Japanese Education and Japanese Elementary School

Pendidikan merupakan jantung kehidupan bagi masyarakat Jepang. Sebagai negara yang miskin sumber daya alam serta rawan bencana alam, bangsa Jepang sangat menggantungkan kepada proses pendidikan dalam memberdayakan sumber daya manusianya untuk mempertahankan kelangsungan hidup bangsa serta bersaing dengan bangsa-bangsa lain di dunia dalam bidang politik, ekonomi, teknologi dan lain-lain. Dibandingkan dengan negara-negara lain terutama dari kelompok G8(kelompok Negara-negara industri maju di dunia,) Jepang mempunyai sistem pendidikan yang unik. Kalau negara industri maju lainnya menitik beratkan dalam pengembangan intelegensi tapi Jepang lebih memberdayakan mental untuk bekerja keras, bergotong royong dan kesetia kawanan sosial, dan pantang menyerah dalam menghadapi setiap permasalahan. Pendidikan Jepang pada awalnya banyak dipengaruhi oleh Cina, namun dalam iperkembangan selanjutnya Jepang juga mengadopsi sistem pendidikan barat dengan tetap mempertahankan ruh pendidikan Jepang sendiri yakni sikap mental pantang menyerah dan menjunjung tinggi gotong royong sesama bangsa Jepang sendiri. Sekolah dasar di Jepang mengutamakan pembentukan sikap dan mental di awal-awal tahun mulai kelas satu sampai kelas tiga kemudian mulai memfokuskan pengkajian ilmu pengetahuan mulai kelas empat sekolah dasar dan seterusnya. Matematika, ilmu pengetahuan(Sain), dan teknologi merupakan aspek penting dalam kurikulum pendidikan di Jepang dalam pembentukan pola pikir yang logis, sistematis dan prosedural bagi bangsa Jepang. Mulai tahun 2002, pelajaran bahasa Inggris resmi masuk dalam kurikulum sekolah dasar di Jepang

Trialing project-based learning in a new EAP ESP course: A collaborative reflective practice of three college English teachers

Currently in many Chinese universities, the traditional College English course is facing the risk of being ‘marginalized’, replaced or even removed, and many hours previously allocated to the course are now being taken by EAP or ESP. At X University in northern China, a curriculum reform as such is taking place, as a result of which a new course has been created called ‘xue ke’ English. Despite the fact that ‘xue ke’ means subject literally, the course designer has made it clear that subject content is not the target, nor is the course the same as EAP or ESP. This curriculum initiative, while possibly having been justified with a rationale of some kind (e.g. to meet with changing social and/or academic needs of students and/or institutions), this is posing a great challenge for, as well as considerable pressure on, a number of College English teachers who have taught this single course for almost their entire teaching career. In such a context, three teachers formed a peer support group in Semester One this year, to work collaboratively co-tackling the challenge, and they chose Project-Based Learning (PBL) for the new course. This presentation will report on the implementation of this project, including the overall designing, operational procedure, and the teachers’ reflections. Based on discussion, pre-agreement was reached on the purpose and manner of collaboration as offering peer support for more effective teaching and learning and fulfilling and pleasant professional development. A WeChat group was set up as the chief platform for messaging, idea-sharing, and resource-exchanging. Physical meetings were supplementary, with sound agenda but flexible time, and venues. Mosoteach cloud class (lan mo yun ban ke) was established as a tool for virtual learning, employed both in and after class. Discussions were held at the beginning of the semester which determined only brief outlines for PBL implementation and allowed space for everyone to autonomously explore in their own way. Constant further discussions followed, which generated a great deal of opportunities for peer learning and lesson plan modifications. A reflective journal, in a greater or lesser detailed manner, was also kept by each teacher to record the journey of the collaboration. At the end of the semester, it was commonly recognized that, although challenges existed, the collaboration was overall a success and they were all willing to continue with it and endeavor to refine it to be a more professional and productive approach

Assessing teachers’ beliefs to facilitate the transition to a new chemistry curriculum: what do the teachers want?

In this article, we describe the results of a study of chemistry high school teachers’ beliefs (N = 7) of the chemistry curriculum and their roles, their beliefs on the teacher as developer of materials, and their beliefs about professional development. Teachers’ beliefs influence the implementation of a curriculum. We view the use of a new curriculum as a learning process, which should start at teachers’ prior knowledge and beliefs. The results reveal that it is possible to develop a new curriculum in which teachers’ beliefs are taken as a starting point. Promising approaches to prepare teachers for a new curriculum is to let them (co)develop and use curriculum materials: It creates ownership, and strengthens and develops teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)