Lesson study as a research approach: a case study

Susanne Jansen,Wouter R Van Joolingen,Marie-Christine P.J Knippels

doi:10.1108/ijlls-12-2020-0098

Susanne Jansen, Wouter R Van Joolingen + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1108/ijlls-12-2020-0098

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Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the merits of lesson study (LS) as a research approach for research in (science) education. A lesson was developed to introduce students to model-based reasoning: a higher order thinking skill that is seen as one of the major reasoning strategies in science.Design/methodology/approachParticipants of the LS team were three secondary school teachers and two educational researchers. Additionally, one participant fulfilled both roles. Both qualitative and quantitative data were used to investigate the effect of the developed lesson on students and to formulate focal points for using the LS as a research approach.FindingsThe developed lesson successfully familiarized students with model-based reasoning. Three main focal points were formulated for using LS as a research approach: (1) make sure that the teachers support the research question that the researchers bring into the LS cycle, (2) take into account that the lesson is supposed to answer a research question that might cause extra stress for the teachers in an LS team and (3) state the role of both researchers and teachers in an LS team clearly at the beginning of the LS cycle.Originality/valueThis study aims to investigate whether LS can be used as a research approach by the educational research community.

Highlights

Lesson study (LS) is known as an approach in which a team of teachers collaborates to target an area of development in students’ learning by designing, teaching, observing and evaluating lessons (Fernandez and Yoshida, 2008)
Since LS often focusses on teacher professional development, with teachers investigating their own practice, research on LS often has focussed on what teachers learn from LS (e.g. Schipper et al, 2017; Vermunt et al, 2019) or how LS can be implemented in schools (e.g. Chichibu and Kihara, 2013)
To explore whether LS has potential as an approach addressing research questions on higher order thinking, we present a case study in which LS is used as a research approach to develop teaching and learning activities that address the higher order thinking skill of modelbased reasoning

Summary

Introduction

Lesson study (LS) is known as an approach in which a team of teachers collaborates to target an area of development in students’ learning by designing, teaching, observing and evaluating lessons (Fernandez and Yoshida, 2008). Studies have shown that classrooms provide powerful, practice-based contexts in which teachers learn ways to support student learning LS has been proved to make the teachers more aware of students’ thinking processes (Verhoef and Tall, 2011) and to enhance student learning (e.g. Ming Cheung and Yee Wong, 2014). Since LS often focusses on teacher professional development, with teachers investigating their own practice, research on LS often has focussed on what teachers learn from LS The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/ legalcode

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