Abstract
In lesson study, teachers engage in cycles of inquiry in which they collaboratively plan, observe, and discuss classroom lessons. In addition to improving the teaching of a particular topic, lesson study is designed to build the skills, habits of mind, tools, and culture for teachers to learn daily from colleagues, students, and curriculum materials. This chapter describes the five core tasks within the lesson study cycle: developing the research theme; solving and discussing a mathematics task to anticipate student thinking; developing a shared teaching-learning plan; collecting data during the enacted research lesson; and, conducting a post-lesson discussion.
This material is based upon research supported by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education Institute for Education Sciences, award #REC-0633945 and #R308A960003, respectively. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the grantors. We wish to thank the teachers of “Alma” Middle School.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
I am indebted to a prospective teacher at Mills College for this remark, January 12, 2001.
- 2.
Nakamura, T. p. 18, in Zadankai: Shougakkou ni okeru juugyou kenkyuu no arikata wo kangaeru. (Panel Discussion: Considering the nature of lesson study in elementary schools) in Ishikawa et al. 2001.
- 3.
Teacher reflection comments collected on 1.18.08, from teacher ID 323.
References
Akita, K. (2004). The Japanese model of cooperative learning: Teachers professional development. Paper presented at the International Association for the Study of Cooperative Education, Singapore.
Akita, K. (2007, March). Japanese teachers’ learning systems in school: Collaborative knowledge building through lesson study. Paper presented at the International Conference of Competency-Based Educational Reform, Seoul National University.
Cohen, E. (1994). Designing groupwork: Strategies for the heterogeneous classroom (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.
Cossey, R., & Tucher, P. (2005). Teaching to collaborate, collaborating to teach. In L. R. Kroll, R. Cossey, D. M. Donahue, T. Galguera, V. K. LaBoskey, A. E. Richert, & P. Tucher (Eds.), Teaching as principled practice: Managing complexity for social justice (pp. 105–120). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Elmore, R. F. (1996). Getting to scale with good educational practice. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 1–26.
Fernandez, C., & Yoshida, M. (2004). Lesson study: A case of a Japanese approach to improving instruction through school-based teacher development. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Franke, M. L., Carpenter, T. P., Levi, L., & Fennema, E. (2001). Capturing teachers’ generative change: A follow-up study of professional development in mathematics. American Educational Research Journal, 38(3), 653–689.
Global Education Resources. (2006). The APEC-Tsukuba International Conference on Lesson Study: Lesson plan resources. http://www.globaledresources.com/resources/apec_lesson_plans.html. Accessed 1 May 2008.
Ishikawa, K., Hayakawa, K., Fujinaka, T., Nakamura, T., Moriya, I., & Takii, A. (2001). Nihon Sugaku Kyouiku Gakkai Zasshi. Journal of Japan Society of Mathematical Education, 84(4), 14–23.
Isoda, M., Stephens, M., Ohara, Y., & Miyakawa, T. (Eds.). (2007). Japanese lesson study in mathematics: Its impact, diversity and potential for educational improvement. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.
Lesh, R., Hoover, M., Hole, B., Kelly, A., & Post, T. (2000). Principles for developing thought-revealing activities for students and teachers. In A. Kelly & R. Lesh (Eds.), Handbook of research design in mathematics and science education (pp. 591–646). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Lesson Study Communities Project in Secondary Mathematics. (n.d.). Sample lessons. http://www2.edc.org/lessonstudy/lessonstudy/. Accessed 1 May 2008.
Lewis, C. (2002a). Does lesson study have a future in the United States? Nagoya Journal of Education and Human Development, 1(1), 1–23.
Lewis, C. (2002b). Lesson study: A handbook of teacher-led instructional change. Philadelphia: Research for Better Schools.
Lewis, C., Perry, R., Hurd, J., & O’Connell, M. (2006, December). Lesson study comes of age in North America. Phi Delta Kappan, 88, 273–281.
Lewis, C., Perry, R., & Hurd, J. (2009). Improving mathematics instruction through lesson study: A theoretical model and North American case. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 12(4), 285–304.
Matoba, M., Crawford, K. A., & Sarkar Arani, M. R. (Eds.). (2006). Lesson study: International perspectives on policy and practice. Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House.
Mills College Lesson Study Group. (n.d.). Lesson plan. http://www.lessonresearch.net/res.html. Accessed 1 May 2008.
Mills College Lesson Study Group (2005). How many seats? Excerpts of a lesson study cycle [DVD]. Oakland: Mills College Lesson Study Group.
National Research Council (2001). Adding it up: Helping children learn mathematics. In J. Kilpatrick, J. Swafford, & B. Findell (Eds.), Mathematics learning study committee, center for education, division of behavioral and social sciences and education. Washington: National Academy Press.
Peterson, P., Fennema, E., Carpenter, T., & Loef, M. (1989). Teachers’ pedagogical content beliefs in mathematics. Cognition and Instruction, 6(1), 1–40.
Teachers’ College Lesson Study Research Group. (n.d). Example descriptions for lesson study plans. http://www.tc.edu/lessonstudy/worksamples.html. Accessed 1 May 2008.
Van de Walle, J. A. (2007). Elementary and middle school mathematical: Teaching developmentally (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education.
Wang-Iverson, P., & Yoshida, M. (2005). Building of understanding of lesson study. Philadelphia: Research for Better Schools.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer US
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lewis, C., Friedkin, S., Baker, E., Perry, R. (2011). Learning from the Key Tasks of Lesson Study. In: Zaslavsky, O., Sullivan, P. (eds) Constructing Knowledge for Teaching Secondary Mathematics. Mathematics Teacher Education, vol 6. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09812-8_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09812-8_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-09811-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-09812-8
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)