NISMED teacher training caravan goes to Lucena City and Nueva Vizcaya

As part of NISMED’s activities for its Golden Anniversary Celebration, the NISMED teacher training caravan went to two places during the month of February 2015. The first training was held on 10-12 February 2015 at Lucena West I Elementary School, Lucena City, Quezon Province. It was participated by 99 elementary and high school science and mathematics teachers from the Division of Lucena City, Division of Tayabas, and Division of Quezon. The second training, which was participated by 60 elementary and high school science teachers from the Division of Nueva Vizcaya, was held on 27 February - 1 March 2015 at the Bintawan National High School, Bintawan Sur, Nueva Vizcaya. Both training caravans were sponsored by the BPI Foundation, Inc.

The participants of the teacher training caravan during the opening ceremony
at the Conference Hall of Lucena West I Elementary School, Lucena City

The NISMED teacher training caravan was designed to enhance instructional competencies of science and mathematics teachers in teaching science through inquiry and teaching mathematics through problem solving. The caravan project targeted science and mathematics teachers who have not attended any training for the last five (5) years.

The elementary school science participants of the Division of Nueva Vizcaya
during the presentation and constructive critiquing of their inquiry-based lesson plan.

In each of these trainings, the participants were grouped according to the grade levels they were teaching. To develop teachers’ instructional capacities, each group was assigned specific outputs. For elementary school science, the trainers modelled an inquiry-based science lesson which exposed the teachers to the five features of inquiry. This was followed by a workshop on collaborative development of an inquiry-based science activity, constructive critiquing, and revision. For elementary school mathematics, the participants were introduced to TIMSS-based assessment using items featured in the newly launched assessment book in mathematics of NISMED. The high school science teachers were given supplementary training on teaching science through inquiry for Grades 7 and 8.