Thursday, February 7, 2013

Lesson Study Immersion Program in Japan


IMPULS Lesson Study Immersion Program 2013 

Project IMPULS (International Math-teacher Professionalization Using Lesson Study) at the Tokyo Gakugei University is offering an intensive Lesson Study Immersion Program in Japan in the summer of 2013 . Dates of the program are from June 23 (Sunday) to July 4 (Thursday), 2013.

Project IMPULS Lesson Study Immersion Program offers leaders of lesson study a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in authentic mathematics Lesson Study in Japan. Participants will observe several mathematics research lessons, developed through Lesson Study in elementary and secondary schools, and participate in live post-lesson discussions. All research lessons and post-lesson discussions will be simultaneously translated into English by the experts, Drs. Tad Watanabe and Makoto Yoshida. In addition, participants will have numerous opportunities to interact with teachers, students, and education professors from various regions in Japan.

Here is the tentative schedule for the Lesson Study Immersion Program 2013.

6/23
Sun.
Arrival day
6/24
Mon.
Opening Session and Workshop: Mathematics teaching and learning in Japan, and lesson study by Drs. Toshialira Fujii and Akihiko Takahashi
6/25
Tue.
Visiting a lower secondary school to observe a mathematics research lesson and a post-lesson discussion
6/26
Wed.
Visiting an elementary school to observe a mathematics research lesson and a post-lesson discussion
6/27
Thu.
Move to Yamanashi prefecture
6/28

Fri.
Visiting an elementary school to observe a mathematics research lesson and a post-lesson discussion weaknesses
6/29
Sat.
Move to Tokyo
6/30
Sun.
Free. Explore Tokyo and surrounding areas to experience everyday life in Japan.
7/1
Mon.
Free.
7/2
Tue.
Visiting a lower secondary school to observe a mathematics research lesson and a post-lesson discussion
7/3
Wed.
Visiting an elementary school to observe a mathematics research lesson and a post-lesson discussion
7/4
Thu.
Closing Session
7/5
Fri.
Departing day

Approximate Cost for participating the program

All the costs for the lectures/workshops during the program and the translation of the research lesson, post lesson discussion, and lesson plan will be provided by the Project IMPULS at no cost. The participants will be responsible for the international/domestic travel, and room and board:
      Program fee that covers the cost of hotel lodging during the program: 139,500 JPY (approximately $1600 U.S)
      Meals and domestic travel (approximately 500-1000 JPY for lunch and 1000-2000 JPY for dinner)
      International travel (approximately $2200 from the U.S.) 

Application Form

Please send your application to Akihiko Takahashi at atakahas@u-gakugei.ac.jp by Sunday, February 10, 2013. Use subject line: “LSIP application”. You may write your responses within the text of the email message or attach them as a separate document (Word, RTF, or plain text format). You will be notified of acceptance or rejection by Wednesday, February 20, and will need to submit a deposit of 10,000 Yen by Friday, March 1.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Chicago Lesson Study Conference

The 2013 Chicago Lesson Study Conference will take place on Friday and Saturday, May 3 & 4, 2013 at Prieto Math and Science Academy, 2231 N. Central in Chicago (the site of last year's conference). The theme of this conference will be on "Bringing the Common Core to life through Lesson Study". 

At this moment we have three math research lessons planned for the two days. Two of the lessons will feature teams from Prieto, where they have been working on supporting student note-taking as a way to help students "construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others." A kindergarten lesson will be based on a Japanese textbook that has been adapted to support the Common Core. A third grade lesson, probably addressing fractions, will focus on teaching through problem solving.

As usual, we will also have fabulous speakers providing insights into the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and lesson study.

A full announcement, with a tentative agenda and information about lodging and registration, will be sent out soon. 


World Association of Lesson Studies WALS 2013 International Conference in Sweden



Tuesday, September 11, 2012

APEC - Tsukuba International Conference 2013

APEC - Tsukuba International Conference VII will be held from 13 February to 16th February with the 17th February dedicated to 140th Anniversary of Lesson Study in Japan.

The international conference is based on the theme of Innovation of Mathematics Education through Lesson Study: From Mathematics Education to Emergency Preparedness Education . The theme for 2012 was the same with a focus on earthquake and tsunami.

Participants will learn how to use real-life situations for mathematical modelling and applications. They will also learn how to integrate emergency preparedness education (in Singapore, this is part of National Education) with the teaching of mathematics and science.

More interestingly, participants will join Japanese teachers in a lesson study open house where they will get to see how lesson study is done in Japan.

The 140th Anniversary celebrations may offer further professional learning for the participants.

During this conference, the APEC lesson study specialists (who are mostly mathematics educators) will deliberate on the project they will implement in their respective countries. There will be some inputs from experts on floods, typhoon and tornado.

Schools in Singapore that are interetsed to send teachers to the conference, please contact yeapbanhar@gmail so that he can reserve places for you with the organizers. For participants from other countries, plase contact your respective country specialists - or you can also drop me a note if you do not know who they are.

In previous editions, several schools and officers from MOE have attend this conference with our specialists. Tsukuba University will help reserve the hotel (at slightly less than Y6000 per night). Please see http://www.criced.tsukuba.ac.jp/math/apec/apec2013/Accommodation%20and%20Transportation.pdf

You will make your own travel arrangements. Details will be available nearer the conference dates. Conference fee is waived but there is a small fee for participation in the lesson study open house (it was Y2000 the last time).

The conference fee is about Y10,000 which includes lunch.

Registration with iwakuni.sawa.ge@un.tsukuba.ac.jp

Sunday, September 9, 2012

WALS 2013 First Announcement

Christine Lee (NIE) sent this message:

I am really pleased to announce that WALS2013 will be held at University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Our Council member, Mona Holmqvist, is the Chair of the Local Organizing Committee. Work for this conference has already started. We want to thank our Swedish colleagues for hosting the next conference.

Please keep these dates free and join us at WALS2013 in Sweden

5 September         Expert Seminar
6-8 September      Main Conference
9 September         School visit

The theme of the conference is "Teachers as Researchers".


APEC - Khon Kaen International Symposium 2012

Please see this blog for details.

The next meeting is in Japan in February 2013. This year it was 14-18 Feb 2012. It should be around the same dates for 2013. Singapore schools that are interested to attend the meeting with Yeap Ban Har, please contact him at yeapbanhar@gmail.com by January 2013.

Open Lesson at the Symposium
The first three keynote lectures were common to both APEC - Khon Kaen International Symposium and International Conference on Educational Research. In Keynote Lecture 4, Shizumi Shimizu shared the Japanese curriculum (the latest one was introduced in 2008) (also called course of study).

Mathematical activities are defined as related to mathematics, and able to engage students willingly and purposefully. In Japan, mathematical activities are perceived as as aims as well as methods. It is also included in the strands as content - emphasizing the centrality of activities in the learning process. In Singapore 2013 curriculum, the same thinking is evident. Learning experiences (similar to mathematical activities) are now included in the content strands to emphasize its importance.

Types of Activities are of three types (1) Creating mathematics
(2) Using mathematics (3) Communicating mathematics

At the heart of learning mathematics is for students to do mathematics independently.

Mathematical Activities in Japanese Classroom

The speaker discussed mathematical proficiency for a greater part of the lecture and shows Japanese students' performance on test items from National Survey.

This lecture is useful for schools to think about when constructing their research theme for lesson study.

He also describes a typical problem-solving approach in the Japanese classroom and shares some attractive activities that Japanese teachers may use.

A Mathematics Class in Fukushima Prefecture