Tag: lesson study

Lesson Study Research and Practice

Lesson Study originated in Japan 140 years ago. It is the main professional development activity of their teachers. Since the release of J.W. Stigler’s The Teaching Gap which compares math teaching practices in Japan and Germany with those in the United States, many countries have adapted this educational activity for their teachers. The book  Lesson Study Research and Practice in Mathematics Education: Learning Together presents the first collection of research studies from various countries which adapted this professional learning activity.

The following excerpt from the book describes the key characteristics of lesson study.

Characteristics of Lesson Study

  1. Lesson Study is centred around teachers’ interests: Teachers’ interests are central to their professional development. Lesson study goals should be something teachers feel is important to investigate and relevant to their own classroom practice.
  2. Lesson study is student focussed: Lesson study is about student learning. At any part of the lesson study cycle (see Figure below), the activities should focus teachers’ attention to student learning and its connection to lessons/teaching.
  3. Lesson study has a research lesson: Teachers have shared physical observation experiences (in some special cases, video may be used in place of the live lessons, but this is not recommended), that provide opportunities for teachers to be researchers.
  4. Lesson study is a reflective process: Lesson study provides plenty of time and opportunities for teachers to reflect on their teaching practice and student learning, and the knowledge gained from and for the reflective practice should be shared in some format with larger teaching and educational communities.
  5. Lesson study is collaborative: Teachers work interdependently and collaboratively in lesson study.
The Lesson Study Process

The stages in lesson study is iterative as shown in the figure below:

The Lesson Study Process
The Lesson Study Process

What is design-based research methodology?

Design-based research as described by Wang and Hannafin is “a systematic but flexible research methodology aiming at improving practice through iterative processes of analysis, design and revision in real-world settings”. In this approach, the refinement of practical products works hand-in hand with the refinement of theory.

My interest in this research methodology is its similarity with the Lesson Study process which although considered more as as model of professional development for teachers but is also a rich context for investigating learning objects, students learning and teacher learning.

Design research is conducted iteratively as a collaboration between researchers and practitioners in a real-world setting. Each iteration or cycle contributes to sharpening the aims and bringing the interventions closer to the desired design outcomes and research outputs. These outputs are of course the design principles and empirically underpinned innovative interventions.

Van den Akker emphasizes the following six features of design and development research:

  1. Interventionist: the research aims at designing an intervention in a real-world setting.
  2. Iterative: the research incorporates cycles of analysis, design and development, evaluation and revision.
  3. Involvement of practitioners: active participation of practitioners in the various stages and activities of the research.
  4. Process oriented: the focus is on understanding and improving interventions (a black box model of input – output measurement is avoided).
  5. Utility oriented: the merit of a design is measured, in part on its practicality for users in real contexts.
  6. Theory oriented: the design is (at least partly) based on a conceptual framework and upon theoretical propositions, whilst the systematic evaluation of consecutive prototypes of the intervention contributes to theory building (Van den Akker et al., 2006, p. 5).

Reference
Van den Akker, J., Gravemeijer, K., McKenney, S. and Nieveen, N. (Eds) (2006), Educational Design Research, Routledge, London.

Wang, F. and Hannafin, M. (2005), “Design-based research and technology-enhanced learning environments”, ETR&D, Vol. 53 No. 4, pp. 5-23.

You may want to read:

The Teaching Gap: Best Ideas from the World’s Teachers for Improving Education in the Classroom

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