Ekgapoom Jantarakantee
Kasetsart University
1. What do I want to improve
I would like to improve my teaching practice in the teaching method course to develop pre-service science teachers’ ability to design an inquiry-based lesson plan
2. Why do I feel that something I would like to improve is necessary
Because I think scientific knowledge came from the work of scientists through the inquiry process, so if the pre-service science teachers can design an inquiry-based lesson plan to teach their students, the students will learn science in a meaningful way and feel happy during the science class.
While I was teaching the teaching method course, my students usually tell me that they understood the concept of inquiry learning. They could explain the characteristic of inquiry learning such as the steps in the 5E learning cycle, but when I asked them to write an inquiry-based lesson plan they could not design the activities that follow the concept of inquiry learning. Their lesson plans tend to be emphasizing in lecture base style.
The experience when I studied teaching method course during my graduate diploma, my teacher usually demonstrate each teaching technique and provide opportunities for the students to do the activities by themselves ,and then follow by group discussion to summarize the concept and characteristics of each teaching technique. In my opinion her technique make me understand about how to design the learning activities based on an inquiry-based approach. I can design inquiry-based activities in my lesson plan. So. I would like to apply her technique to teach the students in my course to develop their ability in designing inquiry-based lesson plan.
3. What could I do that might improve what I am doing
- Design the inquiry-based activities and ask students to do the activities during the class time (Demonstrate and Model the inquiry-based to the students)
- Provide opportunity for students to discuss what they learn from the activities in the class, what are the characteristics of the activitties, what do they think about the strenght and weakness of the activities, how do they improve the activities to be more interesting for teaching students in the real classroom
- Assign pre-service science teachers to design their own inquiry-based lesson plan (in their own major field of the study) as their homework and provide chance for pre-service science teachers to critique their lesson plan whether the lesson plan is consistence with the inquiry-based or not, or what aspects he/she should improve in the next class
4. What data will I collect to answer my question/to judge my educational influence in my professional context
My teaching practice collect data from my journal, pre-service science teachers’ journal, VDO recording
Pre-service science teachers’ practice collect data from my journal, and pre-service science teachers’ journal
Pre-service science teachers’ lesson plan
5. What cultural factors that influence my own practice
Thai culture gives precedence to the seniority and admires young people to respect the older. These cultures influence Thai student, including the student in my course, to lack of self confidence. My students do not like to express/share their opinion to the others when I provide the chance for them to discuss together during the class time. They are shy to express/share their opinion which result me, as the teacher, can’t immediately assess whether they get the concept that I taught or not. I will know that they understand or do not understand when they sent their journals to me in the end of the week or when they sent their lesson plans to me near the end of the course that it was too late to explain to them for making them understand better. So I would like to improve my teaching practice to persuade my students to share their opinions for helping them understand the concept of inquiry learning and developing their ability in designing inquiry-based lesson plan.
