Are lesson study participants sharing their professional knowledge?

Abstract

PurposeResearch and practice are often seen as separate entities, however, the notion of teacher as researcher situates the act of teaching as research (Watanabe, 2018). Educators in Japan identify as researchers with contributions to make to the field. Lesson study is one vehicle for their research. The purpose of this paper is to understand whether educators outside Japan are sharing their work resulting from lesson study to impact the field beyond their local context.Design/methodology/approachDatabases were searched to find cases (n=45) of lesson study in K-12 mathematics classrooms in the USA. Descriptions of how lesson study was implemented were coded to determine whether sharing of findings was a part of the lesson study cycle and, if so, to identify the mechanisms for sharing.FindingsIn 12 of the 45 cases, there was evidence that the lesson study team shared their findings beyond the team. The modes of sharing included inviting people to the research lesson, distributing the research lesson, presenting at conferences or writing articles.Research limitations/implicationsThe cases are limited to published lesson study projects. The end of the lesson study cycle for teams not sharing was not evaluated.Practical implicationsWays to make sharing results more accessible are discussed.Originality/valueThe originality of this paper is in that it evaluates a large number of documented cases of lesson study to understand if and how teachers are making their professional knowledge gained through lesson study public.