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The purpose of this paper is to understand what physics and chemistry preservice teachers learn on the nature of the inquiry tasks and about classroom communication in an inquiry task when they take part in a lesson study.

This is a qualitative and interpretive research which was carried out within a master’s degree course in physics and chemistry teaching with three preservice teachers. Data were collected from participant observation with video recording, interviews, written reflections and group report by the preservice teachers. This two-cycle lesson study was conducted over 12 sessions. The data analysis took place through asking questions and using the constant comparison method, which allowed the identification of the most relevant issues about the preservice teachers learning according to the categories nature of the inquiry tasks and communication promoted by the teacher.

The results show that the preservice teachers learnt to identify the characteristics of inquiry tasks, how to develop an inquiry task when planning the research lesson and acknowledged its potential for student learning. Moreover, the preservice teachers acknowledged the fact that the classroom communication promoted by the teacher fostered student participation, negotiation of meanings about scientific concepts and construction of new learning that can be shared within the class.

Research is needed as regards how initial teacher education providers may contribute to the learning of preservice teachers in lesson study in initial teacher education programmes.

This research contributes to show potentialities of lesson study in the initial teacher education of preservice physics and chemistry teachers.

It has been proposed that lesson study creates joint and sharable knowledge products in terms of lesson plans that could be used and developed by other teachers in other school contexts (Morris and Hiebert). The purpose of this paper is to report on a study with the aim of examining how such a knowledge product produced in a Hong Kong school could be communicated and appropriated by a group of Swedish teachers.

A report from a successful Learning Study – a revised version of lesson study, based on a theoretical framework of learning – was brought to a group of three teachers. On the basis of this report, they planned and conducted two lessons in their own classes. The analysis draws on data from three of six video recorded lessons and was framed within a variation theory perspective. The focus of the analysis was on the object of learning.

It was found that the Swedish teachers used the documented Hong Kong lessons as a resource. They adapted the insights gained by the Hong Kong teachers to the specific group of learners and other conditions in the Swedish context.

The article is a contribution to the discussion about teachers as knowledge producers (c.f. Stenhouse).

Over the last 15 years, Japanese lesson study has attracted growing interest as an alternative to conventional teacher professional development. Despite its popularity and results, the descriptive knowledge base of authentic lesson study in Japan is still limited to a few cases from elementary math and science teachers. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the expansion of the lesson study descriptive knowledge base by offering a first-hand account of two American educators’ experience with lesson study at the secondary level while working as licensed teachers in a Japanese school.

Using an autoethnographic case study methodology, the authors document their personal experience working through a complete lesson study cycle with a ninth grade English course in Japan, systematically reconstructed from field texts and deliberate co-construction techniques.

The paper describes significant cognitive and socio-cultural adjustments that were required to participate in the process, and highlights essential skills and mindsets for lesson study: fashioning a coherent lesson storyline, articulating and testing working hypotheses, relying on evidence to guide planning and reflection, embracing collective ownership of improvement, and persisting with problems over time.

This first-hand account provides a distinctive inside look at lesson study from an American perspective and offers a rare description of Japan-based lesson study at the secondary level. The detailed records and insights contribute to researchers and practitioners emerging understanding of prerequisite skills for lesson study.

This study aims to develop a self-reflection scale useful for teachers to improve their skills and to clarify the Japanese teachers’ characteristics during mathematics lesson observation (MLO). In MLO, it is important to understand the lesson plan in advance to clarify observation points, and we aim to develop a scale including these points.

Based on the pre-questionnaire survey, nine perspectives and two situations for MLO were extracted. From these, a questionnaire for MLO was created. The results obtained from 161 teachers were examined, and exploratory factor analysis was conducted. ANOVA was conducted to analyze the effect of differences across the duration of teaching experience on the identified factors.

We developed a self-reflection scale consisting of 14 items with three factors: [B1] focus on instructional techniques and evaluation, [B2] focus on proactive problem-solving lesson development and [B3] focus on the mathematical background of the learning content. While duration of teaching experience showed no effect, three factors of the self-reflection scale for MLO showed a significant effect. Further multiple comparisons revealed the degree of focus was [B2]>[B1]>[B3].

Teachers who use this developed scale may grasp the strengths and weaknesses of their own MLO, which leads to self-improvement. The perspectives emphasized in lesson observation are the same when creating lesson plans and implementing lessons, leading to lesson improvement. Furthermore, based on the characteristics of teachers revealed, new training programs regarding MLO can lead to higher-quality lesson studies.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate the learning of individual teachers participating in lesson study collaboration by adapting a participatory framework about teacher learning; and second, to investigate the potential of this framework compared with other approaches used in lesson study research.

The authors use collective case studies. By being participant observers the authors provide detailed descriptions of two selected teachers’ lived experiences of lesson study collaboration. In addition to gain first-hand insights, the authors conducted interviews before, between and after two rounds of lesson studies, and recorded the various lesson study activities.

This paper provides empirical insights into the complexity of teacher learning. By using the participatory framework, the authors identify significant shifts in the participation of each of the two teachers during a two-year lesson study project. By comparing these shifts the authors identify significant conditions for their individual learning.

Although the study is small scale, both the insights into the different ways in which teachers participated and the theoretical insights might be valuable for other lesson study research approaches.

This paper provides valuable insights into conditions that might influence teachers’ participation in lesson study activities, especially in cultures with little experience of lesson study.

This paper fulfils a need to investigate individual teachers’ learning in lesson study collaborations. It also contributes to deeper theoretical understandings of teacher learning which have been called for in recent lesson study research.

The paper focuses on lesson study, which generally engages the collaborative work of a group of teachers, as implemented with a primary school art teacher who had limited opportunities for collaboration. Through lesson study, the teacher worked closely with a lesson study facilitator and an art education expert to plan a research lesson. The study explores how this collaboration generated cognitive conflicts and eventually teacher change.

This paper presents a case study using a thematic approach to data analysis. The lesson study involved weekly face-to-face meetings and daily online communications over a period of eight weeks. In an attempt to reflect upon and resolve conflicts, the teacher kept a journal in which the teacher wrote down lengthy accounts of the discussions with knowledgeable others, the teacher’s struggles and ways of resolving these. Data were complemented by the different lesson plan versions, the post-lesson discussions and a detailed report documenting the lesson study process.

The paper provides insights into the role that cognitive conflicts play for teacher change. Through ongoing communication, reflection and support to resolve conflicts, the teacher recognised more collaborative opportunities for professional development, freed from rigid lesson planning practices and reported a new conceptualisation to teaching.

Drawing on the literature about effective teacher professional learning, the paper offers implications for supporting teacher change.

This paper provides insights into how lesson study may provide conditions that enable teachers' cognitive conflict and facilitate their consequent resolution.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the lesson study (LS) processes and evaluate their effectiveness in Japanese elementary and secondary (middle and high) schools, through a school survey by the National Institute for Educational Policy Research of Japan (NIER).

The authors randomly selected 1,000 elementary schools and 1,000 middle schools and 500 high schools in Japan. Survey items are methods of LS, and indicators of building professional learning communities (PLC) through LSs, close communication between teachers, high quality instruction by teachers, and test scores of students of the school.

Based on the school survey in elementary and middle schools, almost all schools set up a school‐wide committee, a research theme, and a schedule for LS, and LSs were implemented as part of a school‐wide lesson study from which an action research report is produced. On the other hand, in high schools, almost all the schools implemented LSs, but each LS is independent and implemented specifically for the professional development of the individual teacher who undertakes the research lesson. The authors consider LS as a way to facilitate a PLC in the school. There are correlations between the methods of LS and the indicators of a PLC in elementary and middle schools. However, the effectiveness of LS differs between elementary and middle schools. With respect to the research theme and the organization and discussion of lesson plans, LS methods in middle schools are developed into LS methods in elementary schools. The LS methods may be developed gradually both in elementary and middle schools.

Statistical data of LS in Japanese elementary and secondary schools are presented for the first time, demonstrating the effectiveness of LS.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which an intervention lesson could help with elementary pre-service teachers’ critical racial knowledge around school segregation.

The author, an Elementary Social Studies Methods Instructor, developed and modeled lessons of “doing race” in social studies as one of the ways to assist elementary pre-service teachers with critical racial knowledge and commitment to do race in their future classrooms. This paper focuses on one of the modeled lessons, which centered on the topic of school segregation.

Based on the analysis of class discussion and student work, the author documented the ways in which the modeled lesson engaged pre-service teachers in disrupting the dominant discourses and teaching practices on the topic of school segregation and developing the critical understandings needed to successfully teach about race and racism in elementary classrooms.

The paper details actions meant to demonstrate to elementary pre-service teachers the benefits of an elementary social studies topic viewed and taught through a critical race lens. In doing so, it calls attention to the possibilities and limitations of a single lesson that targets antiracist practices.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the early implementation of a model of mathematics teacher development in Italian schools, inspired by Chinese lesson study (CLS), focusing on similarities and differences.

A research lesson study on fractions in the fourth grade was conducted. The approach was designed based on the theory of semiotic mediation (TSM) enriched by means of quaternary analysis and the variation pedagogy of CLS. In this study, qualitative methods were employed involving the collection of data including lesson plans, observations and post-lesson analyses.

The purpose of this study is to determine what works and what does not work in the Italian context. Answers to the following research questions are provided: How did LS incorporate quaternary analysis and variation pedagogy in the TSM? How and why were changes introduced in the structure of the lesson plan with respect to the CLS? How did members of the Italian Mathematics Teaching Research Group increase their knowledge of teaching methods and content?

The issues to be considered in further studies include the possible conflicts emerging between the cultures of teaching in China and Italy and the way to overcome them.

The main ideas of CLS are consistent with the general indications of the Italian Ministry of Education for the three-year program (2016-2019) of mandatory teacher development.

Reporting the findings of an Italian LS is aimed at exploring the differences and similarities among the different forms of LS, under the influence of cultural and institutional constraints.

This study reports on changes made within the study, plan, teach and reflect steps of lesson study with pre-service teachers who were learning to teach within a disciplinary literacy course.

Using methods associated with formative experiments and design-based research, this study gathered data over four iterations of the disciplinary literacy course. Data included the course materials, pre-service teachers’ written work, observational notes from research lessons, transcripts of post-lesson discussions and teacher-educators’ analysis sessions and pre-service teachers’ post-program interviews. Data were analyzed within and across iterations.

Initial adjustments to the lesson study process focused on the reflect step, as we learned to better scaffold pre-service teachers sharing of observational data from research lessons. Later adjustments occurred in the study and plan steps, as we refined the design of four-day lesson sequences that better supported pre-service teachers’ attention to disciplinary literacy while providing room for their instructional mentors to provide specific team-based feedback. Adjustments to the teach step included reteaching and more explicit attention to literacy objectives.

This paper contributes to the literature by explicitly applying formative experiment and design-based research methods to the implementation of lesson study with pre-service teachers. Furthermore, it contributes examples of lesson study within a disciplinary literacy context, expanding the examples of lesson study’s applicability across content areas.