Enhancing the Pre-service Biology Teachers to Construct Better Lesson Plans: A Lesson Study

Abstract

Lesson Study (LS) has been considered to be a novel approach to preparing and teaching lessons in the education system of Vietnam and applied to all schools nationwide. However, it has not been included in the educational teacher training curricula at the undergraduate level. Consequently, pre-service teachers may not only get a keen sense of what LS is but also face lots of trouble preparing an appropriate lesson plan (LP) which reflects the LS approach. Hence, this study aims at enhancing the pre-service biology teachers' (PBTs) understanding of the LS and developing the biology lesson plan (LP) by using the LS process. The research paradigm used in this phase is a mainly qualitative case study and a descriptive statistics design. Six female PBTs in their third year were chosen randomly from the volunteers to participate in the research. Before participating in the LS training workshop, the percentage of six PBT's understanding of the LS was at 0.0%. However, after participating in the LS training workshops (LSTW), the six PBTs had a better insight into the LS and how to use the LS process to construct better biology LPs, which was proven by the average of 85.7%. After participating in the LSTW, the entire PBTs recognized that LPs were team products and building better biology LPs was not so easy as it seemed. The LP was constructed based on the team collaboration in which all members shared their experiences.

Analysis of Lesson Plans from Rwandan Physics Teachers

“…A lesson plan analysis tool is a scalable and broader lens to support other tools that measure teaching behavior, such as classroom observation. However, it does not show evidence about lesson enactment until post-lesson information is delivered (Diem & Thathong, 2019;Jacobs et al, 2008).…”

Teacher educators’ understanding of integrating lesson study into pre-service teacher education

“…Consistent with the present findings, Shepherd (2018) also reported that it is challenging to develop sustainable LS practice as a professional development tool or pre-service teacher training tool in teacher training institutions of Myanmar due to many constraints. Some studies (Chen & Zhang, 2019;Diem & Thathong, 2019) revealed that one of the positive impacts of LS in preservice teacher education is lesson planning. This coincides with the findings of this study, where, a common response from the participants has been that they believe that LS can improve pre-service teachers' lesson planning skills.…”

“…Moreover, through participation in the LS process, the pre-service teachers realized the impact of the classroom communication promoted by the teacher such as fostering student participation, negotiation of meanings about scientific concepts and construction of new learning that can be shared within the class. Diem and Thathong (2019) conducted an empirical study on the impact of LS on student teachers' lesson planning skills and found that by engaging in the LS training workshops (LSTW), student teachers got a better knowledge of LS and the skill of how to use the LS process to construct better biology lesson plans (LPs) and acknowledged that LPs were collaboratively prepared so that all members shared their experiences in the planning. Similarly, Chen and Zhang (2019) found that after experiencing the LS process, the participants demonstrated significant improvement in lesson planning skills, specifically thinking about learning objectives, analysis of content and students, anticipating students' solutions, and sequencing mathematics tasks.…”

Using lesson study for teacher development: A case study of Vietnamese EFL teachers’ reflections

“…This approach was referred to as a 'stroll'. Another research by Diem and Thathong (2019) employed a research methodology that combined a qualitative case study approach with a descriptive statistics design with a semi-structured questionnaire and reflective writing. The study showed that The six pre-service biology teachers gained a deeper understanding of Lesson Study and how to effectively employ the Lesson Study process to develop improved biology lesson plans.…”