Post-lesson Discussions Research Articles

An aid for teachers to teach science and technology concepts: two studies to test the three-domain model

Helping teachers to move away from a linear approach to teaching, encouraging them to collect knowledge together with their students as well as providing them support to do this are the fundamental issues that this paper wants to explore. In this paper a pilot test of a model designed to help teachers’ plan and teach concepts in science and technology education is presented. The three-domain model (Koski et al. in Des Technol Educ Int J 16:50–61, 2011) suggests that while teaching science and technology lessons, teachers might benefit from paying more attention to three domains; social context, concrete object and abstract knowledge, and furthermore, constantly moving between these. Although the development of the three-domain model is based on real teaching situations, it is not self-evident that the model can be used as such in practice. Two teachers tested the model in their classrooms in order to see if the model helps them in planning a lesson, and if the teachers (and their students) benefit from the approach. The analysis is based on the pre- and post-lesson discussions with the teachers, lesson plans made by the teachers and observations made during the lesson. Analysis revealed that the teachers kept on looking for appropriate moments to bring more insights to the topic and they would have missed those moments without thinking in terms of the model. The model helped the teachers to seek for opportunities for the students to communicate their understanding. The use of the model also introduced them to a non-linear teaching method and to the profits of applying such. The study concludes that both teachers benefited from using the model; in their preparation of the lesson as well as during the lesson.

A Lesson Study Approach to Improving a Biology Lesson

Lesson Study is a collaborative, cyclical and continuing professional development process, aiming at improving a lesson through critical reflection. This research is based on three cycles of Lesson Study conducted during a four-week workshop in Japan for 10 South African mathematics and science educators. A sub-group developed and refined a high school biology lesson on the blood circulatory system. The final goal of the process was to present the improved lesson in a real biology classroom in a Japanese high school. Two questions are explored in this research, ‘As the Lesson Study cycles are repeated, how does the focus of the discussion change and to what extent does the quality of reflection in terms of insight and substance increase?’, and ‘In what way, if at all, does the discussion contribute to the improvement of the lesson?’ In this research, we analysed the transcripts of three post-lesson discussions, one for each cycle of Lesson Study. The results indicate that both the focus of discussion and the quality of reflection changed depending on social context, hierarchical power relations among participants, and the perceived purpose of the session. Moreover, they show how certain comments contributed directly to improvements to the lesson. The results are discussed in the light of the theoretical conceptualisation of reflection used to analyse the data. We make some practical proposals as to how to enhance educators' participation in team lesson planning and improvement.

How Reflective are Lesson Study Discussion Sessions? Developing an Instrument to Analyze Collective Reflection

The purpose of this paper is to report on the development of an instrument designed to measure the topics and levels of reflection that occur during the post-lesson discussions of the lesson study cycle. The main elements of lesson study are: Collaborative design of lessons or units of study Execution of the design with observation Reflection on the product with a view to its improvement It is seen as a cyclical process in that the reflection stage leads to a renewed collaboration on the design of an improved lesson or unit. Hence the quality of the reflection stage is seen as crucial to the success of the enterprise. The literature on definitions of reflection and on levels and topics of reflection was reviewed to provide a starting point for the development of the instrument. Initial categories of both levels and topics of reflection were developed by analyzing transcripts of post-lesson discussion sessions using a grounded approach. These initial categories were then further refined by analyzing some additional post-lesson discussion transcripts. Finally the developed instrument was applied to the transcript of a discussion that occurred in an Indonesian school to establish its usefulness and sensitivity.

Lesson Study: Still a Work in Progress in America

The postlesson discussion in Japanese lesson study—arguably the most important component—is underused in American teaching.

Lesson Study Comes of Age in North America

Lesson study, the dominant form of professional development for teachers in Japan, has spread rapidly in the U.S. since 1999. The authors discuss the growth and success of study at Highlands Elementary School in California's San Mateo-Foster City School District and identify conditions needed for scale-up. ********** IN LESSON study, teachers collaboratively plan, observe, and analyze actual classroom lessons, drawing out implications both for the design of specific lessons and for teaching and learning more broadly. Long the dominant form of professional development in Japan, study has spread rapidly in the United States since 1999. Previous Kappan articles have praised study's potential for improving instruction but questioned whether it might become one more short-lived fad. (1) Since 2000, we have followed the development of study at Highlands Elementary School, one of the first U.S. schools to adopt the practice. Serving just over 400 K-5 students in an urban/suburban district in the western U.S., Highlands School provides both an existence proof that U.S. teachers can use study to improve instruction and a window into the conditions needed for its success. (2) HISTORY OF LESSON STUDY AT HIGHLANDS SCHOOL As instructional improvement coordinator for a cluster of schools in San Mateo-Foster City (SMFC) School District in the late 1990s, Mary Pat O'Connell was looking for a professional development model that would support sustained, teacher-led improvement of classroom instruction. Lesson study, as described in The Teaching Gap, (3) seemed to fit the criteria that O'Connell and colleague Jackie Hurd (a half-time Highlands teacher and half-time district mathematics coach) had laid out. After reading about study, Hurd recalls, she felt certain we wanted to do study. How to do it was much less clear. Initially, O'Connell and Hurd teamed up with other district mathematics coaches, and O'Connell wrote an open letter inviting district teachers to try out study. (4) The initial 26 volunteers included three other Highlands teachers. With funding for substitutes and stipends for after-school work provided by the district, the Highlands group conducted two study cycles during the 2000-01 school year and presented the results to the Highlands faculty in the spring of 2001. (5) Nearly all of the Highlands faculty decided to begin study the following fall, and the remaining faculty joined the next year. Lesson study has continued ever since at Highlands and is now in its sixth year. Lesson study groups typically include three to six teachers from the same or adjacent grade levels. They conduct two cycles of study per year and share what they learn with the entire faculty at regular intervals. The faculty selects a school-wide theme (e.g., reduction of the achievement gap) that provides a common focus for the work of the study groups. Each study cycle consists of study of relevant background materials, collaborative planning of a research lesson that is taught by one team member while others observe and collect data on students, and a post-lesson discussion in which teachers share information and discuss implications. All members of the Highlands faculty now participate, and those who were initially reluctant have become active participants. Of 22 teachers currently teaching at the school, 14 have taught lessons, and six have made presentations about study outside the school. Highlands teachers have also taken the initiative to expand study from mathematics to language arts, social studies, and science. Mary Pat O'Connell became principal of Highlands in October 2001, and she has provided two hours per month within the school day for study, by reducing the number of faculty meetings and handling routine faculty business in other ways. …

Field experiences in secondary teacher education: Qualitative differences and curriculum change

This paper illustrates the nature of postlesson discussions between experienced and novice secondary science teachers during an early field experience. Analysis and appraisal of differences evident in these discussions suggests that novice secondary teachers experience significant variations in the substance and quality of field-based activities intended to help them develop competence in teaching. The author explores the potential of these variations to influence the development of pedagogical reasoning and the contextual influence of curriculum change in shaping experienced teachers' views of their role as teacher educators.