Primary Grades Math Education
Educate Yourself: A Cross Country Comparison
Japan - Lesson Study
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
“In Japan, the core idea of LS is its enquiry stance; when working on LS the teachers have a shared focus, a research question, this could be around issues central to the school or topics that are difficult to teach”
(Archer, 2016, p. 36).
What is Lesson Study?
Lesson Study is a teaching methodology that originated in Japan. A very specific process, lesson study is used across ages and subjects, but is especially common in elementary school education (Groves, Doig, Vale, and Widjaja, 2016, p. 502). Lesson study is identified by a very specific process that involves collaborative planning among educators and interaction among students. This usually involves a cycle for teaching of collaborating and studying goals, creating a plan, conducting the lesson, reflecting, and then going through the cycle again.
Lesson study is very much a moment of enquiry for students. Students engage with the problem they are presented, working to find a solution and experimenting with learning.
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A typical mathematics lesson study lesson begins with the teacher presenting a problem to students. This is followed by time for students to engage in problem solving, followed by sharing and discussion time, and finalized with the teacher summing up the problem and lesson.
The Lesson Study Process
Different websites and researchers may describe the specific stages of lesson study in various manners, but the baseline remains the same. Lesson study is characterized by teachers discussing goals, researching a problem, collaborating, presenting the problem, enacting the lesson, and reflecting in a conclusion discussion. Before presenting the lesson, teachers meet together and collaborate, discussing what they want students to learn, what questions to ask, and how to propel learning to reach these goals. During the research lesson, students solve one problem, but interact with the problem in a memorable way.
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Step 1: Research and Create Goals
In the first step of lesson study teachers “consider long-term goals for student learning and development; study curriculum and standards, identify a topic of interest” (Fujii, 2013, p. 3). Teachers research topics and what they want their students to learn.
Step 2: Plan
Next, teachers meet together and collaborate. They bounce ideas off of each other and plan a lesson. A teacher may create a lesson and bring it to get teacher feedback, or they may create a plan together. Either way, this is a very collaborative section of lesson study. Teachers work together to select or revise a lesson and decide what will be the best implementation for their students. The lesson plan they write will usually include “long-term goals, anticipated student thinking, data collection, a model of a learning trajectory, and a rationale for the chosen approach” (Fujii, 2013, p. 3).
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Step 3: Conduct the Research Lesson
Phase 1: Present a problem to students (5-10 minutes)
This process excludes the teacher explaining how to solve the problem, or complete the task. Instead, the teacher presents the issue that they want students to solve and perhaps what it would mean to solve the problem.
Phase 2: Problem Solving (10-20 minutes)
Problem solving usually involves students working independently, searching for solutions to the problem with which they have been presented.
Phase 3: Comparison and Discussion (10-20 minutes)
Most problems are multidimensional, meaning there is more than one way to solve them. During this third phase of the lesson, students discuss how they solved the problem, and what their conclusions are. Students are given this opportunity to see how their peers interacted with the problem, and to learn from each other.
Phase 4: Teacher Follow-up (5-10 minutes)
During this time, the teacher concludes the lesson, adding to the discussion and discussing which strategy may be the best option. The teacher may also present alternative options and/or include an explanation of what the problem means and entails.
Step 4: Conclusion Discussion and Reflection
Some researchers may split this up into two steps, or consolidate it, but either way each aspect is essential. Teachers using Japanese lesson study are not just teaching the lesson and moving on, while the lesson is over, the process is not yet complete until teachers have met again in a formal post-lesson discussion where they will “share data from the lesson to illuminate student learning, discrepancies in content, lesson and unit design, and broader issues in teaching and learning” (Fujii, 2013, p. 4) as well as discussing aspects to consider with future planning.
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Lesson Study and Government
The lesson study approach in Japan is not government funded, and is not a mandatory system such as those in numerous other countries (Groves et al., 2016, p. 502). Instead, lesson study is incorporated by the teachers. It is the teachers who evaluate whether this is the best learning option for their students and take the steps towards implementation. The Japanese government has a trusting attitude toward its teachers, trusting them to make the appropriate decisions for their students.
Teachers
Lesson study is a very involved process for teachers, as it involves dedication, collaboration, and extra effort. Unlike countries where teachers follow the textbook closely, “the teachers [in Japan] seem to appreciate how the textbook encourages the development of mathematical thinking but instead of relying on them exclusively when teaching, they use them as a starting point” (Archer, 2016, p. 38).
Teachers discuss prior to the lesson, putting their time and energy preparing a lesson. They do not plan for every minute detail, but instead work flexibly, adapting to each new and unexpected situation, instead of following a concrete, step by step plan. Teachers in Japan have more freedom to experiment with different techniques and methods, to discover what works best for their students.
Lesson Study in Other Countries
In most recent years, the past two decades, lesson study has gained popularity and mention across the world, attracting the attention of the public. lesson study is a unique method with which to structure lessons, and is success draws appeal. However, there has been markedly low success.
Many countries have tried to implement lesson study approaches based off of those in Japan. While lesson study is so successful in Japan, there has been variation in successes by alternative cultures. When attempting to implement the techniques of a different culture it is important to not only look at the specific skills and techniques that are involved in implementation, but also the cultural variables; “it is harder than we think to import a routine developed in one culture and in one educational system into countries with different cultures and different systems” (Stigler and Hiebert, 2016, p. 581).
Some schools have tried to implement a full lesson study routine, while others have chosen specific parts or elements (Stigler and Hiebert, 2016, p. 582). Lesson study adaptations have occurred in a majority of U.S. states, in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, South-East Asia, South America, many African Countries, and Australia.
Lesson Study History
Lesson study first came to light in Japan in the nineteenth century. The lesson study process has become normal in Japan, part of the culture. Due to the naturality of lesson study in Japan, it can be difficult to discern the individual factors that go into making lesson study work. Educators outside of Japan have not learned about lesson study in as natural of a manner, making it harder to imagine and understand the process that is lesson study.
Resources:
Archer, R. (2016). Lesson Study, a trip to Japan. Mathematics Teaching, (250), 36-40.
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Fujii, T. (2016). Designing and adapting tasks in lesson planning: a critical process of Lesson Study. Zdm, 48(4), 411-423. doi:10.1007/s11858-016-0770-3
Fujii, T. (2014). Implementing Japanese lesson study in foreign countries: misconceptions revealed. Mathematics Teacher Education & Development, 16(1), 2-18.
Groves, S., Doig, B., Vale, C., & Widjaja, W. (2016). Critical factors in the adaptation and implementation of Japanese Lesson Study in the Australian context. Zdm, 48(4), 501-512. doi:10.1007/s11858-016-0786-8
Hart, L. C., Alston, A. S., & Murata, A. (Eds.). (2011). Lesson study research and practice in mathematics education: Learning together (pp. 1-30). N.p.: Springer Science and Business Media. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=wDALFNMKcf4C&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=lesson+study+graph&source=bl&ots=_1eit-i5OI&sig=b-hvKbbWDJJ12m3RsxgqtvzaS9Y&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiF7rmM3ZXTAhWERiYKHfnUAAsQ6AEISzAM#
Inoue, N. (2011). Zen and the art of neriage: Facilitating consensus building in mathematics inquiry lessons through lesson study. Journal Of Mathematics Teacher Education, 14(1), 5-23. doi:10.1007/s10857-010-9150-z
Lewis, C. (2016). How does lesson study improve mathematics instruction?. Zdm, 48(4), 571-580. doi:10.1007/s11858-016-0792-x
Miyakawa, T., & Winsløw, C. (2013). Developing mathematics teacher knowledge: the paradidactic infrastructure of 'open lesson' in Japan. Journal Of Mathematics Teacher Education, 16(3), 185-209. doi:10.1007/s10857-013-9236-5
Saito, E. (2012). Key issues of lesson study in Japan and the United States: a literature review. Professional Development In Education, 38(5), 777-789. doi:10.1080/19415257.2012.668857
Stigler, J., & Hiebert, J. (2016). Lesson study, improvement, and the importing of cultural routines. Zdm, 48(4), 581-587. doi:10.1007/s11858-016-0787-7
Takahashi, A., & Mcdougal, T. (2016). Collaborative lesson research: maximizing the impact of lesson study. Zdm, 48(4), 513-526. doi:10.1007/s11858-015-0752-x
