lesson study in singapore schools primary mathematics

LESSON STUDY IN SINGAPORE SCHOOLS

PRIMARY MATHEMATICS

Yeap Ban HarNational Institute of Education

Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore

www.lessonstudyinsingapore.blogspot.com

Part 1Background

Experiencing Research Lesson

Research Lesson in an In-service Course on Problem-Solving Heuristics. Photo Credit: Princess Elizabeth Primary School

“At greatest risk are jobs that can be expressed in programmable

rules – blue collar, clerical, and similar work that requires moderate skills and used to pay middle-class wages.”

HOW THE DEMAND FOR SKILLS HAS CHANGEDECONOMY-WIDE MEASURES OF ROUTINE

AND NON-ROUTINE TASK INPUT (USA)

1960 1970 1980 1990 200240

45

50

55

60

65 Routine manual

Nonroutine manual

Routine cognitive

Nonroutine ana-lytic

Nonroutine in-teractive

(Levy and Murnane)Mean t

ask

inp

ut

as

perc

en

tile

s of

the 1

960

task

dis

trib

uti

on

Source: Levy & Murnane 2005

Teachers as critical factors in

an education system

Source: BBC News 2004

A good education system depends on high quality teachers who

constantly seek to improve their practice, supported by school leaders and administrators, and resources from departments and agencies within MOE.

Minister of Education Singapore 2009

Photo: National Institute of Education

are teachers ready?what students learn

is important

We need to build capacity for

teachers themselves to take the lead in professional upgrading.

Minister of Education Singapore 2009

Pre-Service Teacher Education

teacher trainingpre-service

Photo: National Institute of Education

Photo: National Institute of Education

Pre-service teachers practising how to teach pie graph meaningfully.

Photo: National Institute of Education

National Institute of Education

Pre-service teachers experiencing a paradigm-changing workshop experience.

Pre-service teachers trying out

strategies taught in real classroom during praticum.

Lesson Study

Lesson study is a study of, well, lessons.

Through careful, thorough and reflective research into a lesson within a unit or a unit of lessons – including the planning, teaching, observing, discussing and revising the lesson or lessons – participants gained knowledge and insights into content, pedagogy or a synthesis of the two.

It is an opportunity to learn. It is also an opportunity to sharpen teachers’ eyes to observe student learning.

Lesson study is a professional development tool that takes place within the field – the classroom.

PCF Tanjong Pagar

Lesson Study in Singapore

LESSON STUDYTHE SINGAPORE JOURNEY

National Institute of EducationCurriculum, Teaching & Learning

CRPP funded project in Cedar Primary School Workshops by foreign experts such as Catherine

Lewis, Akihiko Takahashi and Patsy WangMathematics & Mathematics Education

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation HRD Project In-service courses

Lesson Study in Primary Mathematics: Concepts & DesignLesson Study in Primary Mathematics:

Implementation

LESSON STUDYTHE SINGAPORE JOURNEY Symposiums & Conferences

WALS Conferences in Dec 2007, Dec 2008 and Dec 2009

Tsukuba University – NIE Symposium on Lesson Study in Primary Mathematics Aug 2007

AME – NIE Symposium on Lesson Study in Mathematics June 2008

APEC-Tsukuba International Conferences in 2008 and 2010

Lesson Study in Mathematics Workshop by Akihiko Takahashi. Photo Credit: Cedar Primary School

LESSON STUDYTHE SINGAPORE JOURNEY Lesson Study in Schools (Mathematics)

Pre-Primary NIE-MOE-PCF Project

Primary In-service Courses School-Initiated Lesson Study Cluster-Initiated Lesson Study

Secondary School-Initiated Lesson Study

Photo: CHIJ Our Lady of Good Counsel

Part 2Some Examples

Cluster-Initiated Lesson StudyPrincess Elizabeth Primary School

Research Theme

1. RESEARCH THEMESLesson Study is used to study various topics. This example is from the first in-service course on lesson study in primary mathematics.

Example: To inculcate a spirit for lifelong learning and to strive for quality and excellence in the learning of mathematics.

Team Kuo Chuan Presbyterian

1. RESEARCH THEMESExamples from three teams from the second in-service course in primary mathematics.

Example: To develop critical thinking in mathematics through questioning.

Haig Girls’ School

1. RESEARCH THEMESExample: To develop enthusiastic and creative problem solvers through effective lessons

Ang Mo Kio Primary School

1. RESEARCH THEMESExample: To help pupils develop conceptual understanding

North Vista Primary School

Lesson Planning

2. LESSON PLANNINGOne team prepared a lesson plan that included the use of a worksheet comprising of three problems that provided opportunity to use systematic listing. During the lesson planning session with the instructor, the team realized that the problems did not provide a systematic variation.

Team Maris Stella

“If you had not been with us, we would not have realized that the choice of the problems would make such a difference.”

Team Maris Stella

VARIATION 1:A shop sells bicycles for adults and children. The adult bicycles come in two colour choices: black and white. The children bicycle comes in three colour choices: red, blue and green. Mr Tan wants to buy one bicycle for himself and another one for his son. How many colour choices does he have to buy both bicycles?

VARIATION 2:A shop sells bicycles for adults and children. The adult bicycles come in two colour choices: black and white. The children bicycle comes in four colour choices: red, blue, green and purple. Mr Tan wants to buy one bicycle for himself and another one for his son. How many colour choices does he have to buy both bicycles?

VARIATION 3

A shop sells bicycles for adults and children. The adults and children can choose from any colours: red, yellow, green, blue and purple. Mr Tan wants to buy one for himself and one for his son. How many colour choices does he have to buy both bicycles?

Studying Resource Materials

Research Lesson

2. RESEARCH LESSONWhile the use of concrete materials is understood to help students learn …

PCF Tanjong Pagar

2. RESEARCH LESSON… it was seen to cause some difficulties for students who were already able to perform the computation.

PCF Tanjong Pagar

Post-Lesson Discussion

3. POSTLESSON DISCUSSION“The post-lesson discussion really enables us to gel as a group. … Initially, we thought that this would be an awkward moment but as it became clear that the critique was more obout the lesson than the teacher, the environment became one of open communication.”

Team North Vista

3. POSTLESSON DISCUSSIONCase sharing allowed other team members to learn.

In this case a student made a mistake – indicating that 7 twelves is greater than 7 tenths..

Team North Vista

3. POSTLESSON DISCUSSIONPeer teaching which happen over a very short period of time allowed the students who made the mistake overcome his initial difficulties.

The peer used the fraction wall the teacher provided.Team North Vista

And showed him the magnitude of 7 twelves.

Moved his other finger up the wall to show the magnitude of 7 tenths.

An interaction that lasted less than 30 seconds …

An interview with this student at the end of the research lesson confirmed that he has a firm understanding of magnitude of fractions.

Part 3The Way Forward

Experiencing Research Lesson

I. PERI REPORT

The PERI Report calls for Engaged Pedagogies and enhanced Professional Development of teachers.

Wellington Primary School

2. MOE INITIATIVES

Ministry of Education hopes to empower teachers to “share and explore new pedagogies as well as to model desired mindsets” (2004). Ang Mo Kio Primary School

3. RESEARCH

While formal workshop-style professional development courses are useful in raising teachers’ awareness towards certain reforms, …

North Vista Primary School

…professional development that provides opportunities to carry out the reforms in actual classrooms provides a richer learning experience (Jarwoski & Wood, 1999).

Northlight School

4. THE POTENTIAL

To learn about engaged Engaged Pedagogies,

…the use of games…

Wellington Primary School

…the use of materials…

Team 2 Wellington

Wellington Primary School

…using technology…

..with students of different abilities…

Team 2 Wellington Northlight School

…there is no limit.

Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary School

THANK YOUbanhar.yeap@nie.edu.sg