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1 – 10 of over 2000Vaughan Michell and Jane McKenzie
To increase the spread and reuse of lessons learned (LLs), the purpose of this paper is to develop a standardised information structure to facilitate concise capture of the…
Abstract
Purpose
To increase the spread and reuse of lessons learned (LLs), the purpose of this paper is to develop a standardised information structure to facilitate concise capture of the critical elements needed to engage secondary learners and help them apply lessons to their contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
Three workshops with industry practitioners, an analysis of over 60 actual lessons from private and public sector organisations and seven practitioner interviews provided evidence of actual practice. Design science was used to develop a repeatable/consistent information model of LL content/structure. Workshop analysis and theory provided the coding template. Situation theory and normative analysis were used to define the knowledge and rule logic to standardise fields.
Findings
Comparing evidence from practice against theoretical prescriptions in the literature highlighted important enhancements to the standard LL model. These were a consistent/concise rule and context structure, appropriate emotional language, reuse and control criteria to ensure lessons were transferrable and reusable in new situations.
Research limitations/implications
Findings are based on a limited sample. Long-term benefits of standardisation and use need further research. A larger sample/longitudinal usage study is planned.
Practical implications
The implementation of the LL structure was well-received in one government user site and other industry user sites are pending. Practitioners validated the design logic for improving capture and reuse of lessons to render them easily translatable to a new learner’s context.
Originality/value
The new LL structure is uniquely grounded in user needs, developed from existing best practice and is an original application of normative and situation theory to provide consistent rule logic for context/content structure.
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This chapter explores the use of three different approaches to capturing other perspectives in lesson study: lesson artefacts, pupil voice and pupil participatory approaches…
Abstract
This chapter explores the use of three different approaches to capturing other perspectives in lesson study: lesson artefacts, pupil voice and pupil participatory approaches. Lesson artefacts and pupil voice appear to be the more common, whereas pupil participatory approaches are more recent initiatives in a lesson study context. Observation of pupils provides one perspective, but is limited because, among other things, it does not include the pupils’ perspectives. These approaches, especially when used together in triangulation, can provide a broader and potentially deeper understanding of pupil learning.
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This article aims to explore, by drawing on, and coordinating and combining Cultural Historical Activity Theory and Community of Practice theoretical perspectives, what we might…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to explore, by drawing on, and coordinating and combining Cultural Historical Activity Theory and Community of Practice theoretical perspectives, what we might learn about how to design for Lesson Study that best supports both collective and individual learning.
Design/methodology/approach
The article primarily makes a theoretical contribution. It does, however, draw on, and is informed by, the design of a large-scale study that sought to improve teaching and learning in mathematics with the particular aim of improving grades of post-16 learners in national examinations in England. Lesson Study was central to the designed intervention and such design is explored from the two theoretical perspectives.
Findings
Theoretical analysis suggests how the careful design of Lesson Study can facilitate both individual and collective learning in terms of the theories networked here. In particular, it is suggested that supporting collective learning requires careful attention to how “disturbances” in activity systems need to be designed for rather than being left to chance and how architectures that can support individual learning in terms of identity development should pay attention to supporting emerging practices as well as defining what is non-negotiable.
Originality/value
The article takes a novel approach by coordinating and combining two different, and well established, theoretical approaches, which, significantly, are used quite widely in social science research. Together they provide a rich view of learning at both individual and collective levels and suggest ways in which we might better support design for Lesson Study.
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Geoffrey Mark Ferres and Robert C. Moehler
Effective project learning can prevent projects from repeating the same mistakes; however, knowledge codification is required for project-to-project learning to be up-scaled…
Abstract
Purpose
Effective project learning can prevent projects from repeating the same mistakes; however, knowledge codification is required for project-to-project learning to be up-scaled across the temporal, geographical and organisational barriers that constrain personalised learning. This paper explores the state of practice for the structuring of codified project learnings as concrete boundary objects with the capacity to enable externalised project-to-project learning across complex boundaries. Cross-domain reconceptualisation is proposed to enable further research and support the future development of standardised recommendations for boundary objects that can enable project-to-project learning at scale.
Design/methodology/approach
An integrative literature review method has been applied, considering knowledge, project learning and boundary object scholarship as state-of-practice sources.
Findings
It is found that the extensive body of boundary object literature developed over the last three decades has not yet examined the internal structural characteristics of concrete boundary objects for project-to-project learning and boundary-spanning capacity. Through a synthesis of the dispersed structural characteristic recommendations that have been made across examined domains, a reconceptualised schema of 30 discrete characteristics associated with boundary-spanning capacity for project-to-project learning is proposed to support further investigation.
Originality/value
This review makes a novel contribution as a first cross-domain examination of the internal structural characteristics of concrete boundary objects for project-to-project learning. The authors provide directions for future research through the reconceptualisation of a novel schema and the identification of important and previously unidentified research gaps.
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Marja G. Bertrand and Immaculate K. Namukasa
Certain researchers have expressed concerns about inequitable discipline representations in an integrated STEM/STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) unit…
Abstract
Purpose
Certain researchers have expressed concerns about inequitable discipline representations in an integrated STEM/STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) unit that may limit what students gain in terms of depth of knowledge and understanding. To address this concern, the authors investigate the stages of integrated teaching units to explore the ways in which STEAM programs can provide students with a deeper learning experience in mathematics. This paper addresses the following question: what learning stages promote a deeper understanding and more meaningful learning experience of mathematics in the context of STEAM education?
Design/methodology/approach
The authors carried out a qualitative case study and collected the following data: interviews, lesson observations and analyses of curriculum documents. The authors took a sample of four different STEAM programs in Ontario, Canada: two at nonprofit organizations and two at in-school research sites.
Findings
The findings contribute to a curriculum and instructional model which ensures that mathematics curriculum expectations are more explicit and targeted, in both the learning expectations and assessment criteria, and essential to the STEAM learning tasks. The findings have implications for planning and teaching STEAM programs.
Originality/value
The authors derived four stages of the STEAM Maker unit or lesson from the analysis of data collected from the four sites, which the authors present in this paper. These four stages offer a model for a more robust integrated curriculum focusing on a deeper understanding of mathematics curriculum content.
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In an age of educational reform which incentivises increased digitisation and standardisation, teachers are expected to embrace the rise of ‘new’ tools and pedagogies with limited…
Abstract
In an age of educational reform which incentivises increased digitisation and standardisation, teachers are expected to embrace the rise of ‘new’ tools and pedagogies with limited agency to inform, question or direct what ‘newness’ must be brought into their classrooms. Drawing on my research with English as a Foreign Language (EFL) educators in South Africa and using an ‘excessive entitlement’ lens, I showcase how teachers' lack of agency can result in ‘defensive’ and ‘coercive’ practices in the classroom which are a far cry from the education transformation imagined according to either global and local imaginaries for teaching and learning. If we are interested in an educational revolution, I argue that a fundamental reorientation in education recognising teachers' agency in informing change is necessary. To do so requires theoretically driven intervention methodologies which view the competing demands placed on teachers as entry points to developing their agency and volition to find practices which work for them and their students in the classroom. To that end, I illustrate how Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) informed interventions like Change Laboratories could aid in this fundamental repositioning for teachers regarding transformational efforts and their far-reaching potential for educational revolution becoming conscious of and overcoming their feelings of excessive entitlement.
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This paper presents emerging findings from an ongoing research project which aimed to explore online lesson study (OLS) as a vehicle for teacher collaborative professional…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents emerging findings from an ongoing research project which aimed to explore online lesson study (OLS) as a vehicle for teacher collaborative professional learning.
Design/methodology/approach
Two parallel OLS cycles with two OLS teams were facilitated by the author using Zoom and Google Drive as digital collaborative tools. Each OLS team comprised three primary teachers who taught in three different schools, with both teams' research lessons taking cross-curricular science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) focus. In order to explore the influence of OLS on teachers' collaborative professional learning outcomes in STEM, a qualitative case study approach was adopted, with data drawn and thematically analysed from OLS meeting transcripts, semi-structured interviews with teachers and the author's reflective diary. Boundary crossing is used as a theoretical lens to ascertain the potential of OLS as a vehicle for teacher collaborative professional learning.
Findings
Findings suggest that OLS facilitated collaborative learning and positively contributed to teacher participants' co-construction of knowledge in relation to STEM teaching approaches.
Originality/value
The study described in this paper represents the first OLS conducted in the Irish context and also represents the first inter-school lesson study (LS) conducted in the Irish primary context.
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This paper aims to explore the extent to which knowledge management practices, that is the process of developing and sharing organisational knowledge, can enhance intellectual…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the extent to which knowledge management practices, that is the process of developing and sharing organisational knowledge, can enhance intellectual capital (IC) in the context of school education.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-method approach was adopted as the research strategy. A cross-sectional quantitative survey was conducted to collect data from 445 teachers at 13 primary schools in Hong Kong. A structural equation model (SEM) was applied to confirm the predictive effective of knowledge strategies on school IC. Interviews were conducted in a case school to explore the process for capitalising the knowledge by Lesson Study.
Findings
The result of the SEM shows that personalisation and codification strategies are predictors of human capital and structural capital at schools. The findings from interviews with the principals and teachers show that personalisation and codification strategies could be put into operation as a Lesson Study to leverage knowledge for school development.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the management practices of school organisation for enhancing their IC by conducting Lesson Study for the development of their schools effectively.
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Jack Theodoulou and Jen Scott Curwood
Videogames are complex, meaningful and multimodal texts. This study aims to explore how students could learn about narratives from, and be engaged by, playing a videogame and how…
Abstract
Purpose
Videogames are complex, meaningful and multimodal texts. This study aims to explore how students could learn about narratives from, and be engaged by, playing a videogame and how a teacher adapted their pedagogy to incorporate the young adult videogame (YA game) What Remains of Edith Finch into an English Language Arts curriculum.
Design/methodology/approach
This case study examined the experiences of a classroom teacher and students in a Year 10 English class in Australia. Thematic analysis included a wide range of data, including interviews, surveys, observations and artefacts.
Findings
First, students demonstrated a strong understanding of the game as a narrative text, including essential components of narrative such as plot, characterisation, themes, settings and literary techniques. Second, students experienced a consistently high level of engagement and embodiment throughout the study as a consequence of the interactive, collaborative and multimodal nature of YA games. Third, the teacher discovered that he was able to achieve key curriculum outcomes with the videogame through re-imagining pedagogy.
Originality/value
A playful approach allows teachers and students to be curious about the diverse narrative pathways possible within YA games and offers new opportunities to experience embodiment within and through digital texts.
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