History · Secondary 3

Active learning ideas

HDB and the Resettlement from Kampongs

Active learning works well for this topic because it helps students empathize with the human experiences behind Singapore's rapid urbanization. The shift from kampong life to HDB living involved complex emotions, policies, and trade-offs that are best understood through discussion, role play, and visual analysis rather than passive reading alone.

• MOE Syllabus Outcomes
• MOE: Social and Economic Transformation - S3

• 20–50 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Role Play
• 50 min · Small Groups

Role Play: The Resettlement Officer

Students act as HDB officers in the 1960s trying to convince a kampong family to move to a new flat. They must address the family's fears about the cost, the loss of community, and the change in lifestyle.

Analyze why the Bukit Ho Swee fire served as a critical catalyst for accelerated public housing development.

Facilitation Tip

In the Think-Pair-Share activity, assign mixed-ability pairs and provide sentence stems to scaffold discussions about policy trade-offs, such as 'The policy helped _____ by _____, but it also created challenges like _____.'

What to look for

Facilitate a class discussion using the prompt: 'Imagine you are a resident who lived in a kampong for 30 years and are now moving into an HDB flat. What are three things you would miss most about kampong life, and what are three things you might look forward to in your new home?' Encourage students to share their responses and justify their choices.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Activity 02

• Gallery Walk
• 40 min · Small Groups

Gallery Walk: From Kampong to Flat

Display photos and descriptions of kampong life alongside early HDB designs. Students move through the gallery to identify the 'pros' and 'cons' of each living environment from the perspective of different family members.

Explain the significant social challenges faced by residents transitioning from traditional kampongs to HDB flats.

What to look for

Provide students with a short excerpt from an oral history of a kampong resident or an HDB policy document. Ask them to identify one specific social challenge or integration strategy mentioned in the text and explain its significance in 1-2 sentences.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 03

• Think-Pair-Share
• 20 min · Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: The Ethnic Integration Policy

Students reflect on why the government introduced racial quotas in HDB blocks. They share with a partner whether they think this is still a necessary policy for maintaining racial harmony today.

Evaluate how the HDB utilized housing policies to promote racial integration and social cohesion.

What to look for

On an index card, have students write down one key reason why the Bukit Ho Swee fire was a catalyst for HDB development and one way the Ethnic Integration Policy aimed to build social cohesion. Collect these as students leave.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should approach this topic by centering human stories rather than policy timelines. Research shows that students retain more when they connect abstract concepts like 'social cohesion' to personal narratives. Avoid presenting the transition as purely positive or negative; instead, guide students to weigh both the improvements in living conditions and the losses in community bonds. Use oral histories frequently to disrupt stereotypes, such as the idea that all kampong residents were eager for change.

Successful learning looks like students recognizing the emotional and social costs of resettlement, not just the practical benefits. They should be able to articulate the tension between community bonds and modernization, and explain how policies like the Ethnic Integration Policy addressed social challenges beyond just providing housing.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Role Play activity, watch for students assuming all residents were excited about moving to HDB flats. Redirect them to use the oral history excerpts provided to shape their characters' perspectives, including reluctance or nostalgia.

  Remind students to incorporate specific lines from the oral histories, such as 'I didn’t want to leave the place where I buried my parents,' to challenge the idea of universal enthusiasm for resettlement.

• During the Gallery Walk activity, watch for students simplifying kampongs as 'dirty slums' without recognizing the community bonds. Use the juxtaposition of images and quotes to prompt them to identify examples of 'kampong spirit' in the visuals.

  Have students point to specific details in the images, like shared spaces or close-knit homes, and match them to quotes that describe trust and mutual aid to correct this oversimplification.

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Methods used in this brief

• Role Play
• Gallery Walk
• Think-Pair-Share