Five NISMED education specialists participated in the World Association of Lesson Studies (WALS) International Conference 2019 held at Johan Cruijff ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands on 3-6 September 2019. Three leading Dutch universities for teacher education, Vrije University Amsterdam, University of Groningen, and Utretch University, hosted the conference.
The theme of the conference, “Crafting Sustainable Pedagogies for Teaching and Learning,” reflects three lenses to look at lesson study: the craftsmanship it demands, its sustainable effects on learning and professional development, and the pedagogies which make us learn.
NISMED contributed three papers to the conference. One paper, titled “Opportunities for Teacher Learning from Knowledgeable Other” and presented by Ms. May Chavez of the High School Physics group, explores opportunities for teacher learning during post-lesson analysis and reflection by analyzing the comments of knowledgeable others.
In another paper titled “Working Toward Responsive Facilitation,” Ms. Ivy Mejia and Mr. Eligio Obille Jr. of the High School Earth & Environmental Science group maintain that responsive facilitation plays a significant role in sustaining interest in participating in lesson study and in the creation of a non-threatening environment as teachers share the status of their pedagogical practice and improvement.
The third paper titled “Levels of Students’ Questions in Learning Chemistry” by Ms. Arlene de la Cruz of the Elementary School Science group shows that Bloom’s Taxonomy, a framework that many teachers commonly use to construct test items, may be used in lesson study to classify the types of student-generated questions in a lesson and thus can provide valuable information to teachers in making decisions about their lessons.
In related news, Prof. Christine Lee, the immediate past president of WALS, nominated Dr. Erlina Ronda, Deputy Director for Research and Extension, for membership in the WALS Council. Her nomination was unanimously accepted. Dr. Ronda, who is the current vice president of the Philippine Association of Lesson and Learning Studies (PALS), is the first council member of WALS from the Philippines.
