Electronic Proceedings of the 12th Asian Technology Conference in Mathematics

 

     

Abstract for 12393

            Using Videotaped Components of Lesson Study to Build Communities of

            Practice for Prospective Mathematics Teachers

            Authors: Jack Carter, Beverly Ferrucci

            Affiliations: California State University, East Bay, Keene State

            College

            Keywords: Undergraduate Level, Equivalence Relations, Lesson Study,

            Videos

 

            Two tiers of pre-service mathematics teachers participated in an

            exploratory investigation in which components of lesson study were

            used to develop, teach, refine, revise, re-teach, and evaluate a

            unit on mathematical relations. Twelve fourth-year prospective

            mathematics teachers served as the instructional developers,

            planners, analyzers, and instructors for the unit, and twenty-five,

            second-year future elementary school mathematics teachers

            participated as students.

 

            Videotapes of the lesson study and the instruction showed that the

            fourth-year pre-service teachers were modestly successful in

            developing their second-year peers’ understanding of the properties

            of a mathematical relation, primarily by using arrow diagrams and

            relations on sets of people to give meaning to the properties.

            Analysis of the videotapes and written lessons showed that the

            participants who taught the lessons were prone to tell their

            students about relations without providing tasks for the students to

            conjecture and construct their own relations.

 

            The fourth-year pre-service mathematics teachers prepared a final

            paper reflecting on their experiences with the lesson study. A

            review of the final papers showed that these participants valued:

            (1) the opportunity to experience the lesson study process within

            the setting of an academic classroom, (2) the opportunity to work in

            a group to develop and improve a lesson, and (3) the experience of

            observing, and in some cases teaching, a lesson that incorporated

            the joint efforts of other participants.

 

            In retrospect, most of the participants also indicated that they

            would include more examples in the instructional unit, more examples

            of equivalence relations, more mathematical examples, and more

            examples generated and constructed by the students. Increasing class

            participation was also a concern expressed by most participants.