1st Edition
The Mathematics Practitioner’s Guidebook for Collaborative Lesson Research Authentic Lesson Study for Teaching and Learning
This resource provides mathematics educators with tools for conducting Collaborative Lesson Research (CLR), a form of Lesson Study developed out of the original Japanese Lesson Study and intended to improve student and teacher learning. Renowned mathematics education researchers Akihiko Takahashi and Geoffrey Wake bring together educators across the US and UK with first-hand experience using CLR in their schools.
Readers will learn the essentials for an impactful Lesson Study directly from the scholars who coined the term, and benefit from the dual perspectives of math education researchers and teachers who have used CLR when reflecting on their own classroom pedagogy. These contributors define CLR and provide examples of successful CLR using real-life case studies, as well as introducing pathways for getting started and practical suggestions for implementation into different school environments. Across these examples, readers will:
- understand the essence of Lesson Study, considered as CLR, and its important features
- be advised what participants in CLR should expect to do (observing research lessons, designing lessons, teaching research lessons, facilitating post-lesson discussion, etc.) and provide guidance and support with this enactment
- be advised on how to develop, embed, and sustain CLR communities
- preview potential outcomes over time from undertaking CLR
Research lesson proposals and plans to support readers in understanding CLR are also included.
Ideal for practicing teachers, teacher leaders, teacher educators, and professional developers involved in mathematics teaching, this book offers first-of-its-kind entry points for CLR. Its combination of theory and practice will empower educators to implement this increasingly popular vehicle for understanding students’ learning of mathematics.
1. Collaborative Lesson Research: A form of Lesson Study to encourage teachers to work collaboratively 2. Exemplary Collaborative Lesson Research 3. Pathways to getting started in Collaborative Lesson Research 4. Capacity building for conducting Collaborative Lesson Research 5. Educators’ learning from Collaborative Lesson Research (Voices from the field) 6. Recommendations
Biography
Akihiko Takahashi is an Associate Professor at DePaul University, USA, where he teaches mathematics and mathematics education. He coined and introduced Collaborative Lesson Research in 2016 to distinguish an authentic Lesson Study from various forms of "Lesson Study" used worldwide.
Geoffrey Wake is a Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of Nottingham, UK, where he leads the work of the Centre for Research in Mathematics Education. He is a co-founder of the Collaborative Lesson Research group in the UK, which seeks to foster and support lesson study practices and practitioners.
"Since Lewis and Hurd’s Lesson Study Steps by Steps, teachers, educators, and school leaders who want to practise or are practising lesson study in mathematics outside Japan have been waiting for this book. In a subtle interplay of research findings and practical know-how, US and UK teachers, educators, researchers, and school leaders who successfully implemented Collaborative Lesson Research speak to us in our shared language, about a context that we can easily relate to."
Stéphane Clivaz, Professor of Mathematics Education, Lausanne University of Teacher Education
"This is a great book for mathematics teachers and teacher educators who are seeking to incorporate collaborative learning in their practice. This 'how to' of collaborative lesson research provides a direct link between theory and practice in education. Most importantly, the core focus of the book is the increased enjoyment and achievement of students of mathematics."
Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, Assistant Professor, University College Dublin
"With this lesson study guidebook, the editors and authors provide key contributions to our understanding of how lesson study may be adapted and become sustainable in countries outside Japan. The insights emerging from the Collaborative Lesson Research approach to lesson study, implemented in different settings, offers an excellent resource and makes this volume a must read for teacher educators, lesson study facilitators, school leaders and researchers."
James Calleja, Collaborative Lesson Study Malta, Faculty of Education, University of Malta
"Collaborative Lesson Research is a particular way of conducting lesson study that highlights the key elements of this professional development process. This book presents the experience of leaders, practitioners and participants in Collaborative Lesson Research and is an essential support for those interested in getting involved as well as in improving their experience in lesson study in the most powerful way."
João Pedro da Ponte, Instituto de Educação, Universidade de Lisboa
"This book is a great asset to teachers of students in any grade – and frankly any subject – who wish to know, with assurance they can witness first hand, that their teaching is impacting student learning in the way they hope. Read it alone if you must, but with others if you can, as it will help bring learning to life in your school."
Sharon Dotger, The Syracuse University School of Education
