UP NISMED and CRICED Conduct Seminar-Workshop on Japanese Curriculum, Textbooks, and dbook

In cooperation with the Center for Research on International Cooperation in Educational Development (CRICED) of the University of Tsukuba (UT) of Japan, UP NISMED conducted a free three-day seminar-workshop on 21, 22, and 28 October 2016 held at the Elementary School Mathematics Laboratory, UP NISMED. The objectives of the seminar-workshop were: (1) to expose participants to the Japanese curriculum, textbooks, d-book, and teaching mathematics through problem solving; (2) to help them develop thinking skills among learners through the use of these textbooks, and; (3) to enable them to use dbook software in developing lessons and activities. There were 32 participants in this seminar-workshop, consisting of 28 elementary school mathematics teachers from both public and private elementary schools, one public high school teacher, two school administrators, and one former UP NISMED staff.

Participants experience using the Japanese textbook
in dbook format to explain their ideas on measurement.

Dr. Masami Isoda, a professor at UT and the current director of CRICED, was the resource person for the first two days. He talked about the Japanese curriculum and also introduced the Japanese textbooks for elementary school mathematics. There was a discussion on the contents of the textbooks from Grades 1-6. The participants were exposed to different tasks that involve problem solving. They were challenged to think and give different solutions to each task presented to them. During the second day, the participants were asked to identify topics in the books which highlight the difference among shapes, figures, and plane figures. Towards the end of Prof. Isoda’s session on the second day, the participants who worked in groups presented their plans in discussing the topic that they selected. As an assignment, the participants were asked to work on a topic that they want to present using the dbook, a software that can be used for creating interactive e-textbooks.

Participants prepare teaching and learning materials in dbook format.

On the third day, the participants worked together on their outputs. These outputs were presented for critiquing and were revised based on the comments and suggestions by their fellow participants and the UP NISMED staff. Mr. Guillermo P. Bautista, Jr. of the High School Mathematics Group conducted a session on how to use the dbook and on its features. The participants were then asked to convert their outputs using the software and to present the draft versions of their outputs.