talents in science of the academically less-inclined students through a values-driven toy story-telling project IN L. C. Lennex & K. F. Nettleton (Eds.), Cases on Instructional Technology in Gifted and Talented Education (pp. 141- 179). IGI Global Publishing. USA.

Amir, N. & Subramaniam, R. (2014). Presenting physics content and fostering creativity in physics among less academically inclined students through a simple design-based toy project IN E. de Silva (Ed), Cases on Research-Based Teaching Methods in Science Education (pp. 157 - 196). IGI Global Publishing. USA.

Amir, N. & Subramaniam, R. (2012). Fostering inquiry in science among kinaesthetic learners through Design & Technology IN L. C. Lennex & K. F. Nettleton (Eds.), Cases on Inquiry Through Instructional Technology in Math and Science: Systemic Approaches (pp. 221 - 257). IGI Global Publishing. USA.

Publications in International Peer-Reviewed Journals

Amir, N. (2015). Using corrugated boards to introduce the concept of ‘turning effect of forces’ to the less-academically inclined students. School Science Review, 97(358), 22-25.

Amir, N. & Subramaniam, R. (2014). The Structural Challenge: A simple design-based science activity to foster creativity among kinaesthetic learners. School Science Review, 95(353), 73-78.

Amir, N. & Subramaniam, R. (2009). Making a low cost candy floss kit gets students excited about learning physics. Physics Education, 44(4), 420-428.

Amir, N. & Subramaniam, R. (2007). Making a fun Cartesian diver: a simple project to engage kinaesthetic learners. Physics Education, 42(5), 478-480.

Amir, N. & Subramaniam, R. (2006). Making physics toys fosters creativity. Physics Education, 41(1), 18-20.

Selected Conference Papers

Amir, N. (2016, December). [Keynote Speech]: Guiding Teachers to Make Lessons Relevant, Appealing, and Personal (RAP) for Academically-Low-Achieving Students in STEM Subjects. Paper presented at the World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology Conference, Bangkok, Thailand. Journal: International Science Index, Educational and Pedagogical Sciences, 3(12), 1534.

Amir, N. (2015, July). Crafting out feasible teaching approaches to make learning Relevant, Appealing and Personal (RAP) for N(T) students. Paper presented at the Seminar on Educational Support held at the Academy of Singapore Teachers (AST).

Amir, N. & Chu, H-E. (2014, November). From ‘STEM’ to ‘STEAM’: Examples of how the Arts can contribute to the development and outcome of design-based STEM activities among students in an academically low achieving group. Paper presented at the International Science Education Conference, NIE/NTU, Singapore.

Amir, N., Cheng, J. & Mohamed Nor Azarizal. (2014, November). Feasible classroom teaching approaches to make science and mathematics lessons Appealing and Relevant to the Personal experiences of academically-low-achieving students. Paper presented at the International Science Education Conference, NIE/NTU, Singapore.

Amir, N. (2013, September). Capitalising on a multi-disciplinary ‘Values-In-Action’ toy project to foster creativity and instil a sense of self-worthiness amongst Normal Technical (NT) students in Singapore. Paper presented at the 2013 Joint SELF Biennial International Conference and Educational Research Association of Singapore (ERAS) International Conference, Nanyang Girls’ High School, Singapore.

Amir, N. (2013, September). A feasible teaching approach in getting academically ‘at-risk’ students to showcase their creativity through the interaction between Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in schools. Paper presented at the 2013 Joint SELF Biennial International Conference and Educational Research Association of Singapore (ERAS) Conference, Nanyang Girls’ High School, Singapore.

Amir, N. (2013, June). Capitalising on science-based toy projects to make learning content across several subjects relevant and appealing for NT students. Paper presented at the Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference, NIE/NTU, Singapore.