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Journey to the Wonderland — Record of the Teachers’ Professional Development Day of SHSID Middle and Primary School Section

April 23, 2023

As spring filled the campus, this semester’s professional development (PD) day of SHSID primary and middle school section was successfully held as scheduled. Teachers from all campuses gathered in the theater of Zhongxing Building and had a beautiful “journey to the wonderland”, with the theme of the three dimensions of IL development (critical thinking, creative thinking and inquiry ability).

Ms. Huang Yujia from Middle School Chinese Department firstly introduced her demo class with the “AI helper”, which demonstrated the cycle of inquiry-based thinking behaviors, the use of scenarios, and the implementation of GRASPS to guide students to explore the "unknown" from the "known".

Ms. Yang Xiyue and Ms. Xu Wei from Middle School Math Department shared their creative classroom activities together. By encouraging students to keep questioning, justifying and reflecting, and by giving students the roles of "little teacher" and "little tutor", the children's creativity would be able to soar in a pleasant teaching and learning atmosphere.

The myths and fables of the past and present are often full of controversies and contradictions. Two teachers from Primary School Chinese Department, Ms. Sheng Min and Ms. Zhang Ting, shared their classroom activities and the educational concepts embedded in them. In their Chinese classes, students were guided to explore the ethics and values in myths and fables through "analysis", "argumentation", "refutation" and "reflection", in order to fully stimulate their critical thinking skills.

Ms. Su Qingyue and Ms. Wang Yuanxin from Primary School Math Department introduced the methods of "project-based learning" and "interdisciplinary learning". Through these methods, students would be encouraged to connect mathematical knowledge with real life, to perceive mathematical concepts and applications from different perspectives, and to develop their inquiring, critical and creative abilities.

Ms. Jin Ying from Science Department shared three small experiments related to life that she set up in her science class, which not only made the class fun and challenging, but also implied scientific literacy such as exploration, thinking, discovery and creation to students.

Mr. Feng Xiaotian from Middle School Physics Department emphasized the importance of "upholding interest-driven" in physics learning in his speech. Based on this, the Physics teachers strengthened the transfer of subject knowledge and ability in classroom activities as well as homework design, improved students' application skills in solving practical problems, and expanded the breadth and depth of students' learning in physics.

Mr. Liu Lian, principal of SHSID middle and primary school, gave his comment after teachers’ sharing. In his review, principal Liu raised the questions that all teachers need to think deeply about — What should a modern classroom be like? How should teachers grasp the connotation of the three dimensions in terms of the IL framework? How to implement each of them in daily teaching? All of the teachers should be clear that only by answering these questions can we truly make students feel the charm and practicality of each subject and then help our students become better "independent learners".

After a short break, we were honored to invite Professor Cai Tianxin from Zhejiang University, School of Mathematics, to give a wonderful lecture entitled "From Seeing to Discovering — The Intergration of Different Disciplines". As a mathematician, writer, poet and traveler, Professor Cai used a series of examples from ancient and modern times, such as "mathematics and poetry" and "mathematics and art", to illustrate the importance of observation and learning from multiple perspectives. All the teachers were guided to understand and appreciate the wit and creativity of different disciplines.

The PD Day event was an engaging three-hour communication feast. Each sharing from the teaching and research departments presented their special highlights, just like flowers showing their beauty to the fullest in springtime. The exchange of different perspectives also aroused the thoughts and resonance of each teacher, as if they had really taken a “journey to the wonderland”. The event ended successfully, but SHSID teachers’ professional development never ends.

Written by Mixi

Pictures by Melanie, Ginger

Edited by Serene Yang, Yilin Zhu (Intern), Niall Keenan