How Do Pre-service Mathematics Teachers Enhance Their Lessons through Lesson Study?

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate how lesson study perspective could help pre-service teachers (PSTs) to enhance their mathematical instruction. Four PSTs along with their 13 other peers who took a semester long secondary level mathematics teaching methods course in one of the large-midwestern universities in the US participated in this study. While four PSTs planned and taught a lesson in two different groups by two, other PSTs took the role of giving feedback to their classmates. PSTs enhanced their lesson plans based on the feedback from their peers and provided self-reflections on these changes. As a result of the investigation of the changes PSTs did on their lesson plans and the reflections they provided, it was revealed that they enhanced their instruction on some specific issues, such as getting students’ attention, using time efficiently, maintaining student interaction, using technology. It is also suggested to future researchers that it would be beneficial to study on PSTs’ assumptions on the difference between the real students and the PSTs who pretended as students during the peer-taught lesson study activity.

Keywords

• Lesson study
• mathematics education
• pre-service teachers
• teacher education

References

1. Burton, K. S. (2005). Using student peer evaluations to evaluate team taught lessons. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 32(2), 136.
2. Chen, H., Housner, L., & Wayda, V. (2011). The Development of Teaching Skills in Preservice Teachers. International Journal of Applied Sports Sciences, 23(2), 465-486.
3. Copland, F. (2010). Causes of tension in post-observation feedback in pre-service teacher training: An alternative view. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(3), 466-472.
4. Cruickshank, D. R., & Applegate, J. H. (1981). Reflective teaching as a strategy for teacher growth. Educational leadership, 38(7), 553-554.
5. Danielowich, R. M. (2012). Other teachers' teaching: Understanding the roles of peer group collaboration in teacher reflection and learning. The Teacher Educator, 47(2), 101-122.
6. Doig, B., & Groves, S. (2011). Japanese lesson study: Teacher professional development through communities of inquiry. Mathematics teacher education and development, 13(1), 77-93.
7. Guarino, C. M., Santibañez, L., & Daley, G. A. (2006). Teacher recruitment and retention: A review of the recent empirical literature. Review of educational research, 76(2), 173-208.
8. Incikabi, L., & Kacar, A. (2017). Analyzing Prospective Mathematics Teachers’ Development of Teaching Practices in Mathematics: A Lesson Study Approach. In J Keengwe & G. Onchwari (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Learner-Centered Pedagogy in Teacher Education and Professional Development (206-225). Hersley, PA: IGI Global.

9. Lewis, C. C., Perry, R. R., & Hurd, J. (2009). Improving mathematics instruction through lesson study: A theoretical model and North American case. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 12(4), 285-304.
10. Ozogul, G., Olina, Z., & Sullivan, H. (2008). Teacher, self and peer evaluation of lesson plans written by preservice teachers. Educational Technology Research and Development, 56(2), 181-201.
11. Pektas, M. (2014). Effects of lesson study on science teacher candidates teaching efficacies. Educational Research and Reviews, 9(6), 164-172.
12. Rubin, L., & Hebert, C. (1998). Model for active learning: Collaborative peer teaching. College Teaching, 46(1), 26-30.
13. Stigler, J. W., Gonzalez, P., Kawanaka, T., Knoll, S., & Serrano, A. (1999). The TIMSS videotape classroom study: Methods and findings from an explanatory research Project on eighth-grade mathematics instruction in Germany, Japan and the United States (No. NCES 99–074). Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
14. Stronck, D. R. (1976). A comparison of peer and pupil evaluation of lessons taught by preservice biology teachers. Science Education, 60(2), 217-221.
15. Topping, K. J., Smith, E. F., Swanson, I., & Elliot, A. (2000). Formative peer assessment of academic writing between postgraduate students. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 25(2), 149–167.
16. Wilburne, J. M., & Peterson, W. (2007). Using a Before-During-After (BDA) Model to Plan Effective Secondary Mathematics Lessons. Mathematics Teacher, 101(3), 209-213.
17. Wilson, S. M., & Berne, J. (1999). Teacher learning and the acquisition of professional knowledge: An examination of research on contemporary professlonal development. Review of research in education, 24(1), 173-209.