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How Lesson Study Helps Student Teachers Learn How to Teach Mathematics through Problem-Solving: Case Study of a Student Teacher in Japan

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Theory and Practice of Lesson Study in Mathematics

Part of the book series: Advances in Mathematics Education ((AME))

Abstract

In Japan, one of the goals of student teaching is for prospective teachers to learn how to use problem-solving to teach mathematics. Japanese student teachers conduct a type of professional development called Lesson Study in order to reflect upon and improve their teaching. To help prospective teachers get the most out of their student teaching experience, I examined how Lesson Study helps student teachers learn how to teach mathematics through problem-solving. I investigated whether or not a prospective teacher was able to improve her teaching and how her teaching methods changed throughout her student teaching experience. I collected data from the student teacher’s Lesson Study experience by recording her pre-lesson discussions, lessons, and post-lesson debriefs. I analyzed the verbal interactions between her and her students as well as the verbal interactions between her and her supporting teacher. I specifically focused on classroom discussions, the cornerstone of teaching mathematics through problem-solving. My analysis showed that in the beginning, the student teacher was only able to lecture about mathematical facts, but by the end of 3 weeks, she was also able to use her students’ mathematical thought processes to make connections between their solutions. I also show how this shift in teaching methods reflects what the student teacher learned about students’ thought processes during her pre-lesson and post-lesson discussions. In this way, Lesson Study was able to help the student teacher learn how to teach mathematics through problem-solving.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    All names of teachers and students have been changed to protect their privacy.

  2. 2.

    The length of utterances is easy to measure with counting the number of Hiragana, Japanese cursive syllabary.

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Acknowledgments

I wish to acknowledge the assistance of the following people who contributed to the writing of this paper. I am grateful to the prospective teacher and the supporting teacher who allowed me to video record their activities in student teaching. I also want to provide thanks to Katherine Beckwitt for editing an earlier version of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics Education, Tokyo Gakugei University, Tokyo, Japan

    Koichi Nakamura

Authors
  1. Koichi Nakamura
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Correspondence to Koichi Nakamura .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, USA

    Rongjin Huang

  2. College of Education, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Akihiko Takahashi

  3. College of Education, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    João Pedro da Ponte

Appendix: Case Study Subject Koyama’s Student Teaching Schedule

Appendix: Case Study Subject Koyama’s Student Teaching Schedule

A table represents the timetable for the three weeks from September 24 to October 10.

  • Note: All classroom subjects in parentheses, such as “(Math)”, indicate lessons Koyama observed.

  • Classes taught by the supporting teacher guiding Koyama’s group of student teachers are highlighted in yellow.

  • Classes Koyama taught are highlighted in orange and marked KOYAMA.

  • Classes taught by other student teachers are highlighted in blue.

  • The student teacher-led math lessons are labeled #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, and #6, respectively.

  • Boxes marked “HR” refer to the main homeroom to which Koyama was assigned. Boxes not marked “HR” refer to other homerooms.

  • Koyama was scheduled to teach the science class on October 7 but was suddenly unable to do so, and the supporting teacher taught the class instead.

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Nakamura, K. (2019). How Lesson Study Helps Student Teachers Learn How to Teach Mathematics through Problem-Solving: Case Study of a Student Teacher in Japan. In: Huang, R., Takahashi, A., da Ponte, J.P. (eds) Theory and Practice of Lesson Study in Mathematics. Advances in Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04031-4_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04031-4_25

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04030-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04031-4

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

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