Discussions of Pedagogy in a Modified Lesson Study Program

• In Event: Poster Session 9
  In Poster Session: Understanding Lesson Study From Different Theoretical Perspectives (Part 1)

Abstract

Given the realities of the United States’ education system, traditional Lesson Study can be logistically challenging to implement at the secondary level (Fernandez, 2002). In particular, when teachers from different schools participate in Lesson Study, live observations may not be possible since teachers would have to travel to observe another teacher’s implementation of the research lesson, resulting in significant time away from their classrooms. Our professional development program combined Lesson Study with Video Clubs (Sherin & Han, 2004), discussions of classroom video clips, to make Lesson Study more viable for high school geometry teachers from different schools. Video cannot fully replace the experience of live classroom observations, but may provide a way to make Lesson Study viable. In the two-year professional development program, five teachers collaboratively planned a research lesson, and then each taught the lesson in their classrooms. The research team video and audio recorded the lessons, including the teacher and student groups. Short video clips from the classroom lessons were shown during monthly Study Group sessions and teachers were provided with the transcript of the video and copies of the students’ worksheets.

Teachers’ noticing of students’ mathematical thinking describes how teachers attend, understand, and respond to students’ thinking in the classroom (Jacobs, Lamb, & Philipp, 2010). Teachers’ ability to notice students’ mathematical thinking is of great importance since what a teacher sees and understands has a profound impact on their instructional choices, and consequently, on student learning. The vast majority of the Video Club conversations centered around teachers working to make sense of students’ actions and comments while working on the problem (Author, Date). During the reflection in traditional Lesson Study, teachers often discuss pedagogy and the lesson in addition to student thinking. This study investigates how Video Clubs can serve as a space for reflection on the research lesson. In particular, we ask, if and how the Video Clubs prompted comments regarding pedagogy or the research lesson?

We examined three Video Clubs from the second year of the program, totaling one hour and six minutes of discussion. Two coders examined the transcripts and videos of the Study Group sessions and independently identified instances where teachers mentioned topics of pedagogy or the research lesson, what prompted the comment or discussion, who initiated the discussion, and who participated in the discussion.

Data analysis showed that the majority of comments regarding pedagogy and the research lesson occurred after detailed analysis of students’ thinking and were initiated by the teachers instead of the facilitators. This demonstrates how the noticing of students’ mathematical thinking and subsequent discussions during a Video Club can be a starting point for reflection similar to a traditional Lesson Study cycle.

This study demonstrates that while video is not the same as live observations in Lesson Study, it can be used in contexts where a traditional Lesson Study can be logistically difficult. Using Video Clubs to examine students’ mathematical thinking still provides teachers with the opportunity to explore and discuss pedagogy and the research lesson.

Authors

• Lisa Skultety, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Gabriela Elizabeth Vargas, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Gloriana Gonzalez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign