Boosting the Lesson Study

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Boosting the Lesson Study

• Ference Marton
• University of Gothenburg
• Singapore 110603

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Focus on

• What is to be learned?
• How is it to be taught?
• What should not be taken for granted?
• The design of the lesson
• Putting conjectures to empirical test
• Relationship between what happens in the
  classroom and what the students learn

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How can Lesson Study be developed further?

• Theory as resource
• Sharing findings with non-participants/Cumulative
  development
• Action research/Practitioners research
• Absorbing the way of operating in every-day work

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What is to be learned? How can learning be made
possible? Knowledge production
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Density of rational numbers (Kullberg, 2010) How
many numbers are there between .97 and .98?
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• Decimal numbers as points on a line
• The interchangeable representation of rational
  numbers
• A rational number as a part of a whole
• Divisibility of rational numbers

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In lesson 1 the numbers varied
In lesson 2 the number of parts in the interval
varied
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Re-analysis of the pre and post tests from the
learning study first analysed by Kullberg (2004).
Task concerning density, maximal points1.
Lesson 1 (N19) Lesson 1 (N19) Lesson 1 (N19) Lesson 2 (N17) Lesson 2 (N17) Lesson 2 (N17) Lesson 3 (N17) Lesson 3 (N17) Lesson 3 (N17)
Mean SD Effect size Mean SD Effect size Mean SD Effect size
Pre test 0.05 0.23 0.24 0.44 0.06 0.24
Post test 0.16 0.38 0.35 0.94 0.24 1.98 0.76 0.44 1.98
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• The difference between the signs
• Seeing subtraction as a difference
• The perspective/commutative law does not apply in
  subtraction
• The numerical system

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(No Transcript)
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(Lo, M.L., 2008)
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The clock (Wernberg, 2009) The relationship
between the two legs of the clock How long time
has passed?
Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3
Pre test 40 63 50
Post test 55 50 63
Delayed test 60 63 100
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Pang, F.M. Marton, F (2003) Beyond lesson
study Comparing two ways of facilitating the
grasp of some economic concepts. Instructional
Science, 31, 175-194
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In a recent Legislative Council meeting, the
proposal to bring in a sales tax to Hong Kong was
rejected. A newspaper then conducted interviews
with members of the public to canvass opinions on
the tax. Most people opposed it. They said that
prices would increase by the amount of the tax.
Do you agree that prices will increase by the
amount of the tax? Why or why not?
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• ...the tax would be
• ...put on the top of the price due to the market
  power of the sellers
• ...put on the top of the price due to inelastic
  demand
• ...shared due to elastic demand
• ...shared due to elastic supply
• ...shared due to elastic demand and supply

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Distribution of the differing understandings of
the tax incidence in the two groups (For
categories see previous section)
Understanding Learning study group Learning study group Lesson study group Lesson study group
Occurrence Occurrence
Non-economic 8 4.4 17 9.7
A 4 2.2 15 8.6
B 9 5.0 19 10.9
C 25 13.8 66 37.7
D 4 2.2 7 4.0
E 131 72.4 51 29.5
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Pang, M.F. Marton, F (2005) Learning theory as
teaching resource Enhancing students
understanding of Economic concepts. Instructional
Science, 33, 159-191
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In 1997, a new bird flu virus, H5N1, was found
in humans in Hong Kong. Eighteen cases were
reported and 6 people died. To stop the spread of
the bird flu, the government immediately killed
about 1.2 million live chickens in the territory.
However, it was surprising to find that after
this move, the price of live chickens in the
market did not go up but fell. Why? Please
explain.
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1. Change in features of the goods
2. Change in demand only
3. Change in supply only
4. Change in both demand and supply
5. Change in both demand and supply (taking into
   account the relative magnitude of change)

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Distribution of Conceptions for the Written Task
between the Learning Study Group and the Lesson
Study Group Post-test
The Learning Study Group (77 students) The Learning Study Group (77 students) The Lesson Study Group (92 students) The Lesson Study Group (92 students)
Conception Occurrence Percentage Occurrence Percentage
A 0 0.0 0 0.0
B 2 2.6 13 14.1
C 0 0.0 1 1.1
D 6 7.8 52 56.5
E 69 89.6 26 28.3
Chi-square 64.187 (df 3) (p lt 0.001)
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How can Lesson Study be developed further?

• Theory as resource
• Sharing findings with non-participants/Cumulative
  development
• Action research/Practitioners research
• Absorbing the way of operating in every-day work