2014.01.26

Supporting the Effective Inplementation of a New Mathematics Curriculum: A Case Study if School-Based Lesson Study at a Japanese Public Elementary School

link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-007-7560-2_20

The Japanese national standards, known as the Course of Study (COS), is revised about every 10 years. After a revised COS is released, Japanese elementary schools usually use lesson study with the entire faculty to seek an effective implementation of the new COS. This chapter, based on a case study, documents how Japanese teachers and administrators in a public school work collaboratively to implement the new curriculum through lesson study, and identifies elements that seem important for connecting the curriculum, teachers, and teaching. The results of the study suggest that Japanese educators’ use of school-based lesson study is an effective way to implement a new curriculum. Unlike many lesson study projects outside Japan, which are often conducted by a few volunteers within a school and supported externally, school-based lesson study in Japan is a highly structured, collaborative effort of school administrators, teacher leaders, and all the teachers at the school, with additional support from the local district.

Click here to download the English translation of the school's report.