Preservice teachers' perceptions of a practice-focused lesson study

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore middle and secondary mathematics preservice teachers' (PST) perceptions of the benefits, challenges and impacts of implementing lesson study.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a single case study in the university context. Embedded units of analysis included a group of middle and a group of secondary mathematics PSTs, who were in the internship year of a teacher preparation program.FindingsThis paper presents several perceived benefits, challenges and impacts according to PSTs. PSTs indicated benefits included their focused student observations and their collaboration in lesson design. Perceived challenges included observing as a nonparticipant observer and aspects of planning. The different impacts occurred in three phases: planning, observing during teaching and reflection.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the study participants included a small group of middle and secondary mathematics PSTs from one university in central Texas. Second, the PSTs in this study were not able to reteach the lesson, which may have influenced their perceptions.Practical implicationsMathematics teacher educators could use insights from this study as they implement lesson study or other field experiences to support PSTs in their growth as mathematics teachers.Originality/valueThis paper examines PSTs' perceptions, which could benefit mathematics teacher educators as they consider how to introduce or implement lesson study with PSTs.

Discussion contents during a lesson study conducted with knowledgeable others

“…The number of studies on LS with pre-service teachers continues to increase day by day, and as a result, there are many studies conducted on various research topics in this field (Ponte, 2017). While some of the research are aimed at describing the LS process with pre-service teachers (Kannellopoulou & Darra, 2019;Lamb & Aldous, 2016;Shelton et al, 2023), some of them focus on the professional development processes of LS pre-service teachers (Amador & Galindo, 2021;Appova, 2018;Leavy & Hourigan, 2016). In addition, when the LS studies conducted with knowledgeable others are examined, the focus is on the characteristics of knowledgeable others and contribution of knowledgeable others participation to the LS process (Bjuland & Mosvold, 2015;Seino & Foster, 2021;Wood & Sithamparam, 2014).…”

“…Since then, LS model has been the subject of tremendous educational research. The preferred style of LS in in-service (Cooper & Karsenty, 2018;Elkomy & Elkhaial, 2022;Fernandez, 2002;Metelerkamp, & Kraft, 2023;Ylonen & Norwich, 2012) and pre-service (Leavy & Hourigan, 2016;Lewis, 2019;Shelton et al, 2023) teacher education is defined as a dynamic research-learning cycle (Kanbolat, 2015). LS is a collaborative professional development model that involves a group of teachers over a long-term period, planning, applying, and observing a lesson, and then analyzing their observations and sharing their experiences with each other (Amador & Galindo, 2021;Iksan et al, 2014;Lewis, 2000;Murata & Kattubadi, 2012).…”

“…LS has originally been used to contribute to teachers' professional development. Having observed its efficiency on teachers, researchers have begun to use LS in pre-service teachers training and many researchers demonstrated that it also contribute to pre-service teachers' professional development (Baki, 2012;Lewis, 2019;Murata & Pothen, 2011;Shelton et al, 2023;Vermunt et al, 2019). For example, in their study with 25 pre-service teachers, Leavy and Hourigan (2016) focused on the types of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) developed by preservice teachers as a result of engaging in LS.…”