Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe two cycles of learning study (LS) involving eight elementary teachers in British Columbia, Canada. The study explored the teachers’ experiences of learning to plan and teach lessons as informed by recent brain research. Design/methodology/approach The case study was constructed using data sources including teacher semi-structured interviews (pre-study, post-study and delayed post-study), classroom materials (including student assignments), LS training materials, fieldnotes and recordings of meetings and research lessons; sources were triangulated. Thematic analysis was applied. Contemporary neuroscience perspectives framed the LS discourse and analysis. Findings The teachers developed theoretical coherence and could better articulate reasons for their pedagogy. They developed understandings of the cognitive architecture underlying functions like learning and memory, allowing them to identify pedagogical actions that are consistent with human biology and understand why these actions are effective in promoting learning. Practical implications LS is shown to be an effective professional development (PD) model where theoretical knowledge, like neuroscience, could be employed and tested in classroom settings to provide depth to support teachers’ praxis. This teaching–research nexus supports exploration of fruitful connections between theoretical knowledge and education to advance the science of learning and the science of instruction. Originality/value Findings demonstrated how LS could be employed with alternative theoretical perspectives to promote teacher PD, thus extending beyond the dominant use of variation theory. Also, illustrated is the potential use of LS to bridge the knowledge gap between neuroscience and education.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to measure teacher change in attitudes and beliefs among college teachers and school teachers who participated in Lesson Study projects. The authors investigate the answers to the question “Does the collective design of a single lesson contribute to noteworthy and lasting teacher change and student achievement?”Design/methodology/approachThe authors surveyed a group of college and school teachers on several aspects central to the Lesson Study mission. The authors performed a formal statistical analysis of the survey results. The authors also utilized the analysis of student performance data of the same group of schoolteachers. These teachers come from a school district in the western USA and conducted Lesson Study as professional development.FindingsThe findings show significant and lasting change in attitudes and beliefs of teachers as a result of their Lesson Study experience. In addition, evidence suggests a strong connection between collaboration and teacher change. The authors also present evidence of the noteworthy influence that teachers who participated in Lesson Study had on a historically under-performing student population.Practical implicationsThe findings show evidence of lasting and beneficial effects of teacher collaboration. The authors believe that our research is appealing to a vast audience and should inspire teachers toward collaboration.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the growing body of research on professional development of teachers by demonstrating the positive effects of Lesson Study on teachers in both college and school environments.

PurposeThe urgency of improving the schools call for a distributed instructional leadership model where teachers are not just recipients of professional development, but also active leaders who are coaches and mentors for their peers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the teacher leadership development system in Shanghai, and identify pathways to constructing actionable models that develop and maximize instructional expertise.Design/methodology/approachThis is a qualitative study. Purposive sampling was conducted to select four teaching-study groups from a frame that included all certified “expert teachers” from a large Shanghai district with about 9,000 teachers. Grounded theory approaches were used to understand “what actually happens in the teachers’ world.” Participative observations (of lesson delivering and collaborative decoding), semi-structured interviews, teachers’ reflective journal entries, and video recording of group work and lessons were the main measures of data collection.FindingsThree key features of expertise infusion were identified: recognizing, differentiating, and labeling teacher expertise at multiple mastery levels; providing expert teachers with support and leadership responsibilities to lead practice-embedded and cross-school peer learning; and creating a roadmap for teachers to chart continuous learning pathways individually and build an enhanced content pedagogical knowledgebase collectively.Originality/valueResults from this study provide the impetus for further exploration in how Shanghai continuously share and improve good teaching systemically, which could be informative to US schools and districts in their effort of redesigning professional development that maximizes available expertise among teachers and stimulates teacher-led action research for student learning.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers in the current issue and invite comments from the readers of the journal.Design/methodology/approachThis editorial review is intended to stimulate a discussion about the effect of iterative models of professional development, the meaning of student-centred learning, valid evidence of teachers’ learning through collaborative professional development, teachers’ responses to top-down innovation and the cultural script of teaching, all of which are focal in the texts published in Issue 6.3 of the journal.FindingsThe boundaries between lesson and learning studies, top-down and bottom-up innovations, teacher learning and teacher participation and cultural scripts are far from distinct and for good reasons.Originality/valueThis editorial review provides an overview of the insights and issues identified by the authors in this issue of the journal.

PurposeThis study attempts to provide cross-cultural learning by focusing on a very important aspect of research, the study of teaching materials, known as Kyouzai Kenkyuu in Japan. The purpose of this paper is to investigate teachers’ views and awareness about the study of teaching materials, in particular, the views and awareness of Iranian teachers, who are beginning to understand their teaching practice and professional development through lesson study.Design/methodology/approachQualitative research methods were employed for data collection. These methods included comparative analysis of an Iranian mathematics lesson from the perspective of Japanese educators and semi-structured interviews with all participants of the lesson analysis meetings.FindingsThe findings are intended to position Kyouzai Kenkyuu as an important aspect of Japanese lesson study and to make explicit the beliefs and values that underpin and shape pedagogical reasoning that support researchers and practitioners to improve the quality of teaching through lesson study. This was achieved through post-lesson discussion meetings, and the beliefs and values were those the participants were largely unaware of but could be clarified through a cross-cultural comparison. For instance, Japanese teachers focus more on learners and the study of teaching materials for raising the quality of teaching, whereas Iranian teachers focus more on the content of teaching and teacher behavior.Research limitations/implicationsThis study delivers a transnational learning opportunity for teachers and researchers to learn how to provide evidence-based analysis of a lesson to raise the quality of teaching. However, as this is a case study and focuses specifically on Kyouzai Kenkyuu, it opens up the possibility for comparative analysis of more sample lessons and other aspects of Japanese lesson study.Practical implicationsIt may be interesting for teachers and researchers to see how such a study could help them revise their quality of teaching through lesson study and construct shared knowledge about how to teach and to clarify “the pedagogical theories” that underpin such knowledge building.Social implicationsThe value of this study is in its ability to reveal to educators their own unconscious teaching script and knowledge and “the pedagogical theories” that underpin such knowledge. It provides an opportunity for evidence-based critiques of our own teaching script, theory, view and values that we accept culturally, share tacitly and may not even be aware of in the construction process.Originality/valueThis study combines careful measurement with an “insider’s perspective” from Iran and an “outsider’s perspective” from Japan of differing educational concepts within the same subject area. The objective is to provide a deeper understanding of the real world of lesson study and how it can help educators to construct shared knowledge about how to teach in practice and to support teachers to revise the cultural context of teaching.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze and discuss experiences, in terms of challenges and opportunities, of teacher-researchers who engage in research on the learning study approach. The following two questions will be addressed: how can the teaching experience influence, and become an asset, in the research process and what challenges do teachers face when they enter the research practice?Design/methodology/approachEach question will be explored through some empirically grounded themes. The analysis is based on experiences from participation in a PhD program, where learning study was used as a method and variation theory was the main theoretical framework. One learning study was focusing on creative writing in primary school and the other was focusing on historical primary source analysis in upper secondary school.FindingsThe first question is addressed through the following themes: choosing and identifying research problems; planning and conducting research lessons; analyzing research lessons and students’ learning; and process of self-reflection, and the second question through: teaching as an object of research; to use and develop theories; and communication and review in research. The findings indicate that learning study is a practice-based research approach where teaching experience and academic skills are intertwined in many ways. Both approaches bring opportunities as well as challenges.Originality/valueThe paper is expected to contribute insights and knowledge about the advantages, as well as hindrances to overcome, for teacher-researchers who use learning study as a research method. The results can also be related to the performing of action research in teachers’ classroom practice.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to summarize some of the key findings and approaches used in documenting the authors’ longitudinal studies of mathematical learning and understanding. In particular, it focuses on “folding back,” a theoretical construct originally developed by Susan Pirie and Tom Kieren, to show how, over the last two decades, the authors have taken up, built-upon, and elaborated this construct in relation to Pirie and Kieren’s wider theorizing and in relation to classroom practice. Design/methodology/approach The paper documents the various methodologies and methods the authors have used to elaborate theory and contribute to extending teaching practice in a number of related research studies. Findings This paper describes the role of folding back in the growth of students’ mathematical understanding, initially at the level of the individual, more recently at that of the collective – and currently with a specific consideration of the role of the teacher. It notes that the longitudinal nature of the work has allowed it to respond to shifting perspectives in the field of mathematics education and to become a more nuanced and powerful analytic and teaching tool. Originality/value The paper discusses the significance of a longitudinal, shared program of research, deeply rooted in mathematics classrooms, that builds theory systematically and over an extended period of time.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to improve the critical thinking of biology students of STKIP Hamzanwadi Selong on an environment course through the implementation of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Group Investigation (GI) through Lesson Study. Design/methodology/approach – This study employed a descriptive qualitative method. The subjects of the study were 73 freshmen biology students academic year 2013/2014 who were divided into two classes. The Lesson Study was conducted in 16 cycles, comprising Plan, Do, and See stages. The instrument of the study used to measure the students’ critical thinking was an essay test which covered several criteria of critical thinking adapted from SOLO Taxonomy. Findings – The implementation of PBL and GI encouraged the students to think critically through planning, arguing, stating questions and problems, and analysing and providing solutions to the surrounding environmental problems. Originality/value – This study depicted Lesson Study activity on an environment course which focused on the students’ critical thinking activity through the integration of PBL and GI. The learning was conducted through Lesson Study and was based on the environment. The crucial value of the Lesson Study was the lecturers showed more attention to the students since they wanted to know the students’ learning style and what made them learn.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine if a blended learning component can aid professional development, improve student ability and be approved at the foreign language level using the lesson study (LS) method at a university in Japan. Design/methodology/approach – This paper introduces the three main theoretical concepts of blended learning, learner autonomy and technology in education before explaining the LS in full. Two groups of students were taught using almost identical syllabus. One group, the A group were taught using computer rooms for two semesters, while the other (B) group were taught in regular classrooms without computers for one semester then with computers for the following semester. The impact on the student and teacher will be discussed. Findings – The findings of this study indicate that technology, in the form of a blended learning component added to a test-based curriculum, can enhance student test-scores, raise teacher and student awareness of technology and improve ability over a relatively short period. Practical implications – This study emphasizes the power of technology in modern day education. Through blended learning methodology this study proposes that teachers in the modern age should adopt some form of technology into their teaching technique. Originality/value – This paper is directed at teachers who are interested in integrating technology into their teaching techniques, through either computer aided or mobile assisted learning, but are slightly apprehensive in doing so. This study focuses on the introduction of an online and mobile digital flashcard tool called Quizlet. Very little literature exists in this field as the mobile application was only released in 2013.