Project News

2011-06-05~06-11

Lesson observation in mathematics at basic school

ITSME trainers, who are mainly working to produce model lesson plans as core members of the project, participated in JICA training program (2nd Year program) in Japan for a week.

Training contents were as follows:

1. Textbook edit in Japan
Participants' viewpoint for analyzing textbook was re-oriented by knowing characteristics of Japanese textbooks which consider a sequence of learning contents to make students understand easier. They were able to obtain some hints on how they plan a lesson using textbook effectively.

2. Lesson observations and discussion in Japanese schools
They observed Japanese teachers' lesson planning and teaching practice. They experienced how teachers make children participate in a lesson actively. In discussion with Japanese teachers, they realized that Japanese teachers put importance on a lesson planning and spent a lot of time to prepare for it. The trainers could have concrete image of lesson planning and teaching practice through this observation.

3. Discussion with Board of Education members
Visiting Board of Education at Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, they discussed organization of the board, roles of pedagogical advisors, teacher trainings, relationship with parents and community and teacher recruitment. Through the discussion, they obtained useful information to improve their work in Laos.

Learning a structure of Japanese textbook

4. Hands-on workshop and visit to science museum
Simple science experiments and unique mathematics problems attracted participants in hands-on workshop. These experiences are useful for them to plan a lesson which attracts students' interest.

Seeing presentation by the participants at the end of the training program, it can be said that this training was good opportunity for them to learn many things on mathematics and science lessons and teacher training. They planed to apply what they learned in Japan to education in Laos. The project would like to have further discussion on how it can be applied in Laos.