Mathematics Lesson Study: A first in Irish primary schools

Staff members of St Gabriel’s National School, Cowper St, Dublin 7, celebrate the successful completion of a research lesson in mathematics for senior infants.  St Gabriel’s staff undertook to enhance the teaching of mathematics as part of their DEIS objectives for the school year 2008-2009.  They adopted the practice of Japanese lesson study to help them in this regard and invited Dr Dolores Corcoran, Education Department, St Patrick’s College, to act as ‘knowledgeable other’.  Dolores Corcoran has researched the use of lesson study as a theorised tool for the development of mathematics teaching.  Lesson study is a school based initiative where teachers study their own practice and focus on their pupils’ responses to the mathematics being taught.  A lesson study cycle involves detailed collaborative preparation culminating in a single ‘research lesson’, which is recorded and observed by colleagues for later review.  To date, two different groups of teachers in St Gabriel’s have engaged in a full cycle of lesson study each.  They plan to continue engagement with the lesson study process in 2009-2010.

Last Updated: Wednesday July 01 2009