Analysis of Lesson Plans from Rwandan Physics Teachers

Lesson planning is a crucial roadmap guiding the teacher before the implementation of the lesson. In the current study, we aimed at reviewing pedagogical documents used by Rwandan physics teachers. We gathered 32 lesson plans related to optics topics from five teachers and analyzed them using the lesson plan analysis protocol (LPAP) and lesson plan evaluation form (LPEF) jointly. We have found that teachers do not prepare these documents as required by the newly introduced competence-based curriculum. Teachers plan for low levels of Bloom's cognitive and affective taxonomy domains and do not follow effective inquiry techniques along the stages of the lesson activities. A detailed discussion on each teacher’s practice was provided, and we hope it can serve as a qualitative overview on teaching and learning planning for effective classroom implementation. Due to the importance of pedagogical documents on effective teaching, we went through a rigorous validation process and suggested a model lesson plan to be consulted by any physics teacher (please see Appendix C). We recommend that teachers consult this lesson plan and prepare accordingly before class.

Comparison of Students in Teacher Education from China and the USA: An Assessment of Dispositions

This study explored whether differences in teacher candidate dispositions exist between Chinese and American students, while continuing validation of the updated Beliefs About Teaching Scale (BATS2). BATS2 incorporated the Rasch model of item response theory on Thurstone dichotomous items to measure commitment to the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium Standards (InTASC) along the levels of the Bloom/Krathwohl affective taxonomy. This research is a unique combination of theories and practice – standards-based items, affective taxonomy, and modern measurement theory. Differential group function (DGF), applied in a mixed methods design, confirmed national differences, indicating differential commitment to standards and items. For standards and items that showed a difference in the two groups, literature and cultural context supporting those differences was identified to frame the qualitative portion of this study. For example, US teachers were more averse to assessment, clearly the result of the focus on standardized testing that is so resented in the US; the Chinese were less compelled to master content, which is less imperative in early childhood programs (the sample in this study). Results can be used in considering training needs and making instructional design more likely to be impactful for US institutions training Chinese natives and for Chinese institutions updating programs based on international input.

DESIGNING AFFECTIVE INSTRUMENT BASED ON SCIENTIFIC APPROACH FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING

This research was describing the designing of instrument for affective assessment in English language teaching. The focus of the designing was only for observation sheet that will be used by English teachers during the teaching and learning process. The instrument was designed based on scientific approach that has five stages namely observing, questioning, experimenting, associating, and communicating. In the designing process, ADDIE Model was used as the method of research. The designing of instrument was considering the gap between the reality and the teachers’ need. The result showed that the designing was also notice to the affective taxonomy such as receiving, responding, valuing, organization, and characterization. Then, three key words were used as the indicator to show the five levels of affective taxonomy such as seriously, volunteer, and without asked by teacher. Furthermore, eighteen types of affective such as religious, honesty, responsible, discipline, hard work, self confidence, logical thinking, critical thinking, creative, innovative, independent, curiosity, love knowledge, respect, polite, democracy, emotional intelligence, and pluralist were put on each stage of scientific approach. So, it is hoped that can be implemented in all of context of English language teaching at schools and can assess the students’ affective comprehensively.

Understanding the Advising Learning Process Using Learning Taxonomies

To better understand the learning that transpires in advising, we used Anderson et al.'s (2001) revision of Bloom's (1956) taxonomy and Krathwohl, Bloom, and Masia's (1964) affective taxonomy to analyze eight student-reported advising outcomes from Smith and Allen (2014). Using the cognitive processes and knowledge domains of Anderson et al.'s revised taxonomy, we discuss the learning processes that underlie cognitive-based outcomes. We also describe the way the affective taxonomy developed by Krathwohl et al. contributes to understanding learning processes that promote affective outcomes. Through these analyses, we describe how learning occurs in advising and show that advising, as represented by Smith and Allen's eight defined outcomes, delivers the array of cognitive and affective changes presumed to constitute learning as articulated by these frameworks.