Science Lesson Study Groups

By Amy Punzalan

The first science lesson study conducted by NISMED was in Chemistry conducted in SY 2003-2004. It was a study on the effectiveness of lesson study, a Japanese model for continuous learning by teachers, as a school-based approach to professional development of chemistry teachers in a typical Philippine public high school in Cainta, Rizal ( 20 minutes ride from UP NISMED). Click here to view the powerpoint presentation of the results of this study.

In 2010, two schools became partners of NISMED in its  CLRD project: North Fairview High School,and Rizal High School. The schools and the subject areas where lesson study is being implemented are: Rizal High School for Earth/environmental Science and Biology, North Fairview High School for Chemistry and Physics.

As an initial activity, NISMED developed a needs assessment instrument per subject area in the form of a test covering topics in the first two quarters of the school year and administered it to outgoing students of the subject area in the school year 2009-2010. The purpose of which was to determine whether the students learned the most important concepts, principles, skills, and dispositions related to the topic. Results of the tests became the basis in developing research lessons.

After the needs assessment, a three-day orientation-workshop was conducted for twenty-five science teachers and 11 mathematics teachers at the high school level on May 17-19, 2010. The objective of the orientation-workshop was to gain insights on teachers’ content and pedagogical content knowledge as well as their teaching practices and beliefs. Interviews on how a particular lesson is taught, how students would answer a particular question, and the discussion of their students’ answers to the diagnostic test given by NISMED were likewise included. The teaching strategies called  teaching science through inquiry were modeled by NISMED staff.  Actual lesson exemplying these strategies were viewed by the participants.

The participants were also introduced to the CLRD process that includes selection of topics to be taught, lesson planning, lesson implementation, post activity discussion and lesson revision.  Towards the end of the orientation-workshop, the participants and NISMED staff together formulated the CLRD goals and sub-goals for the first year of implementation.  The general goal formulated by the science participants is 'to develop and nurture self-directed learners who have enduring understanding of science concepts that can be applied to real-life situations'.  The sub-goals are: to ask questions and find answers to their questions, to communicate ideas, and to participate actively in class activities and discussions.