an innovative approach

per a week, namely two 60-min periods a week, three 60-min periods a week, or three
50-min periods a week.
Survey and interview data indicated that some teachers felt constrained by the
reform. Some senior teachers could early retire and leave teaching loads for them.
Also, they were nervous to prepare themselves for teaching evaluation based on the
reform. Now a day, they had large number of students, 40-45 students, in their
classroom. They thought that the classroom organization might be interrupted. In
this second semester, there were a lot of school activities and long public holiday
interrupting the periods.
Mrs. Engka, Mr. Vyn and Mrs. Amp were three Thai biology teachers
participating in this research. They had personal background, belief of learning and
teaching planning. Also, they had implemented the photosynthesis teaching unit in
different schools: the Border School, the Market School and the Babysat School. The
case study of Mrs. Engka, in the Border School has been initially described into this
chapter.
1. School Contexts
The Case Study of the Border School
This first public high school was called the “Border School” because it was
located near the boundary of the province, around Bangkok suburban area. This
school was established in 1992 to celebrate the Queen of Thailand’s birthday. The
school provides education for boys and girls around the community and the
neighboring area. The entire population of the school was approximately 3,200
students and 131 -150 teachers. The school had twelve classrooms each in Level 3,
Grades 7 – 9, and nine classrooms each in Level 4, Grades 10-12. Each Grades 7-9
classroom had 55 - 60 students, and each Grades 10 – 12 classroom had 40 - 45
students.
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