Lesson Study at PCF Kindergartens Tampines East

The team has completed the research lesson and post-lesson discussion. I will be writing about this research lesson in a few days. The team, in the coming days, will be compleing the lesson study cycle by revising the lesson plan. I have made several suggestions for the team o focus on students collaboration and problem solving which are the reseacrh theme. As the lessons included science as well and art-and-craft, I have also suggesed that the team discuss concepts and skills in these domains that are natural to children as well as those that requires explicit instruction, those which are easy for children this age grasp readily and those that are difficult to them.

Lesson Study at PCF Kindergartens Zhenghua

The second team to launch their lesson study journey is the team from Zhenghua comprising of the vice principal and three teachers teaching Kindergarten 2 (K2). They have decided to do lesson study on the unit on Nature. Their research theme is to develop amongst the students a sense of responsibility towards the environment.

The research lesson is on methods of seed dispersion. The lesson plan comprises three segments. First, students sort seeds into groups. Later, a book will be used to show how a seed is dispersed. The children will then be engaged in a discussion of how seeds they have brought are dispersed. In the last segment, they will be made aware of their roles in seed dispersion.

Lesson Study at PCF Kindergartens Tanjong Pagar

It is so exciting. We presented lesson study as a means of professional development of teachers in PCF Kindergarten some time back. Five kindergartens have taken up the offer to try it out. Most of them will do it in Term 3 of the school year. But Tanjong Pagar's centre has kicked start the process. This project receives the support of Ministry of Education.

The team of four teachers met last Friday. The team includes the principal. After the planning meeting, the team has decided to focus on how children acquire a new idea. The lesson is on addition within 20. The team decided that addition by making ten will be a new idea. The members were interested in how the new idea can be developed through play, how to create a situation for children to move into the idea, how the teacher can facilitate the process and how children interact with each other and respect each others' ideas in the process of moving into the new idea.

When asked what their learning is during the planning session, one teacher said she learnt a lot, new things she has not heard before or used before. Another teacher mentioned she learn about the tens frame that can be used to help children acquire the make ten strategy. Another teacher used to think that teaching addition is well simply teaching adding. She said she now realize that there are many strategies to do addition. Another concurred with her and said she learnt by listening to her colleagues.

Redesigning Pedagogy Conference 2009

Deborah Ball's keynote on What is the Work of Teaching Mathematics? reminded us on the complexity of teaching. Teaching mathematics is an intricate activity that requires teachers to have all kinds of knowledge. Among others, subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. She mentioned two new categories - knowledge horizon under subject matter knowledge and knowledge of curriculum under pedagogical content knowledge.

Lesson study offers a viable way for teachers to acquire this knowledge set.

The team from Canossa Convent Primary School shared their use of lesson study to learn more about lessons that took into account learning styles.Tatang Suratno from Indonesia focused on teacher reflection aspect of lesson study.

I think SYM013 on variation theory by the team from Hong Kong is useful in selecting tasks in research lessons. There is also a Hong Kong presentation on Learning Study, a variant of lesson study. See SYM006.

Ho Geok Lan and her collegeaus will present a paper on building a professional learning community through lesson study and Michelle Tan will present a paper on the learning study approach to biology teachers' professional development.

Chicago Lesson Study Conference 2010

The Chicago Lesson Study Conference will be held at DePaul University next spring, Thursday and Friday 4/29/10 and 4/30/10. There will be a pre-conference and reception on Wednesday evening, 4/28/10.

This is organized by a team led by Prof Takahashi Akihiko.

Lesson Study Team North Vista Primary School

The team of four teachers were participants of an inservice course. The meetings with myself were on 5 May, 23 May, and 27 May. In the first meeting, which was attended by the Principal and Head of Mathematics and Science, we focused on developing the research theme and helping teachers understand the lesson-study process better. Although they had attended some workshops, they still felt that they needed to have an opportunity to clarify some questions.

The team met on their own to plan the research lesson. I met them once to discuss the lesson plan. As their research theme is on students developing conceptual understanding in mathematics, I kept on asking the team if the steps in the lesson plans and the examples selection can help students develop conceptual understanding.

The team had to do a bit of modification to the research lesson as the students were going to m missed a lesson due to a school outing. Also, our discussion went off tangent for a few moments as some members brought up an interesting observation from a lesson on equivalent fraction.

The research lesson was on comparing two fractions with the same numerator but different denominators.

At the end of the lesson planning sessions, team members were asked to share a learning point. I started the ball rolling. One teacher noted that she realized how important the selection of examples was. In the discussion, I asked teachers several times why the tasks selected were so and if the selection or its alternative would lead to better conceptual understanding. For example when these three were put up: compare 1/2 and 1/8, compare 2/3 and 2/5 and compare 5/12 and 5/8, I pressed the team to explain the wisdom of having 1/2 and 1/8 as the first example. One member gave an illuminating answer that 1/2 and 1/8 are obviously different. Students would be able to say that 1/2 is larger without having to change both 1/2 and 1/8 to a common denominator. The discussion ended with the point that using an obvious case where students can use prior knowledge to validate the 'new' method would enhance conceptual understanding.

Two others said they learnt from the case of the unusual pattern students raised during a lesson on equivalent fraction other members shared (see photo). One of them mentioned that sometimes as teachers we tended to "focus on what is in the textbook (and) too quick to discount" students' responses.

Finally, another member realized how important the concept of trigger and source is. In the discussion, I discussed in the context of preparing for the research lesson, to be on a look out for conceptual understanding (I summarized some indicators of conceptual understanding which the teachers gave - if they can use correct terms, if they can recognize a pattern, if they are able to use diagrams to explain and if they are able to resolve apparent conflicts) and the triggers and sources of these conceptual understanding.

The team met on their own to finalize the lesson plan and to prepare the resources for the research lesson...

IME4512 Lesson Study in Primary Mathematics: Implementation

So far two schools have started the lesson study process. The team at North Vista Primary School has met to discuss the research theme and their initial plan for the research lesson. They will now go into the lesson planning process. Their research theme is along the line of children developing conceptual understanding by having their voices respected.

The team from Haig Girls' Primary School met to settle their research theme. They are working on developing students' critical thinking through cooperation and collaboration. They have also started to work on their lesson plans which will be for lessons on decimals (primary five).

Teams are encouraged to read the blog about setting research theme. See below.