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Using Japanese Curriculum Materials to Support Lesson Study Outside Japan : toward Coherent Curriculum
Abstract
Lesson study (jugyou kenkyuu) has spread outside Japan in the last decade, providing opportunities to see how lesson study fares in countries where the instructional practices and curriculum materials differ from those in Japan. This study reports an elementary mathematics lesson study cycle from the United States. To investigate the nature of the support for teachers' learning during the curriculum study ("kyouzai kenkyuu") phase of lesson study, we first compared a US. and Japanese teacher's manual in their treatment of area of quadrilaterals. The coding scheme captured features hypothesized to influence teachers' learning from curriculum including information on student thinking, learning trajectory and rationale for pedagogical decisions (Ball & Cohen, 1996). While the US. teacher's manual provided more correct student answers and more often suggested adaptations for particular categories of students (e.g., English-language learners), the Japanese manual provided more varied individual student responses and more rationale for pedagogical choices. We provided the Japanese curriculum and teacher's c manual to a US. lesson group and observed them during lesson study; US. teachers found some Japanese curriculum features useful (e.g., student thinking) and other features challenging (e.g., focus on a single problem). A comparison of the US. teachers' pre-and post-lesson study cycle lesson plans suggested that the teachers more thoroughly anticipated student thinking after working with the Japanese textbooks and teacher's manuals. We suggest that kyouzai kenkyuu on a well-designed teacher's manual may enable "coherent curriculum" at the policy level to be enacted in the classroom.
... Dr. DM's participation in the OWG gave him additional support that was necessary to be successful in implementing IOI. Extant literature has shown the possible successes of anticipating student thinking in professional development settings (e.g., Dyer and Sherin 2016;Lewis et al. 2011). In the OWG sessions, faculty spent 1-2 weeks for each lesson study doing the mathematics of the units of focus and then anticipating how their students may approach the tasks. ...
... Many scholars who have done research with lesson studies have argued that anticipating student thinking was a critical component of their lesson study. For example, Lewis et al. (2011) argue that anticipating student thinking was important for their teachers, in particular anticipating possible various student solution strategies to given problems. Further, Dyer and Sherin (2016) argued that being responsive to student thinking makes one a "sophisticated" teacher (p. ...
... As stated, this phenomenon, is amplified when as he was purposefully trying to include student ideas in the classroom but his mathematical interest took precedent over potential student exploration. While there is documented success of teachers anticipating student thinking in professional development settings (e.g., Lewis et al. 2009Lewis et al. , 2011Perry and Lewis 2009), certain types of inquiry instruction may be at odds with that strategy. ...
In this instrumental case study, we examined the ways in which one mathematician’s instruction unfolded during his participation in a faculty collaboration geared towards reforming instruction. In the study, we offer the case as both the participant’s collaborative experience in an online faculty collaboration and his implementation of an inquiry oriented differential equations curriculum at the same time. The faculty collaboration specifically focused on reforming instruction to align with inquiry oriented instruction. Data analyzed for the case study included recordings of the weekly faculty collaborations, video observations of the participant’s instruction over a full semester, and interviews that focused on the participant’s perspective of his experiences. Results indicated the participant was very capable of eliciting student ways of reasoning and other student contributions from his class but he less often actively inquired into their thinking. This was either because he had already anticipated their thinking, or was not attentive to it because his mathematical opinion took precedence in his thinking over that of his students. Further, results indicated that from the participant’s perspective, the online faculty collaboration supported him in his instructional reform endeavors by providing him language to define his instruction. It also provided him avenues to engage in pedagogical discussions and experience, through the other participants, different ways students thought about differential equations.
... analyzing students' thinking and students' work. Indeed, written materials for teachers in Japan focus on variations in students' thinking to a much greater extent than those in the USA (Lewis et al. 2011). ...
... These three features connect strongly to findings of previous research on teacher knowledge of student mathematical thinking. For example, Lewis et al. (2011) found that Japanese teacher manuals are rich with detailed explanations of student mathematical thinking that is specific to particular tasks or problems and illustrates the potential variation in student solutions. Moreover, the manuals include analyses that help the teacher know how to use the various solutions or responses to deepen students' mathematical knowledge. ...
... We wonder about the extent that these are the focus of professional development activities or preservice courses, and the extent they are included in resource materials for teachers. We know that written materials for teachers in Japan focus on variations in students' thinking to a much greater extent than those in the USA (Lewis et al. 2011). Our experience with professional development in the USA is that the focus is on general ideas and principles and does not capture the variety of student thinking in great detail specific to a lesson or task. ...
The successful use of lesson plans as the primary vehicle for storing and sharing teachers’ instructional knowledge in Japan has given impetus to calls by US researchers for the development of a system for sharing teachers’ knowledge through instructional products to improve teachers’ capacity to implement high-quality instruction and to build a knowledge base for instruction. These products would be created by, and for, teachers to use in guiding instruction, thus building and sharing teachers’ instructional knowledge. In this study, we try to characterize one aspect of teacher knowledge that is central in building a knowledge base for instruction, knowledge of student mathematical thinking. We analyze ten written instructional products from the USA and Japan to better understand what knowledge of student mathematical thinking can be shared in such products. We also look at how knowledge of student mathematical thinking is used to guide and justify instructional decisions. One key finding is that the knowledge of student mathematical thinking shared in the top written instructional products is specific to a task or mathematical topic, varied with descriptions of multiple solutions or ways of reasoning, and sufficiently detailed to make the knowledge usable for teachers.
... In order to capture the PSTs' practices regarding the use of MR to teach kinetic energy, the preparatory study (sessions 1 to 8, Figure 2), the lesson planning (sessions 9 to 11), the research lessons (sessions 12,14,16), and reflections (sessions 13, 15, 17) were As already mentioned, this investigation included eight sessions for the preparatory study (sessions 1-8) and three sessions (sessions 9-11) to perform lesson planning ( Figure 2). This option helps PSTs to gain knowledge and insight into science as well as into student thinking [38,47]. The three cycles of the LS allowed each one of the PSTs teach a research lesson. ...
... Researchers [40] showed that outside of Japan, the effectiveness of LS is uneven due to misunderstandings on the structure and certain practices of this teacher education program. Namely, outside of Japan, it is common to omit the lesson planning that helps teachers to gain knowledge and insight into science as well as about student thinking [47]; to fit an entire LS cycle into one day [48]; and to repeat the research lesson six times. ...
Multiple representations, such as experimental data, schemas, tables, and graphs, are an essential resource in science teaching. However, their use in the classroom typically poses a challenge for preservice teachers. The aim of this research is to examine changes in the practices of a group of preservice teachers regarding the use of multiple representations in the teaching of kinetic energy to 9th grade students, when this training is included in their initial teacher education program. For this purpose, a collaborative, reflexive, and student-learning centered approach, namely, a lesson study with three cycles, was implemented. A descriptive and content analysis for qualitative data collected showed improvement in the practices of the preservice teachers, namely on the representations both of the event that represents the “real” world, as well as of the scientific concepts. The results obtained contribute to deepening the knowledge on the use of multiple representations by preservice teachers, as well as to increasing the knowledge on using lesson study to develop the ability to use multiple representations during initial teacher education.
... They observed that participants' desire to participate in the lesson planning process increased, and that participants enthusiastically carried out lesson preparations. Another research using the RLS model, carried out by Lewis et al. (2010), presented the results of a three-year study in an elementary school in the U.S. In this process, it was observed how teachers gave progressively more importance to external intellectual resources (experts and researchers) and internal resources (each other's lessons, student opinion, etc.), while students' standard test results in mathematics in general increased to three times the regional average (Lewis, Perry, Hurd, and O'Connell, 2006;Perry and Lewis, 2010). Moreover, the RLS model supported by mathematical resources was shown to improve both teachers' and students' mathematical knowledge. ...
... They observed that participants' desire to participate in the lesson planning process increased, and that participants enthusiastically carried out lesson preparations. Another research using the RLS model, carried out by Lewis et al. (2010), presented the results of a three-year study in an elementary school in the U.S. In this process, it was observed how teachers gave progressively more importance to external intellectual resources (experts and researchers) and internal resources (each other's lessons, student opinion, etc.), while students' standard test results in mathematics in general increased to three times the regional average (Lewis, Perry, Hurd, and O'Connell, 2006;Perry and Lewis, 2010). Moreover, the RLS model supported by mathematical resources was shown to improve both teachers' and students' mathematical knowledge. ...
The aim of this study is to define the impact of the Research Lesson Study (RLS) Model on 30 pre-secondary and secondary school teachers belonging to the Istanbul Provincial Directorate for National Education, who were involved in the “Intel Teach - Advanced Online” (ITAO) teacher training course. 30 master teachers, selected from 106 teachers as a study group, were trained in three different sessions of ITAO. The study was initiated with five-day teacher trainings in the academic years 2013-2014 and 2014- 2015 through an action research model. Specialist teachers from different subjects were grouped in teams of 3, and collaborated to design their learning paths and to test the methods learned in their classrooms. At the same time, they took on the role of moderators during the ITAO teacher trainings and, in the final stage, they led teacher trainings during cascading seminars. The qualitative findings of the study indicated that the RLS Model enhanced the interaction among the teachers, peer learning and the perception of effectiveness. In addition, this model paved the way for the exploration of interdisciplinary teaching, innovative methods in instructional design, and the integration of ICT in classroom implementations and adult education.
... They observed that participants' desire to participate in the lesson planning process increased, and that participants enthusiastically carried out lesson preparations. Another research using the RLS model, carried out by Lewis et al. (2010), presented the results of a three-year study in an elementary school in the U.S. In this process, it was observed how teachers gave progressively more importance to external intellectual resources (experts and researchers) and internal resources (each other's lessons, student opinion, etc.), while students' standard test results in mathematics in general increased to three times the regional average (Lewis, Perry, Hurd, and O'Connell, 2006;Perry and Lewis, 2010). Moreover, the RLS model supported by mathematical resources was shown to improve both teachers' and students' mathematical knowledge. ...
... They observed that participants' desire to participate in the lesson planning process increased, and that participants enthusiastically carried out lesson preparations. Another research using the RLS model, carried out by Lewis et al. (2010), presented the results of a three-year study in an elementary school in the U.S. In this process, it was observed how teachers gave progressively more importance to external intellectual resources (experts and researchers) and internal resources (each other's lessons, student opinion, etc.), while students' standard test results in mathematics in general increased to three times the regional average (Lewis, Perry, Hurd, and O'Connell, 2006;Perry and Lewis, 2010). Moreover, the RLS model supported by mathematical resources was shown to improve both teachers' and students' mathematical knowledge. ...
... We found that the Japanese teacher's manual devotes proportionally more space to features expected to support teachers' learning. Whereas 10% of the statements in the Japanese units are devoted to providing a rationale for pedagogical choices, such statements are absent in the U.S. units (Lewis, Perry, & Friedkin, 2011). For example, the Japanese textbook's introduction to rectangle area asks students to compare the areas of two rectangles for which neither dimensions nor a grid is provided, and the teacher's manual provides the following rationale: ...
... The teacher who had originally suggested that it was not important to use the task in the textbook said, "Now it seems harder and harder to create our own thing . . ." (Lewis, Perry, & Friedkin, 2011). ...
The authors comment on the article by Morris and Hiebert in three ways. First, they add thoughts about why improvement efforts often focus on teachers, rather than teaching. Second, they offer evidence from U.S. lesson study research that focus on teaching can improve both students’ learning and teachers’ learning. Finally, they suggest that the instructional products and common assessments advocated by Hiebert and Morris are not sufficient, and that they need to be accompanied by practice-based, collegial learning in which teachers build shared knowledge and commitments for the hard work of improvement. Their research indicates that lesson study focuses on teaching, but improves teachers as well, increasing mathematical knowledge and beliefs that support instructional improvement, as well as improving student learning.
... Edição para Professores dos EUA, provavelmente, dará apenas uma resposta correta (LEWIS;FRIEDKIN, 2011). Os livros didáticos japoneses foram revisados para refletir os aprendizados do Lesson Study, de modo que incluem representações e problemas poderosos que, possivelmente, apoiarão o pensamento dos alunosWATANABE, 2014). ...
... Teachers need to teach toward Core Curriculum Standards, but these general objectives still provide teachers with substantial freedom to decide what and how to teach. In addition, research has shown that Japanese curricula are well designed to study student learning, which is often absent in curricula outside Japan (Lewis, Perry, & Friedkin, 2011). As such, in the absence of well-suited curriculum material, the Dutch lesson study advises undertaking literature review and sharing personal teaching expertise as ways to design the research lesson (de Vries, Roorda, & van Veen, 2017). ...
Professional development practices remain at the forefront of ways to support teacher learning but are difficult to sustain. We investigate whether and how teachers continued to perform the professional development practice of lesson study in their own schools after participating in a cross-school Lesson Study Professional Learning Network for four years. We found different perceptions of the general idea of lesson study. If the general idea was modified, teachers rarely continued to perform lesson study; if they did, they transformed lesson study in such a way that core elements were removed. When teachers maintained the general idea of lesson study they were more likely to continue to perform lesson study in their own school and to consider the practice useful.
... Lesson plans, records of lessons, and research papers are shared not just between schools but across schools. This includes resources developed for curriculum study and kyozai kenkyu or the study of teaching materials (Lewis, Perry, & Friedkin, 2011;Watanabe, Takahashi, & Yoshida, 2008). Such teachergenerated knowledge is also evident from the context-specific vocabularies used among Japanese teachers. ...
Lesson study, a professional development approach originated in Japan 150 years ago, has been widely considered to be one of the best practices for collaborative professional development and practiced in over 40 countries. Since lesson study is considered an effective approach in improving student performances, it has been transferred as a remedy for shortcomings of schooling in foreign countries. There is an underlying assumption that when “the best practice” in Japan is transferred to another country, it will generate a similar effect and will improve the quality of schooling. However, there is a fundamental problem with such pedagogic transfer. This thesis discusses the problem of pedagogic transfer through examining the “recontextualization” of pedagogic practice or what happens when lesson study, which originated in Japan, was introduced into foreign contextual settings. Since pedagogic practice is socially constructed, the meaning of educational practice is always open to interpretation within the local setting of the receiving country. This is especially true for schools in developing countries which may operate differently from those of industrialized countries. This study provides a sociological analysis of recontextualization of lesson study based on the review of the literature and an ethnographic style study of its implementation in a Javanese school. Since professional accountabilities are negotiated and contested within existing social relations, the practice—lesson study—transforms as it moves between contexts, across sociocultural contexts and also between policy and practice. The purpose of this study is not on the applicability of findings themselves across contexts but to analyze conceptually how the sociocultural settings shape teachers’ practice and influence their choice of pedagogy. As explored in the thesis, due to the strong bureaucratic accountability, lesson study in the Javanese junior high school, SMP Sari, was implemented as a bureaucratic project.
... As Stigler and Hiebert (1999) contend, improving teaching requires changes in the culture of teacher learning. One emerging and effective model applicable to schools is lesson study -a professional development approach originating in Japan and now exported and used widely in countries internationally (Fujii, 2014;Lewis, Perry, & Friedkin, 2011;Lewis et al., 2009) and lately introduced locally (Calleja, 2017). Put simply, lesson study is a collaborative lesson research (Takahashi & McDougal, 2016) in which a group of teachers work together with educators, researchers and policymakers to identify an area for development in student learning. ...
Teachers learn in different contexts. This paper reports on the learning experiences of a small group of Maltese secondary school teachers of mathematics as they engaged in a continuing professional development (CPD) programme, designed as part of a doctoral research study, aimed to support them in Learning to Teach Mathematics through Inquiry (LTMI). This paper explores learning-on-the-job within their school context and learning-off-the-job within the community of practice (CoP) offered through LTMI. A qualitative design using thematic analysis was used to investigate teachers' views and experiences of learning both within the school and the CPD context. The data reported here was taken from a focus group held with teachers at the end of the CPD programme, and three interviews held with the same teachers before, during and after their participation in LTMI. Findings reveal that, during the CPD course, teachers experienced two contrasting learning contexts: an individualistic school culture and a collaborative CoP culture. Within such learning cultures teachers voiced divergences between practice within the school which was isolated, individualistic and competitive with learning within the CoP being collaborative, supportive and empowering.
... They might prepare possible follow up questions ready to ask or design additional tasks to scaffold student learning. The importance of anticipating student responses may also be observed in its presence in lesson plan formats (Meyer & Wilkerson, 2011) or in curriculum materials for teachers as in Japanese teacher's manual (Lewis, Perry, & Friedkin, 2011). ...
This action research study sought to investigate how collegial lesson preparation and reflection that focused on prospective teachers' thinking supported the participating mathematics teacher educators’ perspectives on teaching and learning. Data sources included weekly planning and reflection meetings, activity worksheets, reflective journals, and audio recordings of lessons. An inductive thematic approach was used to analyze the data with the intent of conceptualizing the experience of the teacher educators. Data analyses revealed that engaging in this action research provided the participating teacher educators with opportunities to discuss important issues for mathematics teacher educators and improved their skills in lesson planning and implementing.
... Research in science and mathematics has shown how educative curriculum materials can be designed to support implementation of reform-based practices in elementary and secondary classrooms (e.g., Cervetti, Kulikowich, & Bravo, 2015 ). Teachers who used educative materials (that provided guidance to improve understanding of concepts or student thinking) tended to demonstrate stronger pedagogical content knowledge, were better able to anticipate student thinking during planning, and sometimes appeared better able to implement high-quality instruction in science and mathematics (Cervetti, et al. 2015 ;Hill & Charalambous, 2012 ;Lewis, Perry, & Friedkin, 2011 ), particularly when they implemented the curriculum for more than a year (Fogleman, McNeill, & Krajcik, 2011 ). Further, educative curricular materials may be particularly important for less skilled teachers. ...
Over the past couple decades trends in federal and state policy have dramatically changed how special education teachers are prepared, evaluated and retained in schools. Alternative routes to the classroom proliferated and enrollments in teacher preparation declined, particularly as a lackluster economy reduced the demand for teachers. Once again, however, states are facing potentially dire shortages of special education teachers. Further, states are given greater latitude through the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to address these shortages, without any federal mandates to ensure these teachers are highly qualified or effective. These changes will challenge our field’s resolve to maintain a strong special education teacher workforce while maintaining an adequate supply to meet demand. Within this context, how can district and school administrators strike a balance between addressing shortages without sacrificing access to effective teachers? In our chapter, we suggest that maintaining an effective special education teaching staff in the face of pending shortages will require administrators to take a comprehensive approach. We outline how districts might implement a comprehensive talent management framework, supported through research, to assist their efforts to secure, develop, and retain optimal candidates to fill special education positions.
... La qualità delle risorse didattiche e degli strumenti per l'insegnante: libri, manuali, video lezioni, protocolli per l'osservazione e la discussione sono, com'è noto, utilizzati in tutti i sistemi di istruzione, ma non in maniera sistematica come in questa fase del lesson study. Questa sezione del lesson study che prevede nella fase iniziale lo studio del curriculum e dei materiali didattici, ha consentito di eseguire studi comparati tra quelli utilizzati in Giappone e quelli in uso, ad esempio, nelle scuole americane mostrando come strumenti condivisi possano svolgere un ruolo centrale nel miglioramento della didattica, consentendo ai professionisti di perfezionare le conoscenze necessarie per insegnare (Lewis, Perry & Friedkin, 2011). ...
Abstract
Il lesson study è uno dei modelli possibili per migliorare l’insegnamento in classe. Non
ha lo scopo di studiare una lezione per ottenere performance perfette, ma accrescere la
professionalità degli insegnanti attraverso l’analisi di “lezioni di ricerca”, pianificate,
costruite, osservate in gruppo. È una pratica radicata da tempo nella tradizione scolastica
orientale che sviluppa l’abitudine al miglioramento continuo e sostiene gli insegnanti per
promuovere l’apprendimento degli allievi. Ricercatori e studiosi, ma anche molti
educatori coinvolti in cicli di lesson study, hanno fornito, con il supporto di evidenze
sperimentali, convincenti motivi sull’efficacia e la sostenibilità di questo modello che si
sta diffondendo a livello mondiale. Sono qui presi in esame alcuni di questi aspetti,
ripercorrendo le fasi che caratterizzano un ciclo completo di lesson study giapponese.
This study aims to explore the learning trajectory of problem-based learning with literacy and numeracy reinforcement. This study was conducted at Junior High School and involved 32 subjects from class VIII. This study employed Gravemeijer and Cobb's design research comprising three stages: preparing the experiment of hypothetical learning trajectory (HLT), designing the experiment by implementing the designed HLT-based learning, and conducting retrospective analysis by comparing HLT with the implemented learning. The learning trajectory in this study consisted of three components: learning objectives, a series of tasks and learning activities, and students' techniques to think and learn. This research was conducted based on lesson study activities to create a lesson study for the learning community. Design research stages corresponded to lesson study stages and included studying curriculum, formulating goals and plans, conducting research lessons, and reflecting the lesson. This study has revealed that students' actual learning trajectory has four levels of modeling: situational, referential, general, and formal levels. At the situational level, non-mathematical literacy becomes the initial reference for students to collaborate and communicate with others; thus, mathematical concepts are created. The referential level leads students to represent real problems in real mathematical concepts. The representation process aims to understand the concept in different situations. Finally, the students analogize the acquired understanding and bring it to the formal level to get a full understanding of the concept of one point position to another in Cartesian coordinates.
Lesson study, especially when conducted with support from targeted resources, is often identified as a potentially effective means to support teacher learning. In this study, 80 school-based teams of educators, representing 80 classrooms of third- or fourth-grade students in the US, were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: lesson study supported by fractions resources, lesson study only, fractions resources only, or a comparison group. Fractions instruction was improved in the two conditions that received the fractions resources. Average student performance on a fractions test did not increase relative to the comparison group in any of the three intervention conditions. However, moderation analyses suggest that lesson study, both with and without fractions resources, may have improved student performance in one state, which represented half of the sample.
This chapter discusses cases of importing/exporting lesson study in the U.S., Singapore, China, South Korea, Taiwan, and JICA-assisted lesson study in the developing countries of Indonesia, Vietnam, Zambia, Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa. The analysis will explain the motivation behind global education reform trends and efforts that support lesson study to improve student performance through teacher development. Foreign implementation of lesson study reveals that challenges exist due to the lack of supportive environments and shifts in the meaning of lesson study when interpreted against local settings. The debates in this chapter suggest that if what were promoted by lesson study was not consistent with local educational settings, change in practice may not occur, be temporary, or only happen at a superficial level.
The aim of this study is to elucidate the neriage-based teaching script shared by Japanese teachers as tacit knowledge and to visualize (where visualization means to bring a focal awareness to) the ethos and understanding that supports this, through analysis of three case-based studies of mathematics lessons from different time periods.The first case-based study/analysis is of a lesson – how many acorns did we pick up? – in which each child tackles the learning task and problem solving individually (1966, City T.). The second case-based study/analysis is a lesson – how would you find the grassy area? – in which children’s ideas are compared (1996, City N.). The third cased-based study/analysis is a lesson – how much did it all cost?- that utilizes the diversity of children’s ideas (2014, City K.). The authors examine critically the aspects of neriage that have changed over time in relation to the global world pedagogical trends and those that have not as Japanese pedagogical perspective, and discusses the teaching script (the visible structure) present in the lessons, and the ethos (the invisible mindset, such as the philosophy, attitude, beliefs etc.) behind it.KeywordsAuthentic learningCollaborative learningCritical thinkingDeep thinkingDialogic teachingJapanJapanese teachersMathematics lessonsNeriageNeriage-based teaching script
While there are success stories, the literature on lesson study indicates that the practice has often been implemented outside of Japan in a superficial and ineffective manner. This review attempts to explore the nature of authentic Japanese lesson study and to establish a set of principles that can be used to inform and guide future transfer efforts. The analysis shows that authentic lesson study consists of five main stages, each with its own purpose and principles. Crucially, this paper emphasises that in order to be effective, lesson study must be viewed by its participants as a process of research, the fundamental aim of which is to generate fresh insights into student learning.
O desenvolvimento profissional é algo que tem sido discutido e é considerado elemento chave para a melhoria da educação, ocorrendo, segundo diversos autores, de forma mais efetiva em ações colaborativas. Uma destas formas é através do estudo de aula. O estudo de aula é uma metodologia japonesa que foi adaptada, em nosso estudo, para ser utilizada em comunidades de prática. Comunidade de prática consiste em um grupo que se reúne para desenvolver maneiras compartilhadas de buscar interesses comuns. Desta forma, foram criados dois grupos com professores e licenciandos em física nos quais foram desenvolvidas, através de estudo de aula, aulas de investigação, as quais foram aplicadas em diferentes turmas, observadas e discutidas pelos pares. Utilizamos os indicadores de presença de comunidades de prática de Wenger para verificarmos se as atividades de estudo de aula propiciaram a formação destas. Como resultados nós verificamos durante os encontros formativos nos dois grupos a existência de 11 dos 14 indicadores citados. Desta forma, podemos concluir que as atividades de estudo de aula realizadas acarretaram na formação de duas diferentes comunidades de prática e estas possibilitaram o desenvolvimento profissional de todos os atores envolvidos.
Lesson study (LS) is a teaching improvement process that began in Japan more than 100 years ago. As the LS is still a new approach in the Brazilian context, this paper will discuss how it could be implemented in the pre-service physics teacher training. To accomplish this, a group was created with 6 pre-service teachers who held 11 meetings, which integrated two LS cycles. The data for this research were collected through field notes and materials produced by pre-service physics teachers. The collected data were analyzed by Bardin's content analysis. According to the results obtained, it highlighted that pre-service teachers had gaps in knowledge about the basic contents of Physics and LS showed that collective work with peers could promote reflection and enable classes that were closer to the students' reality, minimizing the difficulty and rejection by Physics in basic education, improving the students' learning.
This chapter proposes a theoretical model of the impact of lesson study. Outcomes addressed include teacher outcomes (e.g., knowledge and beliefs), professional learning norms and routines, instructional routines and tools, and student learning outcomes. Four theoretical perspectives are used to examine lesson study impact: knowledge integration environment, self-determination theory, self-efficacy theory, and pedagogies of practice. The chapter also examines all four phases of the lesson study cycle – study, plan, teach, and reflect – and for each phase identifies major goals, challenges, strategies to overcome challenges, and relevant theoretical perspectives. In addition, reflection questions for each phase are proposed, which are designed to support educators and researchers to reflect on the effectiveness of their work during each phase. The chapter is based on 20 years of observations of lesson study and is intended to spark further conversation about the process and impact of lesson study.
Many schools in America have been working to implement the new common standards for mathematics. In Japan, Lesson Study is used to incorporate revised national standards in the classroom. While there are many projects related to Lesson Study outside of Japan, they have met with varying degrees of success, often because they diverge from authentic Japanese Lesson Study. This chapter is built upon an article we wrote that appeared in ZDM in 2016. We developed Collaborative Lesson Research (CLR) for classrooms outside of Japan, based on Japanese Lesson Study. We have been piloting CLR projects in American and Qatari schools. Some schools had teachers who had at least some experience with Lesson Study, while other schools had no prior experience with Lesson Study. We are developing models to introduce CLR to both kinds of schools. We believe that the initial success of these projects shows that CLR may be used on a school-wide scale to implement new standards and improve student learning.
Lesson Study developed in Japan as a form of collaborative teacher training, and in resistance to restrictions on teacher professional autonomy as the government imposed a bureaucratically controlled national curriculum. This chapter summarizes the development of, and critical literature on, Lesson Study. It also identifies the gap between theory and practice in school development from the perspective of knowledge management, with particular reference to issues in transplanting Lesson Study to other countries.
Lesson study (jugyou kenkyuu) is a form of professional development that has been credited for supporting profound changes in teaching in Japan , but its effectiveness outside of Japan has been uneven. From the research on and experience with lesson study in schools in the U.S., the authors hypothesize that certain institutional structures and practices are important for maximizing its impact. The authors introduce a new term: Collaborative lesson Research (CLR) , defined to include those structures and practices. A three-phase model of school-based CLR , focused on implementation of the new learning standards for mathematics, is being piloted at 15 urban schools in three major school districts in the U.S. This chapter is based on some of the key findings from the Project IMPULS at Tokyo Gakugei University and the Chicago lesson Study Group Project. The full report has been published as “Collaborative lesson Research: Maximizing the impact of lesson study” (Takahashi & McDougal, 2016).
This book critically explores the use of nine recognized methodologies for the mediation of professional learning in the context of teacher education: The story, the visual text, the case, the video, the simulation, the portfolio, lesson study, action research, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Drawing on theories of mediation and professional learning, the book establishes connections between theoretical, empirical and practical-based aspects of each of these methodologies. It consolidates a body of knowledge that offers a holistic portrayal of these methodologies in terms of their purposes (what for), processes (how), and outcomes (what), both distinctively and inclusively.
Each chapter offers four perspectives on each methodology (1) theoretical groundings of the genre (2) research-based evidence on methodologies-as-pedagogies for mediating teacher learning (3) mediation tasks for teacher education as reported in studies and (4) a synthesis of recurrent themes identified from selected books and articles, including a comprehensive list of publications organized by decades. The last chapter presents an integrative framework that conceptualizes connections and weak links across the different methodologies of mediation.
This chapter presents the theoretical groundings of lesson study as analyzing experience. Lesson Study is a methodology which was developed in Japanese elementary education. Jugyō Kenkyū (lesson study in Japanese) is used to analyze teaching. During lesson study teachers work in small groups, collaborate with one another to discuss learning goals, plan actual classroom “research lessons”, observe their planning in live lessons with students, and report on the results so that other teachers can benefit from it. Lesson study can also be used at district or national level, with the purpose of addressing changes in curricula or courses of study proposed at district or national level as a methodology for the mediation of professional learning. The chapter discusses the theoretical groundings of lesson study, with a focus on studies conducted in teacher education on the uses, processes and outcomes of story as a pedagogy for mediating teacher learning. Concrete examples of mediation tasks through lesson study in teacher education are then presented. The last part presents a synthesis of the major themes identified in the literature on the use of lesson study in teacher education. The synthesis is organized around purposes, processes, outcomes and target audience studied. Like previous chapters, this synthesis is followed by a comprehensive checklist of selected articles, books and handbooks on lesson study organized by decades (from 2000 onwards).
Purpose
This study attempts to provide cross-cultural learning by focusing on a very important aspect of research, the study of teaching materials, known as Kyouzai Kenkyuu in Japan. The purpose of this paper is to investigate teachers’ views and awareness about the study of teaching materials, in particular, the views and awareness of Iranian teachers, who are beginning to understand their teaching practice and professional development through lesson study.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative research methods were employed for data collection. These methods included comparative analysis of an Iranian mathematics lesson from the perspective of Japanese educators and semi-structured interviews with all participants of the lesson analysis meetings.
Findings
The findings are intended to position Kyouzai Kenkyuu as an important aspect of Japanese lesson study and to make explicit the beliefs and values that underpin and shape pedagogical reasoning that support researchers and practitioners to improve the quality of teaching through lesson study. This was achieved through post-lesson discussion meetings, and the beliefs and values were those the participants were largely unaware of but could be clarified through a cross-cultural comparison. For instance, Japanese teachers focus more on learners and the study of teaching materials for raising the quality of teaching, whereas Iranian teachers focus more on the content of teaching and teacher behavior.
Research limitations/implications
This study delivers a transnational learning opportunity for teachers and researchers to learn how to provide evidence-based analysis of a lesson to raise the quality of teaching. However, as this is a case study and focuses specifically on Kyouzai Kenkyuu, it opens up the possibility for comparative analysis of more sample lessons and other aspects of Japanese lesson study.
Practical implications
It may be interesting for teachers and researchers to see how such a study could help them revise their quality of teaching through lesson study and construct shared knowledge about how to teach and to clarify “the pedagogical theories” that underpin such knowledge building.
Social implications
The value of this study is in its ability to reveal to educators their own unconscious teaching script and knowledge and “the pedagogical theories” that underpin such knowledge. It provides an opportunity for evidence-based critiques of our own teaching script, theory, view and values that we accept culturally, share tacitly and may not even be aware of in the construction process.
Originality/value
This study combines careful measurement with an “insider’s perspective” from Iran and an “outsider’s perspective” from Japan of differing educational concepts within the same subject area. The objective is to provide a deeper understanding of the real world of lesson study and how it can help educators to construct shared knowledge about how to teach in practice and to support teachers to revise the cultural context of teaching.
This article presents a theoretical model of lesson study’s impact on instruction, through intervening impact on teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and dispositions, teachers’ learning community, and curriculum. It also describes four different types of lesson study in Japan, pointing out their synergies in producing a system where local teachers “demand” knowledge for their lesson study work and lesson study provides a collaborative, practice-based venue to try out recent innovations in curriculum and instruction. Description of lesson study in Japan provides background for considering the articles of this issue, which highlight four strategies to develop lesson study outside Japan: (1) incorporation of high-quality tasks and materials; (2) attention to processes that illuminate student thinking; (3) attention to system features; and (4) models for scale-up.
New common standards for mathematics were adopted by most of the states in the US by 2010. Achieving these standards, however, is a challenge, since they require significant changes in how mathematics is taught. Lesson study (jugyou kenkyuu) is a form of professional development that has been credited for supporting profound changes in teaching in Japan, but its effectiveness outside of Japan has been uneven. From research on school-based lesson study in Japan and from the research on and experience with lesson study in schools in the US, the authors hypothesize that certain institutional structures and practices are important for maximizing its impact, but are sometimes omitted from lesson study outside of Japan. The authors introduce a new term: collaborative lesson research (CLR), defined to include those structures and practices. A three-phase model of school-based CLR, focused on implementation of the new learning standards for mathematics, is being piloted at 15 urban schools in three major school districts in the US. This paper provides details of the pilot program and preliminary results from some of the partner schools.
We report on a randomized, controlled trial of an intervention that had a significant impact on teachers’ and students’ mathematical knowledge: lesson study supported by mathematical resource kits (Lewis & Perry, under review). In lesson study, teachers engage in collaborative study-plan-act-reflect cycles centered around classroom research lessons. This report focuses on outcomes related to teachers’ beliefs and learning community, potentially important mediators of teachers’ continued effort to improve instruction. Groups of 4–9 educators (87 % elementary teachers) were randomly assigned to the intervention (lesson study with fractions resource kit) or one of two control conditions; resource kits were mailed out to groups, who locally managed their lesson study in scattered locations across the USA. HLM analyses indicate that the intervention significantly increased two of the six measures of teachers’ beliefs and teacher learning community–Expectations for Student Achievement and Collegial Learning Effectiveness. When examined as mediators of knowledge change in the overall sample, increases in Collegial Learning Effectiveness and Professional Community both significantly predicted teachers’ gain in fractions knowledge and increase in teachers’ collegial learning effectiveness significantly predicted students’ gain in fractions knowledge. Findings suggest the power of lesson study supported by mathematical resources to impact teachers’ beliefs likely to support teachers’ continued learning from practice over time. Findings also suggest the potential of scale-up strategies that couple high-quality mathematical resources with practice-based learning strategies such as lesson study, as a solution to the conundrum of faithful implementation of high-quality materials versus teacher “ownership” of professional learning.
Although Dewey specifically refers to learning to teach in his cautionary statement, the words remain true for practicing teachers, the focus of this chapter. Students of teaching are, “those who are prepared to learn from teaching over the course of a lifetime … having opportunities for collaboration and reflection, questioning (and questioning [their] own questions), observation and inquiry” (Cochran-Smith, Foreword. In Bullough RV Jr, Gitlin AD Becoming a student of teaching: linking knowledge of production and practice, 2nd edn. RoutledgeFalmer, New York, pp viii–ix, 2001). Here we are concerned not with becoming a student of teaching, but with being a student of teaching.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to reveal the cultural script of the teaching of a lower secondary science lesson on the topic “Classification of Non-living Things” in Singapore through the eyes of Japanese and Singaporean researchers and teachers. In particular, the study analyzes the structural content, i.e. organization of learning activities of a lower secondary science lesson of Singapore and the culture of teaching, i.e. views about teaching held as tacit knowledge of science teachers. It focusses on students’ inquiry skills in a participative and problem-driven science lesson in the Singapore classroom.
Design/methodology/approach
– This exploratory study adopts a cultural approach of viewing teaching and learning and compares classroom practice in two countries – Japan and Singapore. Contextually, the cultural differences in beliefs and values define how educators learn about what is “good” teaching.
Findings
– The cultural script of teaching of the science lesson case values the setting of learning tasks that encourage a variety of ideas. It also sets a tone of inquiry-based learning where students are open to questioning, the formulation of ideas and the presentation of solutions. In the science lesson case, the teacher aimed at providing opportunities for students to think for themselves and to engage in group discussion. This study identifies key aspects of the science lesson for revealing the teaching script based on a cross-cultural lesson analysis. Figure 1 summarizes such facets of teacher teaching and student learning in detail as a result of the lesson analysis. Furthermore, it draws attention to recognizing areas of the lesson script which the Japanese team found effective/ineffective as well as identifying the Singaporean team's reflections on feedback from Japanese educators.
Research limitations/implications
– Through this study, the research team raises the following questions. Are there common practices that make for effective learning and if so what are these? From the perspectives of Japanese and Singaporean researchers and educators, what might be the different elements of teaching that will bring about better student learning?
Originality/value
– An important avenue for inquiry in teaching is how to create teaching-learning processes that nurture students’ ability to deal with the unexpected as well as their application skills – competencies that are required of students to function in the twenty-first century. The research team suggests a cross-cultural analysis approach for future research investigating the cultural script of teaching.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine an Iranian mathematics lesson through the eyes of Japanese educators, and the critiques of Iranian teachers for raising the quality of teaching. In this paper, the Japanese lesson study process is considered as an approach to raising the quality of teaching.
Design/methodology/approach
– Qualitative methods including pre-lesson planning, peer observation of the lesson, post-lesson discussion, and semi-structured interviews with the participants of the post-lesson discussion meetings in Iran and Japan were employed for data collection. A detailed description and analysis of the lesson is provided for deep understanding of students’ mathematical communication in the class and teachers’ points of view in the post-lesson discussions about raising the quality of teaching.
Findings
– The findings are intended to clarify the significant influence that cross-cultural analysis has exerted on raising the quality of teaching and developing a culture of transnational learning that supports teachers to design appropriate learning tasks, to conceptualize mathematical phenomena, and to provide mathematical communication which encourage students to participate more in classroom activities.
Research limitations/implications
– This study provides a transnational learning opportunity for Iranian teachers to learn from Japanese educators how to deliver evidence-based analysis of a lesson for raising the quality of teaching in practice, look culturally and differently at what actually goes on in the classroom, and localize lesson study as a global approach to the “science of improvement.” However, issues to be considered in future studies include how such “small changes” can be linked together in local communities to expand the improvement from bottom up, and how to facilitate collaboration with the global community to expand transnational learning.
Practical implications
– Traditionally in Iran, there are a variety of teacher training programs but there are no examples of lesson study like those that take place in Japan as a model of practitioner inquiry for raising quality of teaching. Hence, it can be said that Japanese lesson study may provide a new approach of transnational learning in the Iranian education context for building a “science of improvement.”
Social implications
– In the case of Iran, especially at the elementary school level, teachers do not have enough preparation or experience. Therefore, raising the quality of teaching through lesson study that has an actual impact on teacher and teaching quality and developing a “science of improvement” has become a pressing concern in national and international contexts.
Originality/value
– The case study shows that the transfer of the Japanese model of lesson study plays a significant role in harnessing the potential of students and teachers as well as teachers themselves by improving teaching. Efforts by teachers to communicate and learn from each other’s strengths, in fact lead to the realizing of the students potential and thinking process. In particular, it helps supply more open-end and in-depth task learning, which anticipates student thinking, understanding, recognizing and questioning.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and initial implementation of a lesson study network in the US intended to support implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).
Design/methodology/approach
– Participant observation and artifact collection document the development of the teaching through problem solving (TTP) network over a 14-month period.
Findings
– The TTP network draws heavily on Japanese practices (e.g. lesson study) and Japanese materials (e.g. coherent, focussed mathematics curriculum) to support changes envisioned in the US CCSS related to students’ mathematical practices and dispositions. The reasons for choice of these key Japanese features are explicated, and teachers’ initial reactions described.
Research limitations/implications
– The design shows promise for combining teacher “ownership” with implementation of high-quality approaches designed by others; and allowing instructional innovations developed in Japan to flow into US practice. TTP in mathematics has persistently resisted implementation in the US, so the network is designed to target a central problem in implementing the CCSS.
Originality/value
– A method for instructional innovations to spread from classrooms in one country to another is suggested.
The framework of Tharp and Gallimore (1988) was adapted to form a ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) Model of Mathematical Proficiency that identifies two interacting kinds of learning activities: instructional conversations that assist understanding and practice that develops fluency. A Class Learning Path was conceptualized as a classroom path that includes a small number of different learning paths followed by students, and it permits a teacher to provide assistance to students at their own levels. A case study illustrates this model by describing how one teacher in a Japanese Grade 1 classroom assisted student learning of addition with teen totals by valuing students' informal knowledge and individual approaches, bridging the distance between their existing knowledge and the new culturally valued method, and giving carefully structured practice. The teacher decreased assistance over time but increased it for transitions to new problem types and for students who needed it. Students interacted, influenced/supported one another, and moved forward along their own learning paths within the Class Learning Path.
This study was prompted by the current availability of newly designed mathematics curriculum materials for elementary teachers. Seeking to understand the role that reform-oriented curricula might play in supporting teacher learning, we studied the ways in which 8 teachers in the same school used one such curriculum, Investigations in Number, Data, and Space (TERC, 1998). Findings revealed that teachers had orientations toward using curriculum materials that influenced the way they used them regardless of whether they agree with the mathematical vision within the materials. As a result, different uses of the curriculum led to different opportunities for student and teacher learning. Inexperienced teachers were most likely to take a piloting stance toward the curriculum and engage all of its resources fully. Findings suggest that reform efforts might include assisting teachers in examining unfamiliar curriculum resources and developing new approaches to using these materials.
Available evidence suggests that Japanese elementary science education has shifted, in recent decades, away from lecture‐style, rote ‘teaching as telling’ toward ‘teaching for understanding’. How has this change been accomplished? Drawing on our ongoing study of innovations in Japanese elementary science instruction, we describe three features of the Japanese system that may facilitate planned change. First, we describe Japan's broad national goals for elementary education and the alignment of textbooks with these goals. We point out that Japan's national goals focus on the whole child (social, ethical and intellectual development), a breadth which, we speculate, may reduce the kind of pendulum swings between goals of academic and social development that have plagued some other countries’ educational policies. In addition, we note that the national goals are abstract and are translated into classroom practice through the collaborative work of teachers. Second, we describe three routes through which the national goals are translated into classroom practice: research lessons, teachers’ research groups, and national elementary schools. Finally, we speculate on some elements of the educational context (for example, collaborative habits and norms, beliefs about the pace and nature of change, and the practice of self‐critical reflection) that may support planned educational change in Japan.
This study uses a national probability sample of 1,027 mathematics and science teachers to provide the first large-scale empirical comparison of effects of different characteristics of professional development on teachers’ learning. Results, based on ordinary least squares regression, indicate three core features of professional development activities that have significant, positive effects on teachers’ self-reported increases in knowledge and skills and changes in classroom practice: (a) focus on content knowledge; (b) opportunities for active learning; and (c) coherence with other learning activities. It is primarily through these core features that the following structural features significantly affect teacher learning: (a) the form of the activity (e.g., workshop vs. study group); (b) collective participation of teachers from the same school, grade, or subject; and (c) the duration of the activity.
This paper examines the findings of two international comparative studies on classroom practices to explore the characteristics of Japanese mathematics lessons focusing on how Japanese teachers approach to teaching mathematics in the structured problem solving mode and how their students perceive such lesson structure. First, some findings of the TIMSS Videotape Classroom Study are examined. A special attention is given to those findings that relates to the emphasis in the classrooms on discussing alternative solutions to a problem in the recurring lesson pattern, as the features that appear to make Japanese lessons different from the other two countries, Germany and the United States. Second, a preliminary analysis of the data from the Learner's Perspective Study is presented. The analysis of videotaped sequences of ten consecutive mathematics lessons in a public school in Tokyo suggests the need to identify the "lesson structure in the sequence" as compared with the lesson pattern identified by the analysis of a set of single lessons. The pattern relates to the connections constructed by the teacher between lessons and the structure of the actual lesson itself. Finally, based on the findings of two studies, the key characteristics of Japanese approach to teaching mathematics are discussed.
This article presents a theoretical model of lesson study, an approach to instructional improvement that originated in Japan.
The theoretical model includes four lesson study features (investigation, planning, research lesson, and reflection) and three
pathways through which lesson study improves instruction: changes in teachers’ knowledge and beliefs; changes in professional
community; and changes in teaching–learning resources. The model thus suggests that development of teachers’ knowledge and
professional community (not just improved lesson plans) are instructional improvement mechanisms within lesson study. The
theoretical model is used to examine the “auditable trail” of data from a North American lesson study case, yielding evidence
that the lesson study work affected each of the three pathways. We argue that the case provides an “existence proof” of the
potential effectiveness of lesson study outside Japan. Limitations of the case are discussed, including (1) the nature of
data available from the “auditable trail” and (2) generalizability to other lesson study efforts.
A Splintered Vision: An Investigation of U.S. Science and Mathematics Education is the US report on the curriculum analysis component of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) which was sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA).
The report summarizes data from the TIMSS curriculum analysis and integrates it with teacher questionnaire data from the US, Japan, and Germany on science and mathematics topic coverage and instructional practices.
The authors of A Splintered Vision discuss and provide evidence of the unfocused nature of US mathematics and science curricular intentions, textbooks, and teacher practices. They offer the premise that producers of US textbooks and curriculum guides have attempted to answer calls for curricular reform by adding new content to already existing materials instead of devoting time to restructuring the materials. The authors also suggest that US teachers, inundated with a myriad of competing visions, are attempting to cover all the topics they confront in their resource documents and to meet all the instructional demands placed on them by those with a stake in education. In keeping with the `incremental assembly line' philosophy in American society, US teachers also tend to lean toward a piecemeal approach to education. The authors speculate on what such practices may mean for the mathematics and science achievement of US students.
The work is sure to spur discussion among educational researchers, policy makers, and others concerned about the future of mathematics and science education in the US.
To solve two enduring problems in education—unacceptably large variation in learning opportunities for students across classrooms and little continuing improvement in the quality of instruction—the authors propose a system that centers on the creation of shared instructional products that guide classroom teaching. By examining systems outside and inside education that build useful knowledge products for improving the performance of their members, the authors induce three features that support a work culture for creating such products: All members of the system share the same problems for which the products offer solutions; improvements to existing products are usually small and are assessed with just enough data; and the products are jointly constructed and continuously improved with contributions from everyone in the system.
This study reports on 2 upper-elementary teachers' learning through their use of potentially educative mathematics curriculum materials without additional professional development. 41 observations of the teachers' mathematics lessons and 28 interviews of the teachers were collected from October to May of an academic year. The case study analyses indicated that curriculum materials can be an effective professional development tool, but perhaps not for all teachers. 1 teacher's instructional focus and rationale for instructional practices remained stable throughout the school year, whereas the other's changed dramatically. The cases illustrated the teachers' dynamic and divergent nature of opportunities to learn through reading materials and enacting lessons. Findings also indicated that consideration of the interaction between beliefs integral to teachers' identity and those that are targets for change may illuminate responses to potentially educative curriculum materials.
In this article I explore the interaction between the subject-matter contexts of a fifth-grade teacher's work and her identity as a teacher and learner. Arguing that her identity as a teacher and as a learner about teaching differed substantially in mathematics compared with literacy, I consider interactions among this teacher's identity, the subjects she taught, and her learning from and about reform. The article illuminates how subject-matter-sensitive differences in her identity as a teacher and as a learner influenced the very different learning opportunities, as well as the substantial differences in her stance as a learner, in mathematics compared with literacy. These differences in her learning contributed to substantial variation in her enactment of reform in mathematics compared with literacy.
Current wisdom suggests that accomplishing the changes reformers call for in mathematics teaching will require significant learning on the part of teachers. The aim of this study was to examine whether and how a reform-oriented textbook could contribute to such learning. Using case study methods, I analyzed the nature and contexts of 2 fourth-grade teachers' learning during their first year of using a new mathematics textbook. Analyses across the cases revealed key activities involved in teaching and using texts that created opportunities for learning. These activities included analyzing students and mathematical tasks and making decisions about how to proceed, suggesting that materials most likely to foster teacher learning are those that engage teachers in these processes.
Presents an overview of the geometry findings of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and ways to use problems from the study to assess students' understanding of geometry. (ASK)
One danger of integrating inquiry-based problem-solving activities into mathematics lessons is that different strategies could
be accepted without in-depth discussions on the cogency and efficiency of the strategies. To overcome this issue, Japanese
teachers typically go through a series of lesson-study-based teacher learning sessions and learn how to help students build
consensus on the best mathematical strategy and think deeply about problem solving (neriage in Japanese). Assuming that this can also be an effective model in other cultural contexts, a video-based lesson study was
conducted for a group of US teachers to effectively incorporate consensus building discussions in their mathematical inquiry
lessons. Through the lesson study, the teachers learned to release control of class discussions to their students and help
them discuss and examine different strategies. This article concludes with various aspects that the teachers learned for effectively
implementing neriage in their lessons.
Keywords
Neriage
–Lesson study–Consensus building–Mathematical inquiry lesson–Proportional reasoning
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