What is a Research Lesson? 1.Actual classroom lesson with students, watched by other teachers 2.Planned for a long time, collaboratively 3.Brings to life.

What is a Research Lesson?

1. Actual classroom lesson with students, watched by other teachers

2. Planned for a long time, collaboratively

3. Brings to life a goal or vision of education

4. Recorded: video, audio, student work

5. Discussed by faculty and sometimes outside commentators

Types of Research Lessons

1. In - School

2. Public

3. Embedded in conferences, study groups, district-wide professional development, etc.

Research Lesson/Lesson StudySame 2 Words, Reverse Order

Research

Study Kenkyuu

Lesson(s)

Instruction Jugyou

Lesson StudyLesson StudyPost-Lesson

ActivitiesResearch

LessonPlanning

Phase

RESEARCH LESSON

Actual classroom lesson; attending

teachers study student thinking,

learning, engagement, behavior, etc.

Discuss Long Term Goals for Students’ Academic,

Social and Ethical Development

Choose Content Area and Unit Discuss Learning Goals for Content Area, Unit and Lesson

Plan Lessons(s) that Foster Long-Term Goals and

Lesson/Unit Goals

Discussion of Lesson Discuss research lesson.

Focus on evidence of whether the lesson

promoted the long-term goals and lesson/unit goals

Consolidate LearningWrite report that includes

lesson plan, data, and summary of discussion. Refine and re-teach the

lesson if desired. Or select a new focus of study.

Figure 1

Choosing a Lesson Study ThemeThink about the students you serve.

Your Ideals:

What qualities would you like these students to have 5 years from now?

The Actual:

List their qualities now.

The Gap:

Compare the ideal and the actual. What are the gaps that you would most like to work on?

The Research Theme: (long-term goal)

State positively the ideal student qualities you choose to work on. For example:

Fundamental academic skills that will ensure students’ progress

and a rich sense of human rights.

Your research theme:

School’s Educational Goals

Ideal Profile of Students Actual Situation of Students

MAP OF RESEARCH CONCEPTION

RESEARCH FOCUS

Ideal Profile of Students (from Grade-Level Groups)

Middle Grades Upper Grades

Research Hypotheses

Methods and Measures

Lower Grades

School’s Educational GoalsChildren who are:

* Considerate

* Think well and try hard

* Healthy

* Can lead ordered lives

Ideal Profile of Students* Learn with friends

* Experience natural world richly

* Have own perspectives and ways of thinking

Actual Situation of Students* Most are cheerful, kind and gentle

* Friendships are shallow, and capacity to think about things from another person’s idea and perspective is inadequately developed

* Have considerable difficulty holding their own perspectives and ideas

* Some students lack interest in the natural world around them

MAP OF RESEARCH CONCEPTION

RESEARCH FOCUS

For students to value friendship at the same time that they develop their own perspectives and ways of thinking

- Toward enjoyable science and life environment studies -

Ideal Profile of Students of Research Groups

Children who:* Participate happily in learning* Develop their own strategies* Learn with friends

Middle Grades Upper Grades

Research Hypotheses* If students are eager to learn and take initiative in their learning, they will be able to deepen their own perspectives and ways of thinking* Students will develop considerate hearts if they work together in ways that enable them to recognize one another’s ideals as they engage in observations, experiments, and activities

Methods and Measures(1) Strategies for Curriculum (2) Strategies for Learning Materials (3) Strategies for Teaching and Evaluation (4) Strategies for Learning Activities

Lower GradesChildren who:* Eagerly use their 5 senses* Make predictions and test them Learn through comparing their own ideas with friends’ ideas* Cooperate with friends while carrying out activities

Children who:* Get pleasure from solving problems* Can find problems and make predictions* Can have their own ideas in observations and experiments Value learning with friends in which they recognize each others perspectives

(Your Name: )

So, how will you lift it?

There’s a 100 kilogram (220 pound) sandbag on the floor. You really want to move it somehow.What will you do?

Conditions:1) It has to move with just one person’s weight.2) You can use things you’re likely to find at school.

(Your Name: )

So, how will you lift it?

There’s a 100 kilogram (220 pound) sandbag on the floor. You really want to move it somehow. What will you do?

Conditions:1) It has to move with just one person’s weight.2) You can use things you’re likely to find at school.

(Your Name: )

So, how will you lift it?

There’s a 100 kilogram (220 pound) sandbag on the floor. You really want to move it somehow. What will you do?

Conditions:1) It has to move with just one person’s weight.2) You can use things you’re likely to find at school.

(Your Name: )

So, how will you lift it?

There’s a 100 kilogram (220 pound) sandbag on the floor. You really want to move it somehow. What will you do?

Conditions:1) It has to move with just one person’s weight.2) You can use things you’re likely to find at school.

(Your Name: )

So, how will you lift it?

There’s a 100 kilogram (220 pound) sandbag on the floor. You really want to move it somehow. What will you do?

Conditions:1) It has to move with just one person’s weight.2) You can use things you’re likely to find at school.

wood push

wheelbarrow

logs

hole

lever

rock

hole

iron pole

pull

hole

shovel

Some heavy thing more than 100kg

Putting our weight into it, we’ll drop it into the hole

We’ll drop the stone in here

something bigstone

hole

iron pole

1 meter

7 cm

iron pole

falls

a big hole

cut

rope

Something heavier than 100kg

Student plans (from lesson 1) for lifting the weight. These plans were included in the packet for the research lesson. Student writing is in regular typeface; teacher’s comments are in capitals.

stone

Lesson Study Provides Opportunities to

1. Think Deeply About Long-term Goals for Students

2. Carefully Consider the Goals of a Particular Content Area, Unit, and Lesson

3. Study the Best Available Lessons

4. Plan Lessons that Bring to Life both Short-term and Long-term goals

5. Deepen Subject Matter Knowledge

6. Develop Instructional Knowledge

7. Build Capacity for Collegial Learning

8. Develop the “Eyes to See Students”

Data Collected During Lesson StudyAcademic Learning• How did images of heated air change?• Did students shift from simple counting to more flexible method?• Did dramatic role-play spark higher quality and quantity of writing?• In their journals, what did students write as their learnings?Motivation• Percent of children who raised hands• Body language, “aha” comments, shining eyesSocial Behavior• How many times do students refer to and build on classmates’ comments?• How often do the five quietist students speak up?• Are students friendly and respectful?Student Attitudes Toward Lesson• What did you like and dislike about the lesson?

Teachers’ Activities to Improve Instruction

Choose curriculum,write curriculum, align curriculum, write local standards

U.S. JAPAN

Plan lessons individually

Plan lessons collaboratively

Watch and discuss each other’s classroom lessons

Lesson Study in the US:What Have We learned?

1. U.S. educators Can Find Lesson Study Useful

2. Successful and Unsuccessful Adaptations Occur

3. The Idea of Lesson Study is Simple But the Practice Is Not

4. Qualities of Successful Sites A learning stance Teacher leadership Hands-on experiences, such as work with Japanese practitioners

• Begins with answer

• Driven by expert

• Communicationtrainer -> teachers

• Relationships hierarchical

• Research informs practice

• Begins with question

• Driven by participants

• Communication among teachers

• Relationship reciprocal

• Practice is research

TRADITIONAL RESEARCH LESSONS

By Lynn Liptak, Paterson School #2, New Jersey.

Professional Development

Lesson Study differs from

•LESSON PLANNING

•CURRICULUM WRITING

•COACHING/MENTORING

•DEMONSTRATION LESSONS

•BASIC RESEARCH

WHAT MIGHT GIVE LESSON STUDY A DIFFERENT FATE?

1. FOCUS ON REINVENTION, LEARNING

2. SEVERAL SITES BECOME LEARNING CENTERS—RESERVOIRS FOR STUDY, PRACTICE

3. RESEARCH METHODS THAT SUPPORT CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

4. USEFULNESS LOOP: LESSON STUDY BRINGS COHERENCE, IS NOT EXPERIENCED AS “ONE MORE THING”

Research Lesson Planning Questions

1. What do students currently understand about this topic?

2. What do we want them to understand at the end of the unit?

3. What's the sequence of experiences (lessons) that will propel students from 1 to 2? What will make the unit and each lesson motivating and meaningful to students?

4. Which lesson in the unit will be selected as the research lesson?

5. What will students need to know before this lesson?

6. What will they learn during this lesson?

7. What is the “drama” or sequence of experience through which they will learn it?

8. How will students respond to the questions and activities in the lesson? What problems and misconceptions will arise and how will teachers respond to them?

9. What evidence should we gather and discuss about student learning, motivation, and behavior? What data collection forms are needed to do this?

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