College Lesson Study

A Lesson in Information Literacy

Each year librarians at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse teach a "one-shot" lesson in information literacy to 2000 students enrolled in an introductory communication studies course. Students attend the lesson in groups of about 25 in the library. Concerned about the quality of the experience, the librarians decided to make the lesson the subject of a lesson study. They wanted to better understand what students get out of the lesson and how to improve the experience so that students achieve proficiency in research skills and learn how to use libarary resources and services.

They presented their work, Lesson Study: An Experience in Collaborative Inquiry, at the Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians in April 2007. They also published their lesson study, Teaching Library Information Literacy Skills to Students Enrolled in an Introductory Communication Course: A Collaborative Study in the UW System Teaching Forum.

An Interview with Makoto Yoshida

Dr. Makoto Yoshida is founder and president of Global Education Resources. He is considered one of the leading researchers and educators of lesson study in the U.S. He coined the term lesson study by translating the original Japanese term, Jugyokenkyu, in his doctoral dissertation research. In 2004 he coauthored a book with Clea Fernandez entitled Lesson Study: A Japanese Approach to Improving Mathematics Teaching and Learning, based on his dissertation research on lesson study in Japan. He has co-edited a book with Patsy Wang-Iverson, entitled “Building Our Understanding of Lesson Study,” which is a comprehensive introduction to lesson study for teachers. He has also been involved in the English translation of a series of Japanese elementary school mathematics textbooks to support lesson study in the United States. Born in Hiroshima, Japan, Makoto came to the U.S. to study at Lewis and Clark College, where he received his B.A. in education and psychology. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in education from the University of Chicago.

The interview took place March 5, 2007.

Listen to the full interview (~55 minutes)

Listen to Part I (~27 minutes):  Makoto talks about his lesson study research in Japan and how Japanese teachers use lesson study to improve their teaching.

Listen to Part II (~28 minutes): Makoto talks about how Japanese teachers investigate teaching and learning in the classroom and how they document and share their work.

An Interview with Catherine Lewis

Dr. Catherine Lewis is senior research scientist at Mills College in Oakland, California. Fluent in Japanese, she has conducted research in Japanese and U.S. schools for 25 years. Her writings and videotapes have introduced many U.S. educators to lesson study. These include Lesson Study: A Handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Change, the video, Can You Lift 100 Kilograms?, an example of Japanese lesson study, and the video, How Many Seats?, an example of lesson study in a U.S. school district.

PODCAST

Full Interview: Medium or High Quality

Lewis' Background on Lesson Study Adapting Lesson Study in the U.S. Benefits and Barriers in Higher Education Key Features and Variations on Lesson Study Getting More from Lesson Study: Advice for Teachers Comments on the Lesson Study Project

The following written responses by Dr. Lewis complement the podcast (see right), recorded on August 30, 2006

I. Yours is an interesting story because you were doing research in Japanese schools and inadvertently “discovered” lesson study.  Please give us an overview of how and why you became interested in lesson study and where it has led you.   

I first learned about lesson studies as I sat in Japanese elementary classrooms for months in 1993 writing a classroom ethnography that focused on how Japanese students become motivated, responsible class members. Suddenly, though my work was not focused on science instruction, I was seeing levers and pendulums everywhere. Because of the way science is taught in Japanese elementary schools, I was noticing the science in my own daily life.  For example, I noticed that where I attached my heavy computer to my rollaboard suitcase was a problem in levers.  Although that suitcase situation had been in my life for many years, something about the way the Japanese students were studying science led me to notice it as a lever problem (and to think about pendulums when an umbrella I was dangling from one arm made it difficult for me to swing my arms at the same pace). 

When I asked Japanese teachers where they learned to teach science through intensive, student-led hands-on investigation and discussion of core problems, to my surprise they said “These teaching techniques come from the US.”  (Subsequent research suggests that many of their teaching techniques are in fact based on model NSF-funded programs from the US).  So I shifted my question and I asked Japanese teachers “How did you personally learn to teach this way?”  The answer I heard again and again was “kenkyuu jugyou” -- research lessons – which are the heart of the lesson study process.  So I asked to see research lessons, and have seen about 100 over the past 13 years. 

II. Lesson study now has a sizable following in the United States, especially in K-12 education, thanks a great deal to your work. What have been some of the challenges you have seen in adapting Japanese approaches for American contexts? 

I think there are several challenges.

The first is premature expertise.  Lesson study is a simple idea.  What could be more obvious, if you want to improve instruction, than careful study of instruction and student responses?  But it is a complex process, since you need to build the collegial processes to learn from one another, the observational skills to learn from students, and, often, knowledge of content and pedagogy resources beyond those in your group.  Many of us in the US have learned to think of new programs as blueprints or recipes: you follow the recipe and instructional improvement results automatically.  Sometimes people consider themselves experts on lesson study if they have done a few cycles.  But knowing how to do lesson study well doesn’t mean knowing just the surface features like how to conduct, observe, and discuss a research lesson.  It means doing these things in a way that builds the collegial processes, observation skills, and knowledge of all participants, and doing it in such a way that everyone will want to continue to learn together from practice.  This is a tall order.  You might think of it as knowing how to create cultural change.  If you watch veteran Japanese lesson study practitioners assist US sites, they listen far more than they talk.  They look at the whole picture of a lesson study site, noticing, for example, how teachers work together, what are the strengths of the instruction, and what’s missing.  They think strategically about the experiences needed to help a group of people work together more effectively.  They think strategically about the new knowledge about content and pedagogy that would help teachers make the next step to improve instruction.  They don’t unload a dumptruck of knowledge.  As lesson study has become known and even commercialized in the US, there is a danger of superficial, recipe-like visions of it.  In fact, it requires participants to continuously ask what can be improved, not to assume we’ve arrived.

A second challenge is simplistic research models.  I am a believer in rigorous research, but worry about immature or formulaic versions of lesson study being tested and “proven” ineffective, so that we move on to the next fad.

A third challenge is the need to learn across sites.  Both lesson study models and instructional models will advance if we have the opportunity to learn across sites.  This happens in Japan.  People conduct lesson study in their schools, in cross-school district groups, and in national groups.  For example, when you go to national science teacher association meetings, you go to schools and see research lessons that may be attended by hundreds of people (who view with the aid of video and sound projection).  So people see and discuss what is meant by “problem-solving” or “inquiry.” Cross-site activity is important to advances in instruction. 

III. Why and how might lesson study be a worthwhile activity at the college and university level? What benefits and what barriers would you expect to be experienced in higher education? 

I see the basic ideas of lesson study as similar across the age span—knowing what learners are actually taking away from lessons, examining the connections between this and our long-term goals for students, and sharpening our ideas about the kinds of instruction that will support student learning, based on a better understanding of students and their learning process.  The diversity and idiosyncrasy of university courses could be a difficulty – we may not agree on what are the important areas of knowledge in an intro psych course to nearly the extent that we agree on the important knowledge of fifth grade mathematics.  Another especially difficult issue at the higher education level could be the greater investment of faculty in teaching techniques they have used for years and their strong identities as masters of the content knowledge. 

Despite the potential difficulties at the university level, you should know (if you don’t already) that Japanese (and other Asian) scholars are extremely interested in the work you are doing in university lesson study.  They see it as something for “reverse importation” into Japan, where university teaching has not received the same careful attention as elementary and secondary teaching.  Several Japanese educators have told me how impressed they are with your website.

IV. Some faculty have been interested in doing lesson study in different ways. For example, teachers have discussed creating entirely web-based lessons, accelerating the process (doing most of it in a single day), and assembling different kinds of teams (interdisciplinary, cross-campus, etc.).  Given the possible variations, what do you feel are essential features of lesson study? 

Some important questions for each participant to ask might be:

1. What did I learn about teaching, the subject matter, instructional resources, student learning?
2. Did the lesson study work affect my sense of efficacy as a teacher – i.e., my sense that instruction can be improved in ways that make a difference for students?
3. Did my lesson study work affect my relationships with colleagues – for example, my interest in informal or formal collaboration with them in the future?
4. Did the lesson study work leave a residue in my course materials—in syllabus, course content, activities, etc.?

V. Some faculty have also expressed concern about the time and energy required to do lesson study given their other commitments. How do you respond to this concern? What advice would you give to teachers who would like to get more from the lesson study process in less time? 

After one or more cycles, group members may be able to identify elements of their work that feel more or less useful, and hone their processes accordingly.

Can lesson study be designed so that it helps take some other requirement off the plate of busy faculty?  For example, can lesson study reports fulfill the “service to university’ requirement or be published to support academic advancement?  Can study of student work be fed into assessment/grading?  Can lesson study work be combined with faculty mentoring programs or other existing commitments? 

VI. Please share any thoughts you may have about the College Lesson Study Project. What pointers or suggestions would you give to us to help us, over time, realize the full potential of lesson study?

Creating a learning community across higher education sites seems important to cross-fertilization and broad progress.  Faculty at different universities may have different approaches that could profitably be shared.

Another important question raised by your work is how we can build it into the professional advancement and publication system more seamlessly, so faculty don’t feel it’s taking away from these important endeavors. 

Live opportunities to try lesson study could be another important area.  In K-12 education, hands-on opportunities for educators to try lesson study (for example, at a public research lesson taught as part of an academic conference or workshop) have been important mechanisms for building and improving lesson study.  Your website does this in great part, but there still may be a role for live opportunities beyond those available to the (very lucky) faculty at your institution.  I appreciate your link to KEEP and also the video cases at your site.  It would be great to think as a field about how to get more of these, and build an active culture of comment, and use them as a routine part of professional advancement so we are not placing an extra burden on faculty. I think there are still some technical problems to be ironed out in sharing and viewing video and cases.  I often give up when I encounter a screen that is time consuming or asks for information I don’t quite understand – I’m guessing there are other computer amateurs like me.

More about Catherine Lewis. A graduate of Harvard University (B.A.) and Stanford University (Ph.D.), Catherine Lewis directs the NSF-funded project, 'Lesson Study: Case Studies of an Emerging Reform', and is author of more than 40 publications on elementary education and child development, including the award-winning book Educating Hearts and Minds: Reflections on Japanese Preschool and Elementary Education (Cambridge University Press, 1995).

View a list of selected publications by Catherine Lewis
.

Faculty Collaboration Yields Pedagogical Innovation

A feature article about the College Lesson Study Project appears in the September 6, 2006 issue of the Association of American Colleges & Universities News. The piece includes observations  about lesson study by current participants, Nancy Chick and Cary Komoto of UW-Barron County and Carmen Wilson, Scott Cooper and Bryan Kopp from UW-La Crosse.

Read  the article, Faculty Collaboration Yields Pedagogical Innovation at UW-La Crosse

Observing Research Lessons

In higher education, classroom observations are usually conducted to evaluate or provide the teacher with feedback about instructional practices. Typically, a single observer sits in on a class and takes notes about the instructor’s performance. Observations tend to be done infrequently and play little, if any, role in instructional improvement.

In contrast, teachers observe research lessons to gather evidence about how the instructional activities affect student learning and thinking. In lesson study there is much less emphasis on observing the teacher and much more emphasis on how students respond to the lesson. Observation during a lesson opens a window on student thinking. For some instructors this is the first time they see a lesson through the students’ eyes, and focus on how students interpret and make sense of the material.

To prepare for the observation teams decide: who to observe, what to observe, how to record data, and how to coordinate the observation.

Who to observe. Teams may focus on specific individuals or groups of students (e.g., students who differ in ability and performance in the class). Or, if the lesson involves group work, the team may pre-select certain groups for observation.   

What to observe.  Teams identify in advance what types of data to observe and collect (e.g, student-student interactions, types of questions students ask in class, student responses to instructor questions, students’ written work, etc.). An important focal point of observation is student thinking directly related to the lesson’s learning goals. For example, in one of our psychology lesson studies, we defined understanding—a major goal of the lesson—as the ability to predict and explain certain types of social behavior. During the lesson students engaged in several exercises that involved prediction and explanations. Observers attended closely to how students formed and revised explanations in these episodes.

Instructors also attend to broader features of teaching and learning during the lesson—how students approach the class, how they interact with one another, how they respond to the instructor, and variations in student behavior. In one of our own research lessons, students worked in small groups on several tasks, and we used their group summaries as evidence of their learning. However observers noticed that several groups were off task during the lesson. Worse, they were able to fake a credible response when asked to give a group summary of their ideas. Had we not observed this activity, we might have inferred from their summaries that the small group task was a key to their learning. 

How to record data. Data collection techniques vary from relatively unstructured note-taking to the use of checklists and rubrics. Teams adopt strategies best suited to their research lesson. Three common techniques:      
     1. Field notes are detailed written notes by observers, and a good way to record the entire lesson. When there are multiple observers, it is possible to get detailed observations of specific students or groups of students.
     2. Focal questions orient observers to key features of the lesson and student responses (e.g., “To what extent do students challenge and support one another’s ideas when they work in small groups?”; “In what ways do students exhibit interest or disinterest in the lesson?”). Focal questions help insure that observers will attend to specific aspects of the lesson.
     3. Checklists are useful ways to monitor specific types of responses (e.g., the number of times students make metacognitive comments such as “I don’t understand this.”; “Oh, that’s what he means? I was thinking just the opposite.”).

Coordinating the observation. The team prepares Observation Guidelines prior to the lesson. These include a copy of the lesson plan and a detailed description of what observers should do and attend to during the lesson (e.g., take field notes, answer focal questions, use checklist, etc). See an example of observation guidelines for a psychology lesson

Bill Cerbin

Demonstrating Teaching Effectiveness

Q: How can lesson study work provide evidence of teaching effectiveness?

A: Lesson study is substantive professional work that should count in retention, promotion and tenure. Lesson study practitioners spend considerable time discussing goals and outcomes, collaborating with professional colleagues, participating in a peer review process, designing instructional activites, gathering evidence of student learning, making evidence-based improvements, and acting as reflective practitioners. Moreover, when they finish their final lesson study reports (read more), they contribute to a pedagogical knowledge base in their fields.

Lee Shulman writes,

a scholarship of teaching will entail a public account of some or all of the full act of teaching — vision, design, enactment, outcomes, and analysis — in a manner susceptible to critical review by the teacher's professional peers, and amenable to productive employment in future work by members of that same community.

Lesson study is a window into the "full act of teaching" and thus provides richer information about teaching effectiveness than the disparate items typically included in teaching portfolios—namely, course syllabi, assignments, exams, grade distributions, student evaluations, teaching philosophies, etc. More significantly perhaps, lesson study shows how vision, design, enactment, outcomes, and analysis are integrated in actual classroom practice.

Lesson study practitioners know firsthand how lesson study work connects with teaching more generally. They know how careful instructional design and close observation of student learning can lead to improvement of instruction. However, how can they help outsiders, particularly those on retention, promotion and tenure committees, understand the work they have done?

The Teaching Improvement Profile (TIP) developed by Bill Cerbin provides an answer. This template is designed with brevity, coherence, and complexity in mind. It helps teachers tell their individual stories about lesson study.

• Download a Teaching Improvement Profile (.doc) to learn more.

Reference

Shulman, Lee. (1985). "Course anatomy: The dissection and analysis of knowledge through teaching," in Hutchings,Pat, (Ed.) (1998), The Course Portfolio: How Faculty Can Examine Their Teaching to Advance and Improve Student Learning. Washington D.C., AAHE

Bryan Kopp

Making Student Thinking Visible

The study of a lesson involves observation of student learning and thinking throughout the class period. Consequently, the lesson must make student thinking visible and open to observation and analysis. Thinking is visible or audible when students answer questions, participate in discussions, work out problems, write answers, and demonstrate skilled action. For example, student discussions are opportunities to watch students trying to make sense of new material and ideas. And, students reveal their thinking when they try to explain an idea, think through a problem out loud or justify a response.

Some classes that are highly interactive afford multiple opportunities to see and hear student thinking during the class period. But large classes in particular pose a challenge. In these cases, instructors may want to experiment with active learning techniques that have been used in large classes (these can also be used in smaller classes).  For more information, please download the following document:

• "Several Instructional Techniques that Make Students’ Thinking Visible"

Bill Cerbin

Lesson Study and Higher Education Links

Lesson Study Research Groups

• Lesson Study Group at Mills College. Principal Investigator: Catherine Lewis. "Her writings and videotapes, including 'Lesson Study: A Handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Change' and 'Can You Lift 100 Kilograms?' have introduced many U.S. educators to lesson study."
• Lesson Study Research Group at Columbia: "The Lesson Study Research Group (LSRG) is housed at Teachers College, Columbia University, and is directed by Professor Clea Fernandez. The LSRG is working to contribute to a better understanding of lesson study in the United States, with funding from the National Science Foundation."
• Chicago Lesson Study Group at DePaul University: "To explore the possibilities for replicating the success of Japanese lesson study in a U.S. setting, the Chicago Lesson Study Group was launched in October of 2002, with volunteer school administrators and classroom teachers who have had university student teachers in their classrooms as a part of their field experiences under the guidance of Akihiko Takahashi."
• Research for Better Schools: "RBS is a private, nonprofit educational organization funded primarily through grants and contracts from the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, Mid-Atlantic state departments of education, institutions of higher education, foundations, and school districts." The site contains a list of resources for lesson study and a handy glossary.
• Global Education Resources: "GER focuses on mathematics teaching and learning by introducing lesson study to the education community, offering English translations of the most widely used Japanese grades1-6 textbooks, providing workshops and consulting services to help organizations implement lesson study and to deepen their understanding of the scope and sequence of mathematics, and sponsoring lesson study open houses and conferences. The founder and president is Makoto Yoshida, well known lesson study researcher. "

Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

• Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL). "The CASTL Higher Education Program is comprised of three components: the Carnegie Scholars program, the Campus program, and the Scholarly and Professional Societies program." See also CASTL E-Library and Carnegie Perspectives
• Visible Knowledge Project. "The Visible Knowledge Project (VKP) collects, designs, and publishes in new media environments a variety of resources to further the scholarship of teaching and learning among Project participants and the interested public."
• UW System Leadership Site on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. "The UW System Leadership Site will increase knowledge about the practice of scholarly inquiry into teaching and learning on all UW campuses, supplement campus SoTL work, support intercampus collaboration in SoTL work, and actively work to develop a core of faculty from across the system who are experts in classroom inquiry practices and principles."

Looking Inside the "Black Box"

A major challenge in lesson study is to observe student learning as it takes place during the lesson. This involves observing how students engage and try to make sense of the subject matter. If we know more about how students learn, we should be better able to improve the lesson. 

However, focusing on how students learn is unfamiliar territory for many in higher education. We often examine learning after our instruction has taken place, using tests, quizzes, and other assignments. Through pre‐tests and background knowledge probes, we sometimes collect information about what students know before instruction. Lesson study sheds light on what happens during the learning process. Lesson study involves gaining access to the thought process—peering inside the black box—to better understand how college and university students construe the subject, where they stumble, what confuses them, how they put ideas together, how misconceptions develop, how their thinking is affected by different parts of the lesson.

Student interactions and discussions are opportunities to watch students trying to make sense of new material and ideas. When students try to explain an idea, think through a problem out loud or justify a response, they reveal their thought processes. As a teacher you have a chance to “see and hear” what the topic looks like to students, and think about how to plan instruction to better support student thinking.

Tips for observing students during the research lesson. 

• As you design the lesson, build in episodes, activities, exercises, interactions through which students externalize their thinking and make it open to observation and analysis.  To the extent possible, make students' thinking visible--and audible.
• More evidence is better. Think of lesson study as an exploratory study. You may not know in advance which factors are most important for student performance so it is a good idea to collect a lot of evidence—written work plus observations of students throughout the class period.

A classic book on learning, available for free online reading:

• How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice, "Key Findings" (Chapter 2) (Donovan, Bransford & Pellegrino)
• For the original text, visit How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School (Bransford, Brown and Cocking).  Other versions may be found here.

Cerbin & Kopp

Lesson Study & the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Lesson Study is a way to engage in scholarly inquiry into teaching and student learning. What are the connections between lesson study and SoTL? See Lesson Study: Building the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning One Lesson at a Time presented at the 2006 Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning Colloquium. Download CASTL 2006 College Lesson Study Presentation