This paper describes and discusses the process and outcomes in engaging cogenerative dialogue (cogen) and coteaching in participatory action research (PAR) to support science curriculum change in a Singapore lower track classroom.
As he was familiar with the science syllabus and content that the teacher was teaching in the lower track classroom, he offered to work with the teacher in planning, designing, and coteaching the subsequent lesson.
Here, we report on a small exploratory effort combining PAR, cogenerative dialogue (cogen), and coteaching to engage a teacher, Kenny (pseudonym), in rethinking about alternative ways to teach students in the lower track classroom.
Table 1 Details on the data analyzed and discussed in this paper Type of Data Length of video/audio data Description of the data Lesson video taken before cogen (no intervention) 45 min The lesson was representative of the majority (if not all) of Kenny's lessons in the lower track classroom lessons in the 18 months prior to the intervention.
Poor children are crammed 35 to 40 to a lower-grade classroom, with scarce resources and few counselors and nurses.
Eleanor Osborne, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, explained that the district has developed standards for each grade, has lowered the classroom student-teacher ratio to 25too 1 and has introduced the "apprentice model" in which some new teachers work with a master teacher in the same classroom, getting continuous, hands-on supervision and support.
Two schools, one located in the eastern and western parts of Singapore, were selected for in-depth case studies in four lower track classrooms each.
The study reported in this paper was based on her large-scale funded project about students in lower track classrooms in Singapore.
The intervention was introduced after researching in a science teacher's two lower tracker classrooms for about 18 months and observing that his lessons were teacher-centered and he experienced difficulty engaging the students.
