Analysis of Lesson Plans from Rwandan Physics Teachers

Lesson planning is a crucial roadmap guiding the teacher before the implementation of the lesson. In the current study, we aimed at reviewing pedagogical documents used by Rwandan physics teachers. We gathered 32 lesson plans related to optics topics from five teachers and analyzed them using the lesson plan analysis protocol (LPAP) and lesson plan evaluation form (LPEF) jointly. We have found that teachers do not prepare these documents as required by the newly introduced competence-based curriculum. Teachers plan for low levels of Bloom's cognitive and affective taxonomy domains and do not follow effective inquiry techniques along the stages of the lesson activities. A detailed discussion on each teacher’s practice was provided, and we hope it can serve as a qualitative overview on teaching and learning planning for effective classroom implementation. Due to the importance of pedagogical documents on effective teaching, we went through a rigorous validation process and suggested a model lesson plan to be consulted by any physics teacher (please see Appendix C). We recommend that teachers consult this lesson plan and prepare accordingly before class.