Using a PDCA cycle to enhance the pedagogies for transdisciplinary values education

Abstract

<p>Lesson Study is a form of action research that encompasses all teaching and learning activities and is underpinned by a continuous professional improvement cycle. This chapter extends beyond the scope of Lesson Study and investigates how pedagogies can be enhanced for the purpose of fostering positive life values in transdisciplinary contexts via the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle. The study was conducted in a Hong Kong primary school, where university researchers and school teachers collaborated through a PDCA cycle to develop values education in both classroom and life-wide learning settings. The study involved four stages. The first stage, planning (P), included a staff development training workshop conducted by a university consultant to equip teachers with knowledge and skills related to head-heart-hands learning, gamification, roleplaying, environmental immersion, values clarification, choice-cherish-action, modelling, life event/trajectory approach, storytelling, dilemma, interdisciplinary/cross-curricular learning through project-based learning, self-reflection, classroom climate, and school ethos building. These skills were intended to enable teachers to collaboratively plan values education across subjects and departments, with “national identity” identified as the key value by the school. The second stage, doing (D), involved a small-scale study on the implementation of the planned values education activities. The third stage, checking (C), involved conducting a quantitative survey for the students and a qualitative in-depth evaluation meeting with all core teachers to evaluate the learning outcomes and identify effective pedagogies. Finally, in the fourth stage, acting (A), suggestions for improved pedagogies were formulated among the learning community in the school based on teachers’ reflections. These suggestions were intended to enhance the coming rounds of values education programmes.<br></p>