The potential role of lesson study in curriculum design and implementation Seminar

In this talk, Dr Geoffrey Wake draws on experiences of collaborative research with colleagues in Japan to provide theoretical insights into how we might conceptualise and inform future developments of lesson study as action research that informs curriculum design and implementation. The approach taken develops ideas of the theory of didactical situations, and draws on the construct of boundary objects to understand Japanese lesson study.

Dr Geoffrey Wake  identifies a class of artefacts, didactical devices, that may provide a useful form of boundary object that supports the collaborative action research of lesson study. These important devices also support teachers in their role of mediating important aspects of mathematics as a subject as well as ensuring that students experience curriculum coherence both within mathematics itself and over their long-term learning journey. Although the particular focus of the work presented here is mathematics, the lessons drawn should have applicability more widely.

Implications for practice or research: Dr Geoffrey Wake's findings suggest that we should consider adopting a commonly agreed approach to our teaching of the curriculum within subjects and potentially more widely across the curriculum. This would necessitate teachers agreeing underlying core principles and carefully designing boundary objects that might permeate their curriculum, minimally at a local level but potentially at a national level.