Mr Kuang Kim Chun
I read Pure Mathematics at the National University of Singapore (NUS) on a Public Service Commission Local Merit Scholarship (Teaching) and graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Second Lower Honours). I was a rather peculiar student, selecting a myriad of modules ranging from Philosophy and Linguistics to Physics as part of my university education, and I explored an Applied Mathematics field for my Honours thesis project in Graph Theory. It was in my own learning journey that I grew to view knowledge as something that is organic and constantly growing; building on the foundations of our experiences. Intrigued by the way I had observed my students learn in my early years with the education service, I decided to take a year off to pursue a Master of Education, specializing in the field of the Learning Sciences and Technologies. This modern field of study is still very young and it involves a wide variety of disciplines from psychology to computer science and it renewed my passion for learning and, by extension, teaching.
I started my teaching career at a junior college and spent seven years teaching Mathematics at both the H2 and H3 levels. I had the privilege to be exposed to the full range of mathematics courses offered at the A-levels, including those offered by partner universities such as Linear Algebra (NUS) and Number and Matrices (NTU). After completing my full-time postgraduate studies, I resumed my career with the same institution and was entrusted to coordinate the planning and delivery of the new H2 Further Mathematics syllabus and the revised H3 Mathematics syllabus. I am also no stranger to the H1 Project Work syllabus, having taught the subject as a supervising tutor and assessed students as an examiner for Oral Presentation. This experience reinforces my belief in technology as an enabler in our lives, not just in education, and I am always interested in picking up new technologies which could serve to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of all that we do.
In my free time, I enjoy dabbling with technology and strategic games, both physical board games and digital ones. Identifying game mechanics and devising strategies to manage and succeed in the game ecosystem is akin to learning in real life, and such challenges keep me grounded as a learner. I am also an avid photographer who enjoys capturing precious memories and documenting important stories for the future. Bringing smiles to family and friends with the photos I have taken is something I treasure and I was very honoured to receive an award for my photo story, which captured the precious moments for my colleagues, in the inaugural Our Schools, Our Stories photo contest organised by the Ministry of Education in 2018.
“亲爱忠诚，敬业乐群” (Care, Honesty, Service) is a motto that I hold as my own; to care for others and serve the wider community while remaining steadfast in truth and fiercely loyal to my own beliefs. “君子大雅，有诺必行” is a key phrase that resonates with my heart values of extending goodwill to all and living as a person who honours his promises. Thus, the offer to join Eunoia Junior College was a golden opportunity for me to serve an institution with values similar to my own. Just as mentioned in a Confucius quote, “温故而知新，可以为师矣”; deriving new insights from reviewing past knowledge and experiences is the essence of all learning, I see my own learning as a continuous journey of investigation and discovery, filled with excitement and surprises. I hope to be able to bring this joy of learning and creating new knowledge to all those around me.