Teaching science is often equated to
preparing students to cope with the changes and challenges of their lives
(Shamsudin, Abdullah, & Yaamat, 2013). In fact, the Next Generation Science
Standards (NRC, 2000) stress that “science is the pursuit of explanations of
the natural world, and technology and engineering are means of accommodating
human needs, intellectual curiosity, and aspirations” (p. 2). Lesson study
captures the essence of social constructivism which emphasizes the importance
of social interaction through negotiation, discourse,
reflection, and explanation in the construction of knowledge. This supports its
effectiveness as an inquiry professional development model in increasing
teacher subject-matter knowledge and pedagogical skills (Rock & Wilson,
2005). Aside from transforming conventional classrooms into inquiry-based
classrooms, teachers are empowered to build a constructivist and self-regulated
professional learning community where they undergo the processes of
collaborative goal setting, lesson planning, observing and monitoring outcomes,
reflecting, and revising lessons to achieve meaningful results in terms of
student achievement.
Researchers
attributed the importance of learning of historical experiences of social
groups from visualizing the object of their learning. In lesson study, teachers
examine their teaching practices to identify the critical lenses for students’
learning (Cheung & Wong, 2014). In the processes of lesson study, it is the
understanding of the connection between teaching and learning that builds the
relationship between how the intended content is “made possible to learn in a lesson
and what the students are supposed to learn” (Cheung, 2011; Lo, Chik, &
Pang, 2006; Marton & Pang, 2006; Pang & Marton, 2005) which makes it an
effective professional development activity.
According to
Supovitz and Turner (2000), the ultimate aim of professional development is to
produce quality instructions in classrooms that bring about significant
improvement in student learning. Lesson study takes into account the gathering
of exemplary teaching practices directly from teachers in the field that provide
sustained application of inquiry for both students and teachers. As the team
reflects together with the knowledgeable others, they were able to identify the
barriers of inquiry-based lesson implementation. Each of the members served as
a support in the adaptation of new and effective teaching practices. Because of
the constant interaction of the teachers, they were able to build connections
between their classroom dynamics to specific curriculum standards. This
supports the call of early education reformers to establish a professional
development effort that is intensive, sustained, and where teachers are engaged
in concrete teaching tasks so that changes are directly obtained from pieces of
evidence from teachers’ experiences and student responses.
In this study, the lesson study
framework was used to identify and bridge the three challenges in implementing
inquiry-based teaching in elementary school science education in the
Philippines, namely, a lack of support, training, and
availability of inquiry-based materials; an overemphasis on assessing content
learning rather than learning through inquiry; and the difficulty and time
consuming nature of inquiry approaches. Because of
the robust number of collaborative discussions in the process of lesson study,
the data of this paper were obtained from audio recordings, field notes, and
video recordings gathered from each cycle of lesson study conducted by the
author and the team. These were supplemented by a formal interview from the six
(6) in-service teachers. Analysis of data took place in two phases. First, all
transcripts related to challenges in implementing inquiry-based teaching were
selected. Patterns were noted, coded, and categorized using the constant
comparison method (Strauss & Corbin, 1990).
Recognizing
the challenges of inquiry-based teaching, the teachers valued the importance of
their professional development through lesson study in bridging the current
challenges of their instructional practices. Teachers’ insights revealed that lesson study became an opportunity for them to discuss about the common
issues they face during instruction, clarify their misconceptions on
inquiry-based teaching, and address their lack of learning resources to develop
an effective lesson. Their constant collaboration helped them clarify their
doubts and built their confidence, thus enabling them to be more comfortable in
teaching. Moreover, the participative nature of lesson study helped them in analyzing,
reflecting, and revising their research lessons which reduced their individual
time to do lesson planning and preparation.
In
this study, results indicated a strong need for today’s
elementary school science teachers to engage in sustainable professional
development as they struggle towards the proper implementation of inquiry-based
teaching. After characterizing the teachers’ insights, it was understood that
the teachers’ analyses of their instructional practices deepen as they continuously
engage in collaborative and constructive self-assessment and discussions through
lesson study. While committed to adapt inquiry as a
teaching strategy, it became clear that in-service teachers need collegial and
collaborative support in implementing inquiry inside their classrooms. They
became very vocal concerning whom to approach when they have questions in both
content and pedagogy and wanted opportunities to learn more on how to align
inquiry to the diverse nature of pupils. Thus, based on the results,
this study hopes to provide a benchmark of information on how teachers learn as
they become engaged in collaborative inquiry wherein their own classrooms
become an object of their learning.
Complete and en-depth analysis of this article can
be obtained from the following:
Gutierez, S. B. (2015). Collaborative
professional learning: Discovering the challenges of implementing inquiry-based
teaching through lesson study. Issues in Educational Research, 25(2), xx-xx. (In press, to appear at http://www.iier.org.au/iier25/gutierez.html)
Gutierez,
S. B. (2014). Identifying
and addressing the challenges of inquiry-based elementary science teaching and learning
through lesson study. In Ulep, S. A.,
Ferido, M. B., Reyes, R. L., & Punzalan, A. E. (Eds.), Lesson Study: Learning Together, Growing More in Practice Together.
(pp. 115- 146). Quezon City: University of the Philippines, National Institute
for Science and Mathematics Development.
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