Cross-disciplinary Lesson Study Project

Colleagues from two academic departments in St Patrick’s College are engaged in a cross-disciplinary research project where they participate in sustained collaborative research of their own practices.  The group of researchers consisting of colleagues from the Mathematics Department and the Education Department has adopted Japanese lesson study protocols to prepare and review ‘research lessons’ from the mathematics and mathematics education courses.  The research project is funded by a National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) grant. On 30 November, second year BEd students were video recorded as they participated in a Research Lesson on area and perimeter, taught by Dr Therese Dooley and observed by colleagues, Dr Sinead Breen, Dr Dolores Corcoran and Dr Maurice O’Reilly.  This is the second research lesson on which the group has worked, the first being a mathematics lecture for students of academic mathematics.  Lesson study is a form of teacher professional development integral to the Japanese educational system, which has been gaining popularity in other countries for the past ten years.  It was introduced in Ireland in 2006 by Dr Dolores Corcoran and Learning to Teach Mathematics Using Lesson Study is currently offered as an Education Elective module to 3rd Year BEd and Graduate Diploma in Education (Primary Teaching) students.

Lesson Study is recognized as a powerful way to study mathematics teaching and learning. All participants are invited to become co-researchers in the research lesson and by allowing their mathematics education learning session to be observed and video-recorded, engagement with the practice of lesson study is being extended to prospective teachers who will be encouraged to use it to enhance their teaching of mathematics in the future. The use of lesson study in this cross-disciplinary fashion in a third level institution is a first in Ireland.

 

Last Updated: Tuesday December 14 2010