Lesson study is highly regarded as a model for professional learning, yet remains under-theorised. This article examines the professional learning experiences of teachers and numeracy coaches from ...three schools in a local network of schools, participating in a lesson study project over two research cycles in 2012. It maps the interconnections between their experiences and their beliefs and practices, using Clarke and Hollingsworth's (2002) Interconnected Model of Professional Growth. Analysis of interview data and video-recordings of planning meetings, research lessons, and post-lesson discussions reveals the development of teachers' collaborative planning skills, increased attention to students' mathematical thinking, use of orchestrated whole-class discussion based on anticipated student solutions and focused questioning, and the enhancement of collaborative practices for teacher inquiry. Our findings illuminate the interplay between the External Domain, the Personal Domain, the Domain of Practice, and the Domain of Consequence, in the teaching and learning change environment, and the mediating processes of enactment and reflection. Changes in the domains across the period of the lesson study provide evidence of teachers' professional growth, with the iterative processes of enactment and reflection being critical in mediating this professional growth. Author abstract, ed
Worldwide interest in Japanese Lesson Study as a vehicle to improve mathematics teaching practice through professional learning has left largely unanswered questions about the extent to which it can ...be replicated elsewhere. This paper reports on a small-scale research project, Implementing structured problem-solving mathematics lessons through lesson study, carried out in three Australian schools during 2012, and continued in a modified form during 2013 and 2014. Two major aims of the project were to investigate critical factors in the adaptation and effective implementation of (1) structured problem-solving mathematics lessons, and (2) Japanese Lesson Study as a model for teacher professional learning in the Australian context. This paper discusses the specific affordances that contributed to both the implementation of structured problem solving and to teachers' professional learning as a result of their participation in this project, as well as the constraints encountered, and the implications of these for the sustainability of lesson study in the Australian context. Critical factors identified by the teachers as contributing to the success of the project included the opportunities for in-depth lesson planning, the presence of large numbers of observers at the research lessons and the post-lesson discussions, and the insight provided by the 'knowledgeable other'. Major constraints included the difficulty in finding suitable problem solving tasks to match the Australian curriculum, and the teaching culture that emphasises small-group rather than whole-class teaching. Author abstract
Structured problem-solving lessons are used to explore mathematical concepts such as pattern and relationships in early algebra, and regularly used in Japanese Lesson Study research lessons. However, ...enactment of structured problem-solving lessons which involves detailed planning, anticipation of student solutions and orchestration of whole-class discussion of solutions is an ongoing challenge for many teachers. Moreover, primary teachers have limited experience in teaching early algebra or mathematical reasoning actions such as generalising. In this study, the critical factors of enacting the structured problem-solving lessons used in Japanese Lesson Study to elicit and develop primary students' capacity to generalise are explored. Teachers from three primary schools participated in two Japanese Lesson Study teams for this study. The lesson plans and video recordings of teaching and post-lesson discussion of the two research lessons along with students' responses and learning are compared to identify critical factors. The anticipation of students' reasoning together with preparation of supporting and challenging prompts was critical for scaffolding students' capacity to grasp and communicate generality. Author abstract
This book provides an essential introduction to the state-of the-art in interdisciplinary Mathematics Education. First, it begins with an outline of the field's relevant historical, conceptual and ...theoretical backgrounds, what "discipline" means and how inter-, trans-, and meta-disciplinary activities can be understood. Relevant theoretical perspectives from Marx, Foucault and Vygotsky are explained, along with key ideas in theory, e.g. boundaries, discourses, identity, and the division of labour in practice. Second, the book reviews research findings of mainly empirical studies on interdisciplinary work involving mathematics in education, in all stages of education that have become disciplined. For example, it reports that a common theme in studies in middle and high schools is assessing the motivational benefits for the learner of subsuming disciplinary motives and even practices to extra-academic problem-solving activities; this is counter-balanced by the effort needed to overcome the disciplinary boundaries in academic institutions, and in professional identities. These disciplinary boundaries are less obviously limitations in middle and primary schools, and in some vocational courses. Third and finally, it explores selected case studies that illustrate these concepts and findings, both in terms of the motivational benefits for learners and the institutional and other boundaries involved.
This article uses cultural historical activity theory to examine the interactions between the choices primary teachers make in the use of practical activities in their teaching of science and the ...purposes they attribute to these; their emotions, background and beliefs; and the construction of their identities as teachers of science. It draws on four case studies of science lessons taught over a term by four exemplary teachers of primary science. The teachers were at four different government primary schools, one in New South Wales, and three in Victoria. The data collected includes video recordings of science lessons, interviews with each teacher and some of their students, student work, teachers' planning documents and observation notes. The authors examine the reflexive relationship between emotion and identity, and the teachers' objectives for their students' learning; the purposes (scientific and social) the teachers attributed to practical activities; and the ways in which the teachers incorporated practical activities into their lessons. The findings suggest that it is not enough to address content knowledge, pedagogy and pedagogical content knowledge in teacher education, but that efforts also need to be made to influence prospective primary teachers' identities as scientific thinkers and their emotional commitment to their students' learning of science. Author abstract, ed
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) offers the potential for changing mathematics education for both teachers and students. However, how ICT is used, and by whom, is critical to realising ...this potential. This article reports on an investigation of the use of ICT in the learning and teaching of mathematics in rural and urban primary schools in Victoria, Australia. Thirty-six teachers and almost 700 students were surveyed regarding their use of ICT for mathematics at home and at school, with a small number of selected teachers and students taking part in interviews. This article focuses on students' perceptions of ICT use. A comparison of rural and urban students' responses shows little difference across most aspects of ICT use, and where there was a difference, the frequency of rural use almost always exceeded that in urban schools. Author abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the design and delivery of a lesson study unit in mathematics to pre-service primary teachers and to identify the opportunities and challenges ...resulting from the need to deliver the unit wholly online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachCross-case analysis, using a before-and-after design, was used to compare the development and delivery of the unit in 2019 and 2020, with the pivotal event of interest between the before-and-after cases being the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.FindingsThe content and structure of the unit, as well as its collaborative aspects, remained substantially the same in the before-and-after cases. While there was a low level of engagement with pre-recorded lectures, there was a high level of engagement and participation in the online synchronous seminars, together with a marked increase in overall satisfaction with the unit. Pre-service teachers were unable to teach and observe one another's planned research lessons in school. Instead, after a detailed examination of the task, the lesson plan and student solutions, they observed a pre-recorded video of a research lesson at a local school and participated in a streamed post-lesson discussion. Pre-service teachers regarded this new component as a highlight of the unit and an important connection between the theory and practice of lesson study.Originality/valueThe inclusion of the video-recorded research lesson in 2020 introduced a new level of authenticity for pre-service teachers, allowing them to observe a high quality structured problem solving mathematics lesson taught in a local public school, as part of a local implementation of lesson study-something that is not generally possible. While there is often a view that the benefits of lesson study result mainly from collaborative planning and teaching of the research lesson, this paper highlights the value of involvement for all participants in research lesson observation and post-lesson discussion, as well as the opportunities afforded by the use of “virtual lesson study”.
There is growing worldwide interest in Japanese lesson study as a model for professional learning, with large-scale adaptations of lesson study taking place in many countries. This paper describes ...how teachers and researchers collaborated in a lesson study project carried out in three Victorian schools. It describes Japanese lesson study and the typical structured problem-solving research lesson that forms the basis for lesson study; and discusses how the collaborative planning process and the resulting research lessons, together with the post-lesson discussions, provided teachers and researchers with the opportunity to collaborate in the research process. Author abstract
Cross-cultural comparative research provides a powerful means of achieving better understanding of one’s own practice. This article contrasts exemplary mathematics teaching, as highlighted in this ...special issue on its practice and development in East Asia, with the increasing emphasis on effective teaching in the West. It provides an overview of the papers in this issue and examines the similarities and differences between what is seen as exemplary practice and the ways in which its development is supported in the educational systems represented. It attempts to identify some of the cultural factors that influence our understanding of what constitutes exemplary practice and the possibilities for its development in the East and the West.
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