scholarly journals Making sense of international variations in lesson study and lesson study-like practices

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brahm Norwich
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Lesson Study ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Group Problem Solving ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Learning Practices ◽  
Learning Development ◽  
Definition Of

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine variations within lesson study (LS) practices and their connections with related traditions: teacher research/enquiry approaches, professional development models, professional learning communities and group problem-solving approaches. Questions are addressed about the relationships between different professional learning approaches in terms of definitions and frameworks. Design/methodology/approach Academic databases and website sources were searched in a purposive way to identify 20 practices associated with these traditions for comparative analysis. Findings A conceptual framework consisting of eight dimensions was constructed to account for the variations within and between these professional learning traditions: for instance, about the settings in which the practices take place, the purposes of the practices and the specific procedures involved. By illustrating how specific practices fitted within this framework it is concluded that the variations within the LS tradition are wide enough to make it difficult to identify a set of necessary and sufficient features of LS to distinguish LS practices from the other non-LS professional learning practices. Reasons are also given for considering whether a polythetic type of definition of professional learning/development practices might be constructed. Research limitations/implications The possibility for a more systematic review of professional learning approaches for the construction of a conceptual framework is discussed. Practical implications Ways in which this kind of conceptualisation can be useful in promoting clarity about professional learning practices and in developing these practices are discussed. Originality/value The originality of this paper lies in the construction of a conceptual framework to analyse similarities and differences within and between various professional learning traditions.

Teacher leadership: toward a new conceptual framework

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Harrison Berg ◽  
Bill Zoellick
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Teacher Leader ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Education Leaders ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Teaching Learning

Purpose Conceptual ambiguity about the term “teacher leadership” has retarded development of useful research on this topic. The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework that researchers might utilize to clarify key assumptions embedded in their use of the term “teacher leadership,” enabling members of this research community to better understand and build upon each other’s work and to develop a knowledge base on teacher leadership. Design/methodology/approach In 2016 a community of researchers convened in a conversation about their varied conceptions of teacher leadership. The authors analyzed documentation from this convening to identify key ways in which members’ conceptions of teacher leadership diverged. They then drew upon the teacher–leader research literature and their own experiences with teacher–leader initiatives to propose a conceptual framework that would support researchers to define teacher leadership in ways that meet established criteria for an empirically-useful concept. Findings Four dimensions of teacher leadership that should be referenced in an empirically-useful definition of teacher leadership are: legitimacy, support, objective and method. It is hypothesized that clarifying one’s assumptions about each of these dimensions and providing descriptive evidence of how they are instantiated will address the conceptual ambiguity that currently stymies the accumulation of knowledge in this field. Originality/value This paper presents a framework that can provide a strong foundation for the development of a knowledge base on teacher leadership, which is needed to inform education leaders’ efforts to maximize teachers’ leadership influence as asset for improving teaching, learning and schools.

scholarly journals Lesson studies in initial mathematics teacher education

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Pedro da Ponte
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Lesson Study ◽  
Mathematics Teacher Education ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Working Relationships ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Critical Friends ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Google Search

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the research concerning the use of lesson studies in the education of secondary school prospective mathematics teachers. It discusses the adaptations made on the designs, the aims and outcomes established, the processes used, and the needed improvements in the experiences reported so far. Design/methodology/approach The scientific studies reviewed were identified in a Google search, using the key words “lesson study”, “mathematics”, and “secondary.” The identified material was recorded in a database and the themes for the analysis cover the planning, execution, and reflection phases of a formative process. Findings The paper identifies the several pending issues regarding the use of lesson studies in prospective teacher education such as defining the aims, establishing the relationships among participants, scaling, and adapting lesson studies for the particular purpose of educating future teachers. Research limitations/implications At a practical level, this review suggests that lesson studies in pre-service teacher education must have a clear formative aim. It also shows that many formats are possible and must be chosen according to the specific conditions. In addition, it suggests the need for research regarding the definition of the aims, the working relationships established among participants, the problem of scale, and the problem of adaptation or simplification. Originality/value The paper identifies the key issues in the design of lesson studies in initial teacher education. It argues that besides signaling the positive outcomes, more critical (or self-critical) investigations are needed, e.g. using external researchers as “critical friends”, which address their difficulties, limitations, and drawbacks in a more thorough way.

Teacher change through cognitive conflicts: the case of an art lesson study

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-395
Author(s):  
James Calleja ◽  
Laura Formosa
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teacher Change ◽  
Lesson Study ◽  
Lesson Plan ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Cognitive Conflict ◽  
Effective Teacher ◽  
Art Teacher ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Process

PurposeThe paper focuses on lesson study, which generally engages the collaborative work of a group of teachers, as implemented with a primary school art teacher who had limited opportunities for collaboration. Through lesson study, the teacher worked closely with a lesson study facilitator and an art education expert to plan a research lesson. The study explores how this collaboration generated cognitive conflicts and eventually teacher change.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a case study using a thematic approach to data analysis. The lesson study involved weekly face-to-face meetings and daily online communications over a period of eight weeks. In an attempt to reflect upon and resolve conflicts, the teacher kept a journal in which the teacher wrote down lengthy accounts of the discussions with knowledgeable others, the teacher’s struggles and ways of resolving these. Data were complemented by the different lesson plan versions, the post-lesson discussions and a detailed report documenting the lesson study process.FindingsThe paper provides insights into the role that cognitive conflicts play for teacher change. Through ongoing communication, reflection and support to resolve conflicts, the teacher recognised more collaborative opportunities for professional development, freed from rigid lesson planning practices and reported a new conceptualisation to teaching.Practical implicationsDrawing on the literature about effective teacher professional learning, the paper offers implications for supporting teacher change.Originality/valueThis paper provides insights into how lesson study may provide conditions that enable teachers' cognitive conflict and facilitate their consequent resolution.

Defining and exploring pracademia: identity, community, and engagement

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Trista Hollweck ◽  
Deborah M. Netolicky ◽  
Paul Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Boundary Spanners ◽  
Knowledge Mobilization ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Community Membership ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to define pracademia and conceptualise it in relation to educational contexts. This paper contributes to and stimulates a continuing and evolving conversation around pracademia and its relevance, role and possibilities.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is a conceptual exploration. It draws upon existing and emerging pieces of literature, the use of metaphor as a meaning-making tool, and the positionalities of the authors, to develop the concept of pracademia.FindingsThe authors posit that pracademics who simultaneously straddle the worlds of practice, policy, and academia embody new possibilities as boundary spanners in the field of education for knowledge mobilization, networks, community membership, and responding to systemic challenges. However, being a pracademic requires the constant reconciling of the demands of multi-membership and ultimately, pracademics must establish sufficient legitimacy to be respected in two or more currently distinct worlds.Practical implicationsThis paper has implications for knowledge mobilization, networks, boundary spanners, leadership, professional learning, and connecting practice, policy, and research. While the authors are in the field of education, this exploration of pracademia is relevant not only to the field of education but also to other fields in which there is a clear need to connect practice/policy with scholarship.Originality/valueThis paper provides a new definition of pracademia and argues that pracademia identifies an important yet relatively unknown space with many possibilities in the field of education.

Inside-out: the forgotten side of ICT-enabled open innovation

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davide Aloini ◽  
Valentina Lazzarotti ◽  
Luisa Pellegrini ◽  
Pierluigi Zerbino
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Open Innovation ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Ict Tools ◽  
Definition Of

Purpose The role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and digital platforms in enabling connectivity and collaboration among actors is neglected when dealing with outbound open innovation (OI). Moreover, the outbound OI process is not currently defined in a univocal way. Thus, this paper aims to outline the outbound OI phases and to explore role and capabilities of ICTs in supporting it. Design/methodology/approach Through a literature review approach, the authors specified the outbound OI process. Hence, the authors leveraged the similarities between the knowledge management process phases and the outbound OI phases for developing a conceptual framework that could match the outbound OI phases with acknowledged categories of ICT tools. Findings Through a process-view, the authors outlined outbound OI as a three-phase process. The authors developed a matrix-shaped framework in which the columns represent the three outbound OI process phases, while the rows are three ICT categories that could be suitable for supporting the outbound OI process. Practical implications The framework is designed to guide a deep understanding of how ICTs could support specific phases of the outbound OI process. In so doing, it could be useful for software developers interested in the preliminary design of an ICT platform for outbound OI. Originality/value The conceptual framework proposal as follows: specifies a detailed, process-oriented definition of the outbound OI; allows to identify the main ICT categories supporting the phases of the outbound OI process; and provides guidance for further exploration about the role of ICT in outbound OI.

A literature review of lesson study in initial teacher education

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Lynn Sorton Larssen ◽  
Wasyl Cajkler ◽  
Reidar Mosvold ◽  
Raymond Bjuland ◽  
Nina Helgevold ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Lesson Study ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Research Papers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
National Team ◽  
Definition Of

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conduct a structured review of literature on lesson study (LS) in initial teacher education (ITE). The focus was on how learning and observation were discussed in studies of LS in ITE. Design/methodology/approach Each national team (in Norway and Britain) undertook independent searches of published peer-reviewed articles. The resulting articles were then combined, screened and collaboratively reviewed, the focus being on two areas of enquiry: how learning is represented and discussed; and the extent to which observation is described and used to capture evidence of learning. Findings The literature review indicated that there was no universally held understanding of, or explanation for, the process of observation, how it should be conducted, and who or what should be the principal focus of attention. There was also a lack of clarity in the definition of learning and the use of learning theory to support these observations. Research limitations/implications This study was limited to a review of a selection of peer-reviewed journal articles, published in English. It arrives at some tentative conclusions, but its scope could have been broadened to include more articles and other types of published material, e.g. theses and book chapters. Practical implications Research that investigates the use of LS in ITE needs to be more explicit about how learning is defined and observed. Furthermore, LS research papers need to assure greater clarity and transparency about how observations are conducted in their studies. Originality/value This literature review suggests that discussion of both learning and observation in ITE LS research papers should be strengthened. The review highlights three principal challenges that ITE LS researchers should consider: how to prepare student-teachers to observe (professional noticing being a promising option), the wide variation in the focus of classroom observation in ITE lesson studies, and discussion of what is understood by learning needs to stand at the heart of preparation for lesson studies in ITE.

scholarly journals Four essential dimensions of workplace learning

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (6/7) ◽  
pp. 349-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Hopwood
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Workplace Learning ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
Conceptual Paper

Purpose – This conceptual paper aims to argue that times, spaces, bodies and things constitute four essential dimensions of workplace learning. It examines how practices relate or hang together, taking Gherardi’s texture of practices or connectedness in action as the foundation for making visible essential but often overlooked dimensions of workplace learning. Design/methodology/approach – This framework is located within and adds to contemporary sociomaterial- or practice-based approaches, in which learning is understood as an emergent requirement and product of ongoing practice that cannot be specified in advance. Findings – The four dimensions are essential in two senses: they are the constitutive essence of textures of practices: what they are made of and they are non-optional; it is not possible to conceive a texture of practices without all of these dimensions present. Although the conceptual terrains to which they point overlap considerably, they remain useful as analytic points of departure. Each reveals something that is less clear in the others. Research limitations/implications – This innovative framework responds to calls to better understand how practices hang together, and offers a toolkit that reflects the multifaceted nature of practice. It presents a distinctive basis for making sense of connectedness in action, and thus for understanding learning in work. Originality/value – The paper offers a novel conceptual framework, expanding the texture of practices through dimensions of times, spaces, bodies and things, rendering visible aspects that might otherwise be ignored.

Different student achievement profiles in a learning study about integers: are the students included?

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-32
Author(s):  
Anna Lövström ◽  
Johan Malmqvist ◽  
Constanta Olteanu
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Study ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Learning Practices ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Inclusive Teaching ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Previous Learning

PurposeThe aim of this study is to investigate achievement profiles in mathematics when integers are taught in a learning study in grade three (to children 8–9 years old) and to explore to what extent students with such profiles participate in inclusive teaching and learning practices.Design/methodology/approachData from a previous learning study are re-analysed, supported by a framework that enables the investigation of inclusive practices. In the present study, inclusion and achievement are viewed as interrelated, meaning that student achievement must be incorporated in the definition of inclusion. The analysis is based on documentation of a video-recorded lesson and on identical tests conducted before and after the lesson.FindingsThe general framing of the learning study indicates an inclusive practice, while pre- and post-test achievement together with data from the lesson reveal a mixed picture concerning student achievement and inclusion. The analysis of the pre- and post-test results for the 16 students in the class indicates considerable diversity in student achievement, resulting in four achievement profiles. The main conclusion is that some students gained from participating in the learning study lesson while others did not. The extensive analysis of four students' participation, one for each profile, shows that differences in student achievement are related to the extent to which students participate in inclusive teaching and learning practices.Originality/valueWhile previous research on learning studies has mainly considered average student achievement, this study focuses on individual variation in achievement and the reasons for it, a matter largely neglected in previous learning study research.

Going the distance: a lesson study on deriving the distance formula

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Von Christopher Gulpric Chua
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
Lesson Study ◽  
Mathematical Concept ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Pedagogical Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Distance Formula

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the challenges that Filipino Mathematics teachers face while developing students’ ability to derive the distance formula; allow teachers to collaboratively formulate a lesson designed to address the challenges they have identified from their own practice; and determine how successful the lesson was and how it can be improved so that other teachers dealing with similar difficulties may be able to implement it. The teacher-participants employed Lesson Study (LS) as an approach to improving pedagogical practice. Data were based on the pre- and post-lesson discussions and individual reflection papers of the teacher participants. Design/methodology/approach An action research methodology through LS approach was employed by the teacher participants. Data were based on the pre- and post-lesson discussions and individual reflection papers of the teacher participants. Findings Based on the post-lesson discussion, the teachers agreed that the process of creating a lesson that seeks to develop the students’ ability to derive formulas are crucial to building understanding of the underlying mathematical concept. Also, teachers’ participation in LS was found to have been insightful as it developed in them a greater appreciation towards establishing a professional learning community that is directed towards examining problems that concerns majority of the teachers involved. Originality/value Research in Philippine education has recently seen the increasing interest in LS as a potent pedagogical practice. Nonetheless, papers that report on LS practice in the local context remains to be lacking. This study contributes to the development of this research area and raises the need for Filipino Mathematics teachers to engage in both LS and action research to generate knowledge from their experiences.

scholarly journals Teacher professional learning through lesson study: teachers' reflections

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-412
Author(s):  
Alison Fox ◽  
Val Poultney
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Staff Development ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Lesson Study ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Teacher Reflections ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Development Literature ◽  
Subject Departments

PurposeThis study examines the experiences of five teachers working in two English secondary school subject departments after being given the opportunity to engage with Lesson Study (LS) to increase student performance in their subject areas. This study aimed to reveal the drivers for the teachers' engagement in LS, and how this experience of Joint Professional Development (JPD) might be contributing to their learning as teachers.Design/methodology/approachThis study applies an analytic approach to evidencing teacher learning, based on the work of Knud Illeris, offering this as a methodological contribution to the field of professional development literature.FindingsFindings reveal that, despite all the teachers developing a passion for learning through LS, there are constraints on its sustainability and impact which can be attributed to the teachers' broader contexts and which affected them differently. The constraints centre on tensions between priorities and agendas within and beyond the school, related largely to budgets and visions of staff development.Research limitations/implicationsThis focused study on two subject departments engaging in LS limits its generalisability in terms of findings. However, the study offers a practical research application of a model of learning for analysis of teacher reflections on collaborative learning experiences.Originality/valueUnderstanding individual teacher reflections on LS experiences is under-represented in the literature, in particular studies providing insights into conditions conducive and constraining to JPD.

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