Lesson Study: Building the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning One Lesson at a Time

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Lesson Study Building the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning One Lesson at a Time

• Bill Cerbin Bryan Kopp
• UW-La Crosse

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If you want to improve instruction, what could be
more obvious than collaborating with fellow
teachers to plan, observe, and reflect on
lessons? Catherine Lewis, 2002If you
want to build pedagogical knowledge, what could
be more obvious than collaborating with fellow
teachers to design and study lessons? Cerbin
Kopp, 2006
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What is Lesson Study?

• Lesson study is a process in which a group of
  teachers jointly
• designs,
• teaches,
• observes,
• analyzes,
• revises
• a single class lesson, called a Research Lesson.

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Origins of Lesson Study

• In Japan, lesson study is a well developed
• system for improving teaching and learning
• at the elementary and junior high level.
• The College Lesson Study Project is the
• first effort to adapt lesson study practices to
• college teaching in a range of disciplines.

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Lesson Study Teams in the UWS

• UW-Colleges (Barron, Fon du Lac, Marathon,
  Marshfield, Washington, Manitowoc, Sheboygan)
• UW-Green Bay
• UW-La Crosse
• UW-Madison
• UW-Milwaukee
• UW-Oshkosh
• UW-Platteville
• UW-River Falls
• UW-Stevens Point
• UW-Stout

Participation 2006 40 teams 150 instructors
16 campuses
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Involvement by Discipline/Field

• Accountancy
• Agriculture
• Apparel Communication Technologies
• Biology
• Communication Studies
• Economics
• Education
• English
• Geology/Geography
• History
• Human Development
• Humanistic Studies

• Library
• Mathematics
• Management
• Music
• Nursing
• Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Philosophy
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Public Environmental Affairs
• Reading Education
• Recreation
• Theatre Arts
• Urban Regional Studies

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Profile of Participants Recent poll of 22
current teams (89 instructors)

• Gender 49 females and 40 males
• Rank 29 assistant, 25 associate, 21 full, 5
  instructors,
• 4 retired/emeriti
• Tenure 48 tenured 39 not tenured
• Teaching experience
• 47 (lt10 years), 20 (11-20 years), 14 (gt
  20 years)
• Plan to present/publish 64
• Have presented/published 16

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The Lesson Study Cycle What Teachers Actually
Do in Lesson Study

• Chose Topic Develop Learning Goals
• Design the Lesson the Study
• Teach Gather Evidence
• Analyze Evidence Revise the Lesson/Study
• Teach Study the Lesson Again
• Document Share the Research Lesson and the
  Study
• More information at http//www.uwlax.edu/sotl/lsp/
  intro.htm

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Goal A Knowledge Base for Teachers
PEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEDGE BASE practical and
accessible teaching learning materials focused
on student learning


LESSON STUDY CLUSTERS focused on similar
disciplines, topics, goals, etc.
INDIVIDUAL LESSON STUDIES
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Lesson Study in Context

• Avoiding hazards of isolation, redundancy,
  hoarding, and loss
• Building on common ground daily practices of
  teaching learning (similar goals, challenges,
  subjects, courses, disciplines, students, etc.)
• Balancing feasibility with complexity of teaching
  and learning practice
• Educational research F teaching improvement
• Hiebert, J., Gallimore, R., Stigler, J. (2002).
  A knowledge base for the teaching profession
  What would it look like and how can we get one?
  Educational Researcher , 31, 5, pp.3-15.

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Closing the Loop

• Practical, concerned with daily teaching and
  learning issues
• Detailed, concrete, specific, contextualized
• Integrated (content knowledge, pedagogical
  knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge)

• Public
• Storable
• Shareable
• Verifiable, subject to replication and peer
  review
• Systematic, principled, informed, theoretical,
  scholarly

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A Knowledge Community Building System
n
n
CREATION
EXCHANGE
USE
Moving from Practitioner to Professional
Knowledgeand Back Again
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CREATION of Pedagogical Knowledge

• Easy to get started
• Collaborative inquiry common enterprise
• Backward design of instruction
• Developing and capturing pedagogical content
  knowledge
• Embodies full complexity of teaching and
  learning
• Reflective practice and transformation
• Local and regional communities of teaching
  practice

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EXCHANGE of Pedagogical Knowledge

• A Lesson
• Familiar genre
• Keyed to discipline, topic, goal, curriculum
• A Study
• Focused on student learning
• Systematic and evidence based

UNIT OF PRACTICE UNIT OF ANALYSIS
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USE of Pedagogical Knowledge

• Easy for other teachers to adapt
• SoTL and SoTL training ground
• Replication peer review of lesson/study
• Teacher training and ongoing professional
  development
• Link with assessment, standards, and outcomes
• National and professional communities of
  teaching practice

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A Comprehensive Approach

• CREATION
• Easy to get started
• Collaborative inquiry
• Backward design
• Developing and capturing PCK
• Embodies full complexity of T L
• Reflective practice
• Local and regional communities of teaching
  practice

• EXCHANGE
• A Lesson
• Familiar genre
• Keyed to discipline, topic, goal, curriculum
• A Study
• Focused on student learning
• Systematic and evidence based
• UNIT OF PRACTICE UNIT OF ANALYSIS

• USE
• Easy for other teachers to adapt
• SoTL SoTL training
• Replication peer review of lesson/study
• Teacher training and professional development
• Assessment
• National and professional communities of
  teaching practice

n
n
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Highlights

• Lesson study provides a practical, integrated,
  and progressive model for professional
  pedagogical knowledge building across the
  disciplines.
• Community building knowledge building
  Capacity building
• We plan to use KEEP Toolkit to help develop a
  database of lesson studies.

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More Information

• Lesson Study Project website, guide, resources,
  and gallery http//www.uwlax.edu/sotl/lsp
• KEEP Toolkit http//www.cfkeep.org/
• Dr. Bill Cerbin, Director of the Lesson Study
  Project (cerbin.will_at_uwlax.edu)
• Dr. Bryan Kopp, Associate Director of the Lesson
  Study Project (kopp.brya_at_uwlax.edu)