Dialogical and collaborative learning in vietnamese culture an approach to teaching introductory physics courses

The dialogical and collaborative teaching approach developed in this study and the findings contribute to the teaching of introductory physics courses in Vietnamese universities and a be

DIALOGICAL AND COLLABORATIVE LEARNING IN VIETNAMESE CULTURE: AN APPROACH TO TEACHING

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HAO VAN LEBSc (HoChiMinh Uni., Viet.), MSc (SFU, Can.)

SUBMITTED IN TOTAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

OF THE DEGREE OF

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

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Department of Science and Mathematics Education THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

One of the priorities of the current wide ranging reform in higher

education in Vietnam is to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in all subjects This study describes and investigates the experience afforded by a social interactionist learning model in the author's teaching of a theoretical introductory physics course at a university in Vietnam This model emphasises the cultural significance of dialogue and collaboration amongst students through group work The model seeks to reconcile individual and social learning for developing

students' physics cognitive and social skills

Students of four introductory physics classes of The University of

Fisheries, Vietnam participated in this study Both quantitative and qualitative techniques were used to collect and analyse the data on the cognitive and situated learning of the students Aspects of Western and Vietnamese culture were

attended to in the interpretation of the students' written responses and the

researcher's observations

Findings from the study generally supported the greater attention given to the dialogical and collaborative learning environment in class, through the use of peer-based seminars and demonstrations in physics teaching in Vietnam Physics seminars and demonstrations were employed in the student-based and highly interactive forms and they were positively accepted by students of the introductory physics classes Student support and interest in the teaching approaches was attributed to the cultural and social resonance of "collaborative learning" and the relational identity of Vietnamese students The dialogical and collaborative

teaching approach developed in this study and the findings contribute to the

teaching of introductory physics courses in Vietnamese universities and a better understanding of Vietnamese learners

This is to certify that:

(i) the thesis comprises only my original work,

(ii) due acknowledgment has been made in the text to all other material

used,

(iii) the thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables,

maps, bibliographies and appendices

Associate Professor Dao Trong Hung at The Institute of Research in

Education and Training, Ho Chi Minh University of Pedagogy for his helpful supervision during my field study in Vietnam

- Dr Christina Hart, my supervisor, for her invaluable advice and supervision

- Dr Graham Hepworth at Statistical Consulting Centre for his advice on the statistical analyses

- My students and colleagues at The Universities of Fisheries, Vietnam for their enthusiastic participation in this study

- Ms Nguyen Kim Dung for her assistance, friendship, and encouragement Finally I will always be indebted to Hoang Anh, my wife, for her inestimable sacrifice and support Without these, I could not have finished my study taken so far away from home for a long time

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ii

DECLARATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF TA BLES xii

LIST O E H O U R E S xiv

LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS xv

LIST OF ACRONYM S xvi

Chapter One

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Where does this research come from?

1.2 The research setting

1.3 Overview of school physics in Vietnam

1.4 Recent innovations in undergraduate programs of Vietnamese higher

education

1.4.1 Goals of undergraduate education: the Vietnamese

perspective

1.4.2 The restructuring of the undergraduate programs

1.4.3 Current status

1.5 The introductory physics course in Vietnam

1.5.1 Curricula of the introductory physics course in Vietnam

1.5.2 Current status

1.6 Brief overview of research problems

1.6.1 The lack of an environment for active learning in the

introductory physics course

1.6.2 The lack of student dialogue and collaboration in the

introductory physics course

1.6.3 The lack of an understanding of Vietnamese students'

characteristics in dialogue and collaboration

1.7 Relevance of problems to education

1 4 5

7 8

10

11 11 12 15 15 17

18 18

1.8 Background to problems

1.9 Recent calls for innovation

1.10 Purposes of the study

1.11 Significance of the study

1.12 Related research at The University of Fisheries

1.13 Definitions of terms

1.13.1 Definitions of skill terms

1.13.2 Definitions of other terms

1.14 Characteristics and structure of the thesis

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26 26

2.2.1 Historical background of Vietnam

2.2.2 The development of Vietnamese education in general

2.2.3 The development of higher education

2.3 Influences of Confucianism and Buddhism on the Vietnamese

perception of education

2.3.1 Influences from Confucianism

2.3.2 Influences from Buddhism

2.4 The traditional role of Vietnamese teachers and society's perceptions

of effective teaching

2.4.1 The heritage of Confucianism

2.4.2 Teacher-student relationship

2.4.3 Impacts on education

2.4.4 Perceptions of effective teaching

2.5 The sociocultural background of Vietnamese learners

2.5.1 Confucianism and perceptions of learning

2.5.2 Current learning approaches

2.5.3 Traditional fondness of learning

2.6 Collective identities of Vietnamese people

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2.6.1 Social and historical background of the collective identities

of Vietnamese people

2.6.2 The role of collaborative spirit in moral education in

Vietnam

2.7 Sociocultural influences on physics education

2.7.1 Influences on course aims

2.7.2 Influences on curriculum design and major textbooks

2.7.3 Influences on modes of teaching and learning

2.8 Conclusion

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Chapter Three

DIALOGICAL AND COLLABORATIVE LEARNING IN HIGHER

EDUCATION: EXPERIENCE FROM THE WEST AND

POTENTIAL IN VIETNAM

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Goals of undergraduate education: some international perspectives

and problems

3.2.1 Rationale for broader goals in higher education

3.2.2 The development of students' social skills: an example of a

common neglect

3.3 Teaching to promote active learning

3.3.1 What is active learning?

3.3.2 How to promote active learning?

3.4 Dialogue in teaching and learning

3.4.1 What is dialogue and why should it be promoted in

education?

3.4.2 Dialogue can fail

3.4.3 Dialogue and the promotion of communication skills

3.4.4 Dialogue in Vietnamese culture and educational settings

3.5 Teaching for promoting cooperative or peer-based learning

3.5.1 What is cooperative learning?

3.5.2 Why promote cooperative learning in university

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Chapter Four

REVIEW OF RELATED PROBLEMS AND RESEARCH IN THE

TEACHING OF INTRODUCTORY PHYSICS COURSES:

ENPERIENCE FROM THE WEST AND IMPLICATIONS FOR

FURTHER RESEARCH

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Problems of introductory physics courses

4.3 Teaching physics with demonstrations

4.4 Student seminars in higher education

4.5 Related research on understanding development

4.5.1 Student’s research as a means of understanding

development

4.5.2 Alternative conceptions and conceptual development in

science education

4.6 New trends in introductory physics course

4.6.1 Innovations in course aims

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108 109

Chapter Five

THE RESEARCH DESIGN

5.1 Introduction

5.2 The seminar approach

5.2.1 The model of student seminar in this study

5.2.2 Suggested seminar topics

5.2.3 Briefing for seminar activities

5.2.4 Requirements and evaluation criteria for seminar activities

5.3 The demonstration approach

5.3.1 Models of integrating physics demonstrations into lectures

5.3.2 The use of physics demonstrations in this study

5.3.3 Resources for physics demonstrations

5.3.4 Suggested physics demonstrations

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5.3.6 Requirements and evaluation criteria for demonstration

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Chapter Six

ANALYSES, FINDINGS, AND DISCUSSION

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Descriptive findings and analyses of the seminar approach

6.2.1 The description of students' responses

6.2.2 Analyses of students' self-evaluations

6.2.3 The effect of grading

6.2.4 Findings from the researcher's field journal

6.3 The development of students' understanding through the seminars

6.4 Discussion and implications for teaching and research from the

findings of the seminar approach

6.5 Descriptive findings and analyses of the demonstration approach

6.5.1 The description of students' responses

6.5.2 Analyses of students' self-evaluations

6.5.3 The effect of grading

6.6 The development of students' understanding through demonstration

discussions

6.6.1 Examples of students' discussions

6.6.2 A summary of misconceptions found in this study

6.6.3 Remediation of misconceptions

6.7 Discussion and implications for teaching and research from the

findings of the demonstration approach

6.8 Findings on cultural aspects

6.8.1 Styles in relational groups

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6.8.2 Gender differences

6.9 Data analyses and findings from the final exam results

6.9.1 The final examinations of the introductory physics course at

The University of Fisheries

6.9.2 The final exams used in this study

6.9.3 The findings

6.10 A summary of the research results

6.11 Research validity

6.12 Limitations of the study

6.12.1 Limitations related to the seminar approach

6.12.2 Limitations related to the demonstration approach

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Chapter Seven

CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER IMPLICATIONS

FORTEACHING AND RESEARCH

7.1 Introduction

7.2 What are the salient features of the seminar and demonstration

approaches designed in this study?

7.3 Implications for the "modernisation" of the introductory physics

course in Vietnamese universities

7.4 Towards a Vietnamese collaborative and dialogical learning

environment

7.4.1 Collaborative spirit: A tradition needs to be preserved in

Vietnamese higher education

7.4.2 Assessment and dialogue in a collaborative learning

environment

7.4.3 Collaborative learning of Vietnamese people: How it differs

from Western models

7.5 Towards a reform of teaching in Vietnamese universities

7.5.1 Horizontal perspective versus vertical perspective

7.5.2 Collaborative learning and student-centredness

7.5.3 Culture and the change of teaching

7.6 Towards a better understanding of Vietnamese overseas students

7.7 My last comments

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APPENDIX 3: A Physics demonstration Resource List

APPENDIX 4: Descriptions of the demonstrations used in this study

APPENDIX 5: Report on Demonstration Activities form (Demonstration

APPENDIX 9: The University of Melbourne's graduate views of

importance of specific knowledge and skills

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Table 1.3: Programs for the general education stage

Table 1.4: Distribution of the IPC among the seven programs

Table 1.5: fPC survey results

Table 2.1: Results of Vietnamese teams at international academic

Table 6.1: The description of student responses to the seminar survey

Table 6.2: The choice of Category 3e (development of presentation skills)

among presenters and non-presenters of the seminars

Table 6.3: Styles used in seminar presentations and average competent

scores

Table 6.4: Number of presentations in each style in the seminars in two

experimental classes

Table 6.5: The change in number of questions posed at each seminar

Table 6.6: The description of student responses to the demonstration

survey

Table 6.7: Descriptive analysis of the final exam items used in this study

Table 6.8: The analysis of the theory items

Table 6.9: Descriptive statistics of the UEE and the final IPC exams of

the Experimental Classes 1 and 2, and of the population

Table 6.10: Descriptive statistics of the UEE and the final IPC exams of

the Experimental Classes 3 and 4, and of the population

Table 6.11: T-tests of the UEE and the final IPC exams between the

experimental classes and the population

Table 6.12: T-tests between the experimental classes on their final IPC

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175

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177

Table 6.13: A comparison of coding results of two investigators on the

seminar survey to the Experimental Class 1

Table 6.14: A comparison of coding results of two investigators on the

seminar survey to the Experimental Class 2

Table 6.15: A comparison of coding results of two investigators on the

demonstration survey to the Experimental Class 3

Table 6.16: A comparison of coding results of two investigators on the

demonstration survey to the Experimental Class 4

182183183182

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: Academic and social tasks of Vietnamese university teachers

Figure 1.2: A checklist for teaching evaluation

Figure 4.1: Learning and teaching relationship

Figure 4.2: A brief outline of Hilbom's IPC

Figure 5.1: List of suggested seminar themes

Figure 5.2: Requirements and Evaluation Criteria for Seminars

Figure 5.3: Type-3 Demonstration activity procedure

Figure 5.4: List of suggested physics demonstrations

Figure 5.5: Time allocation of the demonstrations used in this study

Figure 5.6: Requirements and Evaluation Criteria for Demonstration

Activities

Figure 5.7: The match between research questions and sources of data

Figure 5.8: A summary of the research design during the first semester

Figure 5.9: A summary of the research design during the second semester

Figure 6.1: The coding system of the seminar survey

Figure 6.2: The use of presentation styles in the seminars in two

experimental classes

Figure 6.3: The change in number of questions posed at each seminar

Figure 6.4: The coding system of the demonstration survey

Figure 6.5: A summary of misconceptions found in this study

Figure 6.6: A summary of the major research results

Figure 7.1: Comparison of student seminars and lecture demonstrations

in traditional physics classes and in this study

Figure 7.2: A Policy-to-Practice Continuum

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134 136

Photograph 6.1: A student in his seminar presentation 144Photograph 6.2: Whole-class view of a student seminar 144Photograph 6.3: Female students choosing to work together during sub-group 171

discussionPhotograph 6.4: Male students working together during sub-group discussion 171Photograph 6.5: Gender separation during group discussion (I) 172Photograph 6.6: Gender separation during group discussion (II) 172Photograph A 1: The demonstration of a bicycle-rim gyroscope 245Photograph A.2: An on-cart pendulum 246

LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS

Chapter One INTRODUCTION

This study arises from my attempts to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the theoretical introductory physics course (which will be mainly referred simply as introductory physics course, or IPC, from now on) which I teach at The University of Fisheries in Vietnam This chapter starts with an

expression of my reasons for undertaking this research Then the research setting

is briefly introduced The school physics and recent innovations in higher

education (HE) of Vietnam are also introduced to provide the background for the consideration of the IPC in Vietnam and the related problems Lastly, the

purposes of the study and its significance to education are presented

1.1 Where does this research come from?

Why do I want to involve myself in this research? Is it helpful to my students? Is it significant to our Department of Physics and The University of Fisheries, where the research takes place and where I have spent a signifieant time for teaching? Is it culturally adaptable and feasible in the reality of Vietnam? These are the questions that I have asked myself since I started to think about what and how my colleagues and I should do to improve our physics teaching This research is actually not the collective answer for the above questions but it

presents my own experience during my journey exploring a model in the teaching

of IPC A model of instruction, as many believe, must include the basic aspects of

the work: goals, teaching methods, and the assessment I believe that any change

in one aspect is hardly attained without relevant consideration of the others

Therefore, these aspects of instruction are all reflected in the approaches of this research with emphasis on teaching and learning

I started my teaching career at The University of Fisheries in 1981 after receiving a Bachelor degree of Physics at Ho Chi Minh University of Natural Sciences The University of Fisheries, which will be introduced in more detail in

the next part, is a technology-based university without major programs in pure science such as physics Therefore, physics is taught here only at the introductory levels From 1993,1 spent almost three years in Canada for my Masters degree in Science Education During this time I attended, like a student, several introductory physics courses taught at Simon Fraser University (BC, Canada) and had valuable opportunities to share my teaching experience with some Canadian scholars To

my teaching career, it was an important period since most of my research

intentions took shape during this time In August 1998 I came to Australia, at The University of Melbourne, to do my PhD research which culminates in this thesis Although the research took place at the Faculty of Education, I had several

opportunities to attend some introductory physics courses taught by the

Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and to talk about physics education with some scholars and tutors here

My interest in this area of research arose from my observations of the tasks that Vietnamese students must perform within IPC (and also the same in many other courses): they are expected to take notes from the lectures, memorise them and prepare for the exams Learning seems to be aimed at merely gaining better grades or scores The teacher voice seems to be the unique sound in classrooms Can this way of "learning" be called learning? Does university education just focus on developing students' knowledge? Where and how can students' social skills be developed? Is it the responsibility of a physics (or any) teacher to deal with these skills? To my thinking, classrooms must be the most suitable places for developing or improving the skills we expect our students to possess as a university graduate Classrooms must also be the places where students can be offered opportunities to share their ideas with their peers or to discuss relevant topics with their teachers Within Vietnamese culture students and society have high expectation of teachers, but these expectations do not imply teacher's

dominance over their classes Vietnamese people have a traditional collaborative spirit How can it be exploited in improving learning in physics courses?

This study focuses on two innovations which I introduced into the IPC during my teaching The ideas for student seminars arose from the practice of the

Department of Physics at The University of Fisheries in 1980s During this time, our Department gained a good reputation in other universities in organising

physics seminars, which were presented by the physics teachers, for students from non-physics backgrounds On these occasions, students gained opportunities to broaden their knowledge of theoretical or practical physics matters Traditionally, Vietnamese students are very fond of learning science Therefore, the activities also helped to motivate student learning and enhance their interest in science To the Department, the seminars provided opportunities for us to spend more time in physics reading and discussion in preparing for the seminars As the physics teachers, we realised that we had learned a lot from the seminars: not only the ways our colleagues organised and presented them, but also the physics

knowledge itself Later we thought that the physics seminars should be done by our students themselves, in what we called student seminars A number of key questions arose in our discussion on this matter: What can our students learn from the seminars run by themselves? Are our students really interested in running the physics seminars whilst physics is not their major? How can student seminars best work? Which topics? How should we integrate student seminars into the IPC courses? How should our students be encouraged to be involved? etc Our belief

in the student seminar approach was that students could learn as much as we did through this kind of activity We believed dialogue among students and between students and teachers may help to improve both students' understanding of physics and their social skills

The second innovation resulted from my time in Canada During this time, one of the most impressive things to me was the collection of the physics

demonstrations at the Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, and their potential in making the physics course more interesting and intelligible Some demonstrations were expensive and complicated to use but many of them could be built at low expense and suitably used in the Vietnamese context My attendance

at the IPC classes there also helped me to realise how effective the physics

demonstrations were in bringing about learning in students But also, I felt

disappointed at the ways the physics teachers there, and also at some IPC classes

at The University of Melbourne that I had attended, were dealing with their

physics demonstrations What I saw was that the demonstrations were used exactly to "clarify" what the teachers had just talked about in their lectures In other words, the demonstrations were used merely with the intention to convince the students that what their teachers had taught them was correct and proven This way of dealing with physics demonstrations was fine, but what I thought was that they could be exploited in a more significant way for student learning Why don't

we use the demonstrations as the "topics" for enhancing student inquiry and

encouraging student discussion in physics? Again, opportunities for dialogue may

be offered and exploited for student learning through these demonstrations

However, any proposed educational practice should be grounded in the cultural base of the teaching-learning setting The teaching approaches designed and explored in this study deal much with Vietnamese student's collaboration and dialogue Do these forms of teaching have a place in the Vietnamese culture of university education? Or are they just the "imported products" of Western

education and not suitable to the Vietnamese traditions? These matters will be discussed in Chapter Two and Chapter Three of this thesis

1.2 The research setting

The University of Fisheries was founded in 1959 as the Fisheries Faculty

of Ha Noi Institute of Agriculture and Forestry In 1966, under its name of The University of Fisheries, it was separated from the host institute and became an autonomous institution It then moved to Nha Trang, a coastal city of Vietnam, in

1976 The University of Fisheries is the only university responsible for training technical, managerial and research personnel for the Vietnamese fisheries

industry This university is classified as a technological one (because it does not have any science-majored programs) and it includes the following faculties;

Faculty of Fishing Technology and Navigation

Faculty of Mechanic Engineering

Faculty of Aquatic Products Processing Technology

Faculty of Aquaculture

- Facu!ty of Economics

Faculty of Basic Sciences

Within these faculties, there are 12 training programs including all levels:

certificate, diploma, undergraduate, and postgraduate (Masters and PhD degrees)

Up to 1999, the university has produced around 15,000 graduates In 2000, there were totally around 16,000 students being enrolled in all training levels and 364 staff members, including 233 teachers

The Department of Physics at The University of Fisheries belongs to the Faculty of Basic Sciences and it has six teachers (in the year 2000) With the exception of the students of the Faculty of Economics, all students must enroll at least two semesters of the E Because The fJniversity of Fisheries does not have any physics-major program, the physics teachers here just have the ГРС in their teaching The theoretical and the lab IPC are separated in teaching and assessing and they do not have any formal tutorial hours The average class size of the IPC here is around 70 Beside the lab, the department has created a set of physics demonstrations which can be shared among the theoretical IPC classes

I 3 Overview of school physics in Vietnam

In Vietnam, secondary education is divided into two levels: lower

secondary (including grade '6, 7, 8, 9) and upper secondary (including grade 10,

II, 12) Physics education at schools begins at grade 7 and finishes at grade 12 with the cunicula designed and administered by the Ministry of Education and Training (МОЕТ) That means most of the teaching materials, such as textbooks and teacher guide, are designed and published by МОЕТ Lab-work and

demonstrations are required as shown in Table 1.1 (Bui, 2000a, P.14) Table 1.2 presents the designated time proportions for different activities in school physics curricula (Bui, 2000a, P.14) The demonstrations are integrated within the lecture time

Table 1.1: Number of in-lab experiments and demonstrations required In school physics

Grade Demonstrations In-lab experiments Total

Although being required by МОЕТ, in reality none of the schools in

Vietnam, even the most well-equipped ones, has implemented fully those

requirements (Bui, 200٥a, P.14) An investigation on this matter in the study of Bui (2000a) at 21 upper secondary schools in the mountainous provinces of Vietnam showed that each school, in average, performed 6.7 demonstrations (11%

of the МОЕТ requirement) and 16 in-lab experiments (84% of the МОЕТ

requirement) Also within this study, there was an investigation on the quality of nearly 100 lab-work periods at several schools in Ha Noi and Nam Dinh Its results showed that only 8% (at lower secondary schools) and 10% (at upper secondary schools) of the performed experiments gave meaningful results and had positive relationships with the relevant lectures

From 1990, physics education in upper secondary at several provinces was

split into two: one for science-major students which emphasizes theoretical

physics and another for technology-major students which emphasizes physics applications But this change did not bring any significant improvement in

student learning Many schools could not afford required facilities and found difficulties in adapting their instmction to the two streams (Hoang, 1997, p 8)

As a result, formal studies in all schools have followed a common physics

curriculum (which was introduced before 1990) since 1999

Although lab-work is required in the physics curricula, it has hardly been integrated in physics examinations at any level Physics is often among the

required subjects in school-leaving examinations, but physics lab-work has never been a part of those (Bui, 2000a, p 15) Consequently the teaching and learning

of school physics focus primarily on improving problem solving algorithms and factual memorizing Physics learning has become solely book learning and

preparation for examinations Such a situation in teaching and learning exerts a negative effect on student perception about physics education, especially among those students who continue their learning at HE levels

1.4 Recent innovations in undergraduate programs of Vietnamese higher

education

1.4.1 Goals of undergraduate education: the Vietnamese perspective

Higher education in Vietnam is in a process of renovation The renovation covers a wide range of topics: goal restmcturing, cuniculum development, quality assurance policies and mechanism, teaching and learning qualities, instnictional infrastructure The first Education Act (Law No 11/1998/QHlO, established by the National Assembly of Vietnam in December, 1998) can be seen as the

fundamental source for educational development in Vietnam, including HE Within this Act, the goal of HE was defined as follows (Item 35):

The goal of undergraduate and postgraduate education is to equip

its learners with a political perception, morality, sense of

contribution to nation, adequate knowledge and professional skills,

and sufficient health for contributing to the development and the

defence of the nation

(National Assembly, 1998, p 10)

According to this goaJ, university teachers in Vietnam have to fulfil a wider range

of responsibilities than their Western colleagues These include moral education, teaching of the subject, professional skills development, and political education (Figure 1.1) Unfortunately, there has been a little consideration of the Act in detail and its implementation within HE institutions While political education often receives attention from administrators and it emphasises the development of students' sense of social contribution, the meaning of “professional skills” has not been analysed adequately for practical implementation in university teaching.What is meant by "student's morality" in HE and how to improve it within subject teaching are still open questions (discussion of moral education in Vietnamese HE will be mentioned in Chapter Two)

1.4.2 The restructuring of the undergraduate programs

Vietnam has operated a centralized system of administration and

management of HE for many years from colonial times This means that based on the direction and the educational policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPOV), МОЕТ "determines and administers the goals of Ж , its curricula,

regulations in teaching, learning and assessment, the degrees and the criteria of

HE teachers" (Nguyen, I998c, p 19)

Since 1995, the undergraduate programs at all universities in Vietnam have been divided into two stages: the general education stage (which lasts one year and

a half, named stage I) and the professional training stage (which varies from 2 to 4 years, named stage П) Curricula for the stage I were designed (by МОЕТ) in much more detail than those for the Stage-П These curricula were arranged into seven programs and each program had a common set of curricula which included core (compulsory) and elective courses Table 1.3 shows the training fields within each program This was the first time that elective courses were integrated into Vietnamese undergraduate programs

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After finishing stage I, students sit an examination for entering their stage

П Success in this examination can offer a student an opportunity to be transferred

to a preferred university which had a stage-II program suited to his or her needs The reason for this restructuring was that it could “ensure the adaptability of Vietnamese higher education to the local ever-changing socioeconomic context and to the advance of higher education of the region and the world” (МОЕТ,

1995, p 415)

Table 1.3: Programs for the general education stage (МОЕТ, 1995, p 5)

Program 1 ,2 ,3 Science, technology, agriculture, medicine, pharmacology, etc.Program 4 Economics, business and administration

Program 5 Social studies

at all universities (МОЕТ, 1998, p 28) In addition, the allotted time for the general education stage would not be restricted to one year and a half but it would

be determined flexibly by the universities

At present, the implementation of the Stage-I curricula designed by МОЕТ

is not the same at different universities The seven programs mentioned above are not fully practised at many universities Curricula of many subjects taught at the general education stage have been redesigned or implemented slightly differently

by universities

1.5 The introductory physics course in Vietnam

1.5.1 Curricula of the introductory physics course in Vietnam

Following the restrocturing of HE, the curricula of the IPC in Vietnamese universities have changed dramatically Most of the change has focused on the student target, course strocture, time allotted and adding more modern and applied physics Regarding the course time, overall time allotted to the course was

reduced but course content was inflated

Traditionally the IPC was offered as a compulsory course for mainly science and engineering students At some universities, students from some other faculties such as Economics and I^w also took this course as a compulsory one in their programs Since 1995 some universities have changed to a credit system, in which students could choose some courses as elective ones Within this change, the IPC have become an elective course for social and humanities students Since then, there have been fewer and fewer social and humanities students choosing this course in their learning program Table 1.4 shows the distribution of the IPC among the seven programs designated by МОЕТ (1995, pp 11-12) at stage I of

HE The numbers in cells indicate the numbers of "credit" (each credit equals to

15 teaching p e rio d s e a c h lasts 45 minutes) allocated to the programs

Table 1.4: Distribution of the IPC among the seven programs

Prog 1 Prog 2 Prog 3 Prog 4 Prog 5 Prog 6 Prog 7

Notes: - The asterisks show the "core" and "compulsory" courses

- The parentheses show the "elective" courses

- Numbers without asterisks or parentheses indicate the "essential" courses

The content areas of the theoretical physics courses are determined as follows: Physics A l: Classical physics

Physics A2: Modern physics

Physics A3: Applied physics

Physics B: Classical and modem physics

Details of the above courses can be found in Appendix 1 Compared with the previous curricula, the current ones contain several applied physics topics which have never been taught before There is a good match between the upper

secondary physics and the classical IPC physics although the first is much simpler The rest of the IPC is quite new to secondary students, even the lab courses

1.5.2 Current status

From 1995 the IPC curricula have been restructured and changed

significantly under direction from МОЕТ So far, there has been little research

into the instruction of the reformed IPC in Vietnamese universities A survey conducted at 9 iarge and medium universities in Vietnam by the researcher in July

2000 (Table 1.5) revealed the following characteristics:

The IPC cumicula designed by МОЕТ are implemented somewhat similarly at the investigated universities The order arrangement and combination of courses are very similar among the universities but the required content is delivered somewhat differently

- The IPC class size varies among the universities, popularly around 100 None

of them has small-group tutorials except one (HoChiMinh Uni of

Technology) which divides the large classes into smaller ones during problem- solving hours An exception in class size is the case of University of Da Lat, where some IPC "classes" may exceed 1000 students This kind of class includes several classrooms equipped with big television screens on which students can "see" the lectures delivered by a physics teacher

- There are only two universities which use demonstrations, but not for all IPC classes Most Physics Departments rely on their IPC labs for showing

experiments to their students Only The University of Fisheries has student seminars in its IPC

Six of the nine investigated universities grade their student learning in the P C merely on the final exams Marking burden is the common reason for this choice, especially with the large-size IPC classes

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1.6 Brief overview of research problems

1.6.1 The lack of an environment for active learning in the introductory physics course

The curricula of the general education courses in Vietnamese universities have changed dramatically in recent years Within such changes, however, much attention has been given to course content and design but little to clarifying course aims to students and building relevant teaching strategies As a result, different teachers view their course aims differently, even within the same department of a university The curricula have become the lists of subjects that the teachers will

be teaching rather than what and how the students will be learning Being asked about the aims of a general education course, teachers may have different views but the majority would vote to "supply a base knowledge about the subject." Dang (1998) found that knowledge absorption was the sole or typical aim of all

undergraduate courses in Vietnam In 2000 Tuoi Tre [The Youth], a popular

newspaper in Vietnam, held a forum-on-newspaper on "Improving the Quality of Higher Education." The opinions of many students and teachers were presented there The following statement by a student is representation of the opinions of those who would refer current teaching and learning in Vietnamese universities

We cannot understand why our teachers keep dictating their lecture

notes [ ] Taking notes takes us lots of time and makes us bored

and sleepy [ ] We want to receive copies of the lecture notes

By doing so, the teachers can have time to explain and discuss the

lessons with us

(Tuoi Tre, 19/9/2000, p 10)

What has been presented for general education courses above is also

applied to the IPC As mentioned in the previous section, the curricula of the EPC

in Vietnam have changed dramatically in recent years Most of the changes were focused on course structures and contents but not on how the course operates and contributes to HE Programs or initiatives which can help students become more self-directed or make the course become more correlated with HE goals have rarely been seen Meanwhile, the provision of course facilities (textbooks,

laboratories, computers, etc.) and teaching aids, such as overhead projectors, is not

adequate As a result, most physics teachers, like many other teachers, rely on their lecture mode as the sole way to transmit course information to students and that is seen as the primary purpose of the courses (Nguyen, 1998c, p 7) Physics teaching has mainly aimed to supply factual subject-based knowledge but done a little or none to broaden physics knowledge or enhance the intellectual skills of the students At present, the teacher's monologue in class is still the main teaching method used in all HE institutions of Vietnam Based on a survey conducted at 20 institutions in 1997, over 80 percent of teachers use only this method in their teaching (Tran, 1997, p 7) The following is the description of the common mode

of teaching and learning, from a Rector of a University of Pedagogy in Vietnam:

The current teaching methods used at our schools and universities

are backward [ ] Teachers present the lessons slowly, steadily,

and even read their lecture notes Students concentrate on taking

notes for their learning task at home

(Giang, 2000, p 10)

Lam (1997) found that other methods, which are based on the initiatives of

students such as seminar, case study, discussion, problem solving etc., have been used with some subjects but are neither popular nor adequately encouraged A survey conducted by Nguyen (2000b) on the teaching and assessment modes at five big universities in Vietnam revealed that the average time which 26 surveyed physics teachers allotted to small-group discussions in their physics courses

(including IPC and advanced courses) was 2.61 percent of the total course time Most of these discussions were devoted to algorithmic problem solving The rest

of the time was mostly allocated to lecturing The survey conducted by the

researcher at nine universities in Vietnam, as presented in Table 1.5, revealed that most IPC classes were taught only by lectures Tutorials, demonstrations, and seminars were used in a very small number of classes Such an environment of instruction does not address students' difficulties in motivation, interest, or in- depth understanding

1.6.2 The lack of student dialogue and collaboration in the introductory physics course

The dominance of lecture presentation methods in most subjects and at most levels of education in Vietnam has clearly hindered the development in students of attributes identified in the Education Act The passive position of the students in their learning led to superficial subject understanding and an inability

to become creatively involved in their own education Truong (2000, p 9) writing

on the creativeness of Vietnamese students summarised the situation: “We

[Vietnamese people] have an education which does not encourage our students making questions.” This comment is also tme at university level The stimulation

of discussion among students and between students and teachers for students' learning have not been regarded as important (Le & Nguyen, 1999) Although collaboration is one of the salient traditional values of Vietnamese people, and the need to foster it in HE has been identified in a national HE agenda (see Nguyen, I998c), it has not been nurtured or enhanced by appropriate teaching approaches

in universities (Pham, 1999) Pham (1999) argues that Vietnamese university students need to be trained in the skills which can help them to work in a social and political environment after their graduation In order to gain these skills, this author suggests that group work or group assignments must be introduced in the teaching of university subjects

As an introductory course for first or second year students, the ffC in Vietnamese universities has provided very limited opportunities for students' dialogue or collaboration within the courses (Nguyen, 2000b) Many physics teachers believe that they do not have enough time for such work within the course They want to use all the course time for their lectures which they believe

to be necessary to expanding students' knowledge Other teachers may think that most students of the IPC just want to pass the course as a prerequisite in their learning and these students do not really want to spend time in any kind of group work

1.6.3 The !ack of an understanding of Vietnamese students' characteristics in dialogue and collaboration

In recent years, research in science education in Vietnam has put more emphasis on studying and implementing teaching strategies which can foster student dialogue and collaboration (e.g., Pham, 1999; Tran, 1999; Trinh, 2000;

Vu, 2000; Nguyen, 2000d) Howe٧er, most studies tend to endorse Western

models to the Vietnamese context without studying their adaptability to

Vietnamese culture (e.g., the group work model in Pham, 1999; the group learning model in Tran, 2000) In addition, how Vietnamese students behave and benefit from dialogical and collaborative learning environments has not been fitlly

explored

The history of Vietnam and its people has fom ed characteristic

Vietnamese perceptions and lifestyles In education, perception and lifestyle may contribute positively and negatively to any teaching or learning approach

Because the teaching approaches designed and explored in this study ground on student dialogical and collaborative environments, an understanding of how these approaches may accommodate the Vietnamese traditions and values, and current experience is quite important and necessary

1.7 Relevance of problems to education

The evaluation report presented by the Minister of Education and Training

at a national meeting on HE held in Hanoi during 1998 (Nguyen, I998c) reported the following:

Because of the domination of our theory-laden teaching, students

have poor application and manipulative skills The higher

education quality is still rather low because we mainly use the

instructional methods in which the monologue teaching is too

dominant We have not used the methods which may help our

students become more active and creative, (p 7)

The lecture-dominated methods in teaching and factual-based methods in

assessment may have adversely affected the most able students as observed by Nguyen (I998b):

At secondary schoo!s we have many excellent students who

received national and international awards but after entering

universities, their talents haven't improved, (p 4)

It is argued that such transmission teaching and reception assessment methods have forced students to adopt the "surface" approach to learning This approach is characterized as "an attempt to complete in a minimal way the task requirements

so as to maximize the rewards of learning; that is, the grades or marks given by teachers" (O'Neil, 1995, p 117) The surface approach to learning has prevented students from developing their critical and creative thinking skills which are among the expected tertiary learning outcomes Even students who desire to search for meaning adopt the surface approach in order to simply meet intensive assessment demands But the course content, especially within the general

education courses, has such a large amount of information, that even excellent students cannot memorize by rote learning it all That is one of the reasons why many students resort to cheating techniques in their examinations (Hoang, 2000a)

The absence of dialogue and collaboration among students and between students and teachers in class also hinders the development of social skills of students As a result, Vietnamese university graduates have been considered as having low ability in communication and teamwork skills (Nguyen, 2000d) Professor Hoang Tuy (2000b, p 8), a famous mathematician and educator of Vietnam, at the conference on “Identifying the Vietnamese Cultural

Characteristics” held at HoChiMinh University of Pedagogy in July 2000 also identified one of the weaknesses of most young Vietnamese today is a “lack of imagination.” Clearly, such a state has many causes Pham (1999) argues that the lack of an environment in which students can share or discuss their ideas with their peers or teachers and be involved in small-group deliberation is a major cause

1.8 Background to problems

The problems described have a long history and can be seen, with different intensity, in any of the teaching subjects at any universities in Vietnam In recent years, calls to change to active teaching methods in HE have been made repeatedly

from both МОЕТ and the unJversltles but lltt!e change has occurred (Nguyen,

I998c١ p 7) At the national conference on "Improving The Quality of Training"

(at university level) held at Hanoi National University on 9-12 May 2000, several opinions were raised by the representatives to explain this situation The

following is a summary of the opinions offered on this matter at the conference made by the researclier (I attended this conference as a representative of The University of Fisheries) Some opinions matched with previous studies are noted

in parentheses

teacher perception: Most university teachers think that they have to fulfill their responsibility to help their students gain enough knowledge of their teaching subject by conveying all the information required in the curricula They think they can do this only through their lectures With this perception, these teachers cannot understand why they have to implement other teaching approaches which tend to reduce their lecture time (Nguyen, I998c; Pham, 2000a)

overloaded teaching: At some universities, the number of students is

increasing but staff numbers are almost fixed This gives teachers a heavy teaching workload, up to six teaching days a week Many of them have a teaching workload three times higher than the requirement from МОЕТ

(Giang, 2000) With such a load, many teachers really do not have time to consider any new teaching approaches

overloaded timetable: With a timetable of nearly 35 periods for in-class

learning per week, the proportion of time for self-study per class time for undergraduates is less than 1/1 (Dang, 1998) This inhibits the

implementation of any models of active learning in which the students need more time to work by themselves

low teaching salaries: According to statistical data, teachers in HE in Vietnam are paid much less than people with comparable education working in other professions Because of low salaries, the majority of teachers seek additional jobs outside the profession As a result, they hardly have enougli time for their

absence of professlona! programs and Incentive policies: Programs which can help to improve teaching effectiveness have not been well planned (Giang,

2000, found 70-80% of the teaching staff at most universities in Vietnam have never attended a professional program for developing their instructional

skills) Incentive policies which encourage teachers to bring new teaching methods into their classrooms are ineffective and need to be reviewed (Tran,

Vu, & Sloper, 1995) At many universities, teacher appraisal and promotion is often decided without considering teaching effectiveness

- lack of facilities: The lack of quality textbooks and references for students and staff is one of the most serious matters Facilities for teaching such as

overhead projectors, computers, video-audio systems, experimental apparatus, etc are also scarce within many universities (Nguyen, Pham, & Sloper, 1995) Among the above reasons, teaching perception was considered by the conference

to be the most significant influence This perception may be embedded in the traditional role of Vietnamese teachers who have been expected to be the source

of knowledge (this will be discussed in Chapter Two) Unclear goals for

undergraduate education and the lack of sufficient aims for every teaching subject may also contribute to the long-lasting problems Improving such a situation requires time, finance, and great efforts in educational research and management

An important factor which has made lecturing become too dominant in undergraduate education in Vietnam is that the formal assessment of effective teaching tends to bear much on lecture presentation skills and preparation, not on what students actually learn Figure 1.2 presents the criteria which are used to evaluate teaching quality at one university in Vietnam (but it is very sinrilar to those used in other universities) This checklist is completed by a group of staff (including teachers of the same department and administrators) after attending one

or two lectures presented by the teacher being evaluated Among the criteria,

"classroom management" considers teacher's awareness of students' behaviours during the class time This type of teaching evaluation clearly does not encourage teaching approaches which emphasise student collaboration and dialogical

interaction among students or between students and teachers

Figure 1.2: A checklist for teaching evaluation

a- Lecture preparation □ very good □ good □ average □ not goodb- Lecture presentation skills □ very good □ good □ average □ not goodc- Lecture quality □ very good □ good ٥ average □ not good

d- The use of teaching facilities

and demonstrations

□ very good □ good □ average □ not goode- Classroom management □ very good ٥ good □ average □ not good1.9 Recent calls for innovation

In recent years there have been many calls from МОЕТ to enhance the role

of students in the educational environment The desired orientation is evidenced

in the Education Act of Vietnam Item 4 of this Education Act, which specifies the general requirements of methods of instruction at all levels, states that:

The methods of instruction must help students enhance their active

sense, self-discipline, initiative, and creativeness They must also

support the development of self-directed learning ability, the

learning passion and the ambition from students

(National Assembly, 1998, p 2)

According to this Act, teaching and learning at universities must be

grounded on Vietnamese culture and traditions (Item 36) In the report presented

by the Minister of Education and Training at the national meeting on HE held in Hanoi during 1998 (Nguyen, 1998c), МОЕТ mapped out the orientation for

innovations in teaching methods at universities as follows:

Mechanism and motives for creating a movement in improving

teaching methods must be identified This movement will be able

to minimize the passive form in knowledge transmission and help

students improve their creativeness Modem teaching methods and

facilities will be employed step-by-step in assuring the self-taught

intellectual, moral, physical aims and necessary skills which Vietnamese society and workplace require.

1.10 Purposes of the study

The main theme of this study is to develop and investigate the efficacy of a learning model of IPC teaching that is grounded in an understanding of the

Vietnamese culture Specifically the aims of the research are:

(1) to explore the historical and cultural characteristics of Vietnam and its people which are implied in current teaching and learning perceptions The purpose of this exploration is to establish a research framework for interpreting the influences

of the Vietnamese traditional culture on current teaching and learning perception;(2) to investigate the efficacy of a model of integrating physics demonstrations and student seminars into IPC This model emphasises dialogue and collaboration among students and it aims to enhance physics understanding and social skills of students;

(3) to explore how Vietnamese students participate, collaborate, and dialogue in small groups; and

(4) to investigate how grading effects students' achievement and interest in the designed approaches