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Lesson Study and Teaching Mathematics Through Problem Solving: The Two Wheels of a Cart

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Mathematics Lesson Study Around the World

Part of the book series: ICME-13 Monographs ((ICME13Mo))

Abstract

The international education community has taken an interest in lesson study, the Japanese approach to school education. Lesson study first came to the attention of educators outside of Japan primarily through the publication of The Teaching Gap (Stigler and Hiebert in The teaching gap: Best ideas from the world’s teachers for improving education in the classroom. The Free Press, New York, 1999) and the TIMSS video study, which showed the typical structure of Japanese mathematics instruction in the classroom. However, while there has been tremendous international interest in using lesson study as a model for professional development, there has been less of a focus on applying the method of Japanese mathematics instruction, which is teaching mathematics through problem solving. This paper discusses the interplay between lesson study and teaching mathematics through problem solving and outlines suggestions for educators seeking to improve both teaching and lesson study outside Japan.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This chapter is based on Yoshida’s doctoral dissertation (1999), which is now also available in book form (Fernandez & Yoshida, 2004).

  2. 2.

    The Japanese curriculum is national and revised every ten years or so.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tokyo Gakugei University, Tokyo, Japan

    Toshiakira Fujii

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  1. Toshiakira Fujii
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Correspondence to Toshiakira Fujii .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Educação, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

    Marisa Quaresma

  2. Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Carl Winsløw

  3. UER MS and 3LS, Lausanne University of Teacher Education, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Stéphane Clivaz

  4. Instituto de Educação, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

    JoĂŁo Pedro da Ponte

  5. School of Mathematics & Statistics, College of Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin

  6. Teacher Education, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Akihiko Takahashi

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Fujii, T. (2018). Lesson Study and Teaching Mathematics Through Problem Solving: The Two Wheels of a Cart. In: Quaresma, M., Winsløw, C., Clivaz, S., da Ponte, J., Ní Shúilleabháin, A., Takahashi, A. (eds) Mathematics Lesson Study Around the World. ICME-13 Monographs. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75696-7_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75696-7_1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75695-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75696-7

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